TV-Series
Description
Princess Ichikishima, also known as Ichikishimahime, is one of the three princesses who came into being after the great aradama that once dwelt within the toji Origami Yukari split apart in the aftermath of the Kamakura Special Hazardous Waste Leakage Issue. Because the original entity could not maintain a single coherent form, it divided into three separate beings, each named after the Munakata Three Goddesses, and Princess Ichikishima is the one addressed by that name in the story. The original body of the great aradama fled to the hidden world, and the three princesses are locked in a conflict in which whichever of them absorbs the other two can reclaim the will and power of the original being.
Her origin defines much of her character. She is described as the fragment left over after the other two princesses, Tagitsuhime and Takirihime, had already taken shape, which makes her the weakest of the three and leaves the very basis of her existence feeling unclear to her. Much of her story is spent searching for meaning in her own being. Her defining trait is a deeply defeatist personality. Convinced that she is useful to no one, she openly laments her own worthlessness in front of others, and she describes herself as Ichikishimahime of denial, in contrast to Tagitsuhime of vengeance and Takirihime of dominance. She grows weary of conflict, dismisses temporary victories as meaningless, and tends toward self-pity, even pitying the imperial guard who pursue her on Tagitsuhime's orders. Within the trio, her stated aim is connected to the advancement of the human race through merging humans with aradama, which gives her a larger ideological stake in the conflict despite her personal pessimism.
In the larger story, Princess Ichikishima sits at the center of a factional struggle. Tagitsuhime's forces, including the imperial guard, actively hunt her so that she can be absorbed and Tagitsuhime can return to full strength, and much of the tension around her involves preventing that absorption. She is a significant figure in the smartphone game and the OVA Katana Maidens – Tomoshibi, where she is one of the central characters, while in the television series she appears as a supporting presence whose fate is tied to the broader aradama conflict.
Her most important relationship is with Origami Yukari, the powerful toji from whom the original great aradama separated. Yukari shields her, travels alongside her, and repeatedly urges her to draw her sacred sword, Juzumaru, pointing out that fighting together would let them break through enemy lines far more easily. Their exchanges are blunt and dry: Yukari challenges her self-defeating talk directly, while Princess Ichikishima responds with weary complaints and jokingly calls her a slave driver. Toward her fellow princesses, her feelings are more painful. She laments having been abandoned by both Tagitsuhime and Takirihime and left to remain in the world alone, and she views the imperial guard with distant pity because they are being used as tools for Tagitsuhime.
Her personal development revolves around the question of whether she can overcome her denial and find a reason to act. Time and again she refuses to take up Juzumaru, insisting that a temporary victory means nothing and that she is tired of fighting. Even so, she continues to remain beside Yukari rather than surrendering herself to Tagitsuhime, and her complaints are accompanied by lingering concern for the people forced to fight on Tagitsuhime's behalf. The tension between her professed worthlessness and her continued choice to stay with someone who believes she is worth protecting forms the emotional core of her character.
In terms of ability, Princess Ichikishima is a supernatural being by nature, one of the three princesses born from a great aradama, and she can take humanlike form and interact with the world around her. She is the weakest of the three princesses, yet her existence is significant enough that absorbing her would allow Tagitsuhime to recover her original power. She also possesses the sacred sword Juzumaru, which she is capable of drawing but refuses to use in battle for much of the story, making her refusal to fight as notable as her actual strength.
Her origin defines much of her character. She is described as the fragment left over after the other two princesses, Tagitsuhime and Takirihime, had already taken shape, which makes her the weakest of the three and leaves the very basis of her existence feeling unclear to her. Much of her story is spent searching for meaning in her own being. Her defining trait is a deeply defeatist personality. Convinced that she is useful to no one, she openly laments her own worthlessness in front of others, and she describes herself as Ichikishimahime of denial, in contrast to Tagitsuhime of vengeance and Takirihime of dominance. She grows weary of conflict, dismisses temporary victories as meaningless, and tends toward self-pity, even pitying the imperial guard who pursue her on Tagitsuhime's orders. Within the trio, her stated aim is connected to the advancement of the human race through merging humans with aradama, which gives her a larger ideological stake in the conflict despite her personal pessimism.
In the larger story, Princess Ichikishima sits at the center of a factional struggle. Tagitsuhime's forces, including the imperial guard, actively hunt her so that she can be absorbed and Tagitsuhime can return to full strength, and much of the tension around her involves preventing that absorption. She is a significant figure in the smartphone game and the OVA Katana Maidens – Tomoshibi, where she is one of the central characters, while in the television series she appears as a supporting presence whose fate is tied to the broader aradama conflict.
Her most important relationship is with Origami Yukari, the powerful toji from whom the original great aradama separated. Yukari shields her, travels alongside her, and repeatedly urges her to draw her sacred sword, Juzumaru, pointing out that fighting together would let them break through enemy lines far more easily. Their exchanges are blunt and dry: Yukari challenges her self-defeating talk directly, while Princess Ichikishima responds with weary complaints and jokingly calls her a slave driver. Toward her fellow princesses, her feelings are more painful. She laments having been abandoned by both Tagitsuhime and Takirihime and left to remain in the world alone, and she views the imperial guard with distant pity because they are being used as tools for Tagitsuhime.
Her personal development revolves around the question of whether she can overcome her denial and find a reason to act. Time and again she refuses to take up Juzumaru, insisting that a temporary victory means nothing and that she is tired of fighting. Even so, she continues to remain beside Yukari rather than surrendering herself to Tagitsuhime, and her complaints are accompanied by lingering concern for the people forced to fight on Tagitsuhime's behalf. The tension between her professed worthlessness and her continued choice to stay with someone who believes she is worth protecting forms the emotional core of her character.
In terms of ability, Princess Ichikishima is a supernatural being by nature, one of the three princesses born from a great aradama, and she can take humanlike form and interact with the world around her. She is the weakest of the three princesses, yet her existence is significant enough that absorbing her would allow Tagitsuhime to recover her original power. She also possesses the sacred sword Juzumaru, which she is capable of drawing but refuses to use in battle for much of the story, making her refusal to fight as notable as her actual strength.