Nurugai (ヌルガイ Nurugai?) is the last remaining member of the Sanka Mountain People. She later becomes one of the few criminals sent to Kotaku to acquire the Elixir of Life for the shogun. Her assigned Asaemon was Yamada Asaemon Tenza.
Appearance
Nurugai has quite an androgynous appearance, with her Asaemon having only figured out that she was a girl after undressing. She has dark tanned skin and long, black, messy hair that reaches down past her shoulders when left untied; although she usually ties the hair up above her head. Her body is also noticeably muscular.
She is seen wearing very scrappy clothes, her top lacking sleeves, and bandages wrapped around both of her wrists. She also wears black pants that end somewhere halfway down her calves, also lacking any footwear.
Gallery
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Personality
Nurugai looks down on samurai, viewing them as stupid. This could possibly stem from the fact that they were partially responsible for killing her people.
Nurugai appears to hold a strong guilt for the responsibility of her village's extermination. She believes the reason why she is on a dangerous mission is because she is receiving divine punishment for her actions. She originally came to the conclusion that she wanted to die for her sin but Tenza convinces her to live on and return home.
She also finds chivalry to be charming, vowing to make Tenza as her groom.
History
Nurugai was raised with the Sanka Mountain People in a village where she had lived with her grandfather. Nurugai and her grandfather were in a friendly, familial relationship where she would learn off her grandfather's wisdom.
Her village however were considered rebels against the current shogunate, refusing to submit to Tokugawa. Because of this, samurai were sent to locate the hillside tribes they defined as Emishis. One day, Nurugai crossed paths with a party of lost men, encouraging Nurugai to offer her help by seeking rest in the security of her village. Nurugai recognized her mistake when she realised that these men were samurai under the order of Tokugawa, who began a mass killing of her village that would leave her as the sole survivor.
The samurai later imprisoned Nurugai in order to reveal the location of other Sanka settlements; promising to execute her once they had gotten what they needed. During her captivity, Nurugai met Yamada Asaemon Tenza who invited her to partake in the search for the elixir to avoid execution.
Relationships
Yamada Asaemon Tenza
Plot
Island Arc
After coming to Edo, Nurugai is grouped together with death row criminals and was told the details of the mission. She asked if the Elixir of Life doesn't come to exist on the island but the questioned was ignored. They were then told to massacre until only a few were available to leave for the island. After the massacres ends, Nurugai survives and leaves for the island with Yamada Asaemon Tenza.
Nurugai and Tenza fighting off the large tentacle creature.
After making land, the two stumble upon a monster, however Tenza manages to slay it. He decides to take Nurugai to the shogun's ship so she can return back to the mainland, believing that she is innocent. While talking down to him, Nurugai felt that it would be pointless to return since she didn't acquire the elixir. Tenza assured her that he would talk to his superiors but Nurugai doubted that would work. After the fog clears, Tenza finds the ship but later turns out to be wreckage from the boats that were departing. Nurugai then notices two shadows through the fog. Tenza draws his sword but Nurugai warns him not to. A large tentacle then suddenly attacks them, but they manage to dodge it in time. They are then surrounded by more large tentacles. Tenza suggests that they find a boat to escape. While running, Nurugai thinks back as to how she led her grandfather and her people to their demise. The two stop and find the blooming corpse of Yamada Asaemon Kisho who causes Nurugai to envision her dead grandfather. She gives up on trying to survive and believes that she is receiving divine punishment for her crimes. Tenza refuses to allow her to be killed by the creature and tells her that he couldn't accept her resolve and asked her whether or not if she wanted to make the choose to live or die. Remembering the peaceful times she had with her grandfather, Nurugai tells him that she wanted to live and return home. Tenza gives Nurugai a sword and tells her to fight alongside him until they can get to Kisho's boat.
The two managed to escape from the beast and landed back on the island, later washing off the blood. As Nurugai begins to undress, Tenza notices that her body is quite feminine for a male, which she corrects him, saying that she was female by exposing herself to him. Tenza becomes shocked and shrugs off her statement of making him her groom. After cleaning and dressing themselves, Tenza suggest finding an escape route and find his fellow Asaemon for help.
Lord Tensen Arc
While wandering aimlessly on the beach, Nurugai and Tenza are unable to find a current away from the island. They then run into a mysterious woman who transforms into a man and starts to attack them. Tenza is injured but fights back and tells Nurugai to run, however, he catches up to them. The man is then beheaded by a sword thrown by Yamada Asaemon Shion. As they are given an opportunity to run to safety, Nurugai notices that despite him being blind Shion was maneuvering well in the forest. After relocating to a save area, Tenza introduces his master Shion to Nurugai who scolds him for his sloppy swordplay against his opponent. Shion reveals to them that while he was prepared to leave he found an optimal current that could lead them away from the island. He then draws his sword towards Nurugai and asked for an explanation as to why Tenza was protecting her. At first Shion could not accept Tenza's actions in protecting her because she was innocent but he is later convince by Tenza to not carry out the execution. Nurugai greets Shion by calling him sensei but Shion says that calling him sensei was not necessary since he did not teach her anything. They are then shocked that despite his blindness that he was able to tell that Nurugai was female.
Before they could go the current, they take into account of the immortal being that attacked them and try to come up with an plan. However, it instantly shows up behind Tenza and Nurugai as a female and prepares to attack. Shion pushes them out of the way but has his throat slashed by her. Tenza engages in battle against the female being but is hit by a devastating blow. Nurugai runs towards him in horror but is stopped by Shion. After Shion senses Tenza's desperate plead for them to escape, Shion grabs Nurugai and runs off. Nurugai begs him to stop but he explains that he was honoring Tenza's last wish and he will avenge him.
In the forest, Nurugai tries to attack Shion but is easily intercepted with his perceptive powers. Nurugai pleads for Shion's to teach her swordsmanship and his surrounds, explaining that she doesn't want to see the people she cares for to die. Shion refuses but explains to Nurugai that his perceptive powers comes from sensing waves within everything around him and tells her that it would be difficult for her to learn. Although he objected, Nurugai receives lessons from him while fighting the Soshin and wonders if he is either doing this on purpose or if he is absent-minded. The two then continue to move forward.
The two arrive in Horai and lend their aid to Sagiri, Yuzuriha and Senta in facing off against the monstrous Lord Tensen.
Abilities and Powers
Quotes
- "More like my grandpa's wisdom. He was always telling me to economize in everything I do."
- "But now I know. This IS Divine Punishment. Punishment for getting gramps killed... For getting them all killed..."
- "Of course I don't! I wanna go back to the mountains!"
Trivia
- Nurugai took 10th place in the manga 1st Character Popularity Poll with 241 votes.