Synopsis
Teppei Houjou is the husband of Tamae Houjou and the uncle of Satoko Houjou and Satoshi Houjou, whom the couple was left to raise after the children's parents died. Rather than caring for them, Teppei and Tamae treated their niece and nephew as unpaid housekeepers and an obstacle standing between them and the family inheritance, subjecting both children to years of abuse.
Together with his lover, Rina Mamiya, Teppei runs badger-game scams and loan-sharking out of Okinomiya. Rina lures men into affairs, Teppei "discovers" the couples and beats the victims before extorting blackmail money, and the debts that follow are used to strip the men of their property; according to Tatsuyoshi Kasai, Teppei effectively works as her procurer.
After Tamae's death, Teppei flees to Hinamizawa, moves into Satoko's family home, and forces her into servitude while he drinks and plays mahjong with friends. In the arcs adapted for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, his cruelty finally catches up with him: Rena Ryuuguu kills him after he tries to blackmail her father in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, and in Minagoroshi-hen Shion Sonozaki nearly kills him before he is instead arrested — the one loop in which he faces justice. In other arcs he also dies at the hands of Keiichi Maebara and Miyo Takano.
Later material, in the Gou and Sotsu arcs, shows a changed Teppei: worn down by memories of his repeated deaths across shifting timelines, he comes to regret his wasted life and gradually becomes a genuinely protective uncle, even asking Kuraudo Ooishi for help in shielding Satoko — a transformation that she and Rika Furude eventually come to accept.
