The character known as Master, whose true name is never revealed, is first encountered by Kino in a forest where she saves the young traveler from a wolf attack. The title Master, from the Japanese word Shishou, means mentor or teacher. She is an elderly woman with short white hair and blue eyes who lives alone in the forest and does not travel during the main timeline of the story. She is a highly skilled marksman and takes Kino in to train her in the use of firearms, including the revolver known as the Cannon. Her training methods are described as harsh and demanding, instilling in Kino both technical proficiency and a survival-oriented mindset. In personality, Master is stern, practical, and blunt, but she also shows underlying care for Kino through her actions. She is depicted as a leader and mentor figure, with her companion in earlier travels deferring to her for decisions. In the novels, she is also shown to be afraid of ghosts, a small detail that hints at a less severe side. Her motivations are not explicitly stated, but she takes on the role of teacher seemingly out of choice or a sense of duty, and she lives a reclusive life after her own traveling days end. In terms of role in the story, Master is a supporting character who appears primarily in flashbacks and in the chronological early part of Kino's life. She is responsible for transforming Kino from a vulnerable child into a capable traveler. Her key relationship is with Kino, whom she trains and later parts with when Kino decides to begin her own journey. Master also had a traveling companion in her younger years, a man referred to as her student or assistant, and together they traveled in a battered yellow car, stirring up trouble in the countries they visited and behaving with considerable greed and cruelty. This earlier version of Master contrasts with the settled, older figure Kino meets. Development for the character is revealed across the series and novels: the final episode of the original 2003 anime shows through a gunsmith's story that Master was once a young traveler who insisted on being called Shishou, implying that she herself was a wanderer before settling down. The novels expand on this with dedicated stories about her younger travels. Her notable abilities center on masterful marksmanship and the knowledge to train others in survival and combat. She is the origin of Kino's proficiency with a revolver and her disciplined approach to conflict. Master remains a significant influence on Kino's worldview and capabilities, even after Kino leaves the forest to continue her travels.