Hi!

After the main story and Shouwa prequels, it's time for reading Kaikou: this is how everything started. When Kagetora and Naoe meet for the first time in their bodies of Kurata and Kurouzaemon, 5 years has passed since Kagetora committed a suicide at Samegao castle. During these last Kaikou volumes 9 years has passed since the Siege of Ootate ended, so it's possibly year 1588 and Yashashuu has worked together for 4 years. Kagekatsu is ruling Echigo now. The Siege of Ootate left behind countless of onryous, so Yashashuu's mission is to purify Echigo from the grudge.

During Shouwa and the main story we have used to have Nobunaga as the main villain, but this time it's Kagekatsu's father, Nagao Masakage, and chimera named monsters that are used by Kamachi clan!  Before the story, here is some important characters first:

Yashashuu

Kurata/Saburouji - Uesugi Kagetora

Host body belonged to a murder named Kurata and earlier Kagetora had big problems when Kurata's sealed memories started to come back. While meeting people, Kagetora uses name Saburouji when he introduces himself and he claims to be a wandering medicine merchant. Usually he works together with Naoe. Kagetora is struggling if he can really trust Naoe or not.

Kurouzaemon - Naoe Nobutsuna

Host body belonged to an Ikkou-Ikki member, Kurouzaemon. He has an appearance of a wandering samurai. Kenshin ordered him to protect and observe Kagetora.  Naoe is a bit loss. He feels sad to see how his castle and people are now ruled by Naoe Kanetsugu. Man named Naoe Nobutsuna doesn't exist in this world anymore. Naoe himself was killed at Kasugayama castle by Kagekatsu's vassal. It seems that during Kaikou Naoe start to wonder if his death was actually planned since he while being alive he already doubt that his wife, Sen, and Kanetsugu had a relationship behind his back. Plus, Kanetsugu was Kagekatsu's right-hand man. 

Shougen/Shurinoshin - Irobe Katsunaga

A monk in his forties. Irobe is like a mental tutor to everyone, especially to Kagetora. He has crush on a nun named Jushinni.

Hayanosuke/Shirouza/Jibushouyuu - Yasuda Nagahide

His host body, Hayanosuke, seemed to be Kurata's friend. Uses name Shirouza. Nagahide has long ginger colored hair and blue eyes, his habit is to smoke traditional tobacco. In Kaikou, Nagahide is a ladykiller and likes to have female company. 

Soma no Aoisuke - Kakizaki Haruie

Strong-built and musculus man who is very loyal to Kagetora. He holds a grudge against Naoe since it possibly Naoe who caused Haruie's death right after the Siege of Ootate started. Haruie has a painful situation since his little brother is an onryou... and one of the enemies! 

~

Tsubaki: Female hyouirei who was on Kagetora's faction when she was still alive. Helps Yashashuu and performs kanshou on random persons. Holds a grudge against Naoe and Nagahide who were on Kagekatsu's faction.

Mukademaru/Matsuba: Wandering Shinto priestess in her twenties. She has very powerful spiritual skills, so she helps Yashashuu. Wild-boar god is nesting in her body.

Jushinni/Sachi: Kind and warm-hearted woman in her forties. Her birth name is Sachi, but after losing her husband and children, she became a nun and took a new name, Jushinni. She wanders in villages and prays for the souls of dead children. She seems to have feelings for Irobe.

Yukihebi: a white dragon that appears every time Kagetora calls out her name. Usually she's very small and travels on Kagetora's shoulders, but sometimes she takes a form of bigger dragon so that Kagetora and the others can travel on her back.

Shoushichirou: a young man who is Kurouzaemon's brother-in-law. Former member of Ikkou-Ikki.

Touichibou: a young monk who helps Yashashuu.

Old lady of Mt. Hakkai: an old woman with strong spiritual skill. She helps Yashashuu.

Villains

Nagao Masakage: Kenshin's brother-in-law and the biological father of Kagekatsu and Lady Haru (Kagetora's wife). He was assassinated by Kenshin and due to this he became an onryou.  

Kamachi clan: A clan that lives in Echigo and wants to take over Japan. 

Jirousaburou: Haruie's little brother who became an onryou after losing his life on the Siege of Ootate. He's a chimera, so he's actually enemy to the Yashashuu. His chimera name is Yama'arashi (= mountain storm).

Shoujou: a sword-man chimera.

Mimizuku:  a female chimera. 

In MoB chimera's are combinations of onryou and monster. Their host bodies are immortal, only exorcism can kill them. If chimera's body is "killed" it will reform itself back in shape in several days. The body also has a fish scale shaped mark somewhere in their skin. Chimeras serve Kamachi clan.

Before reading more I highly recommend to check first insaneneko and keseranpasaran's interesting summaries of earlier Kaikou volumes (they're found from translation communities)!   :)

***

Kaikou vol. 12: Shikaeshi Kanshou (The Kanshou of Revenge)

There are two mini stories in the beginning of this volume: First one is Irobe playing traditional game (sugoroku) and another one Kagetora and Naoe investigating the incident of Kannon Bodhisattva appearing in the river. After these two stories, the rest of volume is about Naoe and how he is getting back the memories of Kurouzaemon. Kagetora gets worried about Naoe's situation since Kagetora himself remembers very clearly how tough it was getting back the memories of his host body, Kurata. Kagetora, Naoe and Nagahide travel to Mt. Yoneyama for meeting a monk (his name is Hajirobou) who has made new spiritual amulets for them. Mt. Yoneyama is a mountain with very strong spiritual energy. Many people come to visit and pray Yakushi Buddha at the temple that locates there. During the travel there Naoe feels that someone is stalking him, but he can only sense an evil aura, not seeing anyone behind him. Hajirobou asks Kagetora and the others to investigate why there are so many evil spirits around the area of Mt. Yoneyama. When they're exorcising some onryous they're disturbed by someone. Later on that night a young man named Shoushichirou and a wandering Shinto priestess, Mukademaru, stay over the temple where Kagetora and the others are also staying. Shoushichirou is actually a brother-in-law of Kurouzaemon, Naoe's host body, and he is trying to find out what happened to Kurouzaemon. He knows that Kurouzaemon is possessed by someone because he's totally acting differently than normally. Before Naoe performed kanshou, Kurouzaemon was a member of Ikkou-Ikki, Pure Land Buddhist. He and the others were locked themselves into a castle that was surrounded by Oda Nobunaga's forces. Before dying of famine, Naoe performed kanshou on him and escaped from the castle, leaving the others to die there. Shoushichirou started to hold a grudge against Kurouzaemon and wanted to kill him for escaping, but after seeing him exorcising onryous, Shoushichirou understood that Kurouzaemon is actually taken over by some kind of evil spirit named Naoe Nobutsuna. He asked Mukademaru to dispell this Naoe so that Kurouzaemon would be normal again. But after sensing Bishamonten in Kagetora and the others Mukademaru tells it's better to leave them alone. 

During night, something attacks the temple, but no one knows what it was. After the attack, for mysterious reason, Naoe has got curing skills of Yakushi Buddha and he starts to cure people. Kagetora feels more worried and recommends Naoe to stop using his new power, since they won't know surely if it really Yakushi Buddha that granted that skill or not. However, Naoe won't listen to him and this of course makes Kagetora so angry that he's ready for even exorcising this "Yakushi Buddha" out of Naoe, but then the monks capture and lock Kagetora into one temple room. Mukademaru comes back to the temple, releases Kagetora and tells about Shoushichirou to him. Naoe is attacked by a powerful onryou that performs hyoui on him. Kagetora and Nagahide rushes to help Naoe. This onryou is actually the real Kurouzaemon! Normally the soul moves to the afterlife after losing it's body, but for some reason Kurouzaemon became onryou after Naoe performed kanshou on his body. Now he wants his own body back. Kagetora and Nagahide are terrified. It seems that Naoe's curing powers were granted by this onryou, not Yakushi Buddha as Kagetora expected. By making Naoe's soul tired, Kurouzaemon could get his body back. Kagetora uses Bishamonten's arrow and they manage to chase Kurouzaemon's soul away. 

Naoe is locked to one side temple and many protecting spiritual barriers are created around the temple. Irobe and Haruie rushes to Mt. Yoneyama after hearing what's happening there. Naoe starts to get Kurouzaemon's memories back. He feels very confused because he isn't sure what memories are his own and what are Kurouzaemon's. Kagetora visits him. Naoe tells that he can't stand this. He's the bad person here, not Kurouzaemon. Because of him, Kurouzaemon became onryou and he has right for getting the body back from Naoe. Kagetora is strict and says that he won't allow that. Yashashuu needs Naoe and Naoe is more important than Kurouzaemon. Onryou is always onryou, they have to exorcise it. Naoe is against this and he totally loses his temper, throwing rosaries and other stuff on the wall after Kagetora leaves the room. Naoe shouts to him "Fuck you, Kagetora! A coldhearted bastard like you should burn in the flames of Hell!!" Kagetora listens to these words behind the door serious expression on his face.  

During the next night Naoe's starts to lose the sense of reality. He tries to chant Shingon's mantra and keep reminding himself that he's Naoe Nobutsuna, not Kurouzaemon. He feels bitter to be so weak against Kurouzaemon's memories. Kagetora survived from getting Kurata's memories, so he has to do that too. As feeling angry at Kagetora, Naoe falls on the wall and tries to endure the mental pain.   

Kurouzaemon's soul appears in front of Shoushichirou and asks him to help him to get the body back. Kurouzaemon has performed hyoui on a monk that is serving at the temple so he could come to the mountain through the spiritual barriers that Kagetora and the others have formed in order to protect Naoe. A mysterious warrior chimera named Shoujou comes to see them. He have heard that an onryou named Kurouzaemon is trying to defeat Uesugi's Yashas. Shoujou asks Kurouzaemon and Shoushichirou to work for him. If they slay Yashas, Shoujou's lord will grant them an area for establishing a new nation for Pure Land followers in Echigo. Shoujou tells that his lord is King Ranryou, the head of Kamachi clan of Kaga. Their nation was destroyed by Uesugi, so they're in the same situation as Pure Land sect that was destroyed by Oda Nobunaga. Kurouzaemon accepts this offer after hearing that his friends who died on that castle didn't move to afterlife either, they're all still here in Echigo.

Kagetora, Nagahide and Mukademaru go for onryou hunting. When they come back Naoe's situation has got much worse. Instead of chanting Shingon's mantra, Naoe's chanting Amida Buddha's mantra that is the trade mark of Pure Land sect. Without caring Irobe's warnings Kagetora enters to the room where Naoe is and takes a grab of his kimono, ordering Naoe to stop fooling around and stop chanting the wrong mantra. However, Naoe is totally overwhelmed by Kurouzaemon's memories that he really think he's Kurouzaemon. Eventually Kagetora totally furiously punches Naoe on the face after Naoe asked who Kagetora is, he doesn't know him. Irobe and Haruie rush to hold back Kagetora so that he won't hurt Naoe more. Kagetora is shivering in anger, shocked that Naoe doesn't remember him. Mixed with Kurouzaemon's memories Naoe desperately asks why Amida Buddha doesn't help him. He and his friends were starving inside of the castle, everyone was praying for Amida's help. Chanting Amida's name would take them to Amida's Pure Land after their body dies of famine. One by one Kurouzaemon's friends lost their lives, but Kurouzaemon himself started to lose his faith on Amida. He just wanted to run to his wife, Hatsu and save her (eventually she died). He escaped the castle, hearing his friends yelling after him "You coward! Are you escaping alone and leaving us behind?!" Naoe says that Kurouzaemon wanted to die together with his friends, but Naoe performed kanshou on him. Eventually Irobe, Haruie and Hajirobou lock Naoe inside of temple hall again and stay guard while Kagetora, Nagahide and Mukademaru leave again for onryou hunting. Kagetora and the other run into Shoujou and start to fight.

Hajirobou steps into hall too and locks the doors. Actually he's possessed by Kurouzaemon's soul. Now they're alone with Naoe. He proposes to exchange bodies. Naoe can have Hajirobou's body if he returns Kurouzaemon's body back to him. Naoe tells that he knows everything that happened to Kurouzaemon. He knows how did he feel. Naoe tells that he can let Kurouzaemon to perform kanshou on that body and Naoe will stay as a hyouirei, not performing kanshou anymore. When he's about to do that, he can hear Kagetora's angry voice behind the door, trying to enter the room. It seems that Kagetora was so furious about Naoe's memory loss that he defeated Shoujou easily. Kagetora shouts if Naoe has forgotten his promise to Kenshin. "Are planning to escape from me?! If you don't exist, then who should I hate?! You're the only one in this world who I hate!! Naoe!! You're the last one from Kagekatsu's faction! If there are no one I can hold a grudge against, I won't be Kagetora anymore!! I won't let you do that!! Open this damn door now!!" Naoe widens his eyes as listening Kagetora shouting and trying to break the door. But he has made his decision already: I finish this. When Naoe is about give the body to Kurouzaemon, Kagetora manages to break the door and together with Nagahide they stop Naoe. Suddenly, the building breaks down. Shoujou is still alive and takes Kurouzaemon's soul as a hostage, planning to melt the soul into his body. If he does that, he will gain all the spiritual energy that Kurouzaemon has gathered inside of him. Inside of Shoujou body Kurouzaemon starts to chant Amida's mantra. As gathered lots of spiritual energy from Mt. Yoneyama, Kurouzaemon is so powerful that Amida himself possesses that same body Kurouzaemon's soul is (in other words Shoujou's body). Enormous energy of Amida explodes Shoujou's body and a bright glow lights up the whole mountain area, purifying all onryous' souls there. Naoe is dumbfounded as he sees Kurouzaemon's soul in the light, next to his wife, Hatsu, both smiling happily. Kurouzaemon tells that he wanted to have a body for dying, in order to move to afterlife together with Hatsu. He hopes that Naoe will use his body and keep living. Mt. Yoneyama is now purified from onryous. In the end of the volume Naoe tells to Kagetora that now he understands why he was holding a knife when he woke up for first time in that body. Kurouzaemon was about to kill himself, but just before that Naoe performed kanshou on him. Now they both have experienced the agony of getting memories back. It's clear that they both don't want to have more victims anymore, so Kagetora declares that they will finish their mission during this lifetime.

****

This volume was short, but emotional. It had quite lot about Kurouzaemon's life and his agony. Fortunately ended well after all! At this point Shoujou and the other chimeras may rise up many questions, but Sensei will open the story more in the next volume. :) 

My favorite part was Kagetora being so angry and furious about Naoe's temporary memory loss that he beat up Shoujou quite badly. Kagetora.... Already crazy about Naoe (but doesn't know about it yet...!) :D 

Fascinating to see Haruie in male body! Especially because he is the manliest of all Yashashuu. Another difference to his later female kanshou bodies is that he speaks using very respectful language and instead of saying just "Kagetora" he says "Kagetora-gimi".

Nagahide is very cool. Well, actually he's always cool, but in Kaikou I found him being extra cool. Easygoing samurai style fits very well with his independent personality.  

The more I learn about Irobe, the more I like him. *w* He's a down-to-earth person and very family centered, taking care of others. Jushinni didn't show up in this volume, but she will have reunion with Irobe soon.