GinTsu

GinTsu is the het ship between Sakata Gintoki and Tsukuyo from the Gintama fandom.

Yoshiwara in Flames
Episode 140/Lesson 211-213

Starting out as enemies, Gintoki's and Tsukuyo's first meeting happens in the Yoshiwara in Flames Arc, when Gintoki steps in to reflect Tsukuyo's kunais that were aimed at Seita and Shinpachi. His entrance to the fight doesn't work as smoothly and main-character-like as he planned to, as one of Tsukuyo's kunais lands straight in his forehead and he's bleeding pretty badly. His instant reaction to that is denying the fact that he got stabbed to not be embarrassed in front of the enemy. Gintoki and Shinpachi argue about what happened while Tsukuyo, Kagura and the Hyakka just stand by and watch them. It gets to a point where he is too embarrassed to face his enemies Tsukuyo and the Hyakka. At that point Tsukuyo steps in and helps him, saying he knocked down every of her attacks even though she knows it's a lie. Gintoki is surprised about this and says she's a nice girl for going along with it. He faces her for the first time and downplays her attack and describes her kunais as kunais going for a leisurely stroll. Furthermore, Gintoki resorts to flirting with her, suggesting to stab her with something better, but he is interrupted when he notices that he has a Kunai stuck in his hand as well. In the manga you can even see that one of Tsukuyo's kunai is sticking on his backside when he turns around again.

Gintoki asks Tsukuyo to lend him her kiseru to light up the remaining bombs and to make sure they make a promise to each other that they will return if everyone survives to the end.

Canon – Class 3-Z Ginpachi-sensei Novels
Tsukuyo appears for the first time as the new teacher transferred from Yoshiwara Commercial in the 6th novel of the Class 3-Z Ginpachi-sensei series. Parts of the book revolve around Gintoki and Tsukuyo working together at the One Day Trial Enrollment at Gintama High. Tsukuyo is in charge of health and physical education. In one of her First Aid simiulation classes, Ginpachi acts as the wounded person much to the surprise of the student. It is mentioned that he was supposed to show up later in the book and not in her class.

Quotes
"It's a (very) beautiful face with a clean soul."

- Gintoki to Tsukuyo, Episode 181

"It's fine, I don't mind. If that's what you want, I don't mind being only yours."

- Gintoki to Tsukuyo, Love Potion Arc

"In return, Shinigami Tayu, I wonder if you are prepared to be monopolized."

- Gintoki to Tsukuyo, Love Potion Arc

Nicknames
Gintoki and Tsukuyo give each other different names during the series. It is notable that Tsukuyo is one of the only characters that calls him by his full name.
 * Gintoki to Tsukuyo:

Tsukuyo to Gintoki:
 * o-kāsan
 * Tayuu
 * Oboko
 * Honey
 * Tsukuyo Tayuu
 * Courtesan of Boobs
 * Darling
 * Bakemono

Fanon
According to pixiv stats, GinTsu is the third most popular hetship in Gintama fandom.

When searching for Gintama and adding Gintoki's first kanji on japanese yahoo, Gintsu is the 4th and 8th remmonded search suggestion. If you type in Gintoki's full name, it also is the 4th result. Typing in Gintoki's full name only suggests "GintokiTsukuyo" as the second search suggestion.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

PIXIV

TWITTER

TUMBLR

Variations

 * ShiroTsuki

Trivia

 * Gintoki and Tsukuyo are two of the few characters in the Gintama casts who's names are based on mythology:
 * Gintoki - According to Hideaki Sorachi, Gintoki's name was based on Sakata Kintoki, also known as Kintaro, from a famous folk tale set in the Heian Period. Kintaro became friends with the animals that lived on the mountain where he was raised and was even capable of battling with them. After certain events, he became a samurai and eventually went under the name Sakata Kintoki (坂田公時). Sorachi-sensei, in one of the question corners, explains this and doesn't intend on making Gin-san a descendant of Kintaro. His robot counterpart actually does take the name of Sakata Kintoki.
 * Tsukuyo - Her name and character is based on a kami from shintou mythology. Tsukuyomi, sometimes called Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto (the great God Tsukuyomi), is rendered as 月読尊, or simply 月読 in Kanji. This name directly translates to “moon-reading,” a popular practice in the noble courts of pre-modern Japan where parties would stay up all night moon-gazing and reading poetry. An alternate Kanji reading is tsukuyo, moon-light, and mi, watching. His personality is described as follows: Tsukuyomi is very much a match for his wife Amaterasu. Beautiful and serene, he believes in order and etiquette and enforces them whenever he can. His enforcement of such ideals extends to the point that he is willing to kill to maintain order, despite killing itself being a breach of etiquette in the heavenly court. Thus, there is irony in Tsukuyomi’s strict adherence to etiquette: to enforce it, he is willing to break it. Though the moon is often regarded as beautiful and worthy of viewing, Tsukuyomi himself is seen as a negative figure in Shinto and Japanese folklore. This personality description can be projected onto Tsukuyo who, for example, also kills to maintain order in Yoshiwara.
 * The first (still existing) fanart on pixiv for the GinTsu ship was uploaded on February 28, 2009.