This section has spoilers for the entire Shitenhouji arc. You are warned.
Shitenhouji Chuu is a rival school from Osaka, a city in the Kansai region. They lost in semifinals to Rikkai Dai Fuzoku in Nationals last year and are considered a force to be reckoned with. Currently in the manga they have defeated Fudoumine in the manga and are now playing Seigaku.
Watanabe Osamu: Osamu is the coach of the Shitenhouji team. He's 27. He wears a floppy bucket hat, needs to shave, and isn't exactly a shining example of responsibility.
Shiraishi Kuranosuke: The team is led by Shiraishi Kuranosuke, and we meet him fourth, at the lottery for Nationals, where he's bemused at Tezuka's dramatic entrance. A little later we get a glimpse of his ebil team management methods, when he freaks Kintarou out by threatening to unbandage his 'poisonous' arm. But we don't learn much about his tennis until Shitenhouji plays Seigaku, and Shiraishi plays Fuji. He's known as The Bible for his mastery of the fundamentals and his "perfect" tennis - something he personally considers rather boring. He shocked Seigaku by not only beating Fuji in singles, but by breaking every one of his counters.
Chitose Senri: The first Shitenhouji regular we meet is actually Chitose Senri, who shows up after Rikkai and notes that Tachibana has let his tennis get sloppy. Chitose and Tachibana Kippei were close friends when they were both the dominating players at Shishigaku in Kyuushu - until Tachibana injured Chitose's right eye in an intrasquad match. Chitose eventually joined Shitenhouji in Osaka. He's the master of Muga no Kyoichi, or the selfless state, and he defeated Tachibana by going through one of the three doors beyond the selfless state. Once he'd defeated Tachibana, he promptly resigned from the tennis club. This was ignored by Osamu, who placed him in doubles one versus Tezuka Kunimitsu and Inui Sadaharu in the match against Seigaku - technically, it was a doubles match, but it was really Chitose vs. Tezuka, and Chitose lost to Tezuka.
It's from Chitose that Shitenhouji gets a lot of its hippie reputation; he wears tunics and geta and has a casual stoner air to him. He's driven, but he was driving towards a very specific goal, and once he acheived it he was satisfied. Also worth mentioning in conjunction with Chitose is Miyuki, his younger sister, and the elementary school girl who plays tennis with Tezuka in Kyuushu.
Tooyama Kintarou: Several chapters after we meet Chitose, we meet Tooyama Kintarou, who I initially dubbed Ryoma of the Jungle because of his resemblance and his leopard-print tank top. He's a crazy strong wild child and his current goal is to beat Ryoma. He kind of reminds me of a younger, exuberant Kirihara Akaya (God help us all). We first meet Kintarou when he meets Horio's cousin - two years of bicycling experience! - in Shizuoka, where he ended up because he thought Fujisan was in Tokyo. Kin-chan also has a teensy bit of trouble with kanji; he completely misunderstood Kenya's message to him and thought Ryoma was a three-eyed demon with poisonous fingers and a body of steel. Named Koshimae.
Oshitari Kenya: The third Shitenhouji regular we meet is Oshitari Kenya, and when we meet him he's sitting on a park bench having an argument over the phone with his cousin in Tokyo, Yuushi from Hyoutei. (Characters related to other characters we've met is kind of a mini-theme in the Shitenhouji arc, as it happens :D) Later, during his doubles match against Fudoumine, we find out that Kenya's known as Naniwa's (Osaka's) Speed Star, and he's even faster than Kamio, with more stamina. He seems to be a doubles specialist, playing with Ishida Gin in the match against Fudoumine, and scheduled to play with Zaizen Hikaru against Tezuka and Inui in the doubles match against Seigaku. He's by turns grumpy and annoyed - particularly at Yuushi and Osamu, his team's coach - and snarkily amused, and he's my favorite Shitenhouji character.
Hitouji Yuuji and Konjiki Koharu: And here we have the one doubles pair in Prince of Tennis who can legitimately be called a couple - because Konomi does it himself. Koharu is rumored to have more data than Inui as well as using his...comic stylings to throw off his opponents. Yuuji can mimic his opponents movements. Together they pull their opponents into their own pace, and then throw them off. Their match against Momo and Kaidoh is, frankly, an example of what happens when Konomi's on the really good or really bad crack.
Ishida Gin: Gin's the second member of Shitenhouji with relatives elsewhere in the series - his brother Tetsu is at Fudoumine, and he plays against Tetsu and Kamio with Kenya in their match against Fudoumine. Gin's a power player, and he taught Tetsu hadoukyuu. He also has seemingly limitless strength and stamina (HIS hadoukyuus have approximately a gazillion levels), allowing him to outlast pretty much any opponent, including his fellow power players.
Zaizen Hikaru: Not much is known about Zaizen. He's a second year - the only non-third year on Shitenhouji, with the exception of Kin-chan. He's fairly quiet, but from the few times he's spoken, he seems to be snarky, arrogant, and a little bitchy. Despite the lack of information, I like him; so far, he's one of my favorite Shitenhouji characters - one of my favorite moments thus far in the Shitenhouji arc is when Osamu calls him their genius, and tells Kenya not to get in his way. Zaizen tells Kenya it's okay if he gets in his way. Snotty, arrogant...and a little cute.
The Shitenhouji squad does have a ninth member - a so far unnamed character who attended the lottery for Nationals with Shiraishi. He's recently reappeared in the manga, and more information will be added later.The Layout: The fanlisting is called Flower Power thanks to Shitenhouji's tennis uniforms, which feature a psychedelic swirly pattern. They're a groovy, hip school. Pic is taken Genius 248.