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Meisai Tsuruga (敦賀 迷彩, Tsuruga Meisai) is the head of the Sanzu shrine located in Izumo. She is third opponent Shichika Yasuri fights for the Deviant Blades.

Personality[]

Meisai is polite and utterly devoted to the well-being of her shrine maidens. She is very fond of sake and always offers to share a drink with those she meets. She actually tries to dissuade Shichika from fighting her at first, but gives up when she sees he cannot be swayed. She holds a great deal of guilt from her past as a bandit who eventually slaughtered all her comrades.

Appearance[]

History[]

She claims that her real name had been long forgotten. Her current name had been taken from a priest she had killed. She was the daughter of a powerful kendo master who was also a commander of Izumo's defense corps and had died alongside all of his followers. She had later become a bandit leader, inheriting Tsurugi from them. Her killing spree had come to an end after meeting and killing the original Meisai Tsuruga, and she now takes care of a group of mikos that have been abused by men to the point of killing almost any man.

Plot[]

Volume Three[]

The thousand Tsurugi copies are used by her mikos and two bodyguards, and she hopes that the blades' supposed magical properties could cure the abused girls of their dangerous nature, which had worked to a small degree. Despite her willingness to surrender Tsurugi to Togame, she duels Shichika for the sake of the girls. She is killed by Shichika in one last stand after he tells her that she is wielding the real Tsurugi out of the thousand, and that it was fate that had brought her and her sword together. Before dying, she asks Togame a favor: protection from the shogunate over the shrine and the girls, to which Togame agrees.

Abilities[]

Images-2

Swordsmanship Specialist: She wields Tsurugi, a thousand exact copies of one sword of Kiki Shikizaki's doing. Her fighting style is called Sentouryū (千刀流, meaning "Thousand Sword Style"), which revolves around using many blades at her disposal, and Tsurugi provides those means.  However for those without Sentou Tsurugi, Sentouryuu means making all weapons on the battlefield one's own, and puts serious emphasis on disarming opponents and using their own weapons against them.

  • Ultimate Technique: Chikeikōka Sentō Meguri (地形効果・千刀巡り, Terrain Effect: Thousand Sword Circumference) - Meisai hides Tsurugi all over a designated space and leads her target into it, allowing her to overcome them with her endless supply of weapons coupled with her Sentouryū.
  • Final Attack: Kūchū ittō: Okumonjigiri (空中 一刀:億文字斬り)

Etymology[]

  • The name Meisai means "camouflage, disguise" (迷彩).
    • Meisai was likely chosen because of the fact that she had taken the name of the priest at the shrine before her, thus disguising her former self.
  • Meisai's surname Tsuruga means "kindness, honesty/honest" (敦) (tsuru) and "congratulations, joy" (賀) (ga).
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