Okuni

Okuni (阿国) is a character who first appeared in Samurai Warriors. She is a traveling priestess (miko) seeking funds for her shrine. She is best known in history for founding the Japanese dance style, Kabuki. In Samurai Warriors, she is 17 years old. She's symbolized by the kanji for "dance" (舞) and "elegance" (麗).

Samurai Warriors
Okuni is a flirty yet graceful maiden who is easily distracted in her mission by the land's impressive generals. She unknowingly wanders onto battlefields, and being a priestess, usually tries to stop the violence or solicite money by putting on a dance. Her dances work to a degree but ultimately fail to stop any fights. Although she is infatuated by Keiji, she wears her heart on her sleeve and can be fascinated with various men and women. She often wants the one she is infatuated with to return with her to Izumo. Because of this, she has the most alternate endings in Samurai Warriors.

In her real ending, she entertains Keiji and Goemon with a dance. During her performance, the object of her affections walks out as he wants to return to the battlefield. When she's done, she goes with Goemon to look for the missing Keiji.

Okuni is a hidden character in Samurai Warriors 2 who can be unlocked after a winning play in the Suguroku minigame. Like Ranmaru, she lacks a personal Story Mode. She rarely appears in other character's story scenarios except for certain dream stages such as Mitushide's struggle, the beauty competition for No, Oichi -and later Gracia, and others. Her other appearances are mostly limited to Survival mode. In this game, she is slightly more cynical and uses her coy attitude to hide her anger.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi, she, along with Xiao Qiao, Zhang Jiao, and Sakon Shima, joined at Kyushu to stop Nobunaga. Okuni's part is that, claiming to be the "Queen of Dance", helps to raise the army's morale and luring the enmy. Althought the plot to stop Nobunaga's army failed in a very offbeat disaster, all of them were forgiven so by him. Later on, Okuni and the others joined the Coalition force.

She became close to some of the men while in the army, mostly Ling Tong and Guan Ping, especially Ling Tong.

In Warriors Orochi 2, she along with Ling Tong go to the Wu forced. Dong Zhuo praises her dance to be as pretty as Diao Chan's. She will also have beauty competitions with other beautiful female characters such as Diao Chan, Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao, Gracia, No, Oichi and so on. If she meets Goemon or Keiji in game, she will quarrel with them.

Development
Okuni's first design was made as the simplified priestess outfit found in Japan. Her revamp design accentuates this concept by adding gold and the colors of the rainbow to her outfit.

Fighting Style
Okuni's moveset resembles the dances usually performed on hanamichi stages. In the Samurai Warriors series, she can use her umbrella to float across the battlefield each time she jumps.

Voice Actors

 * Melissa Fahn - Samurai Warriors (English)
 * Erin Agostino - Samurai Warriors 2 (English)
 * Karen Strassman - Warriors Orochi series (English)
 * Wakana Yamazaki - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "Shall I bring a little grace to the party?"
 * "My dance has been known to bring grown men to their knees."
 * "So you're the fella who wants to make everybody happy... Quite the dreamer, aren't you?"
 * "It's no dream; it's reality! Or, at least it will be..."
 * "Of course. But, if that dream should fade, like the morning dew... Come to me, and I'll take you to Izumo. And show you dreams beyond your wildest imagination. Don't be afraid. Just go with the flow..."
 * Okuni and Hideyoshi; SW2 Empires


 * "Sigh...I hate getting my hands dirty!"
 * "Let me teach you how to dance."
 * "Watch your step!"
 * "Come on now, feast your eyes on the Queen of Dance!"
 * "Why don't we take a rest and dance later?"
 * "Such a disgrace! I'll show you what elegance is like!"
 * "Pathetic dance, like a withered blossom..."
 * "Hmm...Another one who is gifted to the movements of beauty."
 * "Let's see who is qualified as the Divine Dancer."
 * "Next dance, will be mine."
 * "This shall be our last dance!"
 * "Ahh! Where are my dance shoes? How am I going to dance without it?!"
 * "No matter how mesmerizing your moves are, you are still far from my enchanting dance..."
 * "You got the wrong move, wrong step and wrong dancer to fight with."
 * "Looks like this is the end of your dance...finally."
 * "You're so young and cute. I bet you'd make a great dancer!"
 * "Hey, I am a samurai. Come here and I'll prove it!"
 * "Oh, and you have a good imagination, too. That's perfect!"
 * Okuni and Ranmaru

As can be seen from the extensive list, Okuni has variety of lines - in particular, when used in SW2 seemingly to compensate for a lack of story mode, any playable officer she encounters will become drawn in to a short conversation with her. Usually an attempt to get the encountered character to join her at Izumo (these lines are not listed here).

Historical Information
Izumo no Okuni was born near the shrine in Izumo, eventually becoming a priestess there. As part of her duties to help support the shrine, she was often sent to Kyoto to perform dances and collect alms. While performing there, she became widely known for her sensuous nembutsu dance and various humorous skits involving lovers spats.

Around 1603, Okuni began to entertain on the dry riverbanks of Kamo river where she exclusively gathered female outcasts and prostitutes and taught them dancing, acting and singing to help form her trope. Their early performances consisted mainly dancing and singing with little plot involved and thus were named kabuki due to their eccentricity and social daring. Many others, particularly brothels, emulated these shows to amuse wealthy clients and to gain marketable prostitutes. She later gained sponsoring from Ujisato Sanzaburō who helped her to develop kabuki into a more sophisticated art form. In 1610 she retires and later disappears. There are conflicting records concerning the year she died.

In 1629, the Tokugawa shogunate forbade women from performing kabuki due to public moral protests. It was eventually ruled that only older men were allowed to perform in theaters.