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) as well as peach blossom petals.

Samurai Warriors
Okuni unknowingly wanders onto battlefields, and being a priestess, usually tries to stop the violence or solicit 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 movie 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.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi, she, along with Xiao Qiao, Zhang Jiao, and Sakon Shima, joined forces at Kyushu to stop Nobunaga. Okuni, claiming to be the "Queen of Dance", helps to raise the army's morale and lure the enemy. Although the plot to stop Nobunaga's army failed, she and her defeated allies are pardoned. She and the others later join the Coalition force. She becomes close to some of the men while in the army, mostly Ling Tong and Guan Ping. She also appears in one of Shu's Gaiden stages, helping to delay Goemon from escaping with a treasure he stole from Wei Yan.

In Warriors Orochi 2, she follows Ling Tong to join the Wu forces. Dong Zhuo praises her dance to be as pretty as Diao Chan's, but claims that she lacks the latter's charms. 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 alternate design was a race queen inspired outfit with priestess motifs. Her revamp design accentuates this concept by adding gold and the colors of the rainbow to her outfit.

Personality
Okuni is a flirty yet graceful maiden who is easily allured by the land's impressive generals. She strives to add a touch of elegance to the field, a feat which impresses most of her audience. In the Japanese dub, she speaks in an upbeat Kyoto dialect.

She is slightly more cynical in the second game and uses her coy attitude to hide her anger. Okuni cares more for her own personal beauty, wanting everyone to watch her dance. She is also more selective about who will impress her as she isn't charmed by Ieyasu's flirts. If the players use her in stages with Nagamasa and Oichi present, Okuni will tease the married couple and play with Nagamasa's loyalty. During Survival Mode, she breaks the fourth wall by saying that she was upset for not having a story mode in the game.

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."
 * "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."
 * "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


 * "Without Oichi, I am overcome with a vast longing, an emptiness... It's as though a part of my very soul were missing."
 * "Poor baby... You just come to mama... When this is all over, I'll make you forget you ever had anything to be sad about."
 * Nagamasa and Okuni; SW2 Empires

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.

Historical Information
Izumo no Okuni was born near a shrine in Izumo and was daughter to a blacksmith named Nakamura Sanemon. She became a priestess there and, 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. The Tamoniniki writes that she was performing as early as eight or eleven years old in 1582. Various other accounts also confirm her presence at Kyoto though they each state different years and dances that she could have performed.

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 of the ladies reacting to Okuni dressing and acting as a men thus earning her the name, woman kabuki, due to her 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.

After she established kabuki in 1607, records of her performances dwindled and she disappeared from the public eye. A rumor says that she appeared once more to dance at the imperial palace with her team in 1612. Her death year has been speculated to be either 1613, 1644, or 1658. Others suggest that she spent the rest of her years at Izumo or Kyoto as a nun since a large grave marker was supposedly made near a shrine in the area.

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.