Kuguri

Overview

Synopsis

Gallery

Kuguri
Japanese	久々李 (くぐり)
Rōmaji	Kuguri
Biographical Information
Status	Alive
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Eye Color	Blue
Hair Color	Black
Sorcery	Twilight Wave
Professional Information
Affiliation	Hishaku
Occupation	Swordsman Hishaku Sorcerer
Debut
Manga	Chapter 61

“A sword fight is a conversation. Both parties have to make things exciting.” ― Kuguri's mindset regarding sword fights

Kuguri (久々李 (くぐり) , Kuguri) is a member of the Hishaku. After the events at Senkutsuji Temple, he and his colleague Toto were tasked to locate and kidnap Samura's daughter to gain leverage over him.

He is one of the main antagonists in the Sword Bearer Assassination Arc alongside the rest of the Hishaku as a whole.

Appearance

Kuguri is a tall man with sharp facial features, blue eyes, and short black hair with a longer lock of it hanging down on the right side of his face. His outfit consists of a black haori under a long white robe, as well as a pair of black pants. Kuguri wears earrings and a ring on his nose. He also bears the insignia of the Hishaku on the back of his right hand.

Personality

Kuguri is a bloodthirsty individual that actively relishes killing and cutting with his blade. He has shown signs of irritability, discontent with the lack of information given to him during his task to locate Iori Samura. However, he generally keeps his temper in check, adopting a mood of stoic rationality and focus during missions. Kuguri generally acts bluntly and directly, questioning students for someone named Samura despite her name having been changed, his colleague Toto typically forming the plans and reminding Kuguri of them.

Kuguri views the act of clashing swords to be akin to a conversation between opposing ideologies. He was visibly disheartened when Chihiro displayed a slight hesitation to fight during their first encounter, and a slight smile was visible on his typically stoic expression when Chihiro fought properly in the streets. Kuguri's desire to battle worthy opposing sword-fighters is so great that it can overwhelm his need to finish jobs assigned to him.

Kuguri's overwhelming desire for sword fighting.

In regards to swordsmanship, Kuguri holds the art in the highest regard, and was aggravated when Hiruhiko ignored his instructions when Kuguri was attempting to teach him. Upon first seeing Chihiro's raw sword skill was imperfect and untechnical, Kuguri was disgusted and refused to fight him; though later on, when Chihiro managed to use a powerful iai technique, Kuguri was impressed and resumed fighting against him.

Despite his obsession when it comes to sword fighting, Kuguri is aware when he is outmatched and has a degree of pragmatism; when Samura appeared on the roof of the Kyoto Bloodshed Hotel with Tobimune active, Kuguri quickly hid to avoid risking his life. He later expended his sorcery Twilight Wave solely on facilitating Toto's evacuation of Hiruhiko, and completely forewent any attempt to seriously engage Samura in battle.

Relationships

Allies

Hiruhiko

Kuguri disapproves of his colleague Hiruhiko, openly criticizing his tactics and killing methods and believing Yura to be spoiling him by letting him get away with his antics. When Kuguri was instructed by Yura to teach Hiruhiko swordsmanship, Hiruhiko mostly ignored Kuguri's instructions, which Kuguri viewed as disrespecting the art of swordsmanship.

Yura

While Yura is his leader, Kuguri is discontent with his methods, considering Yura to enjoy taking risks far too much; a trait shared with Hiruhiko. Kuguri also disapproves with how much Yura allows Hiruhiko to get away with. For his part, Yura trusts Kuguri's sword skills enough to have him train Hiruhiko.

Toto

Kuguri and Toto were tasked to kidnap Samura's daughter. The two converse naturally, being on good terms and working efficiently as a pair during their mission to capture Iori. When Toto was stuck under a car after the car exploded, Kuguri displayed a degree of concern for her well-being.

Genichi Sojo

Kuguri believed in Sojo enough to follow his advice to deepen his understanding with an Enchanted Blade.

Enemies

Chihiro Rokuhira

Kuguri continuously viewed Chihiro as a way to engage in what he viewed as a proper sword fight. While initially disappointed that Chihiro lacked enthusiasm in fighting, then later angered by Chihiro's apparent rejection of proper sword techniques, Kuguri was moved when he saw Chihiro begin to emulate a proper sword style, to the point of prioritizing fighting Chihiro over his mission of capturing Iori. He was extremely disappointed when Chihiro later disappeared alongside the Masumi within a smoke bomb.

Abilities

Overall Abilities: As a member of the Hishaku, a small group of elite sorcerers, Kuguri is a powerful combatant.

As a sorcerer, Kuguri has accomplished the first stage of spirit energy usage, being able to use his spirit energy to strengthen his body to superhuman levels. He can also imbue his katana with spirit energy to enhance his swordsmanship.

Enhanced Strength: Kuguri has incredible physical strength. He was able to easily cut a moving bus in half, and the strength of his attacks have been noted to be very strong by Chihiro.

Enhanced Speed and Reflexes: Kuguri is extremely fast. He can draw his katana and cut down a civilian instantly, and keep pace with and gain ground on a motorcycle while on foot. His movement speed surprised Ro, and his attacks have been stated to be incredibly fast. Kuguri's reflexes are impressive enough to block Chihiro's wakizashi attack at point-blank range as well as his extremely fast iai attack.

Combat Prowess

Kuguri cuts a bus in half.

Expert Swordsman: Kuguri is a highly skilled swordsman; he is able to unsheathe and resheathe his sword instantly, his attacks are powerful and precise enough to cut a moving bus in half while sprinting down a busy street, and he can also instantly switch between wielding his sword normally and backhanded.

Kuguri was able to easily match Chihiro in combat despite having a mission to prioritize, he immediately recognized Chihiro's unrefined skill in wielding a sword, and when the latter used the Iai White Purity Style during their battle, Kuguri was able to easily block Chihiro's surprise attack while holding his sword in a reverse grip. Ro stated that Kuguri's mastery in swordsmanship was at a level that was unsuitable for Chihiro's first battle in learning and mastering proper sword techniques.

Kuguri has enough knowledge in swordsmanship to teach other people, as Yura chose him to teach Hiruhiko swordsmanship. He also has knowledge of certain sword styles such as the Iai White Purity Style, as he immediately recognized the technique when Chihiro used it against him.

Sorcery

Twilight Wave (破 (は) 暮 (ぐれ) , Hagure): Kuguri's sorcery allows him to store heat generated by his body during battle and unleash it at will. The amount of heat he can store has no limit, and the strength of the blast will increase based on how long he has not used his sorcery. By the time of the Hishaku's attack on the Kyoto Bloodshed Hotel, Kuguri had not used his sorcery in seven months and the blast was strong enough to destroy a large section of the building.

Kuguri activates Twilight Wave.

Kuguri uses Twilight Wave to destroy a large section of a building.

Equipment

Katana

Kuguri uses a katana as his primary weapon. It was broken by Seiichi Samura during the battle at the Kyoto Bloodshed Hotel.

Enchanted Blade

Kuguri carried an Enchanted Blade on his back to gain a deeper understanding of it.

Etymology

The name Kuguri (久々李 (くぐり) , Kuguri) can be broken down as follows:

• Ku (久 (く) ): "A long duration of time".
• Gu (々 (ぐ) ): Iteration mark. Usually indicates that the previous kanji, along with its reading, is repeated.
• Ri (李 (り) ): "Plum".

Trivia

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