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This article is about a character in Higurashi When They Cry. |
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| Overview |
| This article or section contains untagged major spoilers for all of the original Higurashi When They Cry story and possibly the console-exclusive arcs. Readers who have not completed the story are advised not to proceed further. |
Ouka Furude (古手 桜花 Furude Ōka) is Hanyuu's daughter and Rika Furude's ancestor. She killed her mother in order to cleanse the human world of its sins.
Profile[]
The child of Hanyuu and Riku. She's a bit of a spoiled brat because she grew up under the generous patronage of the Sonozaki and Kimiyoshi families. She has psychic-like abilities, such as being able to sense Hanyuu whenever she's invisible.
(Translated from Entergram's Higurashi Hou website.)
Appearance[]
Ouka did not have a sprite in the original visual novels. Various console ports and adaptations feature her with a near-identical appearance to Rika. In Higurashi Matsuri and in the manga, Ouka has light purple hair. Other versions features her with blue hair.
Various console ports reuse Rika's sprites for Ouka as a child, with her adult version featuring a new spriteset. Ouka wears a shrine maiden outfit in all of her appearances.
Personality[]
As a child, Ouka used to say "meep" and "nipah" but grew out of it.
Ouka is compassionate and caring. She trusts her comrades greatly and mediates between them when they argue, and she displays a strong level of responsibility. Ouka faces a conflict in trying to live up to her parents' reputations as "heroes of the village" and also wanting to be seen as her own person.
Ouka has a humorous side to her, managing to trick Hanyuu into thinking she just wanted to learn swordsmanship skills because "becoming a sword-wielding miko would be cool".
Relationships[]
- Hanyuu/Hai-Ryun Yeasomul Jedha (mother)
- Riku Furude (father)
- Rika Furude (descendant)
- Shino Kimiyoshi (adoptive mother/mother-in-law, co-leader)
- Mao Sonozaki (childhood friend, co-leader)
Background[]
Ouka was born when the heir to the Furude Shrine fell in love with Hanyuu, who aimed to make peace between her people and the residents of Onigafuchi. When Hanyuu offered to take all of the humans' sins upon herself when they suspected each other of being demons, Ouka reluctantly killed her using the Onigari-no-ryuuou.
Ouka's backstory is expanded upon in various extra arcs in different ways.
Kotohogushi-hen and Miotsukushi-hen[]
The original text version of Kotohogushi-hen shows that Ouka was the daughter of Hanyuu and Riku Furude. Ouka was orphaned a year after her birth when her parents seemingly died protecting Onigafuchi from bandits (in reality Riku was possessed by a demon and slain by Hanyuu). The villagers felt guilty for suspecting Hanyuu of being a demon and causing her and Riku to die to prove their innocence, and so Ouka was adopted by the Kimiyoshi and Sonozaki families. Five years later, Ouka reunited with Hanyuu and was able to see her despite Hanyuu having a ghostly form.
Miotsukushi-hen shows that Ouka's family, despite being the mikos of Onigafuchi, were ridiculed as it was believed they consorted with demons. When a horrible disease began spreading across the village, Ouka asked Hanyuu to make medicine to cure them. Hanyuu was confused since Ouka had no reason to repay the villagers who treated her badly, but she relented out of consideration for Ouka's daughter's safety.
The medicine circulated around the village, however it split villagers into two factions. The healthy villagers who never caught the disease cursed Ouka, believing the sick had sold their souls to demons while those who were cured by the medicine revered Ouka as their savior. Hanyuu tried convincing Ouka to abandon Onigafuchi with her family, but she refused. Ouka felt it was her duty as a Furude miko to protect the village, inspired by her father's sacrifice.
Ouka was forced to slay Hanyuu to save the village.
One day, Hanyuu witnessed Ouka being attacked by several villagers, who had faked their illness in order to obtain medicine and sell it off for profit. After hearing they killed Ouka's husband and were going to torture her daughter, Hanyuu flew into a murderous rage. Ouka took up a sword and faced down her mother, killing her.
Kotohogushi-hen (console)[]
The console version of Kotohogushi shows that Ouka's name has several meanings: Ouka (桜花) is the characters for cherry blossom (桜) and petal (花) put together, and it is also based off the Ryuun word "ohca", which means "one who links".[1] Similar to the text version, the baby Ouka was adopted by the villagers of Onigafuchi when her parents seemingly died protecting the village from bandits. The villagers felt guilty for causing their deaths, and Ouka was adopted and raised by Shino Kimiyoshi, later moving out to take care of the Furude Shrine when she was 10.
One day, the young Ouka met Hanyuu in her incorporeal form and knew her as "Oyashiro-sama", able to see her because she was half-Ryuun. Although Hanyuu believed Ouka had no idea who she was even after Ouka coincidentally decided to nickname her Hanyuu, Ouka did figure out her heritage later on.Hanyuu reentered Ouka's life as another mother figure, teaching her swordsmanship skills and giving advice from time to time. At some point Ouka began suffering from a horrible disease, which Hanyuu cured using her advanced technology.
As an adult, Ouka married her childhood friend/adoptive brother Shouji Kimiyoshi, who took on the Furude surname to become Shouji Furude. The two would have a daughter named Fuuka.
Role in the Story[]
Matsuribayashi[]
Hanyuu has a flashback during the main story of her assigning Ouka the task of killing her.
In the manga, after Rika performs a miracle in stopping Takano's bullet, Hanyuu sees Ouka welcoming her home.
The TIP at the end expounds on the Onigari-no-ryuuou's existence and Ouka's role.
Kotohogushi (console)[]
This arc retells elements featured in the text version of Kotohogushi-hen and Miotsukushi-hen.
Ouka and Shino meet to discuss a recent epidemic that has spread across the village. When Ouka's husband falls ill, Ouka asks Hanyuu to make the same medicine she made for Ouka's own disease long ago to save him and the village. Hanyuu warns that she cannot do that because she would be breaking Ryuun law and become much too involved in the fate of humanity. Hanyuu asks Ouka to think of the consequences of mass producing medicine like this but offers to do it anyway.
Ouka gives away the medicine to villagers for free, claiming that Oyashiro-sama told her how to make it. Ouka becomes revered by the villagers as the god's reincarnation, with the medicine becoming known as "demon medicine". Knowledge of the medicine spreads across the land, with villagers coming from all over to obtain some and cure their epidemics.
Over time, Ouka and the Three Families become aware that some people are selling the medicine on the black market. When the feudal lord demands to have the prescription to the demon medicine so he can monopolize it, Ouka is at a loss for what to do. Hanyuu tries to convince her to leave the village with her family and return once the medicine circulating has run out and interest in it declines. Ouka cannot make a decision regarding that either.
Although Ouka pierced Hanyuu with her sword, it was not enough.
Ouka is attacked by villagers who faked their illness earlier to get some demon medicine and sell it. The villagers claim to have killed Ouka's husband and demand to have more medicine, otherwise they'll kill her daughter as well. Hanyuu witnesses this and flies into a rage, murdering the villagers and setting Onigafuchi ablaze. As the survivors evacuate and Hanyuu continues her killing spree, Ouka engages her with a katana. Ouka is no match for Hanyuu's brute power but is renewed with strength when Hanyuu threatens to kill her other loved ones in front of her. Ouka stabs Hanyuu in the heart and leaves her to die.
Ouka overlooks the burning village from the shrine's lookout and ponders committing suicide when Hanyuu stops her, having survived and momentarily come to her senses. Hanyuu gives Ouka Ryuuou and tells her that it's the only thing that can kill her. Hanyuu swears to take all of humanity's sins onto her and Ouka reluctantly kills her.
The next day, Ouka is overjoyed to see that her family survived all along. She takes Ryuuou, which has remained in its three-pronged form even after Hanyuu's death, and throws it into Onigafuchi Swamp.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Higu Matsuri V3 bonus (2).jpg (501 KB)")
References[]
- ↑ Kotohogushi-hen Chapter 8