Kouda was a ronin who performed as barman and bodyguard, of Sugiyami Yagi, the owner of the geisha house of the House of Jade at Shutai. Yagi kept Kouda out of trouble, and Kouda would crush a man's skull if he stole or hurt any of the girls. Some could say that Youda considered Kouda his friend. It was not known what happened to him when the village was attacked by the Destroyers during the Destroyer War, in the month of the Hare of 1173.