A middle-aged Shugen Houin priest from Mount Haguro who performs the Gouzanze Myouou-hou, one of the dual ceremonies used to neutralize the 'kinrin no hou' curse in Sendai along with his fellow priest Keishun.

Titles: Echizen no Kami, Mutsu no Kami
Also known as: birth—Bontenmaru (梵天丸), adult—Tojirou (藤次郎), posthumous—Teizan (貞山), self-introduction—Fujiwara no Masamune (藤原政宗), religious—Takeru Hikonomikoto (武振彦命), nickname—One-Eyed Dragon (独眼竜)

Date Masamune was a powerful daimyo in the Northeastern part of Japan during the Sengoku Period. He was the 17th-generation head of the Date Clan and the founding daimyo of Sendai-han. He was the eldest son of Date Terumune and Yoshihime, the daughter of Mogami Yoshimori.

Masamune was born in Yonezawa Castle (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture). He lost the use of his right eye after falling ill of smallpox in his childhood, and would later come to be known as the One-eyed Dragon. However, because of it his mother thought him unfit for rule of the clan, and favored his younger brother. When Date Terumune retired from the position of the clan head in 1584, Masamune killed his brother and became the head of the clan at 18.

Masamune was known as a brilliant tactician. Shortly after he became head of the clan, Oouchi Sadatsuna, a Date vassal, defected to the Ashina Clan in the Aizu region of Mutsu Province. Masamune declared war on the Ashina for the betrayal, but was forced to retreat by the Ashina general, Iwashiro Morikuni. Three months later, Masamune laid seige to Oouchi's stronghold at Otemori. It was said that he put some 800 people to the sword in retaliation for the betrayal. Thereafter the Hatakeyama Clan, the traditional rival of the Date Clan, kidnapped Masamune's father, who was then killed in battle when Masamune and his troops engaged the kidnappers. War ensued between the two clans, and Masamune would ruthlessly subjugate his neighboring clans, even those who were allied by marriage or kinship. He defeated the Ashina Clan in 1589, but was called by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to lay siege to Odawara Castle of the Houjou Clan.

He served both Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, though neither trusted him completely due to his ambition and aggression. Under Tokugawa Ieyasu Masamune controlled one of the largest fiefdoms in Japan and turned Sendai from a small fishing village to a large and prosperous city. He encouraged foreigners and was largely lenient towards Christanity and its practioners. He funded and backed the first Japanese expedition to sail around the world, which visited such places as the Philippines, Mexico, Spain and Pope Paul V in Rome.

He died in Edo at the age of 70 of esophageal cancer, and was entombed in the Zuihouden according to his last will and testament. His second son (eldest son by his legal wife Megohime) Date Tadamune inherited the position of clan head after him.

Birthday: Dec. 9
Height: 5'5"
Weight: unknown
Blood type: A
Possessed by: Kakizaki Haruie.

Kakizaki Haruie's current incarnation: a female college student about four years older than Takaya who rides a Yamaha FZR400 motorcycle called Ecchan. She is described as a beauty with sauvage-style long hair and long, slim legs. She lives in Yokohama with her parents.

Notes: She appears as 'Ayako' in narration. Naoe and Nagahide call her 'Haruie', and Takaya calls her 'Nee-san'.

Also known as: Katakura Kojuurou Kagetsuna (片倉小十郎景綱)

A military commander of the Sengoku era and hereditary vassal of the Date Clan. The Katakura family traditionally took the nickname of 'Kojuurou', so Katakura Kagetsuna is better known as Katakura Kojuurou.

Kojuurou first served Date Masamune's father, Date Terumune, as a junior page, then became Date Masamune's attendant in 1575. He was later appointed a strategist, and participated in most of Masamune's important wars where he rescued the Date Clan from many tight spots. His wisdom was extolled by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and his name was a byword for loyalty. (He was called 'Katakura Kagetsuna the Wise', and he, along with 'Date Shigezane the Brave', were named 'the twin jewels of the Date'.)

Kojuurou died in 1615 of illness.

Kagetora's beloved in the age before he became Ougi Takaya.

Also called: Kousaka Danjou Masanobu (高坂弾正昌信), Kousaka Danjou Nosuke Masanobu (高坂弾正忠昌信), Kasuga Toratsuna (春日虎綱), Kasuga Gensuke (春日源助)
Title: Danjou Nosuke/Faithful True-Shot (弾正忠)

Historically: One of Takeda Shingen's most loyal retainers who was one of his Twenty-Four Generals and played a key part in the fourth battle of Kawanakajima.

Kousaka was born in Kai to a wealthy farmer, Kasuga Ookuma (?) (春日大隈). His father died when he was 16, and he lost a lawsuit against his elder sister's husband for ownership of his father's lands. He then enrolled in the service of Takeda Shingen.

Kousaka first served as a messenger for Shingen. He distinguished himself in battle, and rose swiftly through the ranks of Shingen's trusted retainers. He participated in most of Shingen's battles. He did not hesitate to retreat when required, which earned him the nickname of "Escaping Danjou". However, he was calm and logical in the midst of battle, and was perhaps the best of Shingen's generals.

There are anecdotes that in his younger days, Kousaka and Shingen were engaged in a shudo relationship, and Kousaka rose so quickly in Shingen's service because of Shingen's affection.

After Shingen's death in 1573, Kousaka continued on to serve Takeda Katsuyori. He sought an alliance between the Takeda clan and their old enemy, the Uesugi clan, in order to unite against the threat of Oda Nobunaga.

Kousaka died in 1578 of illness at the age of 52. He was succeeded by his second son, Kousaka Masamoto (高坂昌元), his first son, Kousaka Masazumi (高坂昌澄) having died in the Battle of Nagashino in 1575.

In Mirage of Blaze: A kanshousha who, along with Sanjou-no-Kata, breaks the barrier over Takeda Shingen's tomb, the Maenduka, in an attempt to resurrect Shingen by using Narita Yuzuru as a vessel for his spirit.

According to Haruie, Kousaka has a high level of spiritual sensing ability (reisa), such that he is able to recognize someone he had met before even after their soul has undergone purification. He warns Naoe that Narita Yuzuru's existence is a threat to the Roku Dou Sekai.

A daimyo of Yamagata-han in the province of Dewa who fought for both Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. He fought Uesugi Kagekatsu as well as in the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 for Tokugawa alongside Date Masamune. His domain was expanded to 520,000 koku for his loyal service.

His son Mogami Iechika succeeded him upon his death of illness.

Also called: Mori Nagasada (森長定), possibly Shigetoshi (成利), Nagayasu (長康)

Historically: A vassal of Oda Nobunaga who served as his attendant from
an early age. His father, Mori Yoshinari, was also a vassal of Oda Nobunaga. Favored by Nobunaga for his talent and loyalty, he also followed the tradition of shudo with his liege-lord. He and his three younger brothers died with Nobunaga at the Honnou-ji on June 21, 1582.

Also known as: Nagao Kagetaka (長尾景孝), Nagao Toukurou (長尾藤九郎)
Title: Yamato no Kami (大和守)

Historically: Son of Nagao Akikage, he became head of the Sousha-Nagao Clan at a young age. He later (around 1545) passed the position to his younger brother Nagao Kagefusa. When the clan was destroyed by Takeda Shingen and their territory lost, the family escaped into Echigo. There Kagefusa became a monk, and Kagetaka was adopted by Naoe Sanetsuna when he married Sanetsuna's daughter, Osen-no-Kata. He succeeded his adopted father as master of Yoita Castle in 1577 and was a vassal of Uesugi Kenshin. He promptly took the side of Uesugi Kagekatsu during the war for succession after Kenshin's death and mobilized the members of the Naoe Clan at the castle to subdue Kagetora's troops.

After the intra-house war and Kagekatsu's victory, a question of reward was called into question. Yasuda Akimoto, one of Kagekatsu's trusted commanders, had promised rewards to Shibata Shigeie, Mouri Hidehiro, and others to convince them to join Kagekatsu's side. However, Yamazaki Hidenori, Naoe, and others objected, for they had risked life and limb at Kasugayama Castle from the very beginning of the battle, while Shibata Shigeie and the others had been lured by promise of reward from Yasuda Akimoto.

Yasuda Akimoto committed suicide when he could not keep his promise of reward. Later, Mouri Hidehiro, carrying a grudge for his death, murdered Yamazaki Hidenori at Kasugayama Castle; Naoe, who was with him at the time and took up a sword to defend himself, was killed as well. His death ended the Naoe line, which Kagekatsu later resurrected by marrying Naoe's widow, Osen-no-Kata to Higuchi Kanetsugu and commanding him to take the Naoe name.

In Mirage of Blaze: According to Kousaka Danjou, and Houjou Ujiteru he was the ringleader of Uesugi Kagekatsu's forces in the Otate no Ran. He is now Uesugi Kagetora's protector and one of the Yasha-shuu under his command. He alone, as Kagetora's protector, was given the power to perform kanshou on other souls, a power he used to force Kagetora's soul into Minako's body.

Also called: Oda Kippoushi
Title: Kazusa no Suke, Owari no Kami

Historically: The first of the "Three Unifiers"; born in Owari to a samurai, his unbridled, ruthless ambitious and military tactical genius enabled him to gain control of the imperial court in 1573 after having driven the shogun out of Kyoto. His seal read "the realm subjected to military power". Murdered at the age of forty-nine by his vassal Akechi Mitsuhide in the Honnou-ji in Kyoto.

Birthday: July 23
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 134 lbs
Blood type: O
Possessed by: Uesugi Kagetora

At the beginning of the story Takaya is a seventeen-year-old high school delinquent with no memory of his past. His parents divorced when he was a first-year junior high school student, probably because his father started drinking when his business failed. His mother remarried and lives in Sendai.

He was born and raised in Matsumoto and lives there with his sister, Miya. He attends Jouhoku High and is in the same class (Year Two Group Three) as his best friend, Narita Yuzuru.

Notes: He appears as 'Takaya' in narration. Nagahide and Haruie call him 'Kagetora', and Naoe calls him 'Kagetora-sama' and 'Takaya-san'. Most of the students at Jouhoku High call him 'Ougi-kun' (Chiaki calls him 'Ougi' at school). Miya calls him 'Onii-chan', and Yuzuru calls him 'Takaya'.

Also called: Takeda Katsuchiyo, Takeda Harunobu
Title: Shinano no Kami

Historically: Daimyo of Kai who became the head of the Takeda clan by rebelling against his father. Conquered Shinano and fought against Uesugi Kenshin. The two clans clashed five times on the plains of Kawanakajima, where neither gained complete victory until Shingen died of illness in his campaign against Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Also called: Nagao Kiheiji (長尾喜平次), Nagao Akikage (長尾顕景), Nagao Kagekatsu (長尾景勝)

Historically: One of Uesugi Kenshin's nephews, he was adopted by Kenshin and named Kenshin's heir along with Uesugi Kagetora. Following Kenshin's death in 1578, he provoked the feud against Kagetora in the Otate no ran for succession. His forces won over those of Kagetora in 1579, and he forced Kagetora to commit suicide. He lost the Uesugi's western holdings to Oda Nobunaga, and later submitted to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, under whom he rose to prominence to become a member of the council of five regents appointed by Hideyoshi to protect the Toyotomi rule.

As a general under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Kagekatsu received the 1.2 million-koku fief of Aizu in addition to his 550,000-koku fief of Echigo. After Toyotmi's death, Kagekatsu was one of the first daimyo to plan revolt against Tokugawa Ieyasu with the building of a new castle in Aizu and the accumulation of troops, and could be said to have least partly begun the Battle of Sekigahara. He refused a summons from Tokugawa to go to the capital to explain himself, and attacked with a 50,000 army, which were held back by Mogami Yoshiaki and Date Masamune. Kagekatsu was defeated early at the siege of his castle at Shiroishi and declared his allegiance to Tokugawa.

Afterwards, Kagekatsu was given the 300,000-koku Yonezawa-han in the Northeast.

Title: Jibu Shousuke (治部少輔)

Historically: Master of Yasuda Castle. The Yasuda family had served the Nagao Clan from the time of Nagao Tamekage (late 1400s). Nagahide supported Nagao Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin) in the coup d'etat against Nagao Harukage, so was a close aide of Kenshin from early on. He fought in many of Kenshin's wars against Takeda Shingen, Oda Nobunaga, and Houjou Ujiyasu.

He received a commendation for bravery at the 4th battle of Kawanakajima along with six other commanders, including Irobe Katsunaga.

He supported Uesugi Kagekatsu in the Otate no Ran after Kenshin's death. He died in 1582 of illness in the midst of Shibata Shigeie's rebellion. (Other accounts mention 1585, 1592.)

Though he shared the same family name as Yasuda Kagemoto and Yasuda Akimoto, also vassals of the Uesugi Clan, he was descended from a different family.

In Mirage of Blaze: he was summoned by Uesugi Kenshin to become one of the Yasha-shuu and is second in power only to Uesugi Kagetora.