spirit foxes

A railroad station located in central Kooriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. It is a terminal station for many of the bullet train lines of Northeast Japan.

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 book containing detailed descriptions and statistics of the military exploits of the Takeda Clan, compiled by Kousaka Danjou Masanobu and completed by Obata Kagenori. It chronicles strategy, tactics, and outcomes of the major battles of the Takeda, including those of Takeda Shingen and Takeda Katsuyori.

Lit. "power-absorbing barrier": a unique barrier which absorbs the «power» of anyone trapped inside such that they cannot call upon their spiritual abilities. The maker of the barrier must put considerable negative energy, such as anguish and enmity, into its creation, either from him/herself or from other souls.

Holy Priest Mankai was a one-eyed mountain ascetic who built a temple in Mutsu-no-Kuni, Miyagi-gun. Legend has it that Date Masamune, as he approached death and while deciding upon the place where he would be laid to rest, vividly recalled that he was the reincarnation of this man.

Also known as: Yoshihime, Youtokuin (陽徳院)

Only daughter of Tamura Kiyoaki who married Date Masamune in 1579 at the age of 12. An assassination attempt against Masamune caused him to suspect the Tamura clan, and he ordered the executions of Megohime's nurse and several of her attendants. Their marital relations became strained by these events, but were eventually mended, and Megohime gave Masamune four children, including his heir Date Tadamune.

She lived at the Date mansion in the court of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and acted as her husband's diplomat to the court. In 1636, at the death of Masamune, Megohime became a nun and took the Buddhist name of Youtokuin.

Formerly part of the province of Mutsu ruled by Date Masamune, its capital city is Sendai, where Masamune built his castle, which is now the largest city of the Northeast. Miyagi Prefecture was originally named Sendai Prefecture.

Mogami Yoshiyasu was the eldest son and heir of Mogami Yoshiaki, but the two were not on good terms. In 1611, while en route from house arrest to Mount Kouya, he was attacked and badly wounded. He killed himself, crying "Damn you, cruel Father!"

Literally: "seal"; symbolic gestures usually made with the hands that imparts a specific quality to the user. In Esoteric Buddhism, each deity has his or her own mudra, which is used in conjunction with a mantra to perform a specific spell.

The capital city of Nagano Prefecture, which grew from a small town around a 17th-century Buddhist temple.

Also known as: Higuchi Kanetsugu (樋口兼続)

Born the eldest son of Higuchi Kanetoyo, Kanetsugu was a chief retainer of Uesugi Kenshin who supported Uesugi Kagekatsu in the Otate no Ran after Kenshin's death. When Naoe Nobutsuna was killed over the question of reward after the intra-house war without an heir, ending the noble Naoe family line, Uesugi Kagekatsu ordered Kanetsugu (22) to marry Naoe Nobutsuna's widow, Osen-no-Kata (25), and take the Naoe family name. The two got along so well that Kanetsugu never took a concubine.

Kanetsugu was famously known to wear the character '愛' (love) on his helmet.

Also: "onee-san (お姉さん)", "onee-sama (お姉さま)", "onee-chan (お姉ちゃん)", "nee-sama (姉さま)", "nee-san (姉さん)", "nee-chan (姉ちゃん)", "ane-ue (姉上)"

"Older sister"—like nii-san, one of those very simple terms which is unfortunately difficult to translate because of the differences in usage between English and Japanese. In Japanese, it is much more natural to call your (older) sister "nee-san" or "onee-san" rather than by their given name. It connotates a degree of respect and at the same time a certain closeness. ("Onee-sama" indicates more formality; "ane-ue" indicates even more formality, i.e. "honorable sister"; "onee-chan" indicates less familiarity.)

One can also use "onee-san" to refer politely to an unrelated slightly older female.

In Mirage of Blaze, Takaya initially calls Ayako "Onee-san" (actually, "おねーさん") and later "Nee-san" ("ねーさん"), which has a somewhat slangy feel to it, and might actually be translated as "Sis" if it had the same rough connotation as "Bro".

Lit.: "waves of will/thought"; a nendouryoku attack using spiritual energy which focuses the will and releases it in a burst to strike at a target.

A prefecture in north-central Honshuu Island stretching along the Sea of Japan; its capital is Niigata City. The prefecture was combined from the ancient provinces of Echigo and Sado.

「のうまくさまんだ　ぼだなん　ばいしらまんだや　そわか」

A mantra of Bishamonten which protects the caster from fatigue and calamity, usually used when starting a long or complex invocation.

"noumakusamanda bodanan" = a devotion to the Buddhas/"homage to all the Buddhas".
"Baishiramandaya" = a reverence to Bishamonten, or "hail Bishamonten!"

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.

「オン・バザラギニ・ハラチハタヤ・ソワカ」

Also known as: hikougosin (被甲護身)

An incantation that casts a spiritual suit of armor around the receiver.

One description of the casting says: "Imagine that you have put on the armor of the Great Compassion and the Great Mercy of the Tathagata (Buddha), that all the demons and all those who would hinder the practitioner now see him enclosed in bright light and flames, like the orb of the sun."

「オン・キリ・カク・ウン・ソワカ」

The mantra of Dakini, a Buddhist deity who eats the hearts of the dead and is associated with the fox.

「オン・ソワハンバ・シュダ・サラバタラマ・ソワハンバ・シュドハン」

Also known as: jousangou "purification of the three" (浄三業)

An incantation that purifies the body, words, and mind. Used before a complex invocation.

Lit.: "vengeful ghost"; the spirits of those who died in the Sengoku period who are still so filled with rage and hatred that they continue to exist in the world as vengeful spirits instead of being purified and reborn.

The City of Osaka is the capital of Osaka Prefecture and the commercial and gourmet food center of Japan.

Also known as: reisa-nouryoku (霊査能力)

Lit.: "Spiritual investigation"; the ability to use the spiritual senses to distinguish between residual thought signatures, and thus recognize spiritual entities. A person with a high-level form of this ability could potentially recognize souls by the pattern of their "soul-nucleus", which is the part of the soul that remains unchanged through purification and rebirth, especially if they had met that person before previously. Haruie and Kousaka both excel at this ability, though Kousaka seems to be one of the few to possess a very high-level form of it.

Lit.: "hypnotic barrier"; a barrier erected for the purpose of hypnotizing or brainwashing all living beings and spirits within its radius; a jike-kekkai can be used for this purpose.