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Genbu prestes.2

Takiko Okuda

Full Name Takiko Okuda
Nicknames Taki-chan by Takao Osugi
Birthdate September 22 (Virgo)
Age 17
Gender Female
Hair Color Black
Eye Color Brown
Height 154 cm
Known Relatives Rimudo Roun (Husband)
Einosuke Okuda (Father)
Yoshie Okuda (Mother)
Ayula Rowun (Mother-in-law)
Temudan Rowun (Father-in-law)
Efinluka Rowun (Cousin-in-law)
Tegiru Rowun (Uncle-in-law)
Allegiance
Additional Information
Beast God Genbu
Title Priestess of Genbu
Empress of Hokkan
Rank Priestess
Empress
Occupation Royalty
Priestess of Genbu
High School Student (Former)

Real World
Manga Chapter 1
Anime Episode 30 (apparition)

OVA Episode 1 and 3 (voice)

Created by Yuu Watase
Voiced by Satsuki Yukino (Drama CD)
Atsuko Tanaka (OAV 1)
Other Information
Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden
Kagami No Miko
Fushigi Yuugi: Byakko Senki

Takiko Okuda (奧田 多喜子 Okuda Takiko) is the Priestess of Genbu and the protagonist of Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden. As the first to enter The Universe of the Four Gods, her legacy is felt throughout the other Priestesses’ stories. She is mentioned in Fushigi Yuugi: The Mysterious Play and Fushigi Yuugi: Byakko Senki.

Appearance[]

"This girl’s good-looking. I bet she could get customers!"
—Yunsa to Inami, Chapter 31 (Showers of Emotion)
Takiko with parasol

Takiko has waist-length black hair that’s often tied back by a ribbon. While she’s shown in various outfits throughout the series, she’s frequently dressed in a hakama (skirt-like pants), the typical attire of Taisho-era schoolgirls. Takiko is shown to have amber eyes in colored manga spreads.

Takiko is considered beautiful, as noted by several characters. In Chapter 15 (Trace of a Star), she goes undercover in a brothel to find Inami and is immediately picked up by a customer. In Chapter 33 (Labyrinth of Humanity), Takiko sneaks into the imperial palace, disguised as a court lady. She catches the eye of Emperor Tegiru, who asks for her to pour his wine and remarks, “quite a beauty.”

Personality[]

"You’ll never understand how happy it makes me to be needed! To think that perhaps I could accomplish something, that I could be of help to somebody…"
—Takiko to Rimudo, Chapter 3 (Fateful Resolution)
"You can stay just the way you are. Stubborn, devoted, and direct."
—Rimudo to Takiko, Chapter 17 (Tears of Sorrow Ablaze)

When the reader is first introduced to Takiko, she is full of barely repressed anger. She fights verbally and physically with her classmates, who goad her about her sick mother. She feels helpless about her mother’s terminal diagnosis. She pines after Mr. Osugi, a friend of her father’s, who is married with child. Most of all, she’s furious with her father, whom she feels never wanted a daughter and prioritizes his work above all else.

As the series progresses, Takiko’s selfless, compassionate side is revealed. She risks personal harm to do right by others and seeks to empathize, even when it’s the enemy. Perhaps the most poignant aspect of this side of her personality is her willingness to forgive. From making amends with her father to healing the invading Kutou soldiers, Takiko eventually lets go of her anger and inspires those around her to do the same.

Takiko is exceptionally strong-willed but she is not without insecurities. She fears rejection and has never felt like she belonged in her own world. Desperate to be needed and useful, she assumes the duty of Priestess in part due to this.

Story[]

Takiko & Warriors

Takiko is the daughter of Einosuke Okuda, the translator of The Universe of the Four Gods. Sometime before the series’ start, she and her family move from Tokyo to Morioka for her mother, who is dying from tuberculosis. It can be assumed that Takiko lives in relative comfort, given her father’s success. Because he’s often away on research trips, Takiko spends most of her time with her mother and governess. She is in love with Takao Osugi, a mentee of her father’s, who himself is the father of Suzuno Osugi, the eventual Priestess of Byakko.

Takiko gets pulled into the book after a fight with her father. Grief-stricken from her mother’s death and incredulous that Einosuke could still be obsessing about his book at such a time, she rips the manuscript from his hands and tries to tear it apart, only to be sucked into its pages.

She lands in the snowy mountain landscape of Hokkan, where she stumbles upon a young woman chained to a rock. The young woman is eventually revealed to be Uruki, one of the Genbu Celestial Warriors, and she saves Takiko from man-eating monsters. Shortly after, however, the woman collapses from fever and Takiko tries to find them shelter. As she traipses through snow, exhausted and lost, a young boy (Taiitsukun) appears and calls Takiko “Priestess of Genbu” before pointing to a nearby village and disappearing.

Takiko learns more about Genbu the next morning from Uruki, who is actually a man: “The Priestess of Genbu is the legendary girl who will come here from another world when this country is on the verge of collapse. The girl will gather the seven Celestial Warriors and summon Genbu. She will gain the power to grant wishes and save the country.” In denial that she fits the bill of a girl from another world, Takiko chases after Uruki to help her get home to Morioka. However, a fight erupts with the authorities and, in the face of a firing cannon, Takiko emits a blinding silver light - the hallmark of Genbu.

At this point, Takiko is captured by Tomite, another Celestial Warrior. He takes her to his village as bait for Uruki, who he wants to capture for the bounty on his head. The village is attacked. Borate, Tomite’s mother, takes arrows meant for Takiko because she believes in Takiko’s divinity, and Takiko realizes that she can no longer be a neutral third party. She resolves to become the Priestess of Genbu.

As Takiko sets out to find the seven Celestial Warriors, she learns more about the chaos surrounding her. An uprising against the emperor is occurring in the shadows as the people starve. Bandits pillage and rape. Neighboring Kutou, smelling blood, is readying for an invasion of the country. Legend says that the Priestess and her Celestial Warriors will appear to save the country, but the people believe they are harbingers of doom.

Each of the Celestial Warriors themselves refuses to embrace their destiny at first. But through compassion and persistence, Takiko personally persuades several warriors to join her. Most notable is Uruki, who is actually a royal prince named Rimudo Roun. Cursed from birth by a wayward prophecy, Rimudo has been on the run his entire life from his father, King Temudan, who wants him dead. Rimudo hates the concept of the Priestess of Genbu as it is at the root of the prophecy that has ruined his life, but he falls deeply in love with Takiko and vows to stay by her side. As they prepare to find the last warrior, Urumiya, Rimudo is visited by Taiitsukun, who informs him that the Priestess will be sacrificed when she summons the beast-god. To save Takiko’s life, Rimudo and his fellow warriors tell Takiko that she is no longer needed, breaking her heart and sending her back to her world.

Back in Morioka, Takiko tries to adjust to reality. She attends her mother’s funeral. She receives a marriage proposal from Dr. Oikawa, a kind man who cared for Takiko’s mother back in Tokyo. Takiko accepts, trying to convince herself that this is her life now, but when she discovers that she has contracted tuberculosis as well, she realizes she’d rather spend her last days by Rimudo’s side than prolonging her life as someone else’s wife. Einosuke attempts to stop Takiko from going back into the book, revealing her inevitable death if she summons Genbu and asking that she live for him. But when he mentions that the true threat to Hokkan is an impending catastrophic ice age, Takiko vows to save the country and its people. Finally seeing that her father loves and cherishes her, Takiko lets go of her anger towards her father and allows the book to consume her once more.

She is transported to a snowy alleyway in Touran, where she is rescued by one of her Celestial Warriors, Inami. Inami has split off from the other warriors to do solo reconnaissance but Rimudo, who is connected to Takiko through a toka seed, realizes Takiko has returned and informs the rest of the group. Besieged by the enemy, they prepare for a frontal attack to get to Takiko. The group gets split in the ensuing battle but Rimudo manages to make his way to Touran. There, he and Takiko reunite, embracing passionately and reaffirming their love for each other.

Eventually, the entire group finds each other. While the warriors are furious with Takiko for returning, they admit that they’re also happy to see her. Takiko tells them that they’re running out of time and must find Urumiya. Because only the corrupt Emperor Tegiru knows where he is, Takiko hatches a plan to infiltrate the palace. The warriors agree to follow her despite their reservations; Inami, Hikitsu, and Namame sneak into the palace with Takiko while Rimudo, Tomite, and Hatsui stay outside to find a rumored underground labyrinth beneath the palace where Urumiya may be imprisoned.

The palace mission is successful. Rimudo, Tomite, and Hatsui find Urumiya. Takiko witnesses a coup in which Rimudo’s father (and the Emperor’s brother), Temudan, overthrows and executes Tegiru. When Rimudo gets back to Takiko, father and son are reunited. Rimudo rushes at Temudan with intent to kill but Takiko’s influence stays his hand. Declaring, “someone showed me a better way to live,” Rimudo steps back…only for an assassin hiding in the shadows to throw a dagger into Temudan’s heart. With his last dying breath, Temudan hands over the emperor’s necklace, crowning Rimudo as Emperor.

For a moment, all is well. Urumiya apologizes for holding out on the group and asks to join the warriors. Rimudo steps up to the task of governing, opening the royal coffers and providing food to the starving people. Most significantly, Takiko and Rimudo are married (Chapter 37). Inspired by Hatsui’s declaration that Takiko would be “better off as a bride than a priestess,” Tomite and Hikitsu scheme with the rest of the warriors to get the two wed, knowing that the both of them would never put their own desires before their duties to their roles and country. Takiko doesn’t believe that she and Rimudo can be together, but faced with Rimudo’s pledge to love her for all his life, she tearfully says “I do” and allows her dream to become reality.

Her happiness is short-lived as immediately after the wedding, the Kutou army arrives at Hokkan’s gates. The Celestial Warriors tell Takiko to stay back, determined to use their powers to end the war rather than sacrifice her to summon Genbu. They appear to make headway until a destructive hailstorm rains down on the city, the first sign of the cataclysmic ice age. Recognizing it as such, Takiko realizes she has no other choice but to summon Genbu. She begs of her warriors to let her have her last wish.

The Priestess and her warriors begin the summoning ceremony. Kutou renews their attack, rightly calculating that the Celestial Warriors would be indisposed and Hokkan defenseless. Takiko is severely weakened by her illness, which has advanced significantly since she returned to Hokkan. Several times she has to stop her recitation, coughing up blood and holding onto Rimudo for support. The army has reached the warriors, who realize that their powers are gone, transferred to the Priestess. More hail rains down. As Takiko nears the end of her recitation, Tomite is stabbed through the heart by Shigi, a Kutou assassin. Hikitsu rushes to his side, sacrificing himself to keep Tomite alive just long enough for Takiko to succeed in calling Genbu from the heavens.

Takiko faces Genbu in his human form. She promises the god her life in exchange for three wishes. Her remaining warriors watch, awestruck, as she makes her first wish: “bring spring to this country once more.” She collapses but proceeds to make her second wish: “heal every living thing in this country.” By doing this, she inadvertently kills Namame, who returns to water of life form. The waters engulf Hokkan, healing Hokkan and Kutou citizens alike, to the latter’s disbelief. Tomite and Hikitsu are unfortunately not revived as they have passed by this point.

Rimudo begs Takiko to stop. Her body is being ripped apart by Genbu. It is assumed that the healing waters had no effect on her because she’s not of this world and because Genbu’s consuming of the Priestess’ body can’t be stopped, though Urumiya says it’s because the illness has already weakened her so much that she can no longer be saved. In the middle of all this, an apparition appears. Takiko’s father has figured out how to connect to his daughter across time and space - through their blood. He apologizes to Takiko for creating the book that has led her to this before plunging a knife into his chest, killing himself and his daughter in a bid to end her suffering.

As Takiko lays dying, she says her last words to her loved ones. She thanks her father for giving her a wonderful life. She implores Rimudo to take care of Hokkan. She thanks her warriors for being by her side. With her and Rimudo’s love song on her lips, she dies in his arms.

A month after Takiko’s death, Hokkan and Kutou sign a peace treaty. The snow has melted, giving way to spring. The Priestess’ will has saved the country. Rumors fly that the Priestess had a third wish but couldn’t make it before she died, that she and the Emperor were in love but put the welfare of the people before their own happiness. Deeply grateful to the Priestess and touched by her selflessness, the people pray on her behalf: “water of life, swell with wind and let them walk the earth once more. It matters not where or when. Let it be that this time they should meet and never again be separated.”

The series ends with Takiko and Rimudo reuniting in either their next lives (as reincarnation is valid in this canon) or in the afterlife, finally together.

Relationships[]

Rimudo Portrait

Uruki (Rimudo Roun): The first Celestial Warrior Takiko meets, they become lovers and eventually marry. When they meet, Rimudo is in his female form and after Takiko unbinds him from a rock he was chained to, he saves Takiko from man-eating monsters before keeling over with fever. Takiko gets her to an inn and strips to bring Rimudo’s fever down with body heat. To Takiko’s horror, Rimudo transforms back into a man and she finds herself naked in bed with him.

Rimudo is cold to Takiko at first, saying that his only goal in life is to kill his father and that he won’t help her. Takiko points out the irony of Rimudo’s actions - he says he doesn’t care, but he repeatedly shows up when she’s in danger. When he admits that he’s doing it because he wants to, Takiko is touched. The reader sees Takiko manage a swirl of emotions: as a Priestess she wants him to join her as a Celestial Warrior, as a compassionate person she wants to free him from his tragic past... and as a woman, she’s developed feelings for him. When Rimudo’s cover as a spy in the Kutou army is finally blown, he takes his place by Takiko’s side as her Celestial Warrior and they profess their love to each other.

Unlike Miaka and Tamahome in the original Fushigi Yugi series, who were rather open about their love and their desire to be together, Takiko and Rimudo’s relationship is characterized by restraint. Their passion for each other is evident to everyone around them, but they don’t allow themselves to imagine being together outside of their role as Priestess and Celestial Warrior. When Rimudo tells Takiko that he loves her, he says wistfully, “When we return to being a Priestess and a Celestial Warrior, you have to put it out of your mind. This is only for this moment.” Even when Rimudo tries to seduce her, he does so less out of lust and more out of a desire to prevent her from summoning Genbu, since a Priestess must be a virgin.

Rimudo is used to giving out orders, given his upbringing as a prince. This leads to him quarreling often with Takiko, who is equally as headstrong. In the most critical moments, however, Rimudo respects Takiko’s authority. When she proposed infiltrating the palace and talking to Temudan, Rimudo agreed despite the riskiness of the plan and his deep hatred of his father. When she resolved to summon Genbu, Rimudo rallied the rest of the warriors despite his desire to keep her alive.

Rimudo and Takiko eventually wed, though they’re never able to consummate their marriage. After her death, he goes on to live 100 more years as Emperor of Hokkan. He never takes another wife or sires any children, staying true to his word that he’ll love only Takiko for the rest of his life, and is succeeded by a young boy who actually is a descendant of his cousin Efinluka Rowun and the Genbu Warrior Urumiya Teg. He is reunited with her in what's either the after life or their next lives.

Einosuke Portrait

Einosuke Okuda: Takiko’s father and the translator of The Universe of the Four Gods. Takiko’s relationship with her father is extremely diofficult: she resents him being away all the time, especially as her mother lays dying. She believes that he never wanted her and wished for a boy instead. It turns out that Einosuke actually sees a lot of himself in his daughter but, as a stoic man who struggles to emote, he is unable to communicate how much he cares.

When Einosuke realizes that Takiko has disappeared into his book, he follows along with her adventures. He comes to understand more about his daughter by doing this, in addition to his failings as a father. The book helps mend the relationship between Einosuke and Takiko: Takiko comes to understand her father’s true intentions beneath his aloof exterior, while Einosuke is finally able to articulate how much he loves his daughter and doesn’t want to lose her.

Einosuke ultimately stabs himself through the chest to end Takiko’s pain and prevent Genbu from devouring her. The dying Takiko does not resent him for it, and before she dies as well she tells Uruki that he did it to help her pass on.

Tomite Portrait

Tomite (Chamuka Tan): The first Celestial Warrior to follow Takiko. They meet at the inn where Takiko sleeps the first night she lands in Hokkan. A bounty hunter, Chamuka was chasing Rimudo. When Rimudo escapes, Chamuka captures Takiko instead, thinking she’s Rimudo’s lover and can be used as bait. He takes her back to his village, where his mother, Borate, promptly finds him and trounces him for assaulting Takiko.

Borate believes fervently in the legend of Genbu. At her behest, Chamuka assumes his role as a Celestial Warrior and sets off with Takiko in search of the others. He develops feelings for Takiko but steps to the side when he sees the love between her and Rimudo. With Hikitsu, he comes up with the plan to get Takiko and Rimudo married.

In many ways, Chamuka is as devoted to Takiko as Rimudo is. He is murdered just as Takiko summons Genbu. Lamenting that he couldn’t be with the Priestess in her final moments, he refuses to depart for heaven. Instead, he chooses to remain on earth for 200 years to guard Takiko’s magical necklace, the Genbu Shinzaho. Miaka in the original Fushigi Yugi series remarks that, even in death, Tomite remained loyal to his Priestess.

Abilities[]

Of all the priestesses, Takiko is the only one who is formally trained in martial arts. She is an expert naginata user and a member of her school's naginatajutsu club.

Etymology[]

  • The name Takiko means "many" (多) (ta), "joy, rejoice" (喜) (ki) and "child" (子) (ko).
  • Takiko's surname Okuda means "back, inner part" (奥) (oku) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da).

Trivia[]

  • Takiko is the shortest of all the priestesses
  • The top three things Takiko hates are octopus, thunder, and her father.
  • It is speculated that after Takiko's death, Genbu followed her to the real world. It was revealed in Fushigi Yuugi that Genbu Grotto was created because someone brought a deity to the real world. It is located where the Okuda murder-suicide happened.

Gallery[]

References[]

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