kukuri

 

Kukuri-Hime-no-Kami (菊理媛大神, Kukurihime ōgami), better known simply as Kukuri (くくり, Kukuri), is the resident God of the Land of the Hakusan Shrine. She is one of many gods known as Kukuri, with this incarnation residing over Kamioka. She guards over the region, dispersing curse and assisting Kazuya in his job as an exorcist.

Appearance

Due to her status as a God of the Land, Kukuri doesn't age, regardless of how much time passes. Instead, her appearance is tied to the amount of power she possesses, boasting a youthful but adult aspect when at full strength but rejuvenating when her power decreases. Some traits are consistently carried over, such as her green hair and blue eyes. She always sports the same attire consisting of an orange haori, a kimono jacket, and a pair of black hakama, divided trousers that extend all the way to the ankles. As well as a white bandana. Because of certain circumstances and, after her test to appoint Kazuya as the new Exorcist of Kamioka; Kukuri suffered a drastic change in looks that resemble that of a very young girl. In her daily life when not attending her duties as the Local God, she's also seen wearing all different kinds of casual clothing typical of girls of her physiological age.

Personality

Kukuri is an affable and cordial individual that keeps an amiable disposition towards those around her. Despite her status and position, she's always broke as she lives entirely on donations from the local population and barely receives any offerings for living, resulting in her living an extremely humble life with barely any comforts. For a long time, she and her assistant Kokuyou lived in very poor conditions. After the destruction of their temple, during the appointment of Kazuya as Kamioka's Exorcist, they found themselves homeless and having to spend what little money they had for its repairs, even having Kokuyou work on part-time jobs in order to get money, forcing them to live an even more vagrant life by eating grass and living on a children's park. While she puts up with it, she's always frustrated and distressed by their lack of money. However, Kukuri herself is a very humble individual that treats everyone with respect regardless of their position, inherently lowering herself to living a life akin to that of average human beings.

She's diligent, regularly overextending herself in order to purify her region from Curse, while also attending to more mundane tasks like washing the dishes or helping with the cooking at Kazuya's house without being asked to collaborate. In spite of her simplistic lifestyle, she still has her pride as the God of the Land and would often remark her status as a deity, but she struggles to be seen as an imposing and mighty figure regardless of her efforts and is often ridiculed by those with more assertive personalities like Kiriha. She is quite scatterbrained, clumsy, and works hard to be taken seriously, but generally comes off as just pitiful by those around her. She's surprisingly childish and cheerful, with her behavior often resembling that of a real kid in both appearance and conduct. She's also very prudish and somewhat innocent, heavily contrasting with the indecent Kiriha who regularly exposes her in all sorts of embarrassing situations, where she tends to easily lose her cool and panic.

Despite her demeanor making her come off as pitiable and miserable, at moments of crisis, she proves to be a very reliable ally and she's still highly regarded and respected by allies in such situations, who have complete faith in her knowledge and abilities. She cares deeply about Kazuya, who she grows to love very much throughout the series. Their relationship appears to be closer to that of an elder brother and sister, but there's shown strong implications of being romantically interested in him on more than one occasion. Naturally, she's willing to do anything within her power in order to protect him, even going as far as placing a barrier throughout Kamioka in order to prevent Azami's entrance, which severely weakened her in the process and left her vulnerable. She also greatly values her subordinate Kokuyou and will be thrown into a binding rage if she was hurt. She has a rocky relationship with Kiriha, as their personalities directly contrast with the other and they're constantly competing with the other. Kiriha finds great amusement in making fun of her prudish nature, which greatly irritates Kukuri.

When using the Mask to its full potential, Kukuri is able to employ several techniques that would otherwise be unable to in her weakened state:

• Water Bullets (みづまり, Midzumari): Kukuri shoots a barrage of water drops at blitzing speeds. Not a particularly strong attack, but of simple and effective use.^[1]
  
• Water Spear (みづやり, Midzuyari): Kukuri gathers enough water to form a short spear that she shots at her opponent. Considerably stronger than the Water Bullets. Potent enough to easily tear apart Kiriha's Double Layered Shield Weave.^[2]
• Water Bulwark (みづがき, Midzugaki): Kukuri raises a torrent of water to serve as a sturdy protective barrier.^[3]
  • Frozen Water Bulwark (しむみづがき, Shimu Midzugaki): A more powerful version of the regular Bulwark. She lowers the water's temperature until it's frozen, further increasing its resistance.^[4]
• Water Mirage (みづかげろ, Midzukagerō): Kukuri forms a projection that allows her to dodge enemies' attacks and catch them by surprise.^[5]

• Minazuchi (水槌みなづち, Minadzuchi): One of Kukuri's most powerful attacks, it requires a chanting on Formal Language. Kukuri summons a massive flood from the heavens, crushing the target under a huge mass of water.^[6]
• Water Wheel (みづぐろま, Midzuguroma): Kukuri creates a wheel of water, which spins at high speeds and launches it at her target.^[7]
• Suzuro Mizuchi (すずろみづち, Suzuro Midzuchi): Another of Kukuri's most powerful moves, it also requires a chanting in Formal Language. Kukuri summons a giant water serpent that frontally attacks the opponent with extremely high speed and power.^[8] It might be even stronger than Minazuchi, as Honoka was impressed when revealed that Kazuya managed to block it.

Weakened State: Normal

Without the use of her Masks, Kukuri's weakened state presents her with a lot of limitations, like her Purification of Curse being more exhausting and lacking in effectiveness. She also becomes incapable of employing most of her more powerful techniques without being ridiculed to pathetic extents, with the tremendously powerful Minazuchi being reduced to a tiny water spray that would kill little more than a fly.

However, while her weakened state would suggest that she's in a vulnerable and helpless position, Kukuri still remains a formidable opponent that very few people could potentially defeat.

• 
  Water God Fist (水神拳すいじんけん, Suijinken): While most of her more advanced attacks become inaccessible for her, Kukuri's primal fighting style actually revolves around the use of a combination of her control over Water with an extremely refined level of martial arts. With this style, Kukuri "wears" her water as an empowering tool on her fists and feet, increasing her strength and speed enormously. She can also shoot this water through punches, similar to the Water Bullets but with a considerably higher potency, as she's launching them with her own fists. When making use of this fighting style, Kukuri's impacts are powerful enough to easily tear apart through flesh and bone indiscriminately, as most of her opponents would be torn to pieces without being given a chance to react.
  

She's an extremely skilled martial artist, with inhuman reflexes and mobility. During the Assassination Arc, Kukuri employed this combat style to defeat six Tsugumomo on her own, all of which wielded power comparable to an experienced Exorcist. After reading her, Mimane claimed that even eight of Mayoiga's Elites would be unable to defeat her in her current state.

• Water Needle (水針功すいしんこう, Suishinkō): Kukuri uses all her strength to shoot a powerful bullet of water towards her opponent, penetrating in a straight line at an inconceivable speed and destroying everything in its path.

Fully-powered State

When Kukuri is at full strength her fighting ability skyrockets to extraordinary levels, gaining access to all the techniques she would wear the Akujou Mask. Her combat style primarily revolves around the use of the Water God Fist as well, occasionally combining it with other large-scale attacks like Minazuchi as well. During this state, she becomes nearly unbeatable to the point she was able to swiftly and effortlessly defeat the Legendary Tsugumomo Miurahi who had a Stone Shard embedded inside his body. She was also able to quickly dispatch the corrupted Obi Tsugumomo Azami in a brief encounter, despite the latter having been strong enough to inflict fatal wounds on lesser Gods like Kaneyama. The only one that was able to give Kukuri an even fight when at full strength was the extraordinarily talented Exorcist Kanaka Kagami.

• Divine Water Fortress (水天陳すいてんじん, Sui Tenjin): One of Kukuri's most powerful moves. She extends a film of water until it contacts with a specific target, capturing and restraining his movements on that instant. The amount of distance she can extend it is seemingly limitless, but the bigger it is the more energy it consumes. Kukuri utilized this technique to serve as a barrier around Kamioka when it failed to capture Azami, which she left activated for many years in order to prevent her entrance.

• Water Moon Kannon (水月観音すいげつかんのん, Suigetsu Kannon): Kukuri's definitive technique and trump card. She covers her body with what resembles a water tunic, vastly increasing her combat ability. On this form, Kukuri was strong enough to overpower even Kanaka on their first encounter, with it being the only time on her life that the Exorcist was bested on the battlefield, and on their second encounter, it was required an extreme level of affinity between Kanaka and Azami to reach Ascension for her to finally be able to overpower this form.

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