Princess Sakura

Princess Sakura
Name
Japanese:	桜姫
Romanized:	Sakura Hime
Physical Attributes
Gender	Female
Birthday	July 23
Relatives	Enju (older brother)
Race	Human/Youko
Soul Symbol	「滅」Destroy
Status	Alive

Princess Sakura (桜姫 Sakura Hime) is main protagonist in Sakura-hime Kaden and is the granddaughter of Princess Kaguya who was the wielder of Chizakura (The Blood Cherry Blossom sword) which is the only weapon that can kill and destroy, the man eating Mononoke and Youko. Because Princess Sakura is her granddaughter, she also has the ability to wield Chizakura and she also shared the same blood as her. She is also betrothed to Prince Oura (Aoba).

Character Concept

One of Arina Tanemura's favorite characters in this manga is Asagiri. Arina says "I worked backwards from Heian period - black hair. She is the princess from the moon, after all.(I wanted to give her an otherworldly look)", Arina even describes her as a "flexible personality" and that she's "very strong inside".

Sakura doesn't like to be told what to do, she has a tomboyish attitude, and likes snacks. She tries to like her to be wed, she's kind but she will stand up for herself. Sakura is the princess of the moon and she can wield the blood cherry blossom sword, she's not the average, tea-time princess and it is stated that she dislikes incenses because it stinks and it makes her feel dizzy.

Name

Sakura's name, 桜, means "Cherry Blossom" in Japanese.

Appearance

Sakura is a young girl of average height, with very long brown hair that reaches down to her knees. Sakura has rose, pink eyes. Whenever Sakura transforms, her hair colour changes to silver/white and her eye colour stays the same. The reason why her hair changes to a silvery white colour is because those from the moon have silver hair and this proves that she is from the moon and that she is half human and half youko. Sakura is always seen in a traditional kimono with a range of different hair pieces. The exception is when she transforms. Her battle outfit consists of a short skirt, with long sleeves reminiscent of a kimono's sleeves, as well as a fitted bodice with the Ying and Yang symbol just above the skirt. The outfit is completed with a black neck collar with a pink-diamond or ruby attached (as seen in the first image, on the top right).

Throughout the manga Sakura's beauty is mentioned, even the Councillor mentions "her charms" who later turns out to be a youko working for Enju.

Personality

Sakura is a caring person at heart to the people familiar and close to her, but when Prince Oura (also known as Aoba) comes, her personality drastically changes to a loud mouthed whiner and brat. However she is truly not like that at all. She slowly regains her original personality, but on the night of their bridal night. Sakura is a kind-hearted person who tries her hardest as she tries to save everyone from their agony especially Aoba and Asagiri as the both of them have the blood curse which shortens their life spans.  

(Sakura's and Aoba's) a youko turns up and attacks the village. Sakura rushes to help but then gets attacked herself, during the fight Aoba shoots an arrow through her chest. Her personality is shaken but it slowly restores itself when The Togu (Fujimurasaki) shows an interest in her and ends up kissing her, while Aoba is watching from an far distance. Aoba then starts to show how much he loves Sakura, and from then her personality is back to normal. Until Enju turned out to be Sakura's older brother. This resulted in Sakura becoming upset at some points and confused in others.

Soul Symbol

Sakura's soul symbol (滅 Metsu) translates to "Destroy".

Sakura at the beginning was confused whether to destroy humans or the youko. In the last volume, she said "I believe I was born to destroy sorrow. To destroy all sorrow..." which shows she was born to destroy sorrow and not the humans or the youko.

History

Before she moved to the capital, Sakura lived in Izumi. She lost her mother and father at a very young age and then supposedly lost her older brother, Kai, sometime later on. When her brother was alive, people in the village used to be scared of her and her brother (Kai) and ladies in waiting would talk about how scary she was to the villagers. Sakura was considered an outcast due to the fact that she didn't have any friends. After her brother died, the ladies in waiting would try not to make eye contact and try not to be in the same room as her, because she lived on a large estate.

Her Brothers death

Sakura has always thought that her brother, Kai has died in a incurable disease, which was not true because it was used just to cover up the fact that her brother was locked up in a water chamber. When Kai went out to meet with the Emperor, he was captured because one of the ladies in waiting have reported to the Emperor that Sakura has fell in love with her brother. The Emperor had a new plan and he decided that he wanted to isolate Sakura and lock Kai in a water chamber, which means Sakura will have stronger feelings for Aoba and also the fact that he is her only support.

Relationships

Aoba (Prince Oura)

Sakura (middle), Aoba (left) and the Togu (right)

Sakura never really knew who he was or what he looked like. The only thing she knew about him was that he was her betrothed since birth. Later on, when she got to know him she really found his personality interesting, then she found him confusing but later she found out that he deeply loves her. Aoba has mixed feelings for Sakura because he couldn't become the next Togu and so, all that love he has for Sakura turned to hatred and this what leads him killing Sakura in chapter 3 in Volume 1. However, as the story progresses, they eventually became a true couple and this reveals that they both love each other.

Asagiri (Childhood Friend)

Asagiri on chapter 12 cover

Sakura first met Asagiri with a slave trader. At that time Asagiri didn't have a name because she didn't speak. However, Sakura refused to let her be and traded her kimono for her. Sakura slept in the spare room with Asagiri and took her out of the small animal cage. When Sakura held her in her hands, Asagiri noticed how warm Sakura's hands were. Asagiri spoke for the first time and told Sakura her name and from then they've became honourable friends.

Sakura and Kai as children

Kai (Enju)

Kai and Sakura are siblings and they both share a close relationship together. Unfortunately, Kai fell ill and apparently died but really that was just to cover up the fact that the moon side of him had awoken and so was being kept in a water chamber for most of Sakura's life until she turned the age 14 and Enju came back to see Sakura and to take her to a place were the people of the moon stay. In chapter 10 Sakura explains about how her older brother "In a way, was my first love". This shows that Sakura has grown feelings for her brother when she was a child, even when they were reunited, she still loves him.

Oumi

Oumi is Princess Sakura's most closest lady in waiting. She trusts Oumi enough to keep hold of her soul symbol. Even when Oumi betrayed her and gave Princess Sakura's soul symbol to Aoba, Princess Sakura still felt the need to want to protect her. Oumi trusts in Princess Sakura so much that she tells her about how her family died which was because a youko killed them. She then gives up her life just to tell her that the counselor was the one behind the attacks. Oumi then turns into a Youko, but Princess Sakura couldn't bring herself to kill her hoping there was another way to save her.

Kohaku

Sakura first met Kohaku when Kohaku introduced herself. When Sakura was shot by an arrow by Aoba, she was saved by Kohaku and she was in deep pain for three days and nights which Kohaku didn't expected her to be able to make it. And so, they became friends with each other and get to know each other better. Sakura notices that Kohaku is an extremely big lummox because of her clumsiness and mistakes. Later, a wolf howled and Sakura is suddenly distracted by a strange sound in her mind. Sakura runs away from Kohaku because she couldn't face the reality that she wanted to eat Kohaku and also that she is a youko herself too. Sakura slo thinks that everything is a lie that she is a youko. When Kohaku tries to run after her, Sakura turns around and orders Kohaku don't come near her and she pulled out a sword immediately. She tells Kohaku,"stay back! if you come any closer, I'll kill you. I'll cut you down." However, Chizakura is moving on its own again and is facing towards Kohaku. Sakura orders Chizakura to stop. Kohaku uses a body switching jutsu. Sakura is surprised and then Kohaku tells her, "I may be clumsy but I'm not stupid. I could easily tell who shot that arrow, Princess." and so on, which leads to Sakura crying. After this, the both of them shared their trust to each other and they live to share their feelings. As the story progresses, the both of them have a very good relationship and Sakura says that Kohaku is like a little sister to her.

Rurijo

Sakura and Rurijo did not have a very good relationship because Rurijo plots to kill her in the basement. Sakura seems to pity Rurijo when Rurijo mentioned and talked about her past. However in volume 11, Sakura sympathises with Rurijo because she has been abandoned by Enju and also the fact that she loved him so much that she was in so much agony because Enju only loved Sakura. Sakura decides to be her Master as Rurijo was abandoned by Enju. Rurijo continues crying and the both of them hugged each other as they have accepted each other.

Powers

Because of the fact that Sakura is the granddaughter of Kaguya, a princess of the moon, she has the blood of a creature from the moon flowing in her. Sakura can wield the Chizakura and use it to destroy youko, an immortal flesh eating mononoke (demon) that can only be killed and destroyed by using Chizakura. Chizakura has its very own personality which includes it agreeing with Sakura's feelings and emotions in battle and also includes near the beginning, the reason why Sakura couldn't control Chizakura but could summon it.

Trivia

• Her birthday is on July 23rd.
• Zodiac sign is Leo.