Profile

Tsuruhime is a character who debuted in Sengoku BASARA 3. She is a seer with the power of prophecy and was raised as a miko tucked away in Kouno. Tsuruhime is unaware of the existence of the evils of the world due to this. She returns as a payable character in Sengoku BASARA 4 as a playable character. Tsuruhime made her official anime debut as a supporting character in Sengoku Basara End of Judgement (Judge End in Japan).

Tsuruhime is a sweet yet naive young archer, sheltered by the people of Kouno who sought to protect her as well as her power. It is because of this that she has little knowledge of the world and the people in it. She not only has trouble with identifying which animal is which, she is also capable of being easily manipulated. Warriors often seek her out for readings of their futures through her gift as the Oracle. She greatly values her homeland sea and will risk her life protecting it from whomever she deems as a threat. She shares a sisterly bond with Saika Magoichi.

Like other characters from the Sengoku Basara series, she is based on a historical figure from the Sengoku Era. Tsuruhime (鶴姫?) or Ōhōri Tsuruhime (大祝鶴姫?, 1526 – 1543) was the daughter of Ōhōri Yasumochi, a head priest of Oyamazumi Shrine in Iyo Province. Tsuruhime was born in 1526. At that time the island was under threat from the growing power of Ōuchi Yoshitaka from Yamaguchi on the mainland of Honshu, and fighting took place between the Ōuchi and the Kōnō on Shikoku, under whose jurisdiction the shrine fell. Tsuruhime's two elder brothers were killed in one such conflict, and when Tsuruhime was 16 years old her father died of illness, so she inherited the position of chief priest. She had been trained since childhood in the martial arts, and when the Ōuchi made further moves against Ōmishima she took charge of the military resistance. She led an army into battle and drove the Ōuchi samurai back into the open sea when they raided Ōmishima in 1541.

Four months later the invaders returned, and while an Ōuchi general was being entertained on his flagship he came under attack from Tsuruhime in a raid. At first he mocked her presumption, but Tsuruhime cut him down. This was followed by a deluge of horokubiya (spherical exploding bombs) from Tsuruhime's allies, which drove the Ōuchi fleet away. Two years later, at the age of 18, she was again in action against an attack by the Ōuchi, but when her fiance was killed in action she committed suicide by drowning.