Main Characters
Civilians, Rokuhara Shogunate, General Headquarters, Unaffiliated People, Tsurugi And Cruxes, Past Characters
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Ashikaga Clan
Shogun Moriuji Ashikaga
Moriuji Ashikaga
The current shogun who rules over Yamato with an iron fist, with the ambition of expelling foreigners and asserting his own authority over its people.
- A Million Is a Statistic: To him, losing half of Yamato's population in war is of no concern to him. All he wants is more conquest, damn the cost.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Just like Kageaki, he is incredibly able to read his opponent to assure his victory. In fact he was able to deduce that Kageaki was an assassin simply from the fact that he had made the mistake of keeping exactly the right distance between them to be out of reach for his sword.
- Big Bad Wannabe: As the Ashikaga Shogun, he's supposed to be the main threat, but his actions pales in comparison of the widespread destruction caused by Ginseigo, ultimately making him no more than a nuisance in the grand scheme of things.
- Despotism Justifies the Means: Even if all that is left is a land of corpses he wouldn't care. Conquering the land is all he cares about.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: His death is simply mentioned in a newspaper at the start of both Ichijo's and Kanae's routes.
- Evil Gloating: The guy really likes to go on about his idea of conquest, even when his opponent is Ginseigo.
- Evil Overlord: He is an incredibly tyrannical man who readily abuses his power over Yamato. It is also revealed that GHQ was counting on this as his tyranny will make him so hated that they then can move in and "save" Yamato from him, earning themselves an easy victory.
- Flat Character: As it turns out, this guy has no higher goals or traits, no Freudian Excuse, no well intentioned hidden plan. He just wants to conquer for conquests sake. He doesn't even wanna rule what he conquers. Just conquer, conquer and conquer some more. Its where his character begins and ends. While Kageaki was initially hesitant to assassinate Moriuji due to knowing the true meaning of the Law of Balance, this vanishes once he sees just how one-dimensional of a character the shogun is. Even Hikaru was left disappointed by the revelation.
- Killed Offscreen: In Ichijo's and Kanae's routes he is killed at the start of the chapter with his death simply being mentioned in a newspaper with Akitaka revealing that there was just a crater left of the shrine he had been visiting at the time.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: He is not afraid to turn tail and run if things aren't going well for him while still keeping his mind on the objective.
- Not Enough to Bury: When killed, all that was left was a crater with nothing left to even fill an urn with.
- Old Soldier: He is an old and seasoned warrior with loads of experience making him quite the dangerous foe to face.
- Secret Art: He has a handle of a technique called a kulbit, allowing him to fly in his tsurugi even in tight spaces by realigning himself at the last second before pushing of the walls to gain more speed.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: He is clearly someone who doesn't take the threat of Ginseigo seriously despite all the warnings. When he has to face her down himself he seems to think it is a good idea to gloat in front of her. She promptly smacks him away like a fly.
- Trouble Entendre: Offers some quite unsettling words for Prince Haruhiro after he foiled a traitorous faction under the prince's command, masked as him simply dealing with some pesky backstabbers. After all, there is no way the prince could have been responsible for this, right?
- We Were Your Team: In routes where he's assassinated, the Four Generals fall to squabbling among themselves, but none of them can seize the advantage. Haruhiro and Akitaka think that's Just as Planned.
Kuniuji Shiro Ashikaga
Kuniuji Shiro Ashikaga
The young grandson of Moriuji, who's the next in line for the succession. As he lived a cloistered life surrounded with servants due to his status, he became apathetic to his status as the heir.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Kageaki guesses he is little more than twelve and he is already in a position of leadership over the Rokuhara Shogunate after the death of his grandfather.
- Arranged Marriage: In the Nemesis route he is to be married to Kanae's sister Hanae as a means for Shishiku to consolidate power.
- Authority in Name Only: As Doshin points out while doing something very nasty against his orders, as the uncrowned grandson of the shogun he doesn't have any real power. He doesn't even have authority over his bodyguards, and even his attendants can get away with snickering at his mistakes.
- Children Are Innocent: Even though he is the current head of a ruthless Shogunate he is just a little boy who would much rather practice soccer than actually rule.
- Fainting: After Sakurako sends him a slightly racy thank-you for his gift of flowers, he faints, embarrassed.
- Flower Motifs: He has Kageaki take Sakurako a bouquet of matthiolas, symbolic of compassion, sympathy and hope for the future.
- Heroic BSoD: Powerless to stop Doshin from raping Sakurako on stage, he collapses in grief and is explicitly described as having broken.
- Lonely at the Top: Due to his status as the future shogun, he is only surrounded by sycophantic servants and cold bodyguards and has no one he can call an equal leaving him mostly alone.
- Lonely Together: Sakurako accurately interprets his gift of matthiolas to mean that they are both in lonely positions and that he would like to walk by her side. She doesn't seem too opposed to the idea—and then that damn "noh play" happens.
- Love at First Sight: Ends up completely smitten by Sakurako the first time he meets her and tries to mend things between the two houses.
- Mutual Kill: He gets killed by a vengeful Sakurako and with his last strength he tearfully manages to slit her throat before he perishes.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents are implied to be dead, his grandfather doesn't so much as talk about him, and his uncle Raicho just sees him as a pawn and resents the fact that he'll inherit.
- Puppet King: In spite of being the grandson of the Shogun he has very little actual power due to his age, something that Shishiku takes full advantage of to legitimize his own standing.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Due to his status he has been forced to live an incredibly sheltered life, to the point that he doesn't even know how to put on or lace his shoes.
- That's an Order!: When he has had enough of Doshin's depravity he invokes his position as prince for him to stop. Neither Doshin nor the princes guards listen to him, nor does anyone in the audience for fear of Doshin's reprisal. Even Kageaki and Ichijo can't do anything.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He was just an innocent kid who had really done nothing wrong and even had tried to mend things only for things to go oh so horribly awry, getting killed by the girl he had fallen in love with.
- The Wise Prince: He's young, but he's eager to learn, as well as treating his social inferiors with respect. Kageaki believes that he has potential to be a good ruler if he comes into his own.
- Yes-Man: Not the prince himself, but rather the numerous people that constantly surround him, constantly giving him hollow praise and never given him any sort of useful critique or advice to help him improve. A big reason to why he warms up to Kageaki so quickly as he speaks up and gives him advice.
The Four Generals
Shishiku Otori
Shishiku Otori
The Governor of Sasagawa Province, who was involved in a coup against the Otori Clan. He's known for his devotion to his deceased foster father and his ambition, due to his rapid rise through the ranks at his young age.
- Arc Villain: He's the main target of Kanae during the events of Nemesis, as the one who killed her father to take over the Otori clan.
- Bad Boss: He will not hesitate to cut down his subordinates if he thinks they are underperforming.
- Big Bad: He takes over as the main villain of the Nemesis route due to Hikaru being killed very early on from the nuke.
- Big Brother Instinct: Despite having been separated from his brother for a long time he still longs for his sibling. This ends up serving as motivation for him wanting to have Kageaki under his wing as he reminds him of his brother. It's heavily implied Kageaki IS his brother. During the Nemesis route you learn Shishiku's surname before he got adopted into the Otori family was Arata, the same surname Kageaki had before being adopted by the Minato. They also share a certain physical resemblance, and Shishiku mentions his brother would be "about (Kageaki's) age".
- Big Damn Heroes: Villainous example, he shows up just in time to turn the tide during the siege of Fudaraku Fortress with not only state of the art tsurugi, but a whole air battleship in tow.
- Character Tics: Has something of a habit of keeping his right eye closed, only really opening it whenever he starts to lose his temper.
- Chekhov's Skill: As a former assassin, he possesses several skills to get around his opponent on a duel. One such technique has him pointing his sword towards the enemy in a specific pattern in order to throw off his balance and accuracy. This becomes important near the end of Nemesis, where Kageaki effectively uses it to disrupt Kanae's aim with Burroughs.
- Combat Pragmatist: As he is a former assassin he favors cheap tricks and deception in a fight in order to ensure a quick and efficient kill.
- Enraged by Idiocy: He is quite prone to losing his temper from all the lunacy that surrounds him with the other generals.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Doshin's peculiar idea of a Noh play makes him react with outrage and contempt.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: While he tries to keep a cool air about himself, it soon becomes clear that this man has some serious issues with his temper and starts to fly into a blind rage with disturbing ease.
- Klingon Promotion: To take control of the Otori clan, he eventually chose to stage a coup against the previous head Otori Tokitsugu, becoming the de facto head of the Otori, while having Tokitsugu's younger daughter Otori Hanae as a Puppet Queen. This was motivated in part by Tokitsugu having taken the position by doing this himself, years ago, on the clan head who had adopted Shishiku.
- Only Sane Man: Acts as the closest thing as the voice of reason amongst the four generals. Though even he is not above getting under the skin of Raicho.
- Professional Killer: It is revealed that before he took lead of the Otori house he was in fact an assassin serving his lord. He viewed it as the ultimate humiliation for someone like him to be forced into the leadership role, walking all over the legacy of his former master.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He had been told in advance about the nuke about to be dropped on Fudaraku Fortress. Rather than telling the other generals he gathered his own forces and had them evacuate the premises without the others knowledge, planning to take advantage of the power vacuum that would result from their demise.
- Slasher Smile: He is incredibly prone of wicked grins whenever he starts to loose his temper or get overcome by bloodlust. While he is only quarter related, he still has the Otori blood running through his veins.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Once upon a time, there was an orphan from a branch family adopted into the Otori family proper who was arranged to marry the daughter of the main family head. He had heard strange rumors about her eccentricities, but he didn't believe a single one of them, for he'd fallen in love with her at first sight. And though he was just a young boy from a lowborn family, he swore one day to become a warrior worthy of...Kanae Otori.
- Villainous Friendship: Near the end of the ''Conqueror'' route, when the situation seems dire, he falls in battle with the Silver Zeros. All the other three generals seem appropriately distressed, most particularly Chachamaru.
- The Worf Effect: After giving Kageaki a run for his money during their duel in Nemesis, he met his demise some time later, at the hands of Kanae, who's able to see through his tsurugi's camouflage.
Doshin Yusa
Doshin Yusa
The Governor of Koga Province, who appears as a hedonistic monk. His strange personality and erratic behavior makes him somewhat hard to predict, but he claims to have the country's best interests at heart.
- Above Good and Evil: He considers himself (and is referred to as) a basara—a truly free person, extravagant in their appetites, who do whatever they please with no respect for authority, whether the laws and customs of god or man.
- The Anticipator: As Kageaki and Ichijo begin to put the plan to cause a ruckus inside Fudaraku Fortress into motion, they end up running into an ambush with Doshin happily waiting for them. Turns out he had figured out long ago that they where spies and what they were up to.
- Arc Villain: He's the main opponent of Ichijo during the events of Hero, representing everything she hates.
- Bald of Evil: Being a priest he is bald by default and as wicked as they come.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Having been done a minor favor by his page Yoshikiyo's family in the past, he took Yoshikiyo and his sister in when their parents died and they were left destitute, making the boy his page and his older sister his favored concubine.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The man knows he is wicked and straight up boasts about it as there so far has been no power, political or divine, that has touched him for his actions.
- Cultured Badass: A formidable fighter who's also an expert in the arts, drama in particular.
- Die Laughing: Even as he lays dying and Ichijo is repeatedly stabbing him to death, he just keeps on laughing and taunting her. After all, this was what she wanted, was it not?
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Is killed fairly quickly in Nemesis where he ends up caught in the nuke.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Some time after his death, it is revealed he saved a family from death, taking the woman as a concubine with her brother Yoshikiyo as his page. Needless to say, both didn't take his death well and later confront Ichijo about it.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: It seems his idea of a joke is saying that it was bonebreaking work when he made that mask from the bones of Sakurako's father. Shishiku later calls him out on it.
- Evil Laugh: While he is prone of hearty laughers at inopportune times and it is clear that there is something wrong with this priest from early on, it is once he reveals his true colors for all to see that he truly belts a wicked bellow.
- Excellent Judge of Character: He immediately fingers Kageaki and Ichijo for spies, and susses out that Sakurako Okabe is staying silent so that her father's rebellion won't be forgotten, for just two examples.
- Faux Affably Evil: He in general just tries to come off as a kindly, if a bit odd, priest, something that conceals an incredibly cruel nature. This is best shown when he presents a mask and a cup as a gift to Sakurako only to then reveal that the mask was made from her fathers bones and the cup from the skull of her brother. Even the whole Noh play was to set up for her to be the "lead actor" so to speak in the second act which was supposed to be a so called madness play.
- For the Evulz: He performs a whole Noh play (Yorimasa) for the express purpose of reminding Sakurako of her father's failed rebellion so that she might identify her father with the titular failed rebel (to the point of carving the mask to resemble him), seemingly honors her father by telling the audience to face their deaths with the same honor he did, gets her to let her guard down by appearing to be a sympathetic ally to her, even giving her a cup of sake—then reveals that that the mask he was wearing was made from the bones of her father and the cup he gave her was made from the bones of her brother, puts the Yorimasa mask back on and brutally rapes her. All just to feed his sick desire for entertainment.
- The Gadfly: He loves messing with people, most of the time simply for his own amusement.
- Genuine Human Hide: It turns out that the mask he used during the Noh play made in the likeness of Sakurako's father and the cup he just served her a drink with was made from the bones of said father and the skull of her brother respectively. Suffice to say, she is terrified when she finds out.
- Gut Feeling: In Nemesis he really shouldn't have had any reason to suspect that the GHQ airship that was flying over the fortress at the time was anything unusual. All the standard stuff had been done. And yet his intuition told him that they better prepare. He was right. Though unfortunately it didn't matter as what they were about to do was to drop a nuke, and his action came too late.
- The Hedonist: He is someone who readily abuses his position to do whatever he wants to just to fulfill his random cravings.
- It Amused Me: He just acts on whatever random whim hit him and will do it simply for the amusement it brings, be it to try and break the mind of a girl, or save the family of a young boy.
- Large Ham: About everything about the guy is large, hamminess included.
- Laughably Evil: He is someone that often tries to joke and come off as funny, even though it is mostly he himself to ends up laughing at it.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: He decides to fight Hikaru in a duel and ends up pleasantly surprised by her honesty, really looking forward to a fight with such a powerful foe.
- Manipulative Bastard: He really has a way with words and is excellent at getting the other generals to act in the ways he wants them to to get his way.
- Master Actor: Both in the literal and figurative sense. He is both a great actor on stage and in person to make people act in ways he find beneficial to himself.
- Oh, My Gods!: When he realizes that he has been caught by Masamune's 4th tool, he can only loudly exclaim "PARVATI'S TITS".
- Pet the Dog: Such are his whims that if it pleases him he'll do kind things like take in Yoshikiyo and his sister. The moral question his character presents is whether or not actions such as these hold the same weight as his evil deeds.
- Sinister Minister: And Eastern variant as he is a Shinto monk. While he is soft-spoken and seemingly kind, it is clear even early on that this guy is far from what one would call saintly.
- Someone Has to Die: He knows that he stands no hope against Ginseigo when she appears above Fudaraku Fortress in Muramasa's route but still choses to fight as he wants to buy time to ensure Kuniuji's and Raicho's survival.
- The Unfettered: He acts entirely according to his own whims. It just so happens to please him to pretend to be a man of god when he's really completely godforsaken.
- Villain Respect:
- Played with. While he praises Ichijo accomplishment in killing him, he does so as a means to taunt her and to point out the contradiction in her beliefs.
- Played straight in regards to Hikaru. He quickly comes to admire Hikaru for her honesty and understanding of the world, calling her a refreshing change of pace.
- Villainous Friendship: Near the end of the ''Conqueror'' route, he decides to face Ginseigo head-on, knowing well it's an unwinnable fight for him. Raicho is considerably upset at his decision, asking him to let himself go in Doshin's stead.
- Wicked Cultured: A huge fan of theater, when Ichijo kills him for his crimes he's thrilled—the hero slaying the villain!—and goes out laughing gleefully. The fact that his being happy to die this way clearly robs Ichijo of the satisfaction of killing him is just icing on the cake.
- Worthy Opponent: As a basara, he's a slave to his heart, who does as he pleases with no shame or remorse. But as he says, what fun is that when there's no one to oppose him? Thus, when Masamune and Ichijo, two people who want to kill him for nothing more than righteous indignation at the horrible things he's done, confront him, he's absolutely thrilled.
- Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: Not so much how they died, but more what he did after they were dead, but he describes in disturbing detail how he made the mask and cup to Sakurako from her fathers and brothers bones.
Raicho Imagawa
Raicho Imagawa
The Governor of Oyumi Province and Moriuji's only son. Despite being his direct descendent, he was disinherited due to his lack of charisma, instead having his grandson as heir. Ever since, he's driven by the desire to become the next shogun only to get mocked by the other three Generals.
- Agent Peacock: He's garish, flamboyant and an incredible narcissist, but he's all but stated to be the best musha in all of Yamato, able to beat Ichijo's legendary Masamune with ease and capable of lightly wounding Ginseigo, a fact much more impressive than it seems.
- Berserk Button: Saying anything or hinting in any way that he isn't beautiful will set him off right away.
- Butt-Monkey: Frequently acts as the butt end of the teasing from the other generals.
- Camp Straight: Dresses in an incredibly gaudy and flamboyant manner with long flowy hair and even sparkles added to his armor, complete with makeup.
- Comical Overreacting: One of the most expressive characters in the novel, often reacting in incredibly over the top fashion.
- Cowardly Lion: Overlapping with Blood Knight. When he has to deal with espionage, palace intrigues and betrayal accusations, he behaves like a bumbling, scaredy fool. But when the situation calls for force of arms, he's eager to lead his soldiers to battle, to a point that Chachamaru mentions that in those situations there's a special fire in his eyes.
- Crippling Overspecialization: As it turns out, the guy is a warrior without peer within the Rokuhara, more talented than even his father. Problem is that it is about the only thing he really excels at. He is terrible at the political game and strategic thinking that his position demands.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: This effeminate and narcistic general, who spends most of the time getting mocked and humiliated by his peers, is in fact an unimaginably powerful warrior who's able to beat Ichijou and Masamune without breaking a sweat in the Conqueror route. His fight against Kageaki and Chachamaru at the end of Chachamaru's route is only off-screen but it's heavily implied that it took a lot more effort than either expected and that was with a powered-up Kageaki fully synchronized with Chachamaru's tsurugi.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: His battle with Chachamaru ends up being as one-sided as can be with it being over in practically an instant.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: It is heavily implied that this guy did not go down quietly when faced with Ginseigo in the Hero route and managed to be the only one to actually injure her. A small injury granted, but when dealing with what is basically a natural disaster, even that small thing is telling of his capability in combat.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: In his attempts to get the other generals help against Prince Haruhiro he only ends up saying more things that puts him more and more on the spot.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Is slaughtered by Hikaru in Ichijo's route before Kageaki can reach him. In Kanae's route he is instead caught in the nuke that was dropped on Fudaraku Fortress before he could do anything.
- Enemy Mine: In the Hero route, after his unsubtle attempt to take the title of Governor-General by "babysitting" Kuniuji is thwarted by the other Generals, he gets into contact with Prince Haruhiro in an effort to have Kuniuji assassinated in order to humiliate Doshin and thus claim the title of Governor-General in exchange for supporting him (explained in more detail below). This fails, due to Doshin predicting such an obvious move on Raicho's part and Ichijo flipping out and killing Doshin.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In the True Ending route, he seems genuinely sorrowful at his father's, Shishiku's and particularly Shiro's deaths.
- Fiery Redhead: Redhaired and temperamental.
- The Fighting Narcissist: Self-centered and vain in the extreme and yet one of the most capable fighters of the shogun have under his employ.
- Frontline General: He is the most at home at the frontlines, leading his men by example.
- General Failure: While he is part on the Rokuhara, he is only part thanks to his father, not his talents. As such, he is horribly inept at the things his position demands.
- Gone Horribly Right: In the Hero route, Raicho, knowing that Prince Haruhiro of the Imperial Family has connections and influence outside of Rokuhara arranges a deal that will give the Imperial Family a voice in government if they infiltrate Fudaraku with the help of his spies and kill Prince Kuniuji while he's under Doshin's watch. This will embarrass the General and cause him to lose face among the Four, leading to him giving Raicho his office of Governor-General (effectively acting Regent of the Shogunate) in exchange for support. What happens instead is that Doshin gets killed by tsurugi Raicho didn't even know Haruhiro possessed and the outer fort is destroyed in the battle, throwing the government into disarray. This leaves Raicho terrified of the prince and paranoid of how many tsurugi he might have waiting in the wings to rebel, little knowing that number is exactly two.
- Heroic Build: Even though he's a villain. And in the Hero route, we sure get to see a lot of it. It makes sense that a man obsessed with beauty would sculpt his own body into a work of art.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Having grown paranoid due to the all the things that went wrong at Fudaraku Fortress, he tries to get help from the remaining generals to get at Prince Haruhiro. They however point out that it is odd that he would suspect the least likely culprit first of all rather than some of the more likely suspects like the GHQ for instance unless of course, he knows something about it all. This forces him to deal with it all on his own without the help of the others if he wants to clean up this mess.Chachamaru: "I mean, if we go in, who knows what might happen? Maybe we don't kill the prince. Maybe we ask a few questions instead?"Shishiku: "Such as how he managed to get his men inside the castle in the first place."Raicho: "!"
- Killed Offscreen: In Ichijo's route he ends up killed by Hikaru in the time it takes for Kageaki to reach his fortress, but not without doing some damage to Ginseigo.
- Laughably Evil: Among the generals, his posturing and preening are one of the main sources of humor.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: After spending the common route and the other two routes as comic relief. We finally get to see him at his most natural in the battlefield in Conqueror and it's made clear that he's an absolute force to be reckoned with.
- Narcissist: Self centered and stuck up to say the least, even having a daily alone time in front of the mirror to admire himself.
- Nepotism: Is only really a general thanks to the fact that his father is the Shogun.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: For most of the story he is treated as a complete joke, however as soon as things shift to the battlefield he turns out that all the stories and propaganda about him were no exaggerations. The guy really is as good as they made it out to be.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: For the best musha in the game, he gets relatively little combat screentime. Most of his important fights (The one where he wounded Ginseigo, the one where he leveled Fudaraku's castle fighting a powered-up Kageaki and Chachamaru, the one where he basically tramples over Ichijo) are mostly resolved off-screen. He's only seen fighting in the Conqueror route, twice: once against a group of airborne mooks, which are dispatched in a single blow, and once in against Chachamaru who suffers the same fate.
- Sissy Villain: Very effeminate and part of Rokuhara.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Has this dynamic with Chachamaru. Even thought she throws heaps of abuse on Raicho's head, they do have moments where they show they sort of respect each other's strengths and are the closest of the four generals.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: His interactions with the other generals and his father make it clear that he's upset with his disownment by his father and wants his approval.
- Would Hurt a Child: Proposes a plan to Prince Haruhiko involving the assassination of his own adolescent nephew.
Chachamaru Ashikaga
Morimasa Ashikaga
The previous Governor of Horigoe Province, brother of Moriuji and Chachamaru's father. Some time before the events of Muramasa, he was murdered by his own daughter, who then took his place as his successor.
- Abusive Parents: He repeatedly tried to have her killed due to her bastard status and even when he had her under his care as a stopgap he clearly didn't care for her, something she knew thanks to her enhanced senses.
- Offing the Offspring: When Chachamaru was born he had her sent away, firmly under the belief that her new foster parents would leave her for dead. When that didn't work he had assassins sent to kill her, only for her to awaken to her powers. And when his more legitimate son died due to illness and he took her in as his sole heir, it was only to keep her as a stopgap until he gets a new heir, all to protect his own hide from his brother who he knew was looking for the smallest sign of weakness. As soon as his new child was born he had her once again sent away, this time to be killed directly by a musha. She only survived thanks to Hikaru's interference.
- Posthumous Character: Already dead by the beginning of the story, but his actions paved the way for Chachamaru's plans in Conqueror.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once his new son was born he had a musha take Chachamaru away to be disposed of once her her role as a stopgap had served its purpose.
Soldiers
Ukyo Nagasaka
Ukyo Nagasaka
The captain of a unit dispatched to his former village in order to exploit the nearby mines, whom he suspects to hide some kind of treasure.
- All for Nothing: He went to enormous amount of trouble in life trying to overcome Konjin by proving it wasn't really a god, only to have a close encounter of the third kind with the deity itself while dying inside the mountain. He goes out Laughing Mad.
- Back from the Dead: In a way, he is brought back as a copy of sorts by Konjin, now as a gigantic being towering over everything else around him.
- Bad Boss: He basically took and enslaved the village he was originally from and proceeds to work the villagers to the bone in the nearby mines. And he is not shy of executing people for the smallest infraction, be it defiance or just being too exhausted to continue working.
- Blasphemous Boast: He talks about how he plans to destroy a god and steal its metaphorical bride. However, since no one really knows the nature of Konjin Ukyo mostly expects to find a treasure of some sort or (more likely) nothing but a bunch of rocks. So long as he can say he's overcome the "god", he'll be content.
- Blatant Lies: He kept trying to get his superiors to back the digging of the mountain in his home village by claiming ancient texts said gold and gems were concealed inside. His real goal was to dig deep enough to find Konjin, and he was willing to say anything to get support.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: When he's discussed by the Four Generals, Doshin notes that Nagasaka was known for being strangely obsessed with the mountain in his home village, but nevertheless a skilled warrior.
- Chrome Champion: When he is brought back to life by Konjin, it is as a giant being made of the same tsurugi metal that makes up the god itself.
- Determinator: God knows what promises/bribes he made to his superiors and how deeply he went in debt to creditors to be assigned to his old village and receive the loans he needed to fund digging in the mines, but he's implied to have spent decades putting himself into incredible levels of arrears on both fronts just to be put into a position that would give him a chance to metaphorically overcome Konjin and metaphorically "steal" Ichihime away from the god. As Yagenta says, Ukyo's always been pure ambition whether for good or ill.
- Evil Is Petty: Once given authority over his old village he cruelly abuses the civilians therein, in part due to the bad experiences he had there in his youth.
- I Love the Dead: As he tells Yagenta, he's going to make Ichihime his whether she's a corpse, bones, dust, a memory or even a shadow. But then he sees her identical grand-niece Ichijo and says he'll make her his, even if he has to kill her first.
- Irony: If his superiors had taken him seriously about there being legends of a great treasure in the mine of his home village and done a proper, careful excavation, they would have found the final resting place of Masamune, a tsurugi so powerful that it alone might have turned the tide of the war in Rokuhara's favor. If they couldn't find a proper bearer, they might have been able to study the secrets of its craftsmanship and apply it to their kazu'ichi, making them far more powerful. There might not even have been a World War II, just Rokuhara steamrolling the world! Instead they wrote him off as a crank for decades and in the end he (being no excavation expert) blew the entrance of the mine with explosives so powerful they also wrecked the Masamune. He never even knew it was there. Metal God knows what would have happened if they had been able to access Konjin...
- Kill the God: Ichihime said she'd rather marry the Metal God Konjin rather than Ukyo or Yagenta. Yaegenta took that as a rejection—Ukyo took it as a challenge. Now that he finally has the power and money to do so he plans to force the people of his home village to dig to the center of the local mountain, so he can find whatever Konjin is, destroy it, claim it, or prove it doesn't exist and in his eyes earn the right to take the bones of the only woman he ever loved home with him.
- Love Triangle: He was in love with an Emishi woman called Ichihime, the same woman Yagenta was in love with as well. This led to quite the rivalry between them that persists to this day even though she dumped them both.
- Never My Fault: He blames Yaegenta and his rivalry with him in regards to Ichihime for the last thirty years of his life being miserable and empty. Never mind that Ichihime, by all accounts never wanted either of them, and that it's his inability to let go of his obsession which has hampered him more than anything else.
- Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: Takes a sword to the gut courtesy of Yaegenta and his Masamune fragment—but the Egg of Ginseigo keeps him alive, forcing Kageaki to finish him off.
- The One That Got Away: In their youth he and Yagenta vied for the love of Ichihime, who turned them both down. Although Yagenta eventually married and started a family, he never forgot her. Ukyo also never forgot her, but he sure as hell didn't move on.
- Pure Is Not Good: He's described by Yagenta as "Pure hearted", before clarifying "...for good or for ill". What Yagenta means is that Ukyo is extremely focused, to the point of being single-minded. He's harbored his unrequited love for decades and it has guided his every single action.
- Real After All: "Yes, Ukyo, there is a Konjin. He exists as certainly as petty grudges and obsessions exist, and you know they abound and emptied your life of all beauty and joy. Alas! How uncomplicated the world would be if there were no Konjin."
- Revenge Before Reason: After Lt. Ohtori kills his men for working the local villagers to death in the mines, Nagasaka suits up and tries to strike her down without considering the consequences of killing a GHQ inspector. Kageaki and Masamune deflect his blow, however. (It also seems likely that she'd planned in case of retaliation).
- The Rival: Both he and the Emishi Yagenta were rivals in everything, especially Ichihime. Which in a twisted kind of way, made them each others' best friend as well.
- Single-Target Sexuality: As far as can be seen he never loved anyone but Ichihime. And boy did he love her.
- Tragic Villain: A fundamentally damaged man who is unable to overcome the obsessions of his past, his pain leads him to cause pain to others.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Despite being a low ranking soldier of the Rokuhara Shogunate, he gives Kageaki a run for his money in Chapter 2 and almost kills him on their first encounter, showing what an experienced soldier with a older dragoon model fares against Kageaki, who only wielded Muramasa for two years.
- When I Was Your Age...: Really likes to go on about how youngsters these days takes things far too much for granted and that people of the past had actual grit in them.
- Yandere: The guy is obsessed with Ichihime to the point that when he meets her teenaged grand-niece, he is determined to make her his even if he has to kill her.
Kotaro Fuma
Kotaro Fuma
A strange fellow seen accompanying Nagasaka in his mission for excavating the mines. Appears as a silly kunoichi with the voice of an old man, and is also a hardened Musha, who wields the tsurugi Gassan.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Has the appearance of a young kunoichi, but possesses the voice of an old man while also talking like one. Being named after Fuuma Kotaro doesn't help the case.
- Anti-Villain: First and foremost, Kotaro is concerned with the position of their clan and so is working with people who have both given his people money and restored their ancestral tsurugi to them. But there's nothing personal against the village itself and if the money had been good they could've ended up working for a different sort of person.
- The Beastmaster: In possession of a number of wild, wolfish dogs which they use as sentries.
- Blood Knight: While they mostly fight for the money due to their clan having been left destitute, fighting for the thrill of battle itself is at least a decent consolation price.
- Faux Affably Evil: As cheerful and polite as they act, they're fundamentally selfish and uncaring of anything outside the preservation and advancement of themselves and their clan, to the point of being willing to allow a village full of people to suffer at the hands of a madman so long as the money's good.
- Oh, Crap!: As soon as Kotaro realizes that Gassan's trick has been discovered, they suddenly becomes a lot more desperate and fights much more seriously in order to not lose the advantage.
- Older Than They Look: Thanks to certain shenanigans, Kotaro looks like a young woman while clearly being far, far older.
- Only in It for the Money: They and their clan are mercenaries in Nagasaka's employ.
- Perpetual Smiler: They seem fundamentally unable to take anything seriously for long.
- Vocal Dissonance: Looks like a busty redheaded woman, talks like an old man with the voice to match.
Jo'ansai Yagyu
Jo'ansai "Bartholomew" Yagyu
The master of the Yagyu style swordsmanship and leader of the Umaya-shu, a special unit of bodyguard for the Rokuhara Shogunate.
- Badass Normal: He's able to fight off tsurugi users with nothing but his sword technique and augmented vision.
- Graceful Loser: A strange case as he displays this in a situation where he is winning. This is due to Kageaki realizing that he doesn't need to fight Jo'ansai, only escape, something he accomplishes. As a result of this, he actually misleads his Umaya-shu troops when they show up and even cuts one of them down as he saw through the ruse. All cause he viewed Kageaki as worthy.
- Japanese Christian: Although Japanese he is also of the Christian faith, something that has been banned by the Rokuhara.
- Master Swordsman: A swordsman without peer who is able to effortlessly go up against a tsurugi equipped opponent, something that is normally considered the height of lunacy. Even Kageaki felt like he was some kind of actor in a movie as the whole thing just came across as too ridiculous for him to believe.
- Old Master: He was one of those that trained Mizuhi in his school of swordsmanship.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: He and Sayo used to be lovers who are now separated by being on opposite sides of the conflict.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Being a master of stealth, it was perhaps inevitable that he would appear out of nowhere and spook both Kageaki and Chachamaru half to death. And then he is just as quick to vanish once he has said what he needs to.
- Suicide Mission: He knows that his mission to infiltrate where Clive and Wolf are being held will be his death and yet he also feels like he has to do it.
- That Man Is Dead: 30 years in the past he used to be known as Koshiro Yagyu and was a close associate and lover of Sayo. However he notes that it is a life forever lost for him as he gave it all up, now only living by his faith.
- Uncertain Doom: His final fate in the Conqueror route is left uncertain with the last time he is seen is him preparing to do battle against Sayo. Given that Sayo is alive in the epilogue, though, it's highly likely he isn't.
- Villain Respect: Ends up gaining quite a bit of respect for Kageaki as he proves to be a quick learner and capable of flexible thinking.
- Warrior Poet: A samurai and well versed in poetry.
