To possess another's body, driving out their soul, so as to be reborn with memories intact. Only Naoe of all the kanshousha has the power to perform kanshou on another soul.

Also known as: Hongan-ji Kennyo, Hongan-ji Kousa

Chief Abbot of Ishiyama Hongan Temple, fortress of the Ikkou-ikki, Kennyo became the 11th head of the Hongan Temple in Kyoto upon his father Shounyo's death in 1554, when he was 12. Kennyo was renowned as a strategist who engineered many alliances in the Sengoku Era and made Ishiyama Hongan Temple virtually unbreachable. His wife was the third daughter of Sanjou Kinyori (sister to Takeda Shingen's wife, Sanjou-no-kata), and they got along very well.

Kennyo aided Shingen by persuading the Ikkou sectarians in Kaga Province to rise up against Uesugi Kenshin. He allied himself with Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and created an anti-Oda alliance with the Takeda, Asakura, Azai, and Mouri clans. The alliance failed upon Takeda Shingen's death in 1573.

In 1570, Oda Nobunaga laid siege to Ishiyama Hongan Temple, a siege that would last 10 years, the longest in Japan's history. Kennyo left the temple to attempt to raise reinforcements, and his son surrendered to Nobunaga by request of the Emperor.

Kennyo later enlisted the help of Ikkou sectarians for Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who granted Kennyo a new Hongan Temple (now known as Nishi-Hongan Temple) in 1589.

Kurama temple was said to have been founded in the 8th century by a disciple of the Chinese Buddhist monk Jianzhen, who dreamed of a spiritual power within Mount Kurama and constructed the temple at its base to harness this power. From the 12th century until 1949 it belonged to the Tendai sect; in the postwar era, abbot Kouun Shigaraki founded his own unaffiliated, esoteric religion and split the temple away from Buddhism.

Its original objects of worship represent Bishamonten, protector of the north, and the Thousand-Armed Kannon. A third object, the Defender Lord, was added later. Together, they form the 'Spiritual Kings of the World.'

Though secluded, the temple is popular with locals and is accessible by its own cable car line, the Kurama-dera Cable. It is believed that tengu and other mountain spirits live in this area.

The imperial capital of Japan from 794 to 1868, located in Kyoto Prefecture.

A term which comes from the Sanskrit "circle" or "completion" used to refer to any metaphysical or symbolic representation of the cosmos from the human perspective. Mandalas are used for focusing attention and as an aid to meditation.

The largest city in Nagano Prefecture, Matsumoto is surrounded by mountains and is acclaimed for its beautiful views.

Also known as: Oushuu (奥州)

The largest province of ancient Japan, situated in northern Honshuu, which was ruled by various clans during the Sengoku, including the Uesugi, Nambu, and Date. It was divided into the prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, and Aomori.

Lit. "Hail Eight-Sword Bishamonten" Chanted during "light-enclosing exorcism," the summoning of the Sword of Bishamonten, and other invocations to Bishamonten.

Shingon of Houtou Nyorai.

"naumaku sanmanda bodanan" = a devotion to the Buddhas/"homage to all the Buddhas"
"nan naku sowaka" = a general reverence

Also read as: ノウマク・サマンダボダナン・ラン・ラク・ソワカ
naumaku sanmanda bodanan ran raku sowaka - namaḥ samantabuddhānāṃ raṃ raḥ svāhā

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.

Lit. "roof monkey"; Uesugi Kenshin's ninja, who used a special technique which involved traveling on rooftops and entering houses from above. Their forte was hunting down other ninja, such as the Fuuma of the Houjou Clan and the Toppa of the Takeda Clan.

In Japanese mythology, the nue is a chimera formed from the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger, and a snake-tail. The nue can transform into a black cloud and brings illness and misfortune.

In Mirage of Blaze: The troops of the various clans, lumped-together masses of onryou, are called the «nue». Mori Ranmaru commands the Nue-shuu of the Oda, who are onryou with strong powers.

「オン・ベイシラマンダヤ・ソワカ」

A mantra calling upon / a homage to Bishamonten. (Beishiramandaya = Bishamonten.)

Lit.: "vengeful general": the spirits of the warlords of the Sengoku period, who continue their battles even in modern-age Japan.

Osaka Castle Park is a public park located at the site of Osaka Castle in central Osaka City and is the second largest park in the city. The site was the location of Ishiyama Hongan Temple, headquarters of the Ikkou Sect, destroyed by Oda Nobunaga in 1580. Toyotomi Hideyoshi began construction of Osaka Castle there three years later.

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.

Saga City is the capital city of Saga Prefecture, located on Kyushu, the most southwesterly of Japan's four main islands.

Sayuri was a favored concubine of Sassa Narimasa, said to be a peerless beauty, whom he brutally tortured and killed on suspicion of infidelity.

The story goes that Narimasa fell in love with Sayuri at first sight and made her his concubine. He lavished affection on her, and was overjoyed when she became pregnant in 1584. His other three concubines were jealous of Sayuri, and when Narimasa left Ecchuu on a trip to meet with Tokugawa Ieyasu in December of that year, spread the rumor that she was in secret communication with one of Narimasa's vassals, a man who had stayed behind at Toyama Castle because of illness, Takezawa Kumashirou (sp?) (竹沢熊四郎). They claimed that the child belonged to Kumashirou, not Narimasa.

Narimasa dismissed the rumors at first, but found a small brocade sachet at the door of Sayuri's bedroom which belonged to Kumashirou (said to have been placed there by the other concubines). He flew into rage and put Kumashirou to the sword on the spot. He then hanged Sayuri by her feet to a tree in the Jintsuu River Basin and slowly cut her to pieces. He also beheaded the 18 members of her family and crucified their bodies at the prison gates.

The scene is described in the Taikouki: at the moment of her death, Sayuri, her lips bitten through, bloody tears flowing down a once-beautiful face now twisted into a malevolent mask, cursed Narimasa: "As Narimasa beheads me here, my enmity shall a demon become, to grow year by year until I have killed all thine issue even unto the extinction of thy family name." Those watching covered their eyes, and those who heard felt their hair rise at those words.

Stories say that a drifting fire would appear on stormy nights at the spot where Sayuri died, and sometimes a freshly-severed head with wild hair waving in the air saying "Sayuri, Sayuri." The fire was called "Sayuri Fire". The story goes that Sayuri became a vengeful ghost whose curse later killed Sassa Narimasa (though not his children). Sightings of the fire occurred as late as the Meiji Era.

The hackberry tree from which Sayuri was said to have been hanged was burned during the air-raid of Toyama City in World War II. Two second-generation hackberry trees now stand on the spot.

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.

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.

Also known in Sanskrit as 'bīja' or 'seed', these 'seed syllables' are thought to be connected to spiritual principles in Esoteric Buddhism and are used in mantras. Bai is one example.

Takamatsu City is a port city located on the Seto Inland Sea in central Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was the capital of the Matsudaira clan during the Edo Period and flourished as a castle town and the port closest to Honshuu on Shikoku. The city was heavily bombed by Allied Forces during World War II because it was thought to contain industry vital to the war effort.

Nyctereutes procyonoides, the raccoon dog, which in Japanese mythology is depicted as a master of disguises and shape-shifting, and in character is mischievious and merry but also gullible and absent-minded.

lit. "Heavenly Dog"

Tengu are mythical creatures found in Japanese folklore and traditionally depicted with human, monkey and avian features. Though their shapes vary, typical characteristics include red faces, long noses, and wings. Beginning in the 13th century, tengu came to be associated with the mountain ascetics who practice Shugendou and are said to be protective spirits of the mountains and forests.