Makie Otono-Tachibana

Master swordswoman and in love with Anotsu. Said to be Anotsu’s match and saved his life with her deadly abilities when they were children. Born into a samurai family, Makie and her mother were disowned and cast away from the family by her father, Harukawa, when Makie’s older brother committed seppuku after Makie was revealed to have inherited the family’s famed talent and he was unable to defeat her in combat. She initially chose the path of the sword to avenge her mother’s disgrace, but ended up becoming a geisha when Anotsu bought her freedom because she neither had the nerve to become a prostitute like her mother nor commit herself completely to becoming a swordfighter because she does not have the nerve to kill when her concentration in battle is broken. Defeats but does not kill Manji, apparently turning her back on Anotsu. Later found living alone, having bound her hand in an attempt to destroy her own skill in combat after her father’s humiliating death. She reappears in Last Blood, having followed Anotsu since he left Shirakawa when she realized his body was weakening, and destroys the men under Iriya who were pursuing Anotsu. After Iriya’s death, she leaves with Anotsu and Magatsu. As said by Anotsu, she is the only one that can beat him. Her weapon, a double bladed three-section-staff, is named Haru-no-Okina (Old Man of Spring). She conceals her weapon in a hollowed-out shamisen, a mandolin-like instrument. She first appears in Dreamsong Part 1.