Titles: Maou
Also called: The Slaughterer
Race: Mazoku

The 20th Maou of the Mazoku.

Title: Iyo no Kami

A Sengoku-era warrior and vassal of Uesugi Kenshin (he originally served Nagao Masakage at Sakato Castle).

He supported Uesugi Kagekatsu in the Otate no Ran after Kenshin's death and was appointed master of Noumine Castle for his military exploits. His eldest son, Higuchi Kanetsugu (Naoe Kanetsugu), also supported Kagekatsu.

He was succeeded by his third son Higuchi Hidekane upon his death.

Son of Asara and Mikenu-no-mikoto, his name means "Stalwart of the Himuka". Distant ancestor of the Miike family.

Race: Human

Yuuri meets Hiscruyff on the ship to Van der Veer Island during his quest for the demon sword Morgif. Hiscruyff introduces himself as being from Missinai. He has a beige mustache and wears a wig of the same color. He has a daughter around five years of age named Beatrice.

Yuuri later learns that Hiscruyff is actually the former crown prince of Cavalcade who eloped with a merchant girl from Hildyard. After his younger brother dies of illness without an heir, he is called back by the royal family and his daughter given the right to inherit the throne.

Son of Honjou Saneyori who, like his father, served Uesugi Kenshin. He was made master of Numata Castle.

After Kenshin's death, he took Uesugi Kagetora's side in the Otate no Ran. He escaped just before the surrender of the castle to Uesugi Kagekatsu. Afterwards, he continued to oppose Kagekatsu with Kanamari Chikatsuna of Sanjou Castle. In 1580, when Tochio Castle fell, he fled into the Aizu.

Title: Echizen no Kami

One of Uesugi Kenshin's most experienced but most troublesome retainers. His father, Honjou Fusanaga, was the head of the Honjou Clan, but his castle was stolen away by his younger brother Ogawa Nagasuke just before Shigenaga was born. He died soon after. Shigenaga became the head of his clan at a very young age with his uncle as his guardian. Shigenaga was said to have a strong, daring temperment from childhood. On the 13th anniversary of his father's dead, he had his uncle Nagasuke seized and drove him to suicide, thereby taking back the real power of the clan.

Though in the beginning he was hostile towards Nagao Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin), whom his uncle had supported, he became one of Kenshin's vassals in 1558 and fought in many of his battles, including the Battles of Kawanakajima. However, Shigenaga had a strong tendency towards independence; in 1568 he schemed with Takeda Shingen to declare his independence from Kenshin. The rebellion was put down by Kenshin, and Shigenaga surrendered with the intercession of Ashina Moriuji. His son and heir Honjou Akinaga was given as hostage, and Shigenaga was forgiven.

After Kenshin's death, he initially supported Uesugi Kagetora in the Otate no Ran, but surrendered to Uesugi Kagekatsu and later served him.

Also known as: 北条菊寿丸, Houjou Nagatsuna (北条長綱)

Historically: A warlord of the Houjou clan in the Sengoku province of Sagami, the fourth and youngest son of Houjou Souun and a concubine from the influential Katsurayama Clan. He entered Kongouou Temple, the bettou-ji (administrative temple) of Hakone Shrine, at a young age and later became its head. He took the name of Gen'an (lit. Phantom hermitage) upon his retirement.

He had three sons, all of whom died before him, and two daughters. He adopted Houjou Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora) as his heir, but the adoption was annulled when Kagetora was sent to Echigo. His grandson Ujitaka (son of his second son) later became his heir.

Houjou Genan was described as a master of horsemanship and archery who led armies, but also a man of culture who was skilled with his hands. He became elder statesman and trusted adviser to Ujiyasu and Ujimasa. He was 97 when he died (though opinions differ); eight months later, the Houjou clan was attacked by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and destroyed.

Also known as: Houjou Tsunanari, Kushima Tsunashige (福島綱成)

Houjou Tsunashige was born son of Kushima Masashige, a vassal of the Imagawa Clan. Most of his family was killed in battle with Hara Toratane of the Takeda Clan in 1521. A family vassal escaped with Tsunashige to Odawara, where he entered the service of Houjou Ujitsuna. His father was killed in the Iwagawa internal discord of 1536 between Imagawa Yoshimoto and his half brother Genkou Etan (there are also accounts that he escaped safely and joined Tsunashige).

Tsunashige found favor with Houjou Ujitsuna, who married one of his daughters to him and bequeathed him the Houjou name. The "tsuna" part of his name also came from Ujitsuna.

When the Houjou began fighting the Uesugi Clan in 1537, Tsunashige participated in many of battles. He continued to be a trusted commander of the clan after Ujitsuna died in 1541 and Houjou Ujiyasu became clan head. In 1546, during the siege and battle at Kawagoe Castle, he held out against an overwhelming enemy force for many months, finally achieving an astounding victory for the Houjou Clan.

In 1571 at the death of Ujiyasu, Tsunashige retired and gave over the family to his son, cutting off his hair and adopting a Buddhist name. He died in 1587 of illness.

Title: Sagami no Kami
Also known as: Matsuchiyomaru (松千代丸—childhood), Shinkurou (新九郎—nickname), 慈雲院松巌傑公 (posthumous)

Ujimasa was born in 1538 as the second son of Houjou Ujiyasu and his principle wife Zuikeiin, daughter of Imagawa Ujichika, and was older brother of Houjou Ujiteru, Houjou Ujikuni, Houjou Ujinori, Houjou Ujitada, Houjou Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora), and Houjou Ujimitsu. He became heir to the clan when his older brother Shinkurou died before reaching adulthood.

Ujimasa married Oubaiin, eldest daughter of Takeda Shingen and Sanjou-no-Kata, on the occasion of the three-way alliance between the Takeda, Imagawa, and Houjou clans in 1554. Their marriage was thought to be a happy one.

Ujimasa succeeded his father as the fourth head of the Sagami Houjou Clan in 1559 upon Ujiyasu's retirement. His first task upon becoming heir of the clan, per clan convention, was a a land survey evaluating how the Houjou lands were being used and the condition of the people serving on those lands. His relationship with his brothers was good throughout, and they were be a huge help to him in the governing of the clan.

In 1561, Uesugi Masatora (Uesugi Kenshin) of Echigo laid siege to Odawara Castle with a huge army gathered from the Kantou and south Mutsu. Under the leadership of his father Ujiyasu, Ujimasa was able to drive back the army. After the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, he was able to take back a large part of North Kantou from the Uesugi in concert with Shingen.

In 1568, seizing the opportunity presented by the decline of the Imagawa Clan after Imagawa Yoshimoto's death at Oda Nobunaga's hand, Takeda Shingen invaded Suruga, laying siege to Yoshimoto's heir, Imagawa Ujizane in Kakegawa Castle. Ujimasa led the Houjou forces to repel the Takeda army and formed an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu of Mikawa in order to rescue Ujizane (his brother-in-law by way of his younger sister Hayakawadono). Ujimasa then had Ujizane adopt his son Ujinao as his heir, thus giving the Houjou Clan a legitimate claim to the territory of Suruga. In order to hold back Takeda, he formed an alliance with his old enemy Uesugi Kenshin, giving his younger brother Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora) as hostage. The severing of ties with the Takeda Clan, however, meant the dissolution of his marriage with his beloved wife Oubaiin.

In 1569, Takeda Shingen laid siege to Odawara Castle, delivering a crushing defeat to the Houjou Clan (though recent analysis by historians indicate that Shingen lost a great many men as well). In 1570, Suruga belonged almost wholly to Shingen.

In October of 1571 upon his father's death, Ujimasa broke off his alliance with Kenshin and reformed the alliance with Shingen in accordance with his father's will, after which fighting between the Houjou and Uesugi clans flared up again.

Kenshin's death in 1578 triggered a fight for succession to the Uesugi Clan between his two adopted sons, Uesugi Kagekatsu and Uesugi Kagetora (the Otate no Ran). Ujimasa was tied up at that time in a confrontation with Satake Yoshishige and Utsunomiya Kunitsuna in Shimotsuke, so sent his brother Houjou Ujikuni to their brother's aid in his place while asking Takeda Katsuyori for reinforcements. Katsuyori betrayed the Houjou and formed an alliance with Uesugi Kagekatsu, and the Otate no Ran ended with Kagetora's death and Kagekatsu's succession.

Ujimasa broke off the alliance with the Takeda clan a second time and formed an alliance with Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu to attack the Takeda territory in a pincer movement, but shifting alliances and hard fighting left the conclusion unclear. In 1580 Ujimasa proposed to Oda Nobunaga, who had just taken Ishiyama Hongan Temple, that the Houjou Clan become a vassal of the Oda Clan, but Takeda Katsuyori managed to form an alliance with Oda first. Ujimasa retired from the position of clan head in the same year, but like his father before him still held onto the government and military affairs of the clan.

In the following years, the Houjou Clan managed to gain control over a vast territory: Sagami, Izu, Musashi, Shimousa, Kazusa, Hitara, Shimotsuke, and a part of Suruga. Interestingly, however, Ujimasa did not seem to hold the ambition of ruling the entire country, a tradition passed down from the founder of the Late Houjou Clan, Houjou Souun. Instead, Ujimasa concentrated on independence for the 8 Kantou provinces under Houjou rule and alliances with other strong warlords such as Tokugawa Ieyasu and Date Masamune.

In 1589, using Ujimasa's refusal to proceed to the capital to attend him as pretext, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gathered an army of 220,000 to lay siege to Odawara Castle. It overran castles in the Houjou territory in quick succession. The siege against Odawara Castle lasted from May to August. On August 4, Ujimasa offered to surrender his life for the lives of his men. Toyotomi demanded the lives of both Ujimasa and his brother Ujiteru, as well as the lives of their vassals Matsuda Norihide and Daidouji Masashige. Ujimasa and Ujiteru committed seppuku on August 10.

Ujimasa left behind the following tanka verses for his death poem:

「雨雲の　おほえる月も　胸の霧も　はらいにけりな　秋の夕風」
「我身今　消ゆとやいかに　おもふへき　空よりきたり　空に帰れば」

translated (Sadler 1978, pp. 160–161):

Autumn wind of eve,
blow away the clouds that mass
over the moon's pure light
and the mists that cloud our mind,
do thou sweep away as well.

Now we disappear,
well, what must we think of it?
From the sky we came.
Now we may go back again.
That's at least one point of view.

There is another verse which is sometimes attributed to his brother Ujiteru, but is most often attributed to Ujimasa:

「吹くと吹く　風な恨みそ　花の春　もみじの残る　秋あればこそ」

which may be translated:

The wind's resentment—
Oh, see how it blows against
The flowering spring.
Yet it will leave us anon
The bright colors of autumn.

Houjou Ujinao was the eldest son and heir of Houjou Ujimasa. His mother was Ujimasa's principle wife, Oubaiin, daughter of Takeda Shingen. He became the fifth head of the Later Houjou Clan in 1580 when his father retired. He married Tokuhime, daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1583 after a year of battles between the Houjou and Tokugawa armies over the provinces of Kouzuke, Shinano, and Kai, left masterless after the deaths of both Takeda Katsuyori and Oda Nobunaga.

After the Siege of Odawara in 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi spared Ujinao's life in part because he was Ieyasu's son-in-law. He was exiled to Mt. Kouya along with his brothers, uncles, and retainers. There he lived under house arrest until the beginning of 1591, when Toyotomi granted him a fief of 10,000-koku in Osaka and allowed his wife to join him there. However, he died there in November of the same year of smallpox at the age of 30.

Also known as: Sano Ujitada

Houjou Ujitada was the sixth-(possibly seventh-) born son of Houjou Ujiyasu (or possibly his brother Houjou Ujitaka), fifth son to survive childhood, younger brother of Houjou Ujimasa, Houjou Ujiteru, Houjou Ujikuni, and Houjou Ujinori, and older brother of Houjou Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora) and Houjou Ujimitsu. (There are also theories that he was the son of Houjou Ujitaka, Ujiyasu's younger brother). He married Jousan'in (sp?—乗讃院), daughter of Sano Munetsuna in 1586 upon Munetsuna's death in battle against Nagao Akinaga and became the head of the Sano Clan. (Later, however, the Sano Clan was absorbed by the mighty Houjou.)

During the Siege of Odawara, Ujitada barricaded himself in Odawara Castle. After the battle, he followed Houjou Ujinao to Mt. Kouya and later lived a reclusive life in Izu. After his death in 1593, Toyotomi Hideyoshi allowed his uncle-in-law Sano Fusatsuna to assume the title of clan head of the Sano Clan.

Title: Mutsu-no-Kami
Also known as: Houjou Genzou (北条源三), Ooishi Genzou (大石源三)

Ujiteru was the third-born son (second to survive to adulthood) of Houjou Ujiyasu, younger brother of Houjou Ujimasa, and older brother of Houjou Ujikuni, Houjou Ujinori, Houjou Ujitada, Houjou Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora), and Houjou Ujimitsu. He was widely extolled for his courage and wisdom.

In 1559, he married Hisa, the daughter of Ooishi Sadahisa, master of Takiyama Castle in Musashi, and became Ooishi's adopted son and heir. (Later, Ooishi became a vassal of the Houjou clan, and Ujiteru regained the Houjou surname.)

In the following years, Ujiteru followed his father into several battles with neighboring clans, which greatly increased the Houjou sphere of influence. He also excelled at diplomacy, and maneuvered the alliance between the Houjou and Uesugi clans into place in 1569. He also secretly built up diplomatic relations with the Date Clan. Though he wanted the clan to form an alliance with the Oda Clan during Oda's period in power, the plan fell through because of opposition within the family and Oda's death.

In 1569, while the Takeda army was en route to a siege of Odawara Castle, a detachment of the Takeda army led by Oyamada Nobushige attacked Takiyama Castle, penetrating all the way to the outermost wall. Ujiteru crossed spears with Takeda Katsuyori during the battle. Ujiteru's forces managed to stave them off, but dissatisfied with Takiyama's defenses, Ujiteru abandoned it in favor of Hachiouji Castle.

In September of 1579, Ujiteru and his younger brother Ujikuni went to the aid of their brother Uesugi Kagetora in the Otate no Ran, but were stopped short by snow and hard-fought battles.

In 1590, during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Siege of Odawara, he entrusted his main castle, Hachiouji Castle to a loyal vassal and barricaded himself in Odawara. Due to that fact, Toyotomi saw him as one of the pro-resistance leaders, and demanded his death along with his brother Ujimasa's. Ujiteru committed seppuku with Ujimasa on August 10.

He wrote as his death poem:

「天地の　清き中より　生まれきて　もとのすみかに　帰るべらなり」

which may be translated thus:

We are born into
the brightness betwixt heaven
and earth; yet there is
another dwelling to which
we must all someday return.

Ujiteru's tomb is located near Hachiouji Castle.

Title: Sagami-no-Kami
Also known as: The Tiger of Sagami, The Lion of Sagami

Son of Houjou Ujitsuna and third head of the Late Houjou Clan, one of the greatest daimyo of the Sengoku in both military and political arenas. He expanded the Houjou holdings to five territories and battled both Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin over the Kantou and Suruga regions.

He retired in 1560 and handed over the clan to his eldest son Houjou Ujimasa, but continued to guide the clan until his death of palsey or stomach cancer in 1571. He made an alliance with the Takeda Clan in 1562 and gave over his 7th son, Houjou Saburou, to Takeda Shingen for adoption.

Houjou Ujiyasu was a great admirer of poetry, culture and learning as well as a outstanding administrator who created unique bureaucratic organizations such as litigation processes for the ruling of his lands. He was much beloved of his people and widely mourned at his death.

Race: Human

One of the five children in the first village (composed of human refugees) Yuuri passes through in Shinma Kingdom, a boy of about ten who seems terrified that the King will cut off their heads and burn down their houses.

A student at Fukashi Junior High School one year older than Takaya, who fawns over Mitsui and resents the fact that Takaya was allowed to join his gang while he was not. Friends with Yokomori.

An Earth Sciences teacher at Old Castle High School who died in the six months after Mikuriya Juri takes over the student council and before Takaya and Chiaki infiltrate the school. Like Nakajima and Akiyama, he was elderly and opposed the gym renovation project.

Also known as: Ikeda Katsushige, Ikeda Shigenari, Araki Kyuuzaemon

Ikeda Tomomasa was the eldest son of Ikeda Nagamasa of Settsu Province, but his father chose another son, Ikeda Katsumasa, to succeed as clan head upon his death due to his superior accomplishments in literary and military arts. Other accounts claim that Tomomasa was an illegitimate son.

Tomomasa plotted with a retainer of the clan, Araki Murashige, to overthrow Katsumasa and send him into exile. He then assumed the position of clan head. Araki later abandoned the Ikeda Clan to serve Oda Nobunaga. Tomomasa allied himself with an enemy of the Oda and was driven into exile. Araki took the opportunity to seize control of the Ikeda Clan. Tomomasa eventually surrendered to Oda, who made him a retainer of Araki Murashige.

When Araki rebelled against Oda and escaped to Amagasaki Castle he entrusted Arioka Castle to Tomomasa and the other retainers, who surrendered the castle to Oda upon his pledge that no harm would befall their wives and children "if Amagasaki Castle and Hanakuma Castle were surrendered to me." Tomomasa and others rode for Amagasaki in order to persuade Araki to surrender, but he refused to receive them. Tomomasa et. al. took flight instead of returning to Arioka Castle, abandoning their families. Oda ordered all hostages to be executed to make an example of them.

One of Takaya's classmates at Old Castle High School in junior class B who is known as a celebrity-chaser. She's a superfan of Shiba Eiji and was very excited to see him live on tour. She's described as having shoulder-length hair. She has a sister who lives in Fukuoka.

She's known Miike Tetsuya, whom she calls Te-chan, since she was in primary school and seems to take being shoved to the ground and dismissiveness from him as a matter of course.

She is also friends with Koganezawa Kyouko and Satou Emi (a fellow SEEVA fan) in junior class C and a girl in her own class she calls Ma-chan.

Also known as: Inaba Masashige

A vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu who also served Toyotomi Hideyoshi like his father, Inaba Ittetsu.

Historically: In the Sengoku era, he served three generations of the Nagao Clan: Nagao Tamekage, Nagao Harukage, and Uesugi Kenshin and was master of Hirabayashi Castle. He was one of Kenshin's most respected generals and Kenshin's military chief of staff. He was killed at the siege of the rebellious Honjou Shigenaga's castle.

In Mirage of Blaze: One of the Yasha-shuu under Uesugi Kagetora's command. He is the only one out of the five Yasha-shuu who survives the battle with Oda Nobunaga thirty years before the start of Volume 1, and carries on the mission alone while the others are reborn. He is a baby when Naoe finds Kagetora again thirty years later, having only performed kanshou two years previously.

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.

Uesugi Kagetora's vassal and attendant. Historical status unknown, possibly fictional.

Also known as: Puncho Itou

Itou Kazuo was a Japanese professional baseball player in the Pacific League. During downtimes his hobby was to tour all the Major League ballparks in the US, where he picked up the "Puncho" nickname because he was thought to look like a Mexican. He later became a baseball commenter who helped build close ties between the Japanese and American baseball leagues.

Head of the Iwaki Clan and a military commander of the Sengoku era, son of Iwaki Chikataka. His father became a vassal of the Satake Clan to inherit the position of clan head, but in compensation the third son of Satake Yoshishige was adopted into the clan as Iwaki Sadataka and heir to the clan.

In 1590, Tsunetaka participated in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign against Odawara Castle and was given land as a reward, but died soon after.