Ogen (Basilisk)

Ogen is a character featured in the Japanese anime "Basilisk Kouga Ninpou Chou" (known in English as "Kouga Ninja Scrolls"). As the leader of Iga Tsubagakure, Ogen was ordered by retired Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu to lead nine other warriors in a duel against the chosen ten of the rival Kouga Manjidani clan to determine a successor to the shogunate.

Character Overview

As the elderly chieftess of the Iga Tsubagakure ninja clan, Ogen was ordered by retired Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu to lead nine other warriors in a duel against the chosen ten of the rival Kouga Manjidani clan to determine a successor to the shogunate. She shares a spiritual connection to her hawk which serves as her messenger and servant although it is unknown if she possesses any other abilities. When she was younger, she was very much in love with Kouga Danjo and the two sought peace between the warring clans through their marriage. But following a surprise attack by the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and the Koga in which her grandfather was murdered, she lost all faith in Danjo.

Despite the Koga's betrayal, Ogen was in her twilight years willing to make her granddaughter Oboro the bride of Danjo's grandson Gennosuke in the hopes that the two of them could bring a definite peace and also find the happiness that she could not. In the manga, Ogen's first candidate was her subordinate Yakushiji Tenzen, yet in the end she preferred Gennosuke as Oboro's future husband.

In the Japanese original anime, she is voiced by Hisako Kyouda.

Manga

In the manga, Ogen's backstory regarding her relationship with Danjou is hardly touched upon and it is suggested the reason their love ceased was due to pressure from their respective clans to end the affair.

Ogen in the manga is also more stoic and serious. She tends to view Oboro as a disappointment to the clan and is hinted to have only consented to her marrying Gennosuke due to her granddaughter's lack of fighting skills. In contrast, Ogen in the anime was more forgiving of Oboro's faults and even attempted to boost her self-esteem when she failed in her training by saying she preferred her as sweet and loving. She also took pains to hide the Koga's actions following Nobunaga's surprise attack so Oboro wouldn't become infected with the Iga's hatred.

Alternate information

Ogen was a featured character in the live action film, "". The major difference between her character here in the manga, the anime and in the novel is that she is the mother of Oboro, compared to the former three wherein she is the grandmother. She has been training her daughter for years to become worthy of inheriting the leaderhsip of the Iga. She does not seem to have had a past affair with Kouga Danjo, thus their hostility towards each other was most likely caused by loyalty to their respective clans. While a hawk is very prominent in the movie as a go-between of the two clans, it doesn't appear to have any links to Ogen, as it remains in Oboro's service and company after Ogen and Danjo kill each other in the very beginning of the treaty dissolution.

References

*Fumitoro Kizaki (Director). Basilisk-Koga Ninpocho [TV-Series] GONZO/Kodansha/Japan Digital Concepts: Japan. 2005
*Masaki Segawa (Manga-Ka). Basilisk-Koga Ninpocho [Manga] Kodansha: Japan. 2003-2004
*Futaro Yamada (Author). Koga Ninpocho [novel] Japan. 1958
*Ten Shimoyama (Director) Shinobi: Heart Under Blade (DVD) Japan. 2005