List of Otogi Zoshi characters
The following characters appearing in the Otogizoshi anime series are listed according to the pre-Meiji name-order rules, with the family name preceding the given name. Historical figures that characters are based on, where relevant, are noted after the character's name.
Minamoto no Hikaru
Minamoto no Hikaru / Hikaru (源光 / ヒカル, Voiced by: Fumie Mizusawa)
Minamoto no Hikaru is a young girl that has been secretly assigned by her father to pose as her brother, Minamoto no Raikou due to Raikou being severely sick. In her brother's stead, she is supposed to retrieve the Magatama of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth through the orders of Seimei. She is at first attempting to retrieve the Magatama of Earth so as to heal her weakened near-to-death brother. Hikaru begins the story with her trusted retainer Watanabe no Tsuna in hopes of retrieving the Magatama. She later finds out that the Tsuchigumo clan is the holder of the Magatama. Hikaru regularly wields her bow and arrow as her weapon when not being directly protected by her loyal retainer. Hikaru will then later run into a small village where she meets Usui Sadamitsu. Sadamitsu will later join her along with Tsuna as to destroy the Tsuchigumo. Hikaru's personality generally reflects great kindness towards other people, and she doesn't like to hurt anyone unless forced to. Thus, Hikaru will continue to move onwards in the name of the Capital to retrieve the Magatamas.
When the story later continues, it is found out that Hikaru's brother dies just before she returns with the first Magatama. She is greatly saddened by this, but is still determined to find the other Magatamas as to save the Capital. Following this, Hikaru will then retrieve the Magatama of Water, which will be under the possession of a man by the name of Torakuma (literally translating as Tigerbear). Torakuma soon allows Hikaru the Water Magatama after he realizes that it is the reason for the great chaos he has been through, such as seeing his own wife be killed in front of him. After Hikaru attains this magatama, a large tsunami appears and throws her into the sea. She later wakes up upon an island filled with Kumaso soldiers under Shutendouji. She is later attacked by two of these soldiers but is saved by Mansairaku. Later on, she ends up running into her allies that happened to all be washed up on the same piece of land. A young boy by the name of Kintarou then joins under Hikaru. After they attempt to take the final Magatama of Fire from Shutendouji - after realizing that he had it, Hikaru quickly heads back to the Capital. She had done so because she had heard from another that Shutendouji was planning on doing so.
After Shutendouji is defeated at last and the final Magatama is attained, Hikaru's magatama of Fire is stolen by Urabe for reasons unknown. Hikaru later realizes by the words of the dying Urabe that Abe no Seimei has evil intentions towards the Magatama. However, due to Matsumushi, Hikaru arrives too late to stop Seimei. This is where Hikaru sees the true destruction of the Capital before her very own eyes. Hikaru, along with Usui Sadamitsu, Watanabe no Tsuna, and Kintarou immediately head to the main area of summoning where Seimei is at. They are quickly poised against various warriors of the capital who still believe in Seimei's ideals even when they truly understand little. This causes for the separation of both Kintarou and Sadamitsu; thus Hikaru and Tsuna head to Seimei together. Right before Hikaru had the time to notch an arrow to her bow and shoot it at Seimei - who had been standing atop the summoning building, she along with Tsuna were both attacked by two large samurai warriors. Suffering from a large arrow wound, Hikaru defeats the spear shooting warrior by shooting him in the eyes multiple times with a barrage of arrows. To Hikaru's dismay however, she sees her fellow ally, Tsuna get struck fatally hard on his left shoulder - which was because he randomly lost eyesight. This leads to Tsuna standing dead right before her with his sword struck in the ground, which made Hikaru's anger fill to the skies. Hikaru then quickly charges up the stairs and shoots an arrow right at Seimei's forehead in her rage. To Hikaru's ultimate surprise however, she soon realizes that Seimei is truly Mansairaku, the man that she had loved.
Watanabe no Tsuna
Watanabe no Tsuna / Tsuna (渡辺綱 / 綱 Watanabe no Tsuna, Voiced by: Kenta Miyake)
Tsuna's trademark quote: I am Minamoto no Raikou’s adjutant Watanabe no Tsuna. Those of you who fear my Onikirimaru, begone! If you do not leave, you shall become roadside dust and chaff. Know your frailty, and regret it in your demise! (Real his quote: "I am Watanaba no Tsuna, Minamoto no Raikou's most loyal retainer. Take flight if you fear my sword, onikirimaru! Otherwise, You shall be reduced to mere dust on the road. ..and forever lament your own impotence in the hereafter!")
Tsuna appears by Raikou's side within the beginning of the anime, and continues to be by her side. Tsuna vows his life to protect Raikou no matter what circumstances, even when he is blinded in his right eye. Tsuna generally wields his long sword when in battle, especially when protecting Raikou. It is later revealed within the anime that Tsuna had been going blind in his left eye as well, in which he occasionally has blurred vision, resulting in him randomly seeing objects come closer or farther away. This effects happens only at certain times however.
Other than when protecting Raikou, it seems that Tsuna and Urabe seem to share a more personal relationship together, in which they are commonly seen together at times. This fact had also been partially strengthened when Tsuna and Urabe are washed up together after failing to find everyone else after a sudden tsunami attack. This was also the first time in which it is revealed that Tsuna had experienced distorted sight. Following this event, Tsuna effectively fights by his lord's side throughout her endeavours, such as in the attainment of the Magatama of Fire. Tsuna primarily reflects his great skills during the destruction of the Capital Arc, where he personally dueled with great resolve against the demented tyrant Shutendouji. After Shutendouji is defeated, Tsuna assists Hikaru against Seimei after learning of his intentions. Such information had been attained by Urabe, who had died in his own hands.
Throughout Hikaru and the others attempt to stop Seimei, Kintarou and Usui Sadamitsu stay back to hold off the delusioned Capital soldiers. Tsuna, who is strucken by his temporarily occurring blindness is stabbed in the hand by a random official from the Capital. Hikaru then realizes that Tsuna is suffering through full blindness. When Tsuna and Hikaru had been very close to Seimei - even to the extent of being able to shoot him with an arrow, Tsuna and Hikaru are attacked by two very powerful warriors of the Capital. Tsuna fights with great valor, but ends up being fatally struck atop his left shoulder right before finishing the enemy off with a final blow. This leads to him quickly stabbing to death the warrior from the Capital. Tsuna then stands with his sword stuck within the ground, and utters these words to Hikaru who is tear stricken before him, "Your brother. ..Urabe. ..and everyone's wishes. ..please". Tsuna then sadly dies while standing, in which he entrusts everything to his lord, Hikaru.
Abe no Seimei
Abe no Seimei (安倍晴明 Abe no Seimei, Voiced by: Kan Tokumaru)
Seimei tends to always wear a mask around his face due to not being able to see, which explains why he always has a certain girl with him to act as his eyes, while he is the ears. Seimei generally has a rather calm attitude and believes rather strongly in the ways of reform. Seimei possesses the ability to heal people, along with perform many other type of feats, which is to explain why even the Ministers of the Right and Left follow his direction. Seimei is the one who sent Minamoto no Hikaru on a rather difficult task to regain the Magatama of Fire, Water, and Earth.
Raikou personally had been led to thought that by retrieving these Magatama, the Capital could be saved. However, later on within the series it is revealed that Seimei has other major plans when attaining all five of the Magatama, which was revealed to Raikou within episode 10. Currently at this same time, Seimei had also conspired with Shutendouji, in which he allowed him three days before handing over his Magatama of Fire if Shuten could be allowed that time to unleash his anger on the capital. Seimei continuously says that his plan will eradicate all sadness within the people.
In episode 13 it is revealed that Seimei is actually Mansairaku with a mask and wig on.
Mansairaku
Mansairaku (万歳楽, Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki)
Mansairaku is a professional feudal Japanese dancer, possibly of the style known as Noh, and he regularly travels through various provinces to perform. It seems that Mansairaku has a generally calm and peace-loving personality, but tends to feel lonely at some times. Mansairaku was featured briefly in episode 1 of the anime, but his first prominent role was first shown within episode 4 of Otogi Zoshi. The first time we see Mansairaku he is knelt in front of the ministers and the Emperor. He was apparently summoned to dance for the lord. His humble nature and decorum is obvious as he speaks and shows that he knows his place, compared to other characters, like Sadamitsu. In episode 4 of Otogi Zoshi, we see Mansairaku's dance in a much more complete view, where he begins to dance in a traditional ancient Japanese style to Hikaru's flute. This triggered a certain connection between the two, such as Yin to Yang. Following this, Mansairaku would save Hikaru from warriors of the Capital who had misunderstood who they were. Mansairaku would later meet Hikaru again after she had been attacked by random soldiers under Shutendouji, who had seemed to want to rape her after finding out that she had been a woman, not a man.
Later on when Hikaru had disagreed with her father after receiving a negative petition from Seimei, she ran through the rain amongst sadness and happened to be by Mansairaku. Within this stage, the first scenes of love were taken to surface between Mansairaku and Hikaru, in which he promised to always protect her and be by her side. Her love for Mansairaku also surfaces in her dreams and it is obvious that there is some sort of spiritual relationship between Hikaru and Mansairaku, but it is unknown who fell in love with whom first.
It is also known that Mansairaku is Seimei.
Minamoto no Raikou
Minamoto no Raikou (源頼光, Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki)
Minamoto no Raikou ( also known as Minamoto no Yorimitsu ) is Minamoto no Hikaru 's older brother and the heir of Minamoto clan. He is well known in the Capital as an expert archer and a legendary warrior. His body is delicate as a result of the sickness he has had from birth. As he was severely sick, he was replaced by his sister on the mission of retrieving the Magatama. It is shown in episode 3 that he died after writing a poem for his sister.
Urabe no Suetake
Urabe no Suetake / Urabe (卜部季武 / 卜部 Urabe no Suetake, Voiced by: Kumi Sakuma) Urabe is a mysterious woman that was met early on within the series. Urabe makes her first appearance during episode five, in which she assists Raikou in the attainment of the Magatama of Water. Urabe wears a general pink kimono and seems to always carry a large stick around for not true reason. She seems to also favor more secretive style assassinational tactics, such as when she had poisoned the air when capturing a certain pirate fortress. Urabe is scolded by Raikou however after she realized this. It seems that Urabe has quite a relation with the sea, in which she had performed a certain trick which she had used earlier, which was walking on a road along the sea when the full moon shines its light as to create a path.
It also seems that Urabe has a personal relationship with Watanabe no Tsuna, in which she always seems to be by his side. She also seems to want to assist Tsuna in any way possible, such as when she realized that Tsuna had random distorted sight within his left eye. Urabe had also previously treated Tsuna with medicine when he was recovering after their tsunami incident. Urabe will continue to follow Raikou and the rest of the crew throughout the continuation of the anime.
However, after Urabe and the others had been to the land of Kumaso, they all quickly headed back to the Capital in fear of Shutendouji attacking it. During the destruction of the Capital arc, Urabe will play a central role. Following the defeat of Shutendouji, Ibaragi had handed Raikou the Magatama of Fire. To the surprise of Hikaru later on, Urabe takes the magatama from Raikou while the moon had been temporarily hidden behind the clouds as to cause for a momentary lack of light vision. Urabe then heads back to the area of Abe no Seimei and repeatedly orders him to tell her his true plans. Seimei then tells her that he will "destroy all sadness within this world"; to this, Urabe then flees with the magatama knowing that Seimei will only cause destruction. At this moment, Urabe had been determined to die with the magatama at any costs. However, Matsumushi personally heads to Urabe's small cabin hideout and supposedly stabs her in the back with a knife. By the time Raikou and the others find her, she utters the true treachery of Seimei by telling them that he will set the magatama in the order of Enmity, not Affinity, which will bring chaos towards the Capital. Before Urabe was to meet her death she uttered to Tsuna, "I'm sorry, Tsuna-dono. ..please protect Raikou-sama", and sadly died.
Usui no Sadamitsu
Usui no Sadamitsu (碓井貞光 Usui no Sadamitsu, Voiced by: Hiroshi Sugiyama)
Sadamitsu seems to like women to a high extent, in which is the primary reason for his will to fight. Sadamitsu also generally wields his two long swords which he uses with great skill. Sadamitsu makes his first appearance within episode 2, in which he is met by Watanabe no Tsuna and Raikou while they had been passing through a small village. Sadamitsu, who claimed that he was a retired warrior, later joins Raikou and Tsuna's crew for truly unknown reasons. Sadamitsu called Raikou as always "Taisho" rather than Raikou-sama. Sadamitsu's first true feat is when he acted as a decoy for the enemy Tsuchigumo when Raikou and Tsuna attempted to retrieve the Magatama of Earth. It generally seems that Sadamitsu is used by Raikou for secretioned style tactics, such as finding information about certain areas that a normal person could not be able to perform.
Later on within the series, Sadamitsu will attain a friendship with the obnoxious child Sakata no Kintoki, who seems to have an absurd amount of strength. They are brotherly love. Sadamitsu will then continue to reflect his skills with his duel swords throughout the continuation of the anime.
Often at the forefront of comedy within the series, Sadamitsu has a charismatic (if not a little laid-back) attitude and this often causes disputes between him and Tsuna. Possibly because he is not as humble to those in higher rank. He seems to see Raikou as more of his equal, rather than being someone in the aristocracy. This sort of nature doesn't cause nearly as many arguments between the two as one would expect. Probably because Lord Raikou is not nearly as pent-up as Tsuna is, and seems much more forgiving, causing a bond between the two. In the end, Sadamitsu knew that Lord Raikou was really Lady Minamoto no Hikaru.
Kintarō
Kintarō (金太郎 Kintarō, Voiced by: Wasabi Mizuta)
Kintarou literally may refer to Sakata no Kintoki, or Kaidoumaru, which are each entities of the same person. Kintarou is greatly renowned for his strength, in which he claims that his dream is to become the strongest person within the whole of Japan. Kintarou made his first appearance within episode 7, in which he elaborated on his natural obnoxious qualities. Kintarou did so by continuously asking Sadamitsu for food due to being rather hungry, or else he would yell and alert the guards that Sadamitsu had been analyzing. After Sadamitsu had enough out of Kintarou after he had annoyed him to a high extent, they end up both being seen by Shutendouji's guards, in which they both flee rather fast. According to the guards, Kintarou is also a noted thief. Kintarou afterwards joins up with Raikou and the others, and assists them within the attack of Shutendouji's main castle.
Later within the series, it seems that Kintarou and Sadamitsu seem to get along together, in which they have a personal friendship towards each other to some extent. When with Sadamitsu, he is always to be sure that everyone receives the fullest amount of food, because he himself can eat just about anything and (according to rumor) when his stomach full of food, he then will help and make him to get ample strong and full of energy.
Matsumushi
Matsumushi is a very young little girl that seems to have exceedingly good eyesight. When first shown during episode 1, it is revealed that Matsumushi is meant to be "the eyes of Seimei, while Seimei is meant to be "her ears". However, in truth, Seimei can see perfectly fine without Matsumushi. Matsumushi seems hold a large amount of various medicine with her, such as in the case when she handed medicine to Seimei when they were in quick need of healing the Capital's emperor. Because Matsumushi can not say a single word, it is not known if she follows Seimei through affection, or through configured loyalty set by Seimei. Either way, Matsumushi seems to follow Seimei to any area and is occasionally seen as Seimei's second half. When Urabe later takes the Magatama of Fire after hearing of Seimei's distorted words, Matsumushi personally decides to follow after her. Unlike every other member of the Capital however, Matsumushi is the only one who found Urabe. Matsumushi then unleashes a knife from her right hand and smirks, which may conclude that she has some sense of a killing instinct. However, it seems that Matsumushi left after she stabbed the knife within Urabe's back, in which she was probably hoping that Urabe would die suffering. After Matsumushi then heads back and hands the Magatama of Fire to Seimei, the magatama is soon placed on the elemental table. A large amount of blue body destroying fumes are activated through Enmity, in which the Minister's of Right and Left were literally disintegrated. This amazing force of power throws Matsumushi violently into the wall, where she seems to utter words that can't be spoken, and reaches for Seimei with tears flowing from her eyes. Matsumushi then dies after the section that Seimei was in exploded with Enmity. Thus, Matsumushi had great affection towards Seimei in the end and may have felt some level of betrayal before her death.
Shutendouji
Shutendouji is a major enemy within the Otogi Zoshi series, in which he was the leader over the revenge coalition from his village that had been previously destroyed by the Capital. Shutendouji has a very cruel personality, in which he will always seem to employ the most barbaric style tactics and will even kill his own allies without a second thought. It also seems that he has a taste for swamp-water style sake that has been boiled. Shuten seemed to have owned his own castle, where he had been holding the famed Magatama of Fire, along with many of his soldiers. Shutendouji would later make some type of agreement with Seimei, in which he would give Seimei the Magatama of Fire after unleashing his anger to a full extent within the time limit of three days. Seimei complies with this as to see it as a destined result to the Capital.
When Shutendouji enforced this plan to attack the Capital with all of his troops, he had at first seemed in which no trouble was to come. At the time of evening however, Shuten would unleash his attack upon the Capital through fire rock launching catapults, while he had been hidden in the forest area. Little to the knowledge of the Capital soldiers however, another main army under Shuten would attack the Capital from each main gate while they had been preoccupied with the thought that the enemy's attacks would continue from the sky. This tactic of Shuten led to additional slaughter. However, Shuten had been caught up by Minamoto no Hikaru, and her retainers. Raikou had at first attempted to negotiate with Shuten, but as void of reason as usual, declined. This led to a battle between Shuten and his men, along with Ibaragi, his primary ally. After Shutendouji had been near death, he poured his whole gourd of swamp-water like sake on his body, resulting in him transforming. This revealed that Shuten had been some type of demon within human form. After all of Raikou's retainers had been defeated, and Raikou herself was about to be choked, Ibaragi stabbed her tantō into the back of Shuten's head, effectively killing him. However, before Shuten had transformed, he had dealt a fatal blow to Ibaragi, resulting in her sitting atop him, both to die together while gazing at the stars.
Ibaragi
Ibaragi is a rather young woman that acts as the right-hand mistress of her master, Shutendouji. Ibaragi has a rather kind personality, and vows to forever protect Shutendouji, even when being regularly beaten by him. Ibaragi is first featured within episode 4 when she had been sent by Shutendouji to spy on the Capital, in which she had been noticed by Usui Sadamitsu. Ibaragi is later shown when Shutendouji attacks the Capital, in which she had attempted to convince to him that his actions were barbaric, and he should instead try negotiating with the people of the Capital instead. Shuten responded by beating her, along with abusive talk.
Minamoto no Hikaru and the others later battle it out with Shutendouji, in which Ibaragi performs a minor battle with Sadamitsu. After Shuten then wished to pour all of his swamp-water like sake over his body, Ibaragi attempted to stop him, but was fatally slashed by Shutendouji's sword. Ibaragi, very much near death, delivered the final blow to Shuten, then revealing to Raikou of Seimei's deceit before finally dying.
Kuzume
Kuzume (Voiced by: Mayumi Asano) Kuzume is a young woman of rather attractive appearance that had been first shown within episode 3. Kuzume had been the former leader over the Tsuchigumo clan before having her position stolen by Hoshikuma, a servant of the powerful Shutendouji. This had begun after Hoshikuma was sent by Shutendouji from the Western region to take over the Tsuchigumo clan in order to attain a more powerfully established armada, and more slavery of women. Shutendouji's main plan out of this change of events was to attain the power of the Magatama of Earth. Due to this fact, Kuzume was one of many women who were forced to stay within cells as later slaves.
Minamoto no Hikaru and the others later enter into the Tsuchigumo domain to retrieve the Magatama of Earth, in which they meet up with Kuzume and free her. After everyone had laid out their strategy to attain the Magatama of Earth, Kuzume personally attacks Hoshikuma with a tantō, in hopes to kill him. After Hoshikuma is defeated by Usui Sadamitsu, Kuzume reveals to everyone to turn away from their former ways and to remain as a peaceful clan as it once was as their true leader once again.
Hoshikuma
Hoshikuma is first featured within episode 3 as the new leader over the Tsuchigumo clan. Hoshikuma also wields a long yari (Japanese spear) as his primary weapon, along with the ability of catching his opponents within a net as for a final attack to finish them off. Like Shutendouji, Hoshikuma is an enemy saga leader. Hoshikuma had originally remained within the Western region of Japan as an ally of Shutendouji. He is later ordered by Shuten to take over the Tsuchigumo clan and make them conform to rather strict policies. One of these policies is that women should be regularly captured within neighboring villages, and locked up with cells for further uses. Hoshikuma also seems to possess the Magatama of Earth, which he seems to be protecting at all times (for obvious reasons).
After Minamoto no Hikaru and the others have resolved to dispose of the Tsuchigumo and retrieve the first Magatama, they run upon a certain woman by the name of Kuzume. After she is freed, Watanabe no Tsuna plans out his strategy with the others by first acting as a bait, effectively installing fear within the Tsuchigumo. Hoshikuma himself is enranged by this and is attacked by Kuzume, who he easily knocks away. Following this, a duel ensues between Sadamitsu and Hoshikuma, in which he ends up being able to take Hoshikuma down after Raikou had assisted in his escape from Hoshikuma's net tactic. Because Hoshikuma had fallen from such a large distance and was supposedly slashed in the stomach by Sadamitsu, it is assumed that he is dead.