banana-that-dislikes-carrot:

midnight-in-town:

midnight-in-town:

from the side story: “with Father!”

Friendly reminder that, assuming that Tanaka is around 80 years old in 1889 and that he joined the Phantomhive household when Vincent was still young, it means that the one who convinced an incredibly skilled Japanese samurai/mercenary/warrior…

to join the Phantomhive household was:

• Vincent’s predecessor
• who was a noble lady from high society during the 19th century
• and who was probably half younger than our Tanaka

So, yeh, I know not everyone has to be excited about Claudia but she seemed so badass I can’t handle it, even without us knowing anything significant about her…!

(*≧∀≦*)

Someone talk to me about Claudia, I’m so hype for no reason!!

I just noticed but Tanaka’s sword handle represents two eagles, which are a part of the Phantomhive family’s crest.

I wonder if the sword originally didn’t belong to him, or if it’s always been his sword since before his very first day in the P household, but he made sure that its handle would reflect his devotion to the family he’s been with for apparently three generations…

Sorry, I just love this kind of details xD

Excuse me from the
side~

If Tanaka was born to a samurai family, my headcanon is that he was born into
the Date family (Famous Samurai Family) and trained in Japan. 

 Just because the Family Emblem is
similar. 

 I know not really just two birds. 
But really, what part of Japan is Tanaka from?  Tanaka” is a very common
name, he could be using it to hide his lineage. So his name is not a good
starting point. 
Another point we would need to figure out if Tanaka went to England, or Claudia
went to Japan. If Tanaka went to England on his own, he could be from anywhere
in Japan…

The adventures of Claudia Phantomhive in Japan
would be something I would like to read. So, I wanted to analyze this angle. I
know it may be unlikely

 That would have been
extremely unusual for Claudia to be in Japan during that time period
because Japan was in a period of national isolation(Sakoku). The only
countries allowed to trade with Japan were the Chinese and the Dutch. 
The Brittish were barred from trading with Japan because they previously closed
their ports without notifying Japan. (In 1623 too, way to hold a grudge
huh) 

As a reason to go to Japan, as the duty of the Watchdog, maybe the queen sent
her to Japan to renew trade relationships but ended up not being able to. In
1808 a British ship did sail to Nagasaki to attack a Dutch Indies ship, maybe
Claudia was on that ship? 

If she did enter through Nagasaki, that would
mean that Tanaka may have been a  part of either the Kuroda Han of Fukuoka
or Nabeshima Han of Saga. This is because Nagasaki was protected by the Kuroda
Han and Nabshima Han on alternating years. 

Nabshima Han Emblem (Top)

Kuroda Han emblem (Bottom)

Part of Sakoku is that all foreigners that land on Japanese Shores is put to
death. Maybe Claudia saved Tanaka from something in Japan and caused him to
pledge his loyalty to her or at least help her leave Japan? 
Also, because of Sakoku, once Tanaka left Japan, he would never have been able
to return to his home country.  An event big enough that he would be willing
to throw away his country for her.  ( I imagine a dramatic moment where
Claudia is about to leave and Tanaka pledges allegiance to her and they leave
together.)
In return, she gives him a new home and a job in England. 

I love the idea that Claudia was able to tame
a wild samurai to become her butler, and gave him the sword as a present. 
 Just as I enjoyed seeing Sebastian become a perfect butler I would love
to see how Tanaka became a perfect butler. 

Let me know if I’ve gotten anything wrong.

First META…I hope
I’m doing this right.lol.

@banana-that-dislikes-carrot 

It was very informative, thank you! It’s a subject I really don’t know anything about but I really love how interesting it sounds. 😀

Hopefully it’s a topic Sensei might expand on, that is, if we ever get to Tanaka’s backstory (cinematic record if/when he dies ;_; or him sharing his past of his own volition?), but I do agree that there might be something Yana will address, since I’ve read several times before about Tanaka being too “usual” a name for it to possibly not be his true identity. 

Initially, personally I always had the headcanon that Tanaka was a rogue samurai who ended up becoming a pro killer in England because he was chased away from Japan for one reason or another. Then, he would have met Claudia because he could have been tasked to kill the Watchdog, but she would have found a way to beat him at his own game and he became loyal to her instead.

However, after reading your input as well as @hitsugikuro‘s [here] as to why maybe the Queen could have sent Claudia to Japan, I really really prefer you guys’ respective take on it, especially because it implies that, whatever the circumstances of their meeting were (and despite probably knowing about Sakoku), he’s the one who ended up leaving his country for her.

To quote you: “I love the idea that Claudia was able to tame a wild samurai to become her butler, and gave him the sword as a present. Just as I enjoyed seeing Sebastian become a perfect butler I would love to see how Tanaka became a perfect butler.” Even more so, in my case, because of how dedicated Tanaka remained to Claudia’s family after she died.

If I were somewhat skilled and more knowledgeable about the time era, you can be sure that I’d have written a fanfiction on the subject, but alas, I’m overbusy and not particularly skilled. xDDD

Still, thanks a lot, as I said, very informative (you might want to read @hitsugikuro‘s version as well, to see if this could match with your thoughts) and I just love this subject in general so thanks for sharing! ^3^ (love the username by the way :D)