Gennosuke Kōga (甲賀 弦之介, Kōga Gennosuke) is the heir of Danjō Kōga and therefore heir to the Kōga Manjidani where he is one of the ten Kōga ninja picked by his grandfather to represent the Kōga in the battle against the Iga Tsubagakure clan and the fiancé of Oboro, the princess of the Iga clan.
Appearance[]
Gennosuke is a handsome young man with upper-back length black hair that is usually tied in a ponytail with bangs split in the middle and hanging over his thick eyebrows (a trait that he takes from his grandfather Danjō Kōga) while he has shoulder-length hair strands hanging on either side and brown eyes with eyelashes that are unusually long, giving him a slightly feminine appearance.
He wears a blue kosode with a long white jinbaori over the top and dark blue hakama, tucked into his black socks. He also wears brown gloves which cover only the back of his hands and his wrists. He looked similar as a child, even wearing the same clothing, but minus the jinbaori.
Personality[]
In many ways, Gennosuke is as much an oddity among his clan as Oboro is amongst hers; an idealist and a scholar who believes in looking to the future instead of being dominated by the past, Gennosuke views the pursuit of any grudge to be an ultimately pointless and self-destructive practice.
His sense of principles remain even after learning of the renewed conflict between Kōga Manjidani and Iga Tsubagakure, prompting him to lead the Kōga on an expedition to Sunpu to plead with former Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa and Hanzō Hattori the 4th to reinstigate the treaty before any more senseless bloodshed occurs.
However, despite being a man of peace, Gennosuke is more than capable of killing anyone who threatens him or his clansmen should he be pushed into a corner.
Biography[]
Before the War[]
Gennosuke during his childhood in Episode 16
Gennosuke was selected by Danjō Kōga and was therefore taken to meet Hanzō Hattori the 2nd. There, he met with Ogen and Oboro for the first time. The children were taken outside by Kyōhachirō Hattori when the conversation became more serious and there Gennosuke told Oboro he believed Iga Tsubagakure to be a horrible place. Oboro tried everything to convince him otherwise and eventually he believed her, telling her he would like to visit it someday.
At Kōga Manjidani, he was put under the care of his uncle Hyōma Muroga where he trained Gennosuke how to use the Dōjutsu technique and fight, blindfolding him so he could learn to fight without sight. Gennosuke disliked his training, but still did it and gradually became a proficient fighter. He also picked up many of Hyōma's beliefs from his teachings.
Years later, Gennosuke (accompanied by Danjō and Jōsuke Udono) was taken to meet Oboro to arrange their marriage. He waited in a room with Danjō and Ogen until Oboro entered, carrying the tea. Nervous, she tripped and spilled it all over him. Despite this mishap, Gennosuke was instantly enchanted by Oboro's innocent nature and agreed to go ahead with the marriage with the hope of breaking the hatred between their clans. He often met Oboro in the mountains to practice the traditional fan dance they would perform at their wedding; Gennosuke playing music with his flute whilst Oboro did the actual dancing.
Abilities[]
- Dōjutsu: Gennosuke's bloodline contains an inherited power called "Dōjutsu" which he learned to control during his training with his mentor and uncle, Hyōma Muroga. With it, Gennosuke uses his eyes to reverse the homicidal intent of anyone nearby, in other words: If somebody expresses hostility towards Gennosuke, he can will his enemies to kill themselves instead of him. Also, unlike his uncle's Dōjutsu, Gennosuke's can turn his on or off at will and does not require direct eye contact to use against opponents as shown when Gennosuke was able to use it on an Iga Tsubagakure ninja who were behind him and out of his line of sight when they attacked him after Oboro committed suicide. When activated, Gennosuke's corneas turn a crimson red and his pupils shine a brilliant gold.
- Enhanced Senses: Due to his training with Hyōma, Gennosuke learned to rely on his other senses in the event his eyes should become disabled. As a result, despite being temporarily blinded with the same "Seven Days of Darkness Potion" Oboro used on her own eyes, Gennosuke was able to function without being dependent on others for support.
- Kenjutsu: Aside from his Dōjutsu technique, Gennosuke is extremely skilled in the art of swordsmanship and capable of both matching (and even defeating) Tenzen Yakushiji, despite the former not having the ability to see and the latter having two centuries of experience over him.
Relationships[]
Oboro[]
Before the cancellation of the treaty, Gennosuke wished to build a lasting peace between Kōga Manjidani and Iga Tsubagakure by marrying Oboro, the Iga Princess whom he loved to a great extent and his feelings for her remain even as the body count among both clans grew, filling him with torment as he struggled to reconcile his personal feelings with the duties that were demanded of him as the Kōga clan's leader. In the anime, Gennosuke carries with him a flute that he often plays for Oboro and which represents their hope of bringing peace to the clans. After learning of the Hattori Truce's absolvement, he leaves the flute behind in Tsubagakure as a farewell present for her.
After the war comes to a head and several of Gennosuke's fellow Kōga die, his affection for her seems to seriously lessen to the point where he is fine with the situation ultimately coming down to a death match between the remaining Kōga and Iga ninja. Gennosuke himself orders Oboro's death multiple times, even going so far as to say in Episode 17 of the anime that she is nothing but an Iga woman to him and thus the enemy. When Kagerō lies to Gennosuke about killing Oboro, his response was to praise her on a job well-done and shed no tears about his former betrothed's supposed demise.
Nevertheless, Gennosuke did ultimately still carry feelings for Oboro as he tearfully told her that he never wanted to kill her or for anyone to die in Episode 23.
Hyōma Muroga[]
Hyōma is Gennosuke's uncle whom he held a great respect for and believed in the teachings he had learned from him. However, as a child, Gennosuke disliked his uncle and found his lessons to be boring and pointless.
Despite becoming the leader of the Kōga Manjidani after Danjō Kōga's death, Gennosuke still valued Hyōma's opinion highly.
Jōsuke Udono[]
Gennosuke seemed to have a good friendship with Jōsuke, despite Jōsuke's often embarrassing behavior. Despite their friendship, Jōsuke was still aware of Gennosuke's authority and complied with all his orders. Jōsuke was chosen by Gennosuke to accompany them to Iga Tsubagakure when he was to meet Oboro.
Differences between Manga, Anime and Novel Versions[]
In the anime and manga, Gennosuke is a peace-loving man, but not to an overly sentimental degree. After learning of the truce's cancellation, despite his affection for Oboro and his desire for peace, he's willing to accept her as his enemy and even showed signs of beginning to accept the grudge his clan carried for the Iga as his own. In the manga, he still only fights if the Iga attack first, but (unlike in the anime) he coldly smirks whenever his clan attains a victory over their opponents.
Gennosuke is even willing to see Oboro killed for the sake of his clan and orders her death multiple times. In Episode 17, Gennosuke bluntly dismisses Oboro as "nothing but an Iga woman" after Kagerō expresses surprise that he is willing to order her death.
Additionally, while Gennosuke and Oboro's marriage in the anime was arranged between their two families by Hanzō Hattori the 2nd; in the manga, Gennosuke is the one who proposes the union with the intention of building a definitive peace between Kōga and Iga. Upon meeting Oboro however, Gennosuke was captivated by her innocence and his diplomatic ideals became subjacent to his desire of spending his life with her.
In the original novel, Gennosuke's personality is a mixture of the manner depicted in both the manga and anime: While he still views the pursuit of vengeance as pointless, his anger over the death of his comrades after learning of the Hattori Truce's dissolution gradually wears at his spirit and sanity as he sinks into confusion and despair over the possibility that Oboro (whom he was unable to harbor malice towards, even in the bloodiest of the fighting) deceived him in regards to the renewed conflict. After learning that Oboro had sealed her eyes and meeting with Hattori Hanzo; Gennosuke resigned himself without bitterness to letting Oboro kill him as a means of showing his regret for mistrusting her and intentionally left himself open to attack. As in the anime and manga, Oboro instead kills herself just before Gennosuke recovers from the Seven Days of Darkness, whereupon he writes that Oboro is the winner and then follows her in death.
Appearance in Other Media[]
Joe Odagiri as Gennosuke
In the 2005 live-action movie, Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, Gennosuke is played by Joe Odagiri. In the movie, he looks drastically different (he wears a sleeveless red cape and brown scarf around his neck. He also sports a hairstyle with a mohawk formation at the top) and even his technique is changed; while it still depends on his eyes (signified by them glowing a golden color), it operates by sending a golden aura surging from where he stood and seems to allow him to manipulate time, although it seems the technique is meant for dodge and counterattacks only. Either that or it merely increases his reaction time to supernatural levels, making it seem as though everything around him is moving in slow motion. Throughout the movie, Gennosuke refuses to get involved in the fights between the clans, frustrating his comrades, especially Koshirō Chikuma. At the end of the movie, he leaves himself open and allows Oboro to kill him, being unable to bring himself to kill her, and entrusts upon her his final wish: That Ieyasu spares the villages.
Quotes[]
- (To Oboro) "I never wanted...to kill anyone. I never wanted anyone...to die, forgive me."
- "We are all the same in birth and in death. All of us are human. We need to break these bindings of hatred and revenge which hold us. We need to open our eyes to the other side. To the Iga, even if it is only one of them. Then that when we'll try to know and better understand."
Etymology[]
- The name Gennosuke means "string/bowstring, handle" (弦) (gen), "this" (之) (no) and "forerunner, herald" (介) (suke).
- Gennosuke's surname Kōga means "armor, high (voice), instep, shell, A grade/grade A, first in rank/first class, former, instep, carapace" (甲) (kō) and "congratulations, joy" (賀) (ga).