Shinkurou Shishizaki

**Shinkurou Shishizaki** (獅子崎 信九郎, *Shishizaki Shinkurō*) is an eighth sigil exorcist from Tsuzura Temple. He was Kukuri's previous exorcist appointed to Kamioka prior to Kanaka Kagami.

## Appearance

Shinkurou is a large muscular man with dark skin and long dark curly hair. He wears a sleeveless exorcist uniform with tattered armholes, and a bandana with his sigil ranking.

## History

Shinkurou served as Kamioka's exorcist under Kukuri prior to Kanaka Kagami. Along with serving as Kamioka's exorcist, Shinkurou provided food for Kukuri and was responsible for her care-taking. Kanaka applied to be Kamioka's exorcist believing it would allow her to battle stronger opponents. Shinkurou and Kanaka duelled to decide who would be Kamioka's exorcist. Shinkurou was defeated but begged to stay by Kukuri's side. Kiriha stripped Kukuri naked, exposing her vagina to Shinkurou causing him to enter a state of unconscious bliss and was escorted away.

During his time as Kamioka's exorcist he was a seventh sigil. At some point time between returning to Tsuzura Temple and the present he was promoted to an eighth sigil.

## Plot

Shinkurou is present at the Tsuzura Temple as part of the Partnership Faction. Upon hearing of Kukuri's death, Shinkurou entered a state of heavy drinking and sobbing, allowing Masuji Madarai to usurp the temple with ease and is imprisoned. He along with Sumire Suzutani and Hiyori Higashina are rescued by Kazuya Kagami, Ouhi Oriobana and Kyouka. They confront Madarai's faction challenging them to the Nine Masters Tournament to decide who should rule over Tsuzura Temple. Shinkurou is set to face Wakana Washigami in the Nine Masters Tournament. During the bracket reveal, Shinkurou asks Ouhi about the Fox Mask contestant she had invited to their side and is surprised by their sudden appearance.

After Tooru Toganou and Tsuzumi Tsukigase's defeat in the first two matches of the Nine Masters Tournament, Ouhi holds a meeting to plan and discover how their opponents won unexpectedly. Shinkurou mentions that both Tooru and Tsuzumi said they felt their opponent suddenly increase in power. After Sumire's match where it was revealed her opponent was using a Puppet Binding, Ouna holds a meeting to explain the puppet bindings and plan ahead for future matches. Shinkurou defeats Wakana during his match as Hiyori recovers from hers. During his match, Wakana exhausts her enslaved tsukumogami Tsuchishiro, destroying it. Shinkurou brings its remains back to his faction for it be identified by Chikage and he apologizes for forcing Wakana to exhaust it since she was too powerful to hold back against. Chikage does not blame Shinkurou and tells him it is not his fault. The group surround Takano Tagusari as Chikage tells her she must win her match. Shinkurou spectates Kazuya's battle with Madarai in the final match of the tournament from his faction's room along with others. Shinkurou and the other are shocked upon witnessing Madarai fuse himself with the Mayoiga tsukumogami, transforming himself into a grotesque monster. He is happy upon seeing Kazuya defeat Madarai securing their victory in the Nine Masters Tournament.

Shinkurou is present along with other exorcists to witness Kazuya's demonstration of his newly learned ability of External Spirit Sense which he learned from the Continent of Magic: Chronicles of Ziral.

## Abilities

### Natural Abilities

**Expert Combatant**: As eighth sigil exorcist Shinkurou is highly skilled at combat. Ouhi Oriobana boasts about him being one of the strongest people at Tsuzura Temple. His skills are well known within Tsuzura Temple, being the first one to be pointed out by Mei Meguriya when mentioning strong contestants in the Nine Masters Tournament. He was one of the few contestants during the Nine Masters Tournament to secure a victory against an opponent using a puppet bound tsugumomo against him. During his time as Kamioka's exorcist under Kukuri, Kanaka Kagami criticized his over reliance on his tsukumogami's ability and was able to defeat him because of it. Since then, he has been promoted from a seventh sigil exorcist to an eighth sigil exorcist. Whether or not he has overcome this weakness since then has yet to be seen.

**Cooking Skills**: Kukuri relied entirely of Shinkurou's cooking for food during the entirety of his time with her. Is is shown to able to make omurice with Kukuri's emblem drawn in ketchup on it.

### Helmet Tsukumogami

**Blue Heart Helmet** (蒼心兜(そうしんとう),, *Sōshintō*): Shinkurou's primary tsukumogami is an unnamed kabuto helmet. Its human form is never seen nor has it been shown speaking. Upon donning the helmet, a full set of samurai armor manifests upon him.

* **Spirit Plate: Grudge Armor** (霊甲冑鎧怨(れいつちゆうがいえん),, *Reitsuchiyū Gaien*): A full set of samurai armor which manifests upon wearing the helmet. It is highly durable, allowing Shinkurou to block two consecutive attacks from Kanaka Kagami's spiral and hammer weaves without being damaged. Like regular samurai armor, the joints in the armor act as potential weak points. In addition to providing its user with protection it is able to recreate attacks and manifest weapons from attacks that hit it. Recreated attacks are shown to be at least of equal power to what was copied as when he clashed his hammer weave copy with Kanaka's both hammers were destroyed. The fact that Shinkurou is able to manifest weapons such as arrows and swords during Kanaka's duel suggests that it retains memory of all attacks that have ever hit it. He is also able to create fully equipped copies of himself. The attacks it has been shown to recreate so far are:
	+ Arrows which can be fired from a bow or directly from his armor as a barrage if he so chooses.
	+ A spear.
	+ A katana.
	+ Kanaka Kagami and Kiriha's Hammer weave.
	+ Kanaka Kagami and Kiriha's Spiral weave.
* **Reply in Kind Hundred Demons** (怨返百鬼(おんがえし ひやつき),, *Ongaeshi Hiyatsuki*): Shinkurou creates multiple armored copies of himself which all attack at once. The copies can wield different weapons from each other.

## Etymology

* The name **Shinkurou** means "trust, believe" (信) (**shin**), "nine" (九) (**ku**) and "son" (郎) (**rou**).
* Shinkurou's surname **Shishizaki** means "lion" (獅子) (**shishi**) and "cape, peninsula" (崎) (**saki**/**zaki**).

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 77
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 75
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 76
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 86
5. ↑ Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 88
6. ↑ Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 90
7. ↑ Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 93
8. ↑ Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 95
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 96
10. ↑ Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 106
11. ↑ Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 108
13. ↑ Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 129
14. ↑ Tsugumomo Manga: Chapter 92