The "warring states" period, lasting from 1467 to 1615, in which the warlords of Japan battled each other for the rule of the country.

Lit.: "ceremony god"; spirits summoned through ceremony to do the bidding of the summoner, much like familiars.

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

Lit: "lion threat"/"deer scarer"; the water fountains found in Japanese gardens that make rhythmic clacking sounds. They are usually made of bamboo and constructed on a pivot with water flowing into one end of the bamboo. The bamboo tube tips over when it fills, making a sharp sound. This was a construction originally designed to scare away deer grazing on plants in the garden.

A battle fought between Date Masamune and Ashina Yoshihiro on June 5, 1589 in which Date Masamune defeated the Ashina Clan in one of the bloodiest battles of the Sengoku in northern Japan. Around 2300 of the Ashina were killed, many of them drowned when they tried to cross the Nitsubashi River after the Date forces had destroyed the bridge.

Lit.: "Chronicles of Tranquility"; a work of classical Japanese literature spanning forty volumes and documenting events from 1318 to 1368, the Taiheiki is a war chronicle written primarily about the war between the Northern Court of Shogun Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto and the Southern Imperial Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino.

The "Tranquility" in its title is thought to be a prayer for peace or a prayer for the repose of the dead.

Also known as: Festival of the Weaver, Weaver Star Festival

A festival held on July 7th celebrating an ancient Chinese legend, in which Altair (the Cowherd Star) and Vega (the Weaver Star), who were divided by the River of Heaven (the Milky Way) come together for this one night of the year. On this day people decorate the branches of a bamboo with colored strings and strips of paper on which poems or proverbs have been written. The Tanabata Festival is most famous in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture and Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Also known as: tokko-sho, toko-sho, dokko-sho, dokuko-sho (独鈷杵)

A rod-shaped object with tapered pointed ends used in Esoteric Buddhism rituals, which represents the indestructible nature of Buddhist law and the power to defeat evil. The tokko is one type of vajra.

A train station located in the Tokyo metropolitan area, called the doorway to Tokyo. It is one of the busiet train stations in Japan, with more than 4000 arrivals and departures daily. The station opened in 1914 and is a massive complex with underground passageways to surrounding commercial and shopping buildings.

The Touhoku (Northeast) University Hospital is a research hospital affiliated with Touhoku University in Sendai.

Also known as: Michinoku (みちのく)

The northeast area of Japan's main island of Honshuu, the Touhoku consists of the prefectures of Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi and Yamagata. It is a mountainous region which is known for having breathtaking scenery but a harsh climate.

Artifacts and items that are older than 100 years and become spirits who are alive and aware. (The characters were originally written "九十九", meaning "ninety-nine" and were later changed to the homonym "付喪神", with the characters for "adhere", "mourning", and "god").

In Mirage, however, the kaki are also a type of tsukumogami.

Also known as: possibly Houjou Ujihide (北条氏秀), Houjou Saburou (北条三郎), Saburou Kagetora (三郎景虎)

Historically: Uesugi Kagetora was the seventh son (sixth to survive to adulthood) of Houjou Ujiyasu, younger brother of Houjou Ujimasa, Houjou Ujiteru, Houjou Ujikuni, Houjou Ujinori, Houjou Ujitada, and older brother of Houjou Ujimitsu. His mother was the sister-in-law of Tooyama Yasumitsu, a vassal of the Houjou Clan (other sources say Zuikeiin, Ujiyasu's principle wife). It's likely that he and Houjou Ujihide were two different people and that Ujihide was the son of Houjou Tsunashige and living in Edo while Saburou was living in Echigo, so most historians refer to him as Houjou Saburou when describing his early life.

As a child, he was sent into the priesthood at Souun Temple in Hakone, then sent as hostage to Takeda Shingen of the Takeda Clan in the three-way alliance between Houjou, Takeda, and Imagawa formed in 1554 (though this last point is now in dispute, as it is told only in the Records of Ancient Battles of the Eight Kanto Provinces and recorded in none of the Takeda Clan records.)

He was adopted by his uncle Houjou Genan in 1569 and married Genan's daughter.

When the Houjou and Uesugi clans formed an alliance in 1569, Saburou was sent to Uesugi Kenshin in an exchange of hostages with Kakizaki Haruie. (At first, the hostage was set to be Houjou Ujimasa's third son Kunimasumaru, but Ujimasa could not bring himself to send off his son, who was then still a baby.) Saburou was sent to the Uesugi clan in early 1570. Kenshin, who never married, developed a liking for the handsome and intelligent Saburou. He married his niece Seienin, the daughter of Nagao Masakage and older sister of Nagao Akikage (Uesugi Kagekatsu) to Saburou, gave him the name Kagetora (a name that had once belonged to Kenshin himself), and adopted him into the Uesugi Clan.

When Kenshin died suddenly in 1578 without naming an heir, Kagetora and Kagekatsu, similarly adopted by Kenshin, fought for succession to the position of clan head (the Otate no Ran). Though Kagetora held the early advantage with the backing of Uesugi vassals such as Uesugi Kagenobu, Honjou Hidetsuna, Kitajou Takahiro, and the Houjou Clan, the tide of the battle turned with Takeda Katsuyori's betrayal to Kagekatsu's side.

When the Otate fell in 1579, Kagetora attempted to escape to Odawara Castle, but was betrayed at Samegao Castle by Horie Munechika and committed suicide. His wife committed suicide along with him (though there are also accounts that she remained behind at the Otate and committed suicide there when her brother Kagekatsu refused Kagetora's surrender.) His oldest son Doumanmaru died at the hands of Kagekatsu's troops along with Uesugi Norimasa, and the rest of his children were believed to have died along with their parents.

In Mirage of Blaze: He was born to Houjou Ujiyasu and Zuikeiin as their eighth (seventh to survive to adulthood) and youngest son. After his death in the Otate no Ran, he was charged by Uesugi Kenshin to become kanshousha in order to ensure that the peace of Japan is not disrupted by the onshou as the leader of the Yasha-shuu and the commander of the Meikai Uesugi Army.

The last letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, pronounced with the mouth closed. Represents omega, ending, and exhalation.

The eastern entrance into Tokyo Station, located in the center of the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Lit.: "Mountain-shaped", the City of Yamagata is the capital of Yamagata Prefecture, founded in 1889.

Also known as: Yakṣa

Warriors of Bishamonten, who are minor deities sometimes depicted as harmless guardians and nature spirits and sometimes as human-devouring demons.

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.

Also known as: Ohigashi-no-Kata (お東の方), nickname—Demon Princess of the Ouu (奥羽の鬼姫), Hoshunin (保春院).

Mother of Date Masamune, daughter of Mogami Yoshimori and younger sister of Mogami Yoshiaki, Yoshihime was born in Yamagata Castle in Dewa. She was given in marriage at the age of 19 to Date Terumune and bore him two sons, Date Masamune and Date Kojirou. She hated her first-born, Masamune, due to his one-eyed state, and favored his younger brother Kojirou. There was additional tension between them due to Yoshihime leaking information to her relatives in the Mogami Clan even while they were fighting with the Date Clan. In 1585, upon Terumune's death, she decided to have Masamune killed to allow Kojirou to become head of the Date clan.

In 1590, when Masamune was participating in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign against Odawara Castle, Yoshihime personally brought Masamune a meal laced with poison. Though Masamune consumed the poison, he was able to counteract it with the antidote. He then had Kojirou commit seppuku. Afterwards, Yoshihime returned to the Mogami Clan.

In 1614, upon Mogami Yoshiaki's death, internal strife split the Mogami Clan. In 1622, Yoshihime could no longer sustain her status in the Mogami Clan, and asked Masamune to return, which he allowed. She went to live in Sendai Castle and died there a year later at the age of 76.

It was thought from the contents of the letters and poems mother and son exchanged that Yoshihime was reconciliated with Masamune in her latter years.