The character most accurately known as Nui No Kata is the former Lady of Ishikawa and the mother of Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru in the anime Dororo. This name was likely used in the German localization, leading to the query for Fürstin Kagemitsu. As the wife of the feudal lord Daigo Kagemitsu, she is a figure defined by profound maternal love, deep-seated guilt, and a quiet strength that ultimately leads her to defy her husband and her station to atone for past wrongs.

Nui No Kata is portrayed as a kind, compassionate, and deeply selfless woman. In stark contrast to her husband and, initially, her younger son, she despises violence and rejects the notion that prosperity can be built on the suffering of an innocent. Her personality is forged in tragedy. After her husband made a pact with demons, trading the body parts of their firstborn son for the prosperity of his lands, her newborn child Hyakkimaru was taken from her arms and cast away to die. This event breaks something in her, and she spends the following sixteen years consumed by grief and remorse. She is haunted by guilt for not being able to protect her son and lives in a state of constant misery, offering daily prayers for his safety and forgiveness. This overwhelming focus on her lost son creates a painful distance between her and her second son, Tahomaru, who grows up feeling that he can never earn her full love.

Her primary motivation is redemption and the hope of reuniting with her firstborn. Unlike Daigo, who views Hyakkimaru as a threat to the demon pact that underpins his power, Nui sees him only as her child. Upon learning that Hyakkimaru survived and is traveling the land reclaiming his stolen body parts, her passive grief transforms into a desperate, active resolve. She renounces her status as a lord’s wife, a position that brought her only misery, and abandons the safety of her home to find him. Her ultimate goal is not to stop Hyakkimaru’s quest for revenge, but to offer him the love and apology he was denied at birth, believing that her compassion is the only thing that can save him from becoming a demon consumed by vengeance.

Within the story, Nui No Kata serves as the moral antithesis to her husband, Kagemitsu Daigo. She is the living embodiment of the human cost of his ruthless ambition. Her key relationships are central to the plot. With her elder son, Hyakkimaru, her bond is one of unconditional love and tragic separation. When they finally meet, she exposes the full truth of his abandonment, holding nothing back. Her love for him is her defining trait, and she addresses him with a mother’s tender address while he, in turn, calls her "Mama." In a moment of unbearable guilt, believing her very existence is a sin against him, she attempts to take her own life, which only deepens Hyakkimaru’s hatred for his father. Her relationship with her younger son, Tahomaru, is fraught with pain. While she loves him, she admits she was so consumed by grief for Hyakkimaru that she had no love left to give, a confession that shapes his tragic path. Her relationship with the young thief Dororo is one of mutual salvation. Dororo helps Nui escape imprisonment, and in turn, Nui acts as a surrogate mother figure, providing the care and guidance that Dororo lost. Dororo recognizes Nui's pain and believes she is the only person capable of reaching Hyakkimaru's heart.

Throughout the series, Nui No Kata undergoes significant development. She evolves from a passive, broken woman silently praying before a headless statue to a decisive actor who betrays her family and her land. Her escape from the castle with Dororo symbolizes her final rejection of her former life as a noblewoman and her embrace of a simple, honest existence as a commoner, finding purpose in helping refugees. She demonstrates that she is willing to risk everything, including her life, for the sake of her children. In the climactic final episodes, she proves her complete devotion to both sons. She embraces Hyakkimaru, finally holding him and begging forgiveness, before choosing to remain in the burning castle with the mortally wounded Tahomaru, cradling him and apologizing for her neglect as the structure collapses around her. She dies alongside Tahomaru and the monk Jukai, a sacrifice born of equal parts love for her younger son and atonement for her inability to save the elder.

While Nui No Kata does not possess supernatural combat abilities, her notable strength lies in her profound emotional willpower. Dororo explicitly states that Nui is the only one who can prevent Hyakkimaru from losing his remaining humanity to his demonic rage. Her power is her unconditional compassion and her ability to speak the truth of his suffering. Her final notable act is carrying a headless Buddha statue, which she kept for years as a symbolic stand-in for the son she lost, using it as a focus for her prayers. The statue, which once protected Hyakkimaru, splitting during her suicide attempt, represents the broken covenant between her family and the demonic forces. Her journey is one of a mother turning her back on a corrupt world of ambition to reclaim the only thing that ever mattered to her: her child.