Masakage Tsugomori

This article is about a villain in Shuriken Sentai Ninninger.

"You may have fooled Gabi, but not me. There is no page named Izayoi in our army. I will not query your origin nor your ultimate goal. But if you attempt anything, you're dead."

―Masakage's warning to Kyuemon if he ever betrayed the Kibaoni Army Corps.^[src]

Masakage Tsugomori (晦正影, Tsugomori Masakage, lit. "Dark Pure Shadow") is the Chief retainer of the Kibaoni Army Corps.

Character History

Masakage was among the three generals in the past that work under the leadership of Gengetsu Kibaoni. After his death, what remains from him was an eye cover, which was saved.

Masakage is the second general revived sometime after the event of Shinobi 12 by Kyuemon Izayoi, using the fear energies he gathered so far. His first act as commander was to create a competition for ninjas to lure in the Ninninger. He used it as a trap, capturing Yakumo, Fuuka, and Kasumi and used his newly created Youkai to challenge the remaining Ninninger with their companions as the prize. After the Youkai was defeated by the mecha, he confronted Kyuemon, revealing that he was aware that there was no page in their ranks by that name. He allowed him to live, warning him that should he try to work against the Kibaoni Army, he will destroy him.

Masakage oversaw Kyuemon's plot to use his third Izayoi Way Ninja, Puppet Ninja Kuroari, to recruit children into the Kibaoni Army Corps. Having Kuroari use his Parasite Technique to control the ninja master, Kiroku Ise, the manipulated Kiroku then set up a ninja school to find potential ninja initiates. However, Kiroku's apprentice instructor, Kikyo Kousaka, turned out to be an acquaintance of AkaNinger, introducing him to the school where he noticed suspicious behavior from Kiroku and his students, leading Ao, Momo and StarNinger to investigate Kiroku who convened with Masakage, who intended to use Kikyo's conflicting feelings against Takaharu. Engaging the three Ninningers to prevent them from getting through to Takaharu, Masakage was forced to retreat when StarNinger escaped. Ultimately, the plot was foiled when Kikyo's faith in Takaharu led to the truth being revealed as Kiroku was freed from the manipulation of Kuroari, who was subsequently defeated by the Ninningers. While observing that Kuroari had fallen, Kyuemon proclaimed that he had served his purpose as he gathered his first three ninja's Core Gears. TV STORY-Shinobi 30: Targeted Ninja School!

Personality

Masakage is loyal to his master's wish and would comply to his command to gather the fear energy. While he seems to be playful (such as teasing Kyuemon with nicknames like Hachiemon), this is just a cover for his inner darkness and he is wise enough to discover that Kyuemon is just a new member of the team since in the past, only three generals were present and threatens to kill him if he tries to plot something that is against his master's will. Like Gabi, he disregards Kyuemon's suggestion to gather fear, instead focusing on destroying the Ninningers.

Unlike Gabi, he does not confront them directly, choosing to use deception and trickery. Most of his schemes involve weakening the team in some capacity before delivering a fatal blow, such as destroying their weapons or disabling or manipulating their OtomoNins. However, despite his cunning and calculative methods, he fails in his schemes due to either the incompetence of his subordinates or underestimating the Ninningers' growing level of skill, strategy and power.

Powers and Abilities

Dark Magic Knowledge

Masakage seems to demonstrate several dark magic abilities in the series. Among them are:

Joutan Kaiyou Kenjuri Inpuu, Giikishi Genji Genja (ジョウタンカイヨウケンジュリインプ, ウギイキシゲンジゲンジャ): By corrupting a Sealing Shuriken, Masakage can create a Youkai after it come in contact with an object.

Energy Dome: Masakage can create a dome that allow him to create a Youkai without having its signal detected by the Ninningers' Gama Gama Guns.
Teleportation: Masakage can teleport by engulfing himself with purple flames.

Arsenal

Khakkhara

In corresponding with his motif of a Buddhist priest, Masakage is armed with a khakkhara. The Khakkhara allows him to perform numerous tricks, including:

Illusion Creation: Creating illusions of a figure, first used to create fake Ao, Shiro and MomoNinger to attack Aka, Ki and StarNinger.
Spirit Projection: Linking a portal that can contact Gengetsu Kibaoni's spirit.
Telekinesis: Lifting an object with his own will.
Plant Manipulation: Generating plant vines to capture targets.
Bomb Generation: Creates bomb on a target's spot.
Object Creation: Creates an object out of nothing for the infected Sealing Shuriken to infect with, resulting with the birth of the corresponding Youkai.

Appearances

Behind the Scenes

Portrayal

Masakage is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao (中尾隆聖, Nakao Ryūsei) and his suit actor is Riichi Seike (清家利一, Seike Riichi).

Notes

Masakage's head design incorporates a incomplete Okina (old man) mask from Noh theatre, which also happens to be the oldest style of Noh mask.
While Masakage did have his spell similar to Raizo, but he added Giikishi Genji Genja (ウギイキシゲンジゲンジャ, Giikishi Genji Genja) in his spell, which was the one Raizo used to evolve Hitokarages into Jukkarages. It is possible that his reason of doing this is to have a strong Youkai born from it.

Masakage Tsugomori

Contents