Kujaku

This article is about an ally in Gosei Sentai Dairanger.

"Daigo. My wish was to train as the Peacock Buddha's incarnation, so that I could rid Gara of her scar. I finally made my wish come true. Unfortunately, I will perish. It's the price of keeping peace as the Peacock Buddha's incarnation. I'm fine with this. Daigo. I'm glad that I revived. So that I could meet you. Thank goodness..."

―Kujaku's final words to Daigo before her death.^[src]

Kujaku was a follower of the Mahamayuri Vidyaraja, the Peacock Buddha and a master of kenpo. She was also Daigo's love interest.

History[]

Past[]

6000 years ago, Kujaku and Gara were Dai villagers and close friends. However, one day there was a building accident. Gara protected Kujaku from falling bricks, and her cheek was scarred in the process. After that mishap, Gara stopped seeing the humanity of people. Kujaku felt guilty for scarring Gara, and trained with the Peacock Buddha to gain healing powers. However, in the middle of her training, the Dai Tribe and Gorma Tribe had gone to war, so the Peacock Buddha made Gara her avatar to help the Dai tribe. Kujaku returned to Daos while it was being raided, where she found the Gorma Triumvirate. TV STORY-Ep. 36: A 6000-Year Grudge...

Following a bloody battle, Kujaku found Gara in the Gorma ruins at Daos. Practicing mercy, she sought to restore Gara with the Peacock's Tears, an ancient artifact said to heal whoever drinks from it. Deceiving her, the rejuvenated Gara locked her away in Mirror Make-Up Artist's mirror. TV STORY-Ep. 10: Ah, the Vengeful Goddess

Dairanger[]

6000 years later, Mirror Make-Up Artist returns to wreak havoc on the civilian population by trapping women in mirrors and blowing up other reflective surfaces to kill people via shrapnel. Kujaku uses Mirror Make-Up Artist's resurgence to contact Daigo, Shishiranger of the Dairangers, giving him visions of her rainbow qi and peacock avatar. Battling Mirror Make-Up Artist, Shishiranger was able to free her. TV STORY-Ep. 9: Don't Be Vain

Daigo and Kujaku went on a date to a nearby aviary to feed the birds, where she revealed the Peacock Buddha can prolong life as well as vanquish evil. However, she had forgotten about compassion and love during her long imprisonment and the sight of Gara was enough to set her homing in with nothing in her mind but murder. Upon sensing Gara, she rudely pushed Daigo aside, earning the ire of all the Dairangers but him, and set out to defeat the Gorma. When Sakura Viscount turned civilians mad with rage, she had no qualms attacking them, piercing Daigo in the process. She told him his compassion would lead to his downfall, as it led to hers. She would search out Gara for another duel, though the combined powers of their Qi vs Yo would overwhelm the both of them, forcing her into a weakened, injured state. After the Dairangers defeated her, Daigo sought her out at the Peacock Buddha's icon and begged her to return, both physically as well as to her merciful old ways. TV STORY-Ep. 10: Ah, the Vengeful Goddess

Kujaku returned when the Gorma had Haniwa Ventriloquist turn children into stone, hypnotizing Daigo's young employee Yuki to use as bait to track her qi back to Gara. Daigo and Kujaku momentarily stopped Haniwa Ventriloquist, but Daigo lashed out at her when learning of Kujaku's revenge scheme believing it to be ultimately fruitless. Kujaku tracked Yuki back to Gara, but by then Gara had learned of Kujaku's plot when Yuki did not turn into stone due to the Peacock Buddha's hypnotism. Gara trapped Kujaku in chains, but Kujaku still managed to whisk herself and Yuki away to a wooden dockyard via the power of the Peacock Buddha before Gara could attack. There, Gara learned that Yuki forgave her thanks to Daigo's lessons on forgiveness for the suffering. Kujaku finally took Daigo's words to heart. Injured, she would use her feather connection with Daigo to summon him when Gara and Haniwa Ventriloquist sought to capture them again. Kujaku prioritized saving Yuki. She would disappear again during the fighting, sending Daigo the trick to beating Haniwa Ventriloquist through another peacock vision.

Following the battle, a still-injured Kujaku went to her icon where she found the feathers beginning to fall and fade from her headdress. To conserve her power, she disappeared again. TV STORY-Ep. 16: Rumbling Child Stones

Kujaku reappeared to stop TenmaRanger's gravity attack from defeating Gara during their fight with Heatwave Hood, attacking them to break his concentration. This earns her the enmity of Shoji and the rest of the Dairangers (minus Daigo), who believe they would have beaten Gara without her. Daigo admits to the Dairangers that he loves Kujaku, forcing the other Dairangers to temporarily oust him from the team.

Kujaku later talked with Gara to learn of the reason for their rivalry - Gara was scarred. The two dueled again until Heatwave Hood intervened again. Gara realized that the air was poisoning her body, causing her feathers to fall off. Shishiranger arrived to save her, though they both were caught by Heatwave Hood in the process. Kujaku wanted to give up. Daigo reminded her that she was trapped inside of Mirror Make-Up Artist for thousands of years and survived. Kujaku then revealed she was being poisoned by the air pollution, making her weaker, and that she was now questing for the Peacock's Tears to rejuvenate her. Still, Daigo vowed that he would sacrifice his life to protect her, and began punching his way out of Heatwave Hood's stomach. The effort nearly killed him, and so Kujaku lent him her power. Gara would eventually decapitate Heatwave Hood, freeing them both. After the battle, Kujaku would quest after the Peacock's Tears so she could regain enough power to fight alongside her. Rin, Shoji, and the other Dairangers forgave her. TV STORY-Ep. 23: True Love at Full Speed

Meanwhile, Gara had Count Kaleidoscope posted to track Kujaku wherever she surfaced.

A lost hiker was later saved by a magical spirit peacock, which Daigo interpreted as a clue to Kujaku's temple where they might find the Peacock's Tears. He eventually tracked her down when she quested to a mountain top. Daigo and the Dairangers arrived to save her when the mountain's flora came alive as a defense system to protect the Peacock's Tears from adventurers like them. Though it was risky, Rin and the other Dairangers refused to let Kujaku and Daigo go alone. As the Dairangers were fleeing one of the traps, the adventurers were ambushed by Gara and her Cotpotoros. The Dairangers eventually fended her off, and Gara disappeared, vowing vengeance because of her scarred cheek. That night, while camping, Kujaku explained her history with Gara at Daigo's request. The Dairangers urged her to stop feuding with the traitorous Gara and let go of her guilt.

The following morning, the adventurers continued to climb the mountain, but were faced with an avalanche that they believed to be another part of the defense system. Kujaku was weakened, losing more feathers. Suddenly, Master Kaku appeared, stopping the rocks and revealing that everything related to the mountain so far was actually an illusion created by Count Kaleidoscope, who was trying to lure out Kujaku. However, Kujaku had already been knocked down to an underground chamber that she thought housed the Holy Peacock Tears. Daigo raced down and knocked it out of her hands, just before it revealed its true nature as a skull with a venomous snake. The other Dairangers arrived and challenged Count Kaleidoscope, who was trying to cause an earthquake. The Dairangers focused their qi with Kujaku, forcing them all out to the surface. Daigo confronted Gara, who explained that she left for the Gorma because her only friend - Kujaku - left her alone. Gara refused to hear Kujaku's explanation, thus resuming the fight between the Dairangers and Count Kaleidoscope. Following the battle, she still lost feathers as she mourned Gara's friendship by the river. Daigo arrived to comfort her. TV STORY-Ep. 36: A 6000-Year Grudge... Afterwards, she resumed her search for the Tears.

It took a combination of Daigo's perseverance and a little girl's compassion and kindness to give her a change of heart. But, by that time, she had realized something was wrong; she was ill. When within her finally woke those deadened feelings of compassion, she stopped her pursuit of Gara and decided to return to her pursuit of the Peacock's Tears. And when she learned of the reason Gara had become a Gorma, Kujaku was overcome with the compassion and love that had led her to begin her search in the first place.

But all the pollutants and things in the world were killing Kujaku. Even if she took her one drink from the Peacock's Tears, she would only sicken again and die. So instead she used the artifact for Gara to restore her beauty. When Kujaku died, she went to Heaven with the real Gara at her side.

Kujaku would later reappear in spirit to restore Daigo's spirit and later to plea to him not to seek vengeance.

Personality[]

to be added

Powers and Abilities[]

Kujaku possessed unique rainbow-colored qi. As seen in her duel against Gara, she can use her qi to manifest lasers as well as telekinesis. She could also focus her qi to give Daigo visions of peacocks and teleport him around to her location.

Kujaku was deeply in tune with nature to the point of being able to heal plants but was ultimately killed by that same connection due to pollution.

She was also a skilled swords-mistress, matching Gara easily with her ultimate technique being her Secret Technique, Wind Fan. This is where she fills out the fan on her back to resemble that of a peacock before turning into a phoenix made of orange flames to plow through her enemy, knocking Gara down.

Arsenal[]

Kujaku's signature weapons are two red-blue/silver throwing daggers dating back to the Gorma rebellion. While they are throwing weapons, she often utilizes them in close-quarter melee combat as well, such as to parry Gara's sword strikes.

Kujaku's peacock quills could be used as a way to communicate with and align her Qi with Daigo's. However, when necessary, she can also use fire them into opponents like a barrage of arrows. She used them to incapacitate civilians afflicted by Sakura Viscount's magic, and one embedded itself in Daigo, enough to temporarily weaken him.

Behind the Scenes[]

Portrayal[]

As an adult, she was portrayed by Masako Morishita, who previously portrayed Kirika in Kousoku Sentai Turboranger. As a child, she was portrayed by Kyoko Iwashita (岩下恭子, Iwashita Kyōko).

Notes[]