Ryou Shishikusa

Shizune: Adoptive daughter

Ryou's Sister: Sister

Kaori Onidzuka: Niece

Genji: Uncle

> *"My neck is.....gone..." ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎‎*
> ―Ryou's last words
>
>

Ryou Shishikusa (りょう) is a character from the Onibi series.

She was the mother of Mai Shishikusa, and the wife of the Shishikusa representative, and the one responsible for the death of Akari and angering her brothers before getting eating by her own daughter as a result of a curse cast by Akari herself.

## Appearance

Ryou is modeled after GUMI.

She has green hair, green eyes, and she's dressed in a purple kimono with white sashes on her robe.

The kimono that Ryou wears has a unique dye on the hem, it's a unique style of a kimono with a long, dangling obi. As it is noted that all the members of the Shishikusa Clan have this on their clothes, one could say it's to prove you are a Shishikusa.

## Appears in

* 鬼蜘蛛ト狐ノ獅子ト (*Onigumo to Kitsune no Shishi to/The Spider and the Kitsune-like Lion*)

* 狐の嫁入り(*Kitsune no Yomeiri*/*The Fox's Wedding/*2011) [Mentioned]

* 死凶天邪鬼 (*Shikyou Amanojaku*/*Shikyou the Amanojaku*) [A minor appearance as a doll]

## Personality

> *"I’ll get rid of the enemy, even if it costs me my life."*
>
>

Ryou had two sides to her personality. On one side, She could be a loving mother who cares deeply about her daughters, she even took pity on people whom she never met before, seen by how she demanded that she takes Shizune as her daughter as a result of her father abandoning her.

Or how she bothered giving one of the prisoners, a name, food, water and felt bad when she drugged the prisoner to make her calm down.

On the other hand, she could be cruel when it comes to business matters as seen when she tortured and humilated Akari, blaming her for her uncle's death and regarding her as an enemy.

Even if she was quite cruel within the field of business, she might have changed a bit, as she slapped Tomonari and rejected the idea of the returning business of killing and trafficking women, before being eventually convinced.

## Background

### Early life

Not much can be known about Ryou's past, but what is known is the fact that she received a demonic blade, which was described as the work tool for the "Onigumos", the Clan that Ryou possibly could have belonged to before the Shishikusas.

The blade was given to her a long time ago as proof of becoming a full-fledged executioner after possibly being trained under her uncle Genji.

Sometimes after or before, Ryou's sister was kicked out of their household at the age younger than 18, as a result of her falling pregnant with an unknown father.

She then got married to Tomonari not too long after that, the circumstances they met are unfortunately not mentioned.

Apparently, Tomonari and Ryou used to do the "business" of kidnapping young women and trafficking them for the Daimyo's entrainment a long time ago, until Tomonari told her that it needs to be stopped and she agreed, the reason why he made this decision is unknown.

She later gave birth to Mai and left that sort of work behind her for good, and promised to change her way of life even if she can't erase her previous crimes.

### The Spider And The Fox-Like Lion

> *"I give this dango to Mai whenever we can’t be together..."*
>
>

On the 2nd of May, Ryou gets woken up by Daiji, as they greet each other good morning, Ryou begins describing Daiji, saying that he is a skilled bodyguard, who she has entrusted to guard her daughter, Mai, and guard both her and her husband, while also bringing him along for meetings.

Going into the hall, a large sliding door comes into view, with two men in front, they greet Ryou and allow her to get inside, coming face to face with Tomonari, Mai who is sitting across from him, and Daiji who is behind her.

As Ryou sits beside Tomonari, she notes how they are busy most of the time, not spending that much time with Mai. However, Mai doesn't seem to mind, being cheerful and never seeming lonely. Ryou comments about how she worries about that sometimes.

Mai asks her parents if she can go out, Ryou says she can but only with Daiji's company, Mai excuses herself and leaves with him.

After they leave, Ryou comments to her husband that Daiji was supposed to go out with him today, but Tomonari replies that the meeting has been changed to tomorrow instead of today.

Tomonari informs her that a Daimyo is coming to gamble today, as he is the heir to the Matsuwa Clan family crest. This reminds them of a young boy, belonging to that Clan, who supposedly has slayed a demon, Ryou personally doesn't believe it.

Tomonari and Ryou head out to go to the theater, but before that, she gives a piece of paper to Toki-san, which includes a recipe for Tri-colour dango, Mai's favorite food. Ryou asks her to serve it to Mai later, as she always gives it her whenever they can't be together.

### Beheading Dance Performance

(TBA/Notes that that beheading dance performance in the Onibi series blog is referring to Sachiko's death, not the actual released song)

## Relationships

### Mai Shishikusa

Mai is Ryou's biological daughter, She clearly loves Mai a great deal as she dropped to her knees and wailed when Mai was kidnapped. She soon after became very vitriolic and wanted to kill the perpetrator.

Even if they don't spend much time with each other because of Ryou's busy schedule, Ryou still goes and gets her daughter her favorite food and treats her to it, as no matter how grown up Mai becomes, Ryou will still treat her as a little girl, like caressing her's head in her lap.

Ryou can easily tell what Mai's emotions are, as she immediately knew when Mai lied to her, this could hint on a strong emotional connection between the two.

Even after Mai kills Tomonari infront of Ryou's very eyes, she still saw her daughter like she always would, loving and gentle. And in her last moments, she still hugged her daughter tight as Mai killed her.

### Tomanari Shishikusa

Tomonari is Ryou's husband. They didn't seem to be close, as there aren't many deceptions of them being intimate with each other at all, not to mention that they didn't sleep in the same bedroom.

But it is seen that they cared about each other deeply, as the other worried when the other was in possible danger and feared for them.

### Daiji Masoaka

Daiji is Ryou's bodyguard and servant, he's very loyal to her, as he does not dare disobey her orders.

Ryou liked Daiji, as she confided in him to always protect her daughter, Mai and succeed in doing so. Calling him the best bodyguard and samurai in their Castle Town, not to mention that she let him attend meetings between her and her husband.

She also confided in him with the task of protecting her, as she let him take the lead when alarmed by strange noises coming from the front gates. She was most likely the only person next to Tomonari who knew about his past.

### Kaori Onidzuka

Kaori is Ryou's niece, even if they don't interact much as a result of Kaori's lack of going out, Ryou seems to care for her niece and values her as much as a family member would.

Ryou even assures her sister that even with Kaori's weird habit of befriending animals, she will grow up to be a good, well-mannered kid.

### Shizune Shishikusa

Shizune was Ryou's adoptive daughter, Ryou valued her as much as she valued Mai, considering them to be related by blood even though they are not, this is shown when Ryou also worried about Shizune dearly when she was gone missing with Mai.

### Sachiko

Sachiko was a geisha, catagorized as an ugly woman in her thirties, who had been kidnapped by Onigumos on Tomonari's orders for the Damiyo's entertainment from another Castle Town, she seemed to have taken a liking to Ryou.

Ryou felt bad for her, referring to her as Sachiko unlike the others even if it was not her real name, she also granted her water and food where she was imprisoned.

She seemed to pity her even more when she realized that Sachiko thought that she was going to perform a dance on the Shishikusa's theater when in reality, she was going to be killed on stage.

### Genji

Genji was Ryou's uncle, and was "apparently" her only family left from the Onigumo Clan aside from her sister, Ryou seemed to value him dearly, possibly even looking up to him, seen as he had trained her about everything she had known (mostly things about murder).

### Shikyou, The Amanojaku

When reading about Shikyou, Ryou called it bluff and said that she didn't believe it, which is understandable considering that she was an atheist and didn't take faith in spirits or gods.

Even so, Ryou was very creeped out after hearing about Shikyou's procession and even seemed to fear for her life.

## Theories

* It is possibly that Ryou was married to Tomonari through an arranged marriage, or they met through an arranged operation of killing someone for their benefit. Or one could say that Tomonari married a skilled executioner to be kept at his side but it's a bit of a stretch.

## Trivia

* Ryou's name in Japanese has many meanings as a result of Kanji writing, but what will be followed is Masa's writing, りょう means "dragon or a Chinese dragon".

* Ryou's maiden name Onidzuka in Japanese is made up of two words, Oni, which refers to a "demon" in Japanese folklore, and Dzuka bears no meaning. But it's close to another word, Zuka, which means "tomb with overtures of spiritual shields and boundaries".

* Ryou's surname Shishikusa in Japanese is made up of two words, Shishi, which refers to a 'guardian lion" in Japanese folklore, whereas Kusa means "laugh".

* Ryou was an atheist, believing that gods, ghosts, and supernatural things don't exist. Still, she becomes paranoid after reading about an entire village mysteriously cannibalizing itself, despite telling Tomonari she didn't completely believe it.

* When she wielded the demon blade, red steam rose from it and her face and hands become bright red and hot.
	+ She didn't know that the blade she held has demonic powers. When Akari recognized it, Ryou dismissed it as a regular blade.

* Ryou is commonly mistaken with the Gumi from Will o' the Wisp due to their similar designs, however, this could be intentional.

* Ryou is younger than her sister.

Ryou in Onigumo to Kitsune no Shishi toRyou in Shikyou Amanojaku