Also known as: harakiri (腹切り)
Lit.: stomach-cutting

Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment, performed by plunging a short blade into the abdomen and slicing it open from left to right. Seppuku was originally reserved for samurai, the warrior class, in the samurai code (bushido), and was a way to die with honor instead of falling into enemy hands. It was also used as a form of capital punishment, or voluntarily performed by samurai who believed they had brought shame upon themselves.

Also known as: Tsu-no-kuni (津国), Sesshuu-no-kuni (摂州)

A province of ancient Japan which is the eastern part of Hyougo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture today. During the Sengoku Era, the Miyoshi Clan ruled the province as well as its bordering provinces Izumi and Kawachi, until they were conquered by Oda Nobunaga.

Shakujii River is a river 25.2 km in length which flows through the northwest quadrant of central Tokyo and into the Sumida River.

Also known as: Gautama Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, Sakyamuni

The founder of Buddhism, who was born as a prince in ancient India and became an ascetic and spiritual teacher after encountering a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. He reached enlightenment after rejecting self-indulgence and self-mortification. He traveled and taught for 45 years and died at the age of 80.

Shiba Park, created on October 19, 1873, is a public park located in Minato, Tokyo. It was built around the much older San'en-zan Zoujou Temple, the main temple of the Joudo-shuu ("Pure Land") Chinzei sect of Buddhism in the Kantou region.

Its spacious grounds, around 30 acres in total, hold the Shiba Toushou Shrine as well as a giant ginkgo tree believed to have been planted there by Tokugawa Iemitsu, a designated Natural Monument.

Many footpaths in the park offer an excellent view of Tokyo Tower, making it a popular location for dates and filming.

Japanese singer and actor who debuted on the stage in 1975.

In Mirage of Blaze: Saori calls Chiaki Shibata Kyouhei when she sees him driving a Nissan Leopard.

Also known as: Ijimino Harunaga (五十公野治長)
Title: Inaba no Kami

Brother of Shibata Nagaatsu, a vassal of Uesugi Kenshin, who served Kenshin during the Battle of Kawanakajima. He was persuaded by Yasuda Akimoto to join Uesugi Kagekatsu in the Otate no Ran after Kenshin's death and took down Kaji Hidetsuna of the same clan (his clan is an illegitimate offshoot of the Kaji Clan) who had joined Kagetora.

Dissatisfied with his reward after the war, Shigeie turned to Oda Nobunaga. About six years later, Kagekatsu's army destroyed his troops, and he committed seppuku.

Also know as: Yuuri (ゆーり), Yuu-chan (ゆーちゃん), Shibuya Yuuri Harajuku Furi (渋谷有利原宿不利)
Titles: His Majesty the Maou
Race: half Mazoku (father), half Human (mother)

At the beginning of the story Yuuri is a 15-year-old senior-high first-year student. He is constantly teased about his name because it means "advantageous" or "profitable". His family name is also a place name, so his longer nickname means "Shibuya advantageous, Harajuku (the name of a nearby location) disadvantageous."

In actuality, "Yuuri" means "July" (the month in which Yuuri was born) in the language of Shinma Kingdom, and was given to him by Lord Conrart Weller, who shared a taxi with Yuuri's mother to the hospital just before she gave birth to him.

Yuuri learns that he was chosen by the Shinou to be the 27th Maou of Shinma Kingdom when he's flushed down a park toilet to another world.

Title: Mikawa-no-Kami

Shichiri Yorichika started out as a minor samurai at Hongan Temple, but caught Kennyo's eye and became a temple official and the commander of the Ikkou-ikki forces in Kaga Province.

During Oda Nobunaga's siege of Ishiyama Hongan Temple, he attacked the Oda army repeatedly, earning him the nickname "the Kaga General". As his power and influence increased, so did his arrogance, leading to violent outbursts of anger that sometimes resulted in the executions of his underlings over disputes. Shimozuma Rairen interceded, and in the end Yorichika was driven out of the temple. This resulted in internal strife between the Ikkou sectarians of Echizen and Kaga, providing Nobunaga an opening which he took in August of 1575. Yorichiki fled without putting up a fight.

In the following year he accused the master of the Ikkou castle of Mattou of rebellion and attacked, but was defeated and killed.

As chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, he directly oversees the Special Inquiry Division and is Sakaki Shuuichi's boss. Although reluctant to believe in the supernatural, he assigns psychic Nikaidou Reiko to the department and asks Sakaki and Nikaidou to investigate the strange death of Councilor Gotou, member of the Fujisawa City legislature.

Picture Scroll of the Legends of Shigisan: a scroll which is a National Treasure of Japan, completed in the 12th century by an unknown artist. It depicts miracles performed by an ascetic living on Mt. Shigi, the Shingon monk Myouren.

The scroll is composed of three stories: "The Scroll of Yamazaki, the Rich Man" (31.7cm x 879.9cm/12.5in x 346.4 in), "The Scroll of an Engi Era Faith-Healing" (31.7cm x 1290.8cm/12.5in x 508.2 in), and "The Scroll of the Nun" (31.7cm x 1424.1cm/12.5in x 560.7 in)

A busy four-arched steel girder bridge which spans the Kamo River in Kyoto. According to Yasaka Shrine's records, the original bridge was built in 1142 from temple-solicited funds. The bridge was rebuilt and widened numerous times in subsequent years after being damaged or swept away by floods.

A stone bridge was constructed in 1857 during the final days of the Tokugawa shogunate, and a iron one replaced it in 1874 with a toll enacted to amortize construction costs. Upon the opening of the Kyoto Municipal Railway in 1913 and the widening of the highway, the bridge was rebuilt with arches using reinforced concrete. However, the 1934 Muroto typhoon and June floods of 1935 caused driftwood and other debris to block the arches, resulting in additional water damage to the surround areas. The Kamo River was dredged and the current bridge built in 1942.

The class monitor of Old Castle High School in junior class B to whom the homeroom teacher, Kurokawa gives the responsibility of helping Takaya, the new transfer student. Also possibly a member of the student council executive office.

Vassal of Uesugi Kenshin, master of Jouhukuji Castle. He fought Ueno Ienari in 1556 for the territory of Kouzuke, and the conflict expanded to include Ookuma Tomohide and Honjou Saneyori.

He lost his territory after supporting Uesugi Kagetora in the Otate no Ran after Kenshin's death.

A monk who served as an official under Kennyo at Ishiyama Hongan Temple, he along with Suzuki Shigehide commanded the Hongan Temple army against Oda Nobunaga. For this reason they were called the "Left and Right Generals of Osaka".

When Hongan Temple surrendered to the Oda army in 1580 by order of the Emperor, Rairen's signature was among those on the official letter. Afterwards, he left with Kennyo to persuade the Ikkou-ikki of various parts of the country to rise up against Nobunaga.

After Takeda Shingen's death, when both Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu requested help from the Ikki forces, Rairen opposed and remained neutral throughout. In 1589, Hideyoshi bestowed land on him and made him a magistrate.

In Mirage of Blaze: he continues to clash against Nobunaga and eventually performs kanshou on a man of some means named Watanabe, who appears to be a man of amiable disposition and wears silver-rimmed glasses.

Also known as: 頼昭, Jutsurai (述頼)
Titles: Chikugo-no-Kami

As a member of the Shimotsuma Clan which served Hongan Temple, Shimotsuma Raishou was dispatched by Kennyo to Echizen Province and took a large portion of it from the Oda forces, which was split by internal discord.

Raishou, dissatisfied with being treated like a vassal, plotted rebellion, but was suppressed by forces from Hongan Temple in 1574.

In the summer of 1575, Oda's forces attacked him at Kannonmaru Castle in Echizen. Raishou was unable to gather enough of the Ikkou-ikki's followers, and the castle fell under fierce attack from 15,000 Oda soldiers. Raishou tried to escape by sea, but was discovered and beheaded.

Lit. "wave of thought": calling out with one's mind; telepathy

Lit. "true word"; mantras which contain a distillation of the Buddhist truth.

A professional Japanese outfielder who played for the Hanshin Tigers, then for the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants and was the first baseball player born in Japan to play in the World Series.

One of Tokyo's twenty-three special wards (self-governing, special municipalities existing only in Tokyo), a major commercial and administrative center. Home to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, Tokyo's tallest building, where political and public administration of Tokyo takes place. Also a major urban-transit hub and the location of one of Tokyo's largest public transport interchanges, Shinjuku Station.

Shinjuku Station is a major connection hub for inter-city and commuter rails and Tokyo's subway system, located in Tokyo's Shinjuku and Shibuya wards. The station is the busiest train station in the world in terms of number of passengers and has over 200 exits.

Lit.: Bamboo-grass Well; a town in Nagano Prefecture.

Abbreviated name for Shinano, an ancient province in central Japan.

The middle-aged man who guides Ujiteru up to Hachiou Castle. He looks about 60, with peppered white hair and a sun-tanned face.