Aida Kengo is an elderly sailor of a cruiser that collides with a cargo ship in Osaka Bay.
Naoe and Ayako visit Aida Kengo at his home in Akashi City to interview him about the incident. He mentions to them that on the night of the collision, he witness WWII-style battleships as well as Sengoku-era iron-armored warship in the bay.
Birthday: Apr. 1
Height: 6'
Weight: 150 lbs
Blood type: B
Possessed by: Yasuda Nagahide.
The current incarnation of Yasuda Nagahide who shows up in Takaya's class one day after hypnotizing everyone into believing that he's been one of Takaya's best friends for ages. He is described as being a prodigy at Jouhoku High who is popular both with the teachers and the girls. He wears glasses, has a well-proportioned body, and gives the impression of cool maturity. He is around two years older than Takaya and lives alone. He appears to have cut off all ties with his family.
Notes: He appears as 'Chiaki' in narration. Naoe and Haruie call him 'Nagahide', and Takaya calls him Chiaki. Most of the students at Jouhoku High call him Chiaki-kun.
Historically: The name Fuuma Kotarou was given to each leader of the Fuuma Clan/organization of ninjas which served the Later Houjou Clan, starting with its first leader. The clan started information-gathering and espionage activities in the time of Houjou Souun, the founder of the Later Houjou Clan. The clan name began as 風間, composed of the characters for "wind" and "space", but was changed to its present form, a homophone composed of the characters for "wind" and "evil/demonic/magical."
In its 100 years of service to the Houjou Clan, the most renowned Fuuma Kotarou was the fifth, who served Houjou Ujimasa and his son Houjou Ujinao (unknown - 1603). Stories say that he was 7'1". One of his most famous exploits was in 1580 and the Battle of Kise-gawa, during which he slipped into the enemy camp at night and caused mass chaos. Another famous ninja, Ninokuruwa Isuke, also belonged to the Fuuma Clan.
After the destruction of the Houjou Clan, Kotarou and the Fuuma Clan became thieves near Edo. Kotarou was captured and executed in 1603 from information given by Kousaka Jinai, another ninja-turned-thief who formerly served the Takeda Clan.
In Mirage of Blaze: Fuuma Kotarou leads the Fuuma ninjas in service to the Houjou Clan. He is described as a tall, slender man with broad shoulders and a muscular but supple body. He wears his hair long, tied in a long tail that reaches to his waist.
One of the Meikai Uesugi Army and leader of the «Nokizaru», described as a man in his mid-thirties with a square, expressionless face and piercing, somewhat gloomy eyes. He operates under Kagetora's direct command.
A third-year at Hanayama Girls' School whose class field trip coincides with Takaya's at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. She is possessed by Lady Tomo as 'Youhiki' and flies away in the form of a red phoenix. Her friend Matsuyama Satsuki believes she was kidnapped.
In Mirage of Blaze: Lady Isari was the younger daughter of Kumagai Nobunao and a great beauty. When Kikkawa Motoharu decided that he would take a daughter of Nobunao to be his wife, everyone thought he would choose Isari instead of her ugly older sister Lady Tomo. In a jealous rage, Lady Tomo burned her younger sister's face. Isari was later sent to live in a secret village deep in the mountains to cover up the scandal; it was later revealed that Motoharu was going to choose Lady Tomo all along in order to win Nobunao's loyalty.
Upon her resurrection, Isari chose a beautiful young woman as her vessel and was described by Satsuki as a glamorous slender Julianna with long hair, dressed in a bodycon mini-dress and wearing bold red lipstick.
Isari worked with Yamanaka Shikanosuke of the Amago Clan and was thus a de facto ally of Oda. However, she pursued her own agenda of revenge upon her sister and was exceedingly mistrustful of Oda.
Kodama Narikata was a retainer of the Mouri Clan in Mouri Takamoto's service. He commanded the Mouri Navy and was lord of Kusatsu Castle in Aki.
In Mirage of Blaze, Narikata continued to serve Mouri as the commander of its navy and was on board the 'Yamato' with Kikkawa Motoharu during the battle of Itsuku Island.
A third-year at Hanayama Girls' School whose class field trip coincides with Takaya's at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. She believes her friend Hokamura Narumi was kidnapped and asks Takaya and company's help to find her.
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.
Possessed by: Takeda Shingen (temporarily)
Ougi Takaya's best friend and an honor student at his school.
Notes: He appears as 'Yuzuru' in narration. Takaya calls him 'Yuzuru'. Naoe calls him 'Yuzuru-san', and Chiaki calls him 'Narita'.
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'.
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.
Son of Shimotsuma Shinrai, Shimotsuma Rairyuu was a monk of Hongan Temple but said to be more devoted to politics and culture than military affairs. He had many merchant friends and joined them for tea ceremonies.
During the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War, he fought alongside his relatives Shimotsuma Yorisuke and Shimotsuma Raijun against Oda Nobunaga general Hosokawa Akimoto. In 1580 at the Ikkou Sect's surrender, he signed the peace treaty with his relatives Shimotsuma Rairen and Shimotsuma Nakataka.
A confidant of Kennyo's eldest son Kyounyo, he joined Kyounyo in a plot to retake Ishiyama Hongan Temple the following year and was rebuked by Kennyo. After Kennyo's death, Ishiyama Hongan Temple split into the Eastern Temple and Western Temple. Rairyuu followed Kyounyo to the Eastern Temple, where he became a monk magistrate. He married the daughter of Oda Nobutoki and had several children.
Shinjou-no-tsubone was the daughter of Kumagai Nobunao. Mirage of Blaze gives her name as Lady Tomo, but her real name is unknown. She married Kikkawa Motoharu in 1547 and gave birth to Motoharu's eldest son Kikkawa Motonaga the following year, followed by Mouri Motouji and Kikkawa Hiroie. Although their marriage was a marriage of convenience, it was said Shinjou-no-tsubone and Motoharu grew to love each other deeply, and Motoharu never took a concubine.
In the Intoku Taihei Chronicles by Sen'a, a warrior and poet of the mid-Edo Era, Shinjou-no-tsubone is described as having a 'white, pockmarked head' who 'walked bowlegged with a hunched back.' He called her 'a woman of once-in-a-generation ugliness.'
