The Lore

The story is set in 1990s Japan, where the spirits of historical clans possess modern individuals and battle for supremacy, while influencing the land of the living. This war, unseen to the average human being, called the Feudal Underworld. While many central characters originate from the Sengoku era, the series also features characters from various periods of Japanese history, spanning from ancient to modern times. In this world, supernatural elements, deeply rooted in Buddhist beliefs and Japanese folk spirituality, play a vital role. Numerous mystical creatures, such as Tengu, Yatagarasu, and Tsutsuga (a tiger-like beast), appear alongside mystical artifacts, such as the Three Sacred Treasures, mandalas, and Retsumyousei, a meteorite with magical power. The narrative begins in Matsumoto, a city in Nagano, before expands to various locations across the entire country, including Kyoto, Nikko, Kamakura, Aso, and Shikoku Island.

Kanshou (換生)

The story centers on the Yashashuu (夜叉衆), a group of exorcists who have lived for over 400 years to continue their fight against vengeful spirits. They are known as Kanshousha (換生者), individuals who can be reborn with their memories intact through a process called Kanshou, in which a spirit possesses a living person, expelling the host’s soul and taking over the body. They generally perform Kanshou on a fetus, as the host has not yet developed a sense of identity or formed connections with others.

The Yashashuu are described as experiencing guilt over living lives that were not originally their own, while often questioning the purpose of their prolonged existence and expressing a sense of fatigue with immortality. The story examines the ethical implications of their existence: Although protecting the living through exorcisms, they must continue taking over living people’s bodies to keep themselves alive, and although also being dead themselves, they must continue to battle other dead people.

Ryoku (力)

The supernatural power, called the Ryoku, is broadly divided into two categories: the power of telekinesis (念動力), which causes change in the state and motion of a substance, and the power of spiritual waves (霊波力), which affects the consciousness, mind, and soul of a target. The power of telekinesis includes abilities such as waves of will (念波), waves of body-protection (護身波), and barrier (結界), while the power of spiritual waves includes abilities such as telepathy (思念波), spiritual investigation (霊査), and hypnosis (催眠). Each ability is further divided into various types.

Vai or Bai ー the seed syllable mantra of Bishamonten (Vaiśravaṇa).

Choubuku (調伏), one form of the power of spiritual waves, is a ability used to exorcise vengeful spirits. It is a special power granted to the Yashashuu by their guardian deity, Bishamonten (毘沙門天), who is the god of war and wealth, the punisher of evildoers, and the commander of the Yasha (夜叉) and Rasetsu (羅刹). There are various types of Choubuku, each beginning with the incantation "bai", the seed syllable mantra of Bishamonten, and a specific hand gesture, the mudra of Bishamonten. These are followed by different spells, depending on the type of Choubuku performed. Throughout the series, the spells usually appear as Buddhist chants such as mantras and dharanis, or Shinto chants like norito.

Plot

Takaya Ougi, a high school student, wants nothing more than to protect his best friend Yuzuru Narita and live a normal life. That is, until Nobutsuna Naoe, an intense and charismatic man, informs Takaya that he is in fact the 400-year-old Kanshousha, or soul reborn through time with memories intact, of Kagetora Uesugi, the adopted son of a feudal lord, Kenshin Uesugi. Naoe, who is also a Kanshousha, reawakens Takaya’s abilities to exorcise evil spirits and fight the Feudal Underworld, a collection of restless warrior spirits bent on modern-day conquest. While Kanshousha generally remember their former lives, Takaya is the one who doesn’t because he sealed his own memories when he was reborn into his current body, and is often hostile towards any effort for the complete recovery of his memory. As the plot unfolds, the complex history of the characters and their past suggests why this is so, and the true nature of the tempestuous and somewhat ambiguous relationship between the two leads provides the backdrop for a melodrama that spans several generations of Japanese history. As they ascend to the living world to renew their ancient war, Naoe, Takaya, and other members of Yashashuu, the Uesugi clan’s most powerful group of exorcists and supernatural warriors, gear up to prevent that from happening.

Past Storyline

Kagetora Uesugi was an adopted son of Kenshin Uesugi, a feudal lord in the 16th century. After Kenshin’s death, Kagetora fought with Kagekatsu, also an adopted son of Kenshin, over the succession to the clan leadership. Kagetora was ultimately defeated and died. Naoe served as a retainer to Kagekatsu, which placed him in opposition to Kagetora and made him indirectly responsible for Kagetora’s death. He also died later.

After their deaths, Kagetora and Naoe became vengeful spirits. However, Kenshin persuaded them to accept a duty to exorcise other vengeful spirits and bring peace to the living world. They were brought back to life through Kanshou, becoming a liege/retainer relationship by Kenshin’s order. At first, they harbored mutual hostility. Later, Naoe came to love Kagetora, though he also experienced intense envy toward him, as Kagetora was seen as a charismatic and natural leader whom Naoe felt he could never match. Naoe viewed Kagetora as a “winner” and became increasingly fixated on surpassing him. Kagetora refused to accept Naoe’s love because he believed it stemmed from Naoe’s desire to overcome his inferiority complex by physically dominating him, and because he had not forgiven Naoe for his role in his death. Another reason was his deep sexual trauma: he had been raped by several men when he was young in his first life.

Despite this, Kagetora was emotionally dependent on Naoe and felt unable to live without him. Suffering from low self-esteem, he only felt a sense of superiority or fulfillment through Naoe’s love and complex. To keep Naoe by his side without accepting his love, Kagetora constantly invoked the lingering guilt Naoe felt over his indirect role in Kagetora’s death, and continued their exorcism duties for nearly 400 years while disregarding Naoe’s emotional state. Eventually, Naoe became mentally and emotionally exhausted, leading to a series of harmful actions toward Minako Kitazato, which caused significant psychological distress to Kagetora. Soon after, Kagetora died with fatal wounds to the soul by enemy attacks, and then chose to disappear from everyone he had known, particularly Naoe. Over the next 30 years, Naoe fell into despair, uncertain whether Kagetora’s soul had been destroyed, until he finally found Takaya, who is the Kanshousha of Kagetora, although he had no memory of his past lives, as he sealed them himself when he was reborn into his current body.

OVA

The OVA Rebels of the River Edge (2003) has animated the book with same title. The OVA resumes the plot of the anime television series, yet incorporates several new developments, among them the question of unswerving loyalty and personal honor. Takaya is sent to Kyoto to investigate the re-awakening of the Ikko sect and Murashige Araki, a one time member of the Ikkō sect who has since deserted the clan. With the help of his vassal and fellow possessor Haruie, the two are successful in tracking him down, only to discover that Murashige is after a 400-year-old mandala (a Buddhist ritualistic artifact and meditative aid) made of the hair of the deceased Araki clansmen. Unfortunately, by the time they meet up with Murashige, Haruie recognizes him as Shintarou, her former lover in a past life. Whether it’s true or not, and despite the confusing emotional complication of this development, Takaya orders Haruie to eliminate Murashige once he becomes a true threat to the balance of power. Meanwhile, Takaya finally reunites with Naoe after a prolonged period of estrangement. Unresolved sexual and psychological tension dominates their initial exchange, and it’s uncertain whether these two powerful possessors will resolve their differences and work together against this latest threat.