| abstract | - Makie Otono-Tachibana (Jpn. 乙橘槇絵 - "Otonotachibana Makie") is an on-off member of the Itto-ryu in Blade of the Immortal. Master swordswoman and in love with Anotsu. Possibly the most skilled swordsfighter in the manga, she is 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 Fuki (乙橘吹 Otono-Tachibana Fuki?) were disowned and cast away from the family by her father, Harukawa (春川義明 Harukawa Yoshiaki?), 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 choose the path of the sword to avenge her mother's disgrace. She ended up becoming a geisha after Anotsu bought her freedom because she neither had the nerve to become a prostitute, like her mother, nor commit to becoming a swordfighter, lacking the nerve to kill when her concentration in battle is broken. She 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 nearly all men under Iriya who were pursuing Anotsu. After Iriya's death, she leaves with Anotsu and Magatsu. She is later stricken with the same lung sickness her father died from while quietly residing with Anotsu and acting as his bodyguard. When he departs from Edo during Habaki's last effort to destroy the Itto-ryu, Anotsu leaves her behind in order to spare her from fighting again. However, she pursues him in spite of how her sickness is advancing until she encounters Habaki and the Rokki-dan, where upon she is reunited with Anotsu and Manji and fights alongside them. As said by Anotsu, she is the only one that can beat him other than Manji, and even Habaki immediately recognizes and fears her skill. 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.
|
