| “ | The so-called weapons...like the fists of a karate master, or the elbows of a Muay Tai master...should be viewed as...part of one's body. You cannot be a master of the weapon, just depending on the weapon's power! If you want to become a weapons master, become the owner of yourself first!
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| ― Shigure Kōsaka |
Shigure Kōsaka (香坂 しぐれ Kōsaka Shigure) is the weapons master of Ryōzanpaku, as well as the youngest master of Ryōzanpaku and only female master.
Physical Appearance
Shigure is a fair-skinned young woman of with black hair (eggplant colored in the manga) and unique bolt zigzag-shaped eyebrows. As a child, Shigure had short messy hair and her appearance had a tomboy appearance that even the immensely perceptive by Akisame who would mistake her for a being a boy at first.
As an adult, Shigure is an average height and beautiful young woman with a slender frame yet remarkably curvaceous figure, which was most likely noticeable in her breast size and bottom. She has long waist-length raven hair usually tied back in a high ponytail, peach skin, and light purple eyes. She wears a purple choker around her neck that contains numerous small pins.
however, Shigure is seen normally dresses in a small pink kimono that allows her bottom could easily slip out at random, and long purple stockings; underneath she wears Sarashi over her chest and a Fundoshi that is deeply in-between the depths of her bottom area.
but when she was starting to fight seriously, she would wear chainmail and would wear a black strap under her chest to keep the chain mail in place. Her most eye-catching feature is her eyebrows which resemble lightning bolts. She is almost always seen carrying her late father's last and finest ever sword, a Tsuba-less Nodachi strapped to her back in which a makeshift grip of bandages wrapped around the hilt.
Personality
Shigure would believe that weaponry should be seen as more than just a tool, that it should be seen as an extension of the body: simply relying on the strength of the weapon alone will not make you a Master of It. Likely due to her emphasis on the Katsujinken, most opponents she faces end up losing without significant injury or by simply having their clothes would be torn (which she often does to Miu and Freya's Valkyries). She seems to be aimed at women probably due to the fact that more times than not, women will stop fighting and try to cover themselves up. Even during fights with dangerous opponents like Kagerō Kii and Mildred Lawrence, she will not resort to lethally slicing or slashing the opponent's body, instead opting to use the back of her sword, and in extreme situations, shallowly cutting or attacking an opponent with a weapon to the point that they have small, non-lethal flesh wounds and cuts.
When initially introduced she appeared to be a lone wolf, often avoiding interaction with the other members of Ryōzanpaku (besides occasionally Apachai). At the same time, due to her unique childhood experience with Akisame, she has developed a strong respect and loyalty to him, at times seeming like a surrogate father, as she will follow his requests without question. She will usually retaliate violently to Kensei's perverted antics much like Miu. However, she still has a feminine side, blushing in reaction to Akira Hongō refusal to fight her for being a woman and showing she was grateful for someone considering her as a woman and again when she was stripped naked during her capture by Yami and blushed to call the scientists in front of her perverts.
Shigure is known to occasionally pause between words when talking. She is usually seen with an emotionless demeanor, rarely ever smiling. She is usually seen smiling when proud of Kenichi's progress. She was even cheering happily when Kenichi imitates her while battling Odin and copying her fighting style like the other masters. Shigure also has a great love for animals. Her only best friend is her pet mouse Tōchūmaru and will not forgive anyone who hurts him.
Shigure seems to have sleeping issues, as shown by Sakaki that she sleepwalks and mutters some words in her sleep that Sakaki states are creepy and somewhat scary, making this the only thing he's afraid of.
Shigure's personally had changed noticeably ever since Kenichi's first arrival, as noted by Miu who once wondered if Shigure sees him as more than her disciple. She begins opening up to the others and even joins them for meals. She becomes indignant when the other members of the dojo express relief that Kenichi was alright after a training trip with her, though this could be due to her taking their relief as an insult to her mastery. Shigure even allows Kōetsuji to tell Kenichi of her past and is quite candid around him. She would even bathe right next to him, unconcerned with him seeing her nude and even suggests that they bathe together again. Out of all the masters, Shigure trains Kenichi the least, yet it is implied she yearns to train him, and is disappointed with Kenichi's reluctance (and fear) to use weaponry but often tries to convince him to train more. When she finds the ability to give Kenichi words of advice during her task to revive Kenichi as a martial artist, she pumps her fist triumphantly for succeeding as a teacher to Kenichi.
There's a running gag that involved with Shigure has shown to have no modesty in the slightest, causing others to be uncomfortable (or pleased) and that usually ends for trouble for others. Such as when Kenichi went to wake her up from a mission she had, she barely had anything on and caused him to have a nosebleed. She even wanted to bathe with Kenichi, showing no discomfort at all and even fought several opponents completely naked and not even embarrassed by it. When she fishes for food on her own, she is complete naked and was not uncomfortable at all. She is even fine with being undressing in front of others such as Kenichi despite his protests (and Miu covering his eyes). However, she does have some modesty, as she was somewhat embarrassed being naked in front of the Yami scientists, though this could because they also took her weapons away.
Skills
- Master Weapons Specialist: While being the youngest master of Ryōzanpaku, Shigure has repeatedly proven herself to be a formidable person to face. As the successor to the Kōsaka-Style and having mastered at such a young age, Shigure has a remarkable mastery of all forms of weapon combat, earning her the title of "The Prodigy of Sword and Mistress of all Weaponry". Even with dull utensils such as wooden spoons, her attacks have shown lethal might behind them. With remarkable dexterity, she is even able to wield weapons with her feet as effectively as her hand. She is one of the few that has reached the highest level of swordsmanship, "to fuse with their sword." In all the fights she has been in, she has yet to be seen receiving any major injuries even against other master-class weapon-users. She is able to fight off multiple armed and unarmed opponents of different styles with ease, even fend off seven grandmasters of the Hachiō Danzaiba of Yami, seemingly she was only defeated from her divided focus on allowing Miu and Kenichi to escape. During her imprisonment of Yami, she was completely stripped of any and all materials in fear of her talent to turn virtually any material into a weapon. After breaking free, she completely overpowered the guards with a small number of weapons and tools that were around her, leading the guards to believe that she is a "witch".
- Blacksmith Master: In addition to her knowledge and skill of weaponry, Shigure, like her late father, is an exceptional forger of metal and weapons, having gathered sand and dirt to mix together, while using a metal flow of water in a nanna Naga, to make iron sand and gather all the iron in the minerals. Shigure also seems to understand the more complex forms of metalworking, able to make protective gear using the same method for making blades that were durable enough to withstand a sword slash from a weapon-user of Shigure herself. She also understands multiple other forms of metalworking, able to produce similar results for any necessary gear. Her knowledge of metal and the refinement of it are comparable to her late father, making her a highly desired war tool for Yami as even their advanced science for metal forging proved obsolete compared to Shigure's skill.
- Ninja Master: Keeping to her ninja-like clothes, Shigure is highly sneaky when she wishes. Constantly, she is seen appearing from seemingly nowhere without making a sound. Shigure has also used various camouflages to disguise her presence. Her stealth makes her a brilliant spy and possibly assassin as since she perfectly masks her presence, only the most skilled of master's can detect her thus allowing her to assassinate many lower-level enemies should she want to.
- Hand-to-Hand Combatant Master: While a weapon-specialists by trait and preference, Shigure has comparably impressive skills at hand-to-hand combat. During her imprisonment of Yami, while having access to no tools and her hands completely immobilized, she could easily find out several guards with powerful kicks and sweeps. With her fists, she can launch powerful punches able to smash through their protective helmets.
- Innate Talent: Living up to one of her nicknames, Shigure since childhood has shown remarkable athleticism and skill with any tool in her hand. She could skillfully dive for fish and hit any moving target she desired as a means of fun. During her first time wielding an actual weapon against actual warriors, she left the men in awe at her ability to skillfully wield a blade more than twice her height. After her late father died and she was raised by the master of the Kōsaka-style, she quickly mastered all he had to teach, greatly impressing the old master. In battle, she has been able to easily overwhelm most weapon-masters at least twice her age. Just like how Apachai can quickly master and can become an expert in an activity outside of martial arts like Othello once he puts his mind into it to beat Honoka, Shigure can quickly master a skill outside of martial arts through diligent practice as by repeated rehearsal she managed to memorize all of her lines and information in acting as Shizuha Fūrinji when Miu's teachers visited the dojo for an inspection. Once there she was able to put up a convincing act as Miu's mother while Sakaki struggled to maintain his character as Saiga Fūrinji despite having the same amount of practice as Shigure though Fukujiro Yasunaga was able to see through the act due to his large experience in meeting and interviewing the parents of his students. In addition, although there were no examples demonstrating her aptitude with modern technology, she does appear to have some engineering knowledge, such as when she constructed and assembled a sextant and used it to identify the Yami base's location.
- Immense Speed: Shigure's attacks in battle are shown to be remarkably fast as most people cannot follow the number of strikes, she launches. Even when her guard is down, she can in an instant unleash a large flurry of attacks with no wasted movement. The speed of her attacks is so great, that while playing an interactive sword-fighting video game, she discovered that she had to hold back considerably for the system to register her moves. On her feet, Shigure can outrun most cars and is able to easily jump from vehicle to vehicle. Shigure has displayed enough speed to easily defeat an entire group of armed soldiers in an instant. She was able to defeat Kagerō Kii, an Swordmaster, so quickly he didn't even realize she had moved. She was fast enough to attack all seven members of the Hachiō Danzaiba simultaneously, despite being outnumbered against them.
- Immense Agility: Shigure has demonstrated remarkable grace and balance even as performing the most basic of tasks. Regularly at home, she is seen practically climbing all over the walls to get around. In more extreme cases, she can jump across town from rooftop to rooftop, never losing control.
- Immense Strength: Despite her lithe frame, she is very strong and can cut through highly durable substances. She once cut off the cannon of a tank with her sword before jamming the cannon into the tank's side with her bare hands.
- Immense Accuracy: Possibly her most remarkable skill, Shigure has perfect aim with any tool she handles. Even with frail or dull-edged items, such as a spoon or faulty blade, she can strike without hitting any vital points. With projectiles, she can precisely hit any speeding and squirming target from a considerable distance. At close-range, Shigure strikes can skillfully cut through targets with such precision, the sliced target can momentarily appear unaffected. Her precision was also able to destroy Boris's boots when the Sambo disciple invaded Ryōzanpaku without harming his feet or neatly split a leaf in half on its flat side.