Nagao Kagetora
Class: Lancer
True Name: Nagao Kagetora
Sex: Female
Sources: Historical Fact
Region: Japan
Alignment: Lawful Good
Height: 167cm
Weight: 53kg
Character Creator: Keikenchi
Character Designer: Takeuchi Takashi
Character Voice: Mizuki Nana
Major Appearances in Main Works: Gudaguda Ace, Fate/Grand Order
Parameters | Values |
|---|
Strength | C |
Constitution | C |
Agility | A |
Magical Power | D+ |
Luck | C+ |
Noble Phantasm | B |
Class Skills
Magical Resistance: C
Nullifies Magecraft spells that were invoked in two verses or below. Cannot defend against large-scale Magecraft such as
Great Magecrafts and
Ritual Spells.
Divinity: C
After her death, that way of life of hers which was detached from normalcy got others to identify Kagetora to the point of calling her a God of War.
Riding: C
Although she is in the Lancer Class, Kagetora possesses the Riding Skill. She also possesses aptitude for the Rider Class, and if the situation where she was summoned into that Class comes about, she would have a
Rank A Riding Skill.
Personal Skills
Fate is in Heaven: A
Kenshin, who has faith in Bishamonten’s divine protection, can receive an advantageous check for every action she performs on the battlefield.
“
In any case, my luck in battle is awesome. As one would expect, I’m the Avatar of Bishamonten, don’t you think?”
Armour is on the Chest: A
A Defense Skill against projectiles. It is said that while she was alive, Kenshin even leisurely slurped on sake before the enemies’ eyes as bullets flew about, all the bullets going past and avoiding her, and that anecdote became this Skill. Her self-confidence developed into a phenomenon similar to event manipulation, resulting in even the bullets’ trajectory to curve around her, and if said person does not believe she will be hit, then the bullets will never, ever hit her. But if the shooting is loaded with such vigour to the degree that said person will believe that she will be hit, then it is possible to break through this divine protection.
“
Though I’m uncertain whether or not there is such a fellow.”
Accomplishment is in the Feet: A
A faculty that shows the tactical intuition of Kagetora, who was extolled to be Japan’s peerless in war. Kagetora experienced more than 70 engagements in her lifetime and triumphed in just about most of them, but she is somewhat poor at castle sieges.
“
Aah, dammit! Come out and fight!”
Noble Phantasm
Biten Hassou Kuruma Gakari no Jin (Bishamonten’s Eight Phases, Winding Wheel Formation)
Rank: B
Classification: Anti-Personnel / Anti-Army Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~50
Maximum Number of Targets: 100 people
A Noble Phantasm that converted the Winding Wheel Formation – which Nagao Kagetora was said to have regarded as her specialty – for Anti-Personnel Combat. A tactical formation that originally divided one’s military force into several divisions so that each division took turns in assaulting the enemy line. At the moment of its True Name Release, the fully armed, horseback riding figure of Kagetora splits off into 8 fully armed, horseback riding clones of Kagetora, before bringing certain death to her opponent(s) with a one-man Winding Wheel Formation, the clones rushing at them with each clone taking turns in assaulting them.
“
Charge, Houshoutsukige! The divine protection of Bishamonten is here!”
Kagetora also demonstrates the outrageous method of forcibly summoning her favourite horse, Houshoutsukige, under the name of Bishamonten, which, for one to summon their mount, is originally impossible if they are not in the Rider Class.
Character
First Person Pronoun: watashi / ware (on the battlefield)
Second Person Pronouns: sonata / sono kata / kisama (on the battlefield)
Third Person Pronouns: ayatsu / ayatsura
Personality
A military commander who leads her military force according to her transcendent tactical genius and overwhelming charisma, and who was also extolled as the strongest in the Warring States Period. A military person who calls herself the Avatar of Bishamonten and honours righteousness. Once she leaves the battlefield, Kagetora will never wipe her smile off of her face, and she will be seen… as a friendly and good-humoured older sister.
In reality, Kagetora is doing no more than mimicking the beings called ‘
humans’ in accordance with the knowledge of what a human should be like.
As a result of being born with an excessively strong might, Kagetora could not understand the existence called ‘
the weak and fleeting humans’, and that figure and those words and deeds of hers, which are detached from normalcy, could therefore not be understood by humans too.
Motive / Attitude towards the Master
Towards her Master during battle, Kagetora comes into contact with them as a military commander who tries to wander around, while towards them during their private lives, she will not wipe her smile off of her face; her outward appearance… is somewhat like that of an alcohol-loving older sister.
Speech Examples
“
Fate is in Heaven, Armour is on the Chest, Accomplishment is in the Feet.”
“
If you fight to die, you shall live; if you fight to live, you shall die! To put it simply, it’s no use to even think about it! Kill them allll!!”
“
Ahaha…… Ahahahahahahahaha!”
“
The great deeds you’re trying to accomplish… I’ll devote all of myself to them, for they’re not in the slightest unworthy to me!”
“
As Himetsuru flies and Yamatori plays;
as Tanikiri joins and Gokotai backs up;
and as Saiken prays and Shichisei flows,
Taimatsu shines on Biten’s treasured spear.”[1]
“
O’ Touhachi Bishamonten, dwell within my body and rouse up your divine majesty! “Biten Hassou Kuruma Gakari no Jin”!”[2]
Historical Image / Character Image
Nagao Kagetora, the Daimyo (Japanese Feudal Lord) of Echigo in the Warring States Period who was extolled as Japan’s peerless military commander in war, and in her later years, was also called a God of War. She calls herself the Avatar of Bishamonten, and had kept on fighting throughout her life to subdue the World of the Warring States with righteousness.
“
Don’t take up arms according to partiality. Do it to merely provide assistance to whoever needs it with reason!”
Kagetora unified the Province of Echigo, a province of which a civil war had continued to go on for a while, and dispatched troops on countless occasions after receiving calls for help from another province, unfolding many battles with clans such as the Takeda and the Houjou as a result. On the battlefield, she always departed with her force’s vanguard, and she commanded her army according to her overwhelming charisma and tactical genius, experiencing more than 70 battles in her lifetime, yet not even suffering one defeat in her major battles.
She changed her name several times throughout her life, taking the name of Nagao Kagetora, Uesugi Masatora, and then finally, Uesugi Kenshin, a Dharma name she took on much later in her lifetime, and it is the name of Kenshin that became her most famous name.
“
Huh? The name of Kenshin is more famous than the name of Kagetora!?”
Character Image in “Fate/Grand Order”
Calling herself the Avatar of Bishamonten, Kagetora attempted to protect the people by trying to model herself after the human principle called ‘
righteousness’, but perhaps because she happened to be born as someone too strong for a human, that could not be fulfilled for as long as she lived since she does not understand the existence called ‘
weak humans’.
Without being able to understand even the subtleties of emotions such as human sadness and anger, Kagetora came to establish an understanding with her surroundings with only the act of smiling, but her retainers whom received those detached conducts and words of hers feared Kagetora before long, and that fear proceeded to turn and change into a fanatical faith. And so, it has been decided that Kagetora could not help herself in being forced into a way of life of something like the gods and buddhas rather than a human being.
From the standpoint of that kind of Kagetora, it is solely when she is fighting for her life on the battlefield, as well as the moments of life and death she has when she is facing with her enemies, that she surely feels something as a human.
After her death, that way of life which was detached from normalcy got others to identify Kagetora to the point of calling her a God of War. Whether that was really her intention or not, there is no longer any way of knowing.
————”
Bishamonten is here.”
By the way, it is essentially the Rider Class that turns out to be Kagetora’s most suitable Class. The summoning of her as a Lancer is because of personal reasons she has in clearly wanting to decide the match with a certain opponent she had during her lifetime.
“
Well, I’m strong in any Class though, right?”
General Armaments
The eight weapons called the Provision of the Eight Flowers that Nagao Kagetora habitually uses.
Houshoutsukige. A famous horse that was forcibly summoned by Kagetora to ride on.
Connections to Other Characters
Usami Sadamitsu
The Strategist Usamin, Kagetora’s right-hand man. A worldly-wise man who administered Echigo and cleverly managed the war-obsessed Kagetora. When he was boating on his day off, he fell into the lake and drowned. As one would expect, even Kagetora was Bisha-greatly surprised by this.[3]
Oda Nobunaga
During their lifetime, Nobbu felt afraid of Kagetora and gave her a lot of things such as gifts and letters. But they were unable to cooperate because their foundations are fatally in conflict with each other.
Shibata Katsuie
“
There was a time when I fought him at Tedorigawa. Well, I gave him a severe beating.”
Akechi Mitsuhide
“
I’m at least aware of that name. Guns are his speciality, right? Well, those can’t hit me though.”
Hashiba Hideyoshi
“
I’m at least aware of that name. Castle sieges seem to be his speciality, right? Thanks, but no thanks; I’m not interested in such troublesome battles.”
Takeda Shingen
Kagetora’s traditional rival, the only one who could fight on equal footing with her in her lifetime. It appears Kagetora one-sidedly believes such a thing, but from the way it seems to this Shingen, she was an immense annoyance to her. After all, the reason is that, since she is not doing battle to make gains and advantages, Shingen could not predict the battle’s progress. Help her, Kansuke.
Nonetheless, Shingen has a high opinion of Kagetora as well, to the extent that she left these words to her son: “
After my death, rely on Terutora (one of Kagetora’s names in her later years)
, because she will not betray you.”
Houjou Ujiyasu
“
Damn you, Odawara Castle; by no means can I, Kagetora, lose to that… Huh? It fell to Nobunaga’s former retainer? Ahahahahaha! That’s a lie, right?!”
Comment from Illustrator
After Okita and Ms. Majin, it has been decided that we will make a new character for the Gudaguda Group, and Kagetora is a character who was finally finished after we quibbled over everything, saying “
It should be like that, it should be this way.” We proceeded by collecting concepts and designs of a ‘
Japanese-style God of War’, and for Kagetora, I believe her design was completed so well to the extent that it even competes for first place among my character lines. In order to show the character’s individuality, I decided on a plan of making all her facial expressions to be smiling faces, but that might have been a bit overkill. Shimaudon-kun was responsible for her weapons’ designs, while Shimokoshi-kun was responsible for her horse’s design. She became a very magnificent character who has depth. (Takeuchi Takashi)
Notes:
[1] – The Japanese names mentioned here are some of Kenshin’s bladed weapons, and Kagetora uses these 8 as her Provision of the Eight Flowers.
- Himetsuru (Princess Tsuru/Crane; its full name is Himetsuru Ichimonji)
- Yamatori (Mountain Pheasant; its full name is Yamatorige, and it can also be read as Sanchoumou [Ichimonji])
- Tanikiri (Valley Cutter)
- Gokotai ([A short sword that] Repelled Five Tigers; its full name is Gokotai Yoshimitsu)
- Saiken (Festival Sword; its full name is Basaiken)
- Shichisei (Seven Stars; its full name is Shichiseiken)
- Taimatsu (Torchlight; its full name is Kotaimatsu Naginata)
- Biten is the short form name of Bishamonten
[2] – Touhachi Bishamonten (Eight-Bladed Bishamonten) is a variant depiction of Bishamonten with 8 arms that each hold a bladed weapon.
[3] – The JP text says 驚き桃の木毘沙門天 (odoroki, momonoki, Bishamonten). It’s a play on the common Japanese rhyme 驚き桃の木山椒の木 (odoroki, momonoki, sanshounoki), which literally means “
surprise, peach tree, pepper tree”. It’s an expression for great surprise, but in Kagetora’s case, the last part of the rhyme, pepper tree, was replaced with Bishamonten instead just because it’s Kagetora. So I tried doing “
Bisha-greatly surprised” for “
Bishamonten (is) surprised”.
