- Yoshimori Sumimura (墨村 良守 Sumimura Yoshimori) is the main male protagonist. A 14-year old middle school boy at the beginning of the story, Yoshimori is the 22nd Kekkaishi of the Sumimura family. Throughout the series, Yoshimori is portrayed as a lazy, stubborn, headstrong individual who strives to protect his family and friends, especially Tokine, who he's had feelings for since childhood. When Yoshimori was much younger he often cried a lot and strongly disliked being a Kekkaishi. Yoshimori's attitude greatly changed, however, after Tokine's arm was injured by an ayakashi that Yoshimori failed to eliminate. At the beginning of the series, he is often seen baking, an activity he often finds more important to him than his duty as a Kekkaishi. He dreams of becoming a patissier, but is often chastised by his grandfather for this hobby. Yoshimori's skills as a Kekkaishi differ from those of his counterpart, Tokine. Due to his rash and headstrong personality, Yoshimori has always fallen behind Tokine in terms of speed and accuracy. However, in terms of sheer power and stamina, Yoshimori excels. He is capable of creating extremely powerful and large kekkai, kekkai which Tokine is either incapable of forming or those which would quickly exhaust her. Throughout the series, observations had been made by Shigemori Sumimura and Masamori Sumimura that Yoshimori has an enormous wellspring of latent abilities in his kekkai. It has also been noted that Yoshimori is able to activate a Zekkai without any particular training beforehand. It manifests itself as black fire around him. However, his Zekkai is incomplete due to his lack of negative emotions. In his fight with Kaguro, it is revealed that he is much more adept with Shinkai and could only be powered to its full potential in moments when his emotions overflow their boundaries. Only three occasions have been shown with him using his fully powered Shinkai in the current running of the series: once while fighting against Kaguro, saving his brother Masamori from getting hit by a fatal attack, and after Hiura is severely injured. This state rejects everything he doesn't like, including death.
- Tokine Yukimura (雪村 時音 Yukimura Tokine) is Yoshimori's friend and "partner", but most notably, is also his love interest. Tokine is 16 years old and the 22nd Kekkaishi of the Yukimura family. She bears a scar on her right hand, which she received while protecting Yoshimori in their childhood. Tokine is gifted with great accuracy and precision, however, her kekkai are very weak and can only be maintained for short periods of time; her kekkai lack the "brute power" of Yoshimori's kekkai. At first she attempts to make up for this by copying Masamori's technique of stacking several kekkai's around a target, however effective, this takes too much stamina for her, making the technique ill-suited for her. Later, she learns to refine her kekkai into narrow "spears" that can impale and imprison an enemy, making up for her lack of power. Tokine is clearly impressed by the power and potential Yoshimori has, but is constantly frustrated by his poor control and lazy attitude. She cares for Yoshimori and often protected him many times when he was younger. She also likes to tease him and isn't aware of his feelings for her, although as the story progresses she begins to shows signs of deeper affection for Yoshimori; she once slapped him so hard that he passed out for going off to fight Kaguro, and she trapped him with neshi and beat him when he left to Okuni without her. In the series, it is stated that whilst she may be the weakest Kekkaishi, she is clearly the most "ruthless", unless she must face her biggest fear: the cockroach.
She's NOT a dog!- Gen Shishio (志々尾 限 Shishio Gen) first appeared in volume 6 of the manga and in episode 21 of the anime. Shishio aids Tokine and Yoshimori in hunting ayakashi and protecting Karasumori. He is an "integrated half ayakashi" (ayakashi majiri), meaning he can transform part or all of his body into that of an Ayakashi. He was frequently bullied by other children when he was young. When his power first fully awakened when he was ten, he almost killed his older sister though only severely injuring her. Afterwards he was taken in by Masamori and the Yagyou, where he was taught by Atora.
- Soji Hiura (氷浦 蒼士 Hiura Sōji) nearly kills Yoshimori when he appears in the Hidagou while retrieving evidence of being involved in hunting. He later appears in chapter 223 on orders to assist in helping the Kekkashi. He is a power-shifter user, his ability ranges from channeling his power into creating blades, forming it all over his body into a barrier, and using it as a spring in his muscles and he can freely change the size, shape, or angle of the blade. He can also create them from anywhere on his body. He thinks of nothing while using them, allowing his mind to float outside time, showing him where to move next.
- The Kokuboro (黒芒楼 Kokubōrō) are a group of ayakashi who seek Karasumori's power in order to regenerate their leader, Princess. Kokuboro is also the name of the group's castle and the alternate world where they reside. They are the first major antagonist in the first half of the manga series, and the main antagonists in the anime. Their home is a region called the "Black Pampas Grass" (黒芒 Kurosusuki).
- Princess (姫 Hime)
- A nine-tailed fox that is able to take on a human shape, she is a demon whose powers nearly rival those of a god, the most prominent display of her power being the creation of Kokuboro's castle and the alternate dimension in which it resides. However, she is afflicted with a mysterious illness and, following the ending of the Kokuboro arc, an unexplained illness that leaves her bedridden and unable to move. She eventually perishes at the ending of the Kokuboro arc as the illness claims her life, and transforms back into a nine-tailed fox. When Yoshimori meets her, he notes that even though she is an ayakashi, she has an air of elegance and respectability around her that is comparable to a princess in contrast to "common" ayakashi auras which apparently arouses hatred and a sense of disgust.
- Byaku (白)
- 79 years old. However, looks to be around his late 20s to early 30s due to experimentation on his body he had received years previously. Strong follower of the "princess". Has an oversized left eye, with several special abilities that include being able to control bug ayakashi, controlling minds, regeneration, and gathering information from bug ayakashi that enter his body through it. Was thought to be an ayakashi, but he is actually still a human whose name is Shiranuma (白沼). Was believed to be killed by his former colleague and love rival Heisuke, and Heisuke's summoned demon servant, Kagami, but survived to carry out Princess as the Black Pampas Grass collapsed with her demise, the collapse of the dimension killing him as well.
- Aihi (藍緋)
- A scientist with blue hair, and high-level demon, her true form a flower-like cyclops. Years ago, as she was hunting humans, befriended a weak, young man who was, surprisingly not afraid of her. She became curious of him, they eventually developed a sort of friendship. Sensing he was dying, he lured her to his house and trapped her using special talismans so she could stay for the few months until his death. Eventually she came to like him, and after the sudden change in his brother's death that give him the will to live makes her envious of humans, wishing to be like them and abstaining from eating them if possible. Having been controlled by Byaku, she is forced into working for him in developing the human skin suits modeled after the man she met. Though free of Byaku's worms, Aihi fights with Kaguro as she tries to escape from the dimension and is mortally wounded. Dying, she releases dandelion-like seeds from her body, one of which was saved by Shion before she left. In the anime, one of her seeds is able to escape the dimension and return to the home of the man, now elderly.
- Gagin (牙銀)
- With no human skin, he looks like a centaur with six arms. With skin on he looks like a large man (easily 2 meters tall) with ancient warrior armor on with spiky gray hair. He appears to have a short temper and is easily one of the most reckless in the Kokuboro and has a great desire to find strong opponents when the opportunity is given to him. He is very powerful and can throw balls of fire in battle that vary depending on his will. They can range from small, but fast, to immeasurable large and powerful, he was even capable of being able to nearly defeat Gen Shisho (who had completely transformed into his ayakashi form) and Yoshimori and Tokine simultaneously all by himself. Was killed by Masamori's zekkai in the manga, and in the anime by Yoshimori's kekkai.
- Shion (紫遠)
- She can control spider-like creatures to force others to do as she tells. She appears to be one of the most laid-back among the Kokuboro, but has proven herself to be a capable opponent as she was able to kill Heisuke by making him become host to her spiders and forced his arm to shoot himself, but this was later proven untrue as it was a weak Ayakashi that Heisuke had try on the human skin that he had taken from one of the ayakashi that was discovered by Yoshimori's grandfather. Once dressed up as Kaguro to lure Yoshimori to Kokuboro and while she had captured him, she had restrained Yoshimori under her spider creatures. She never participated in fighting the intruders during the destruction of their headquarters. She is also one of the few head officers of Kokuboro to survive the battle alongside Hekian who she had quickly took under her control for his arrogant comments and knowledge of an escape route before leaving the collapsing dimension. She is also revealed to never have been controlled by one of Byako's worms like the rest of Kokuboro and had simply been faking it, as she stated to Hekian, because she had liked living with the organization as a home and being able to do as she pleased.
- Koshu (江朱 Kōshu)
- Works at the "general affairs department". His job was to maintain and redesign the castle of Kokuboro when need be. As such he is very protective of it, willing to fight any intruders that try to enter it despite his limited powers (this results in his demise in both versions of Kekkaishi). When he has no human skin, he looks like an angry octopus with long tentacles. When he has his human skin on, he looks like an extremely small man with glasses and wears a flamboyant priest-styled kimono. He is considered one of the weakest of the Kokuboro higher-ups as he did not last long in a fight in the manga or anime. Was killed by Yoshimori in the manga, and by Tokine in the anime.
- Hekian (碧闇)
- Works at the "bureau department". With human skin, he usual has a turban and draping garments, making it impossible to see his face. He appears to possess an ability that he calls the "One Hundred Eyes", this allows him to be able to see spiritual energy to a such a level that he can see past the swamp like water that covers the previous Landlord of Karusmori, however only states that he could see that there was a bottomless darkness that could be seen. He is considered one of the weakest amongst his group as even Shion was able to easily defeat him and put him under control with little effort. He is later on, at the end of the battle at Kokuboro, taken by surprise and controlled by one of Shion's spiders and turned into one of her subordinate puppets after he revealed he knew a way out in a condescending manner.
- Kaguro (火黒)
- A S-Class Ayakashi, Kaguro is one of the few members of the Kokuboro to act on his whim while possessing superhuman speed and able to generate blades from his body. Kaguro was once a human swordsman named Genichiro Kuroda (黒田 源一郎 Kuroda Gen'ichirō), a student of a dojo who was friends with his rival Sakai. But unable to beat Sakai, Kuroda's frustration and his friend's advice, misunderstanding the meaning, led him to go on a killing spree. In the process, Kuroda lost his humanity and killed Sakai prior to assuming his current form. Donning a human skin and leading a group of Akayashi in an attempt to take over Karasumori, Kaguro develops an interest in Yoshimori, who is unknowingly able to use Zekkai, a technique that Kaguro saw first hand when he was still human. After killing Gen, whom he attempted to have walk in his footsteps, Kaguro battles Yoshimori in the collapsing Kokuboro castle before being killed in battle by the kekkaishi.
- Sakon (左近)
- Works at the executive department and is Gagin's right hand man. He replaced Gagin after his death as leader of the executive department and launched an attack on Karasumori but was defeated by Masamori's zekkai. With no human skin, he looks like a giant demon lizard. He has the power to control wind and use it as tornadoes for attack. The princess is shown to have great disdain for Sakon, as he possesses an evil aura greater than Gagin's, and she cannot tell what he is really thinking
END OF KOKUBORO (hint, hint)
- Nichinaga Oumi (逢海 日永 Oumi Nichinaga), also known as the Sousui (総帥 Sōsui), is the founder of the Shadow Organization, and seeks to completely destroy it for revenge; the shin'yūchi hunts are confirmed to be somewhat planned by him. He seems to be interfering with his brother's schemes and looks down on him. Although he has yet to display the vast majority of his skills, it is known that he, like his brother, has two skills, one being the power to control earth and the other being the ability to manipulate and read minds. However, his psychic form is different from his brother's, with his being a sea serpent while his brother's is a spider-starfish.
- Shichirou Ougi (扇 七郎 Ōgi Shichirō), also known as the "Shinigami." He's the Legitimate successor for the Ougi clan (a clan of hired assassins under the current employ of the Sousui) and has killed his brothers and several members of the Shadow Organization before escaping Masamori. At the present point in the story, Shichirou is one of the most powerful characters, easily slicing through Yoshimori's strongest kekkais, buildings, and people with just a twitch of his wrist while hovering in midair. Similar to Yoshimori, he has never felt a limit to his power. He also sees everything as balance scale and his "scales" have never been moved. He views his life as a Legitimate successor was destined against his wishes. He and Yoshimori can understand each other and are similar.
- Kakeru (カケル) is one of the two women involved in the shin'yūchi hunting, she views herself as a chosen person and wants to cause those who lack power to feel their worthlessness even going so far as to threaten to destroy the town where Karasumori is located. She views Michiru with high regards. She is a child prodigy.
- Michiru (ミチル) is one of the two women involved in the shin'yūchi hunting, she the more calm one of the two. She was a child prodigy.
- Suigetsu (水月) takes care of Hiura and Oumi. Suigetsu is a log-keeper, which means she's able to retain vast amounts of information. Log-keepers are easily identifiable by their special eyes, which have something like four black marks around the pupil. She is believed to store most or even all of the information of the Shadow Organization, including its history and almost everything else.
- Madarao (斑尾), a white demon dog that has served the Sumimura family since its founding, passed down to them by the founder, Tokimori Hazama. Madarao is able to detect ayakashi with his amazing sense of smell, which he often brags is far better than Hakubi's. However, no matter how fast he locates an ayakashi, Yoshimori could never dispatch them fast enough, a fact Madarao often bemoans. Madarao is around 500 years old, and prior to his existence as a demon, was a wild dog known as Ginro (銀露), and was at one time friends with Kōya. He wears a 'collar', made of spirit beads and seals strung together with a nenshi, that seals away his true demon form. When not assisting Yoshimori, he resides inside a special stone covered with glyphs, which is humorously located inside a wooden doghouse. When unsealed, Madarao become very large and uses powerful poisons and illusions. Madarao seems to have an unrequited crush on Tokimori Hazama; apparently, the reason he had followed him was because he fell in love with him at first sight. Throughout his service to the Sumimura family, Madarao had refused to acknowledge anybody as his real master other than Tokimori Hazama; however, after the battle with Kōya, Madarao begins to view Yoshimori as his master.
- Shimano (縞野) is a golden Nekomata (two-tailed demon cat) that has served the Sumimura family. Only recently introduced, Shimano resides at the bottom of a covered well on the Sumimura family property. The bottom of the well houses a special training room, where Shimano has trained various legitimate successors of the Sumimura family in the art of "Musou." Musou is a mental state in which the user becomes completely devoid of emotion and enters a state of pure focus. Shimano's training routine is considerably brutal, as he uses the ends of his tails to administer powerful electric shocks to Yoshimori's head when he loses focus and his mind strays.
- Shiguma (しぐま) is Yoshimori's landlord, who appears in chapter 266. He originally appears as a white and black striped box only to change shape into a tangible goblin, human-like creature. Shiguma transforms into several different creatures or beings as Yoshimori progressively uses more strength. He goes from a snake-like creature with a humanistic face, all the way to a bird-like creature. The latter form is the highest form that he's used when Yoshimori has displayed his pinnacle of strength. Shiguma acts as an aid in battle to Yoshimori, as well as an amplifier of his strength.
- Shigemori Sumimura (墨村 繁守 Sumimura Shigemori) is the grandfather of Yoshimori and the 21st head of the Sumimura family. Shigemori is a very hot-headed man and who often battles it out with the Yukimura Tokiko next door about the subject of the true successor. This has ranged from insults to battles conducted in midair. He also enjoys hitting Yoshimori on the head with his Legitimate Successor's Chop when he deems Yoshimori to be lazy and not hardworking enough to compete with the Yukimuras. Under Shigemori's blustery façade, he seems to care a lot about his family and Tokiko's wellbeing. However, he had apparently given up trying to dissuade Masamori from continuing on working in the Shadow Organization, telling Masamori that that would be his own way of protecting Karasumori. It is alluded to that Shigemori is a highly skilled Kekkaishi.
- Masamori Sumimura (墨村正守 Sumimura Masamori) is the oldest son of the Sumimuras. Although he is the oldest of the three brothers, Masamori was not chosen as the heir, which had always been a source of mystery to him and Yoshimori, the latter stating many times in the series that in terms of skill and power, Masamori should have taken the position of heir. He is 21, though he looks much older. Masamori is the leader of Night Troop, as well as the 7th seat of the board of the Shadow Organization, in which he had struck up a highly uneasy and unpleasant relationship with Ogi Ichirou, the 8th seat, whom clearly despises and hates him. He is a very skilled Kekkaishi; mastering highest defense technique, mastering difficult techniques and able to activate zekkai. However, one noticeable difference about Masamori's zekkai and Yoshimori's zekkai was that Masamori was only able to destroy with it. He is not able to create his zekkai in such a way that he can protect the people in it other than himself. Some characters have noted that this was probably the reason why Masamori was not picked as the legitimate successor.
- Kurohime (黒姫) is Masamori's landlord, a giant black koi fish who swims through the ground and sky as if it was water and read waves that Masamori spreads to detect objects.
- Toshimori Sumimura (墨村 利守 Sumimura Toshimori) is the youngest of the Sumimura brothers. Toshimori seems to be a mature individual which one might not expect from his young years, often displaying maturity and insight beyond his years. Apparently, he is able to create Kekkais, but unable to participate in true battle.
- Sumiko Sumimura (墨村 守美子 Sumimura Sumiko) is Yoshimori's mother. She can use the Hazama-ryū Kekkai technique, but is not a legitimate successor. Very rarely seen in the manga and anime. She is described as a "skilled Kekkaishi" and is said to hunt Ayakashi elsewhere so she could be close to her lover; in truth, she left her home to find a land to seal the lord of Karasumori. On her first and last mission for the Shadow Organization she killed the god she was assigned to calm down, claiming its child told her to kill it.
- Shuji Sumimura (墨村 修史 Sumimura Shūji) is Yoshimori's father. He does not have the powers to see spirits. Shuji uses special items when he needs to act as a Kekkaishi. Former assistant to Heisuke. Shuji is the housekeeper of the Sumimura family, as he does nearly all of the cooking and most of the cleaning. He wears an apron at all times.
- Hakubi (白尾) is the Yukimura family's demon dog; he detects demons with his sense of smell. He is about 400 years old. He is constantly teasing Yoshimori. Hakubi also enjoys harassing Madarao about having to serve a master (Yoshimori) with such pathetic skills. He playfully flirts with Tokine and likes to call her "honey", and is a sucker for cute girls. In the original Japanese version, he has a habit of using European words and expressions, eventually causing Yoshimori to complain that if he's a Japanese dog, he shouldn't be using European words. He accompanied Tokimori Hazama while he was alive and died when Chūshinmaru's power went wild.
- Tokiko Yukimura (雪村 時子 Yukimura Tokiko) is the grandmother of Tokine. She is the 21st head of the Yukimura family. She is also the current strongest Kekkaishi in Karasumori. She can control space to a high degree and manipulate Yoshimori's energy when they performed a 4-way kekkai. She is able to selectively destroy a target in a kekkai without harming anything else within. Despite the family differences she gets along well with Yoshimori's grandfather and is coming to see Yoshimori as a proper successor.
- Mikeno (三毛野) is a calico Nekomata (two-tailed demon cat) that has served the Yukimura family. Mikeno is Shimano's counterpart. Mikeno requested Tokiko to send Tokine for intense training, under Mikeno's tutelage, in a place called the Surge Room.
- Shizue Yukimura (雪村 静江 Yukimura Shizue) is Tokine's mother. Married into the family. She possesses the ability to kill a cockroach without letting its inside spill out.
- Tokio Yukimura (雪村 時雄 Yukimura Tokio) was Tokine's father. He was not blessed with the sign of the legitimate successor, so his power was limited, but he kept a positive attitude nevertheless. Tokio died a couple years ago when he let his guard down whilst patrolling the Karasumori site; it is left ambiguous whether his final warning to Tokine not to let her guard down around 'them' referred to Ayakashi or to the Shadow Organization or the Sumimuras.
- Chūshinmaru (宙心丸) He has the appearance and voice of a young child. He is agile and playful and is the Lord of Karasumori.
- Tokimori Hazama (間 時守) The founder of the Hazama-ryu Kekkai Technique. His disciples were the first heads of the Sumimura and Yukimura families. He was a powerful Kekkaishi and was able to use zekkai. Hazama was also Madarao's former master.
- Heisuke Matsudo (松戸 平介 Matsudo Heisuke) Age 70. An associate of Yoshimori's grandfather. An expert of ayakashi and was the first to discover the secrets behind the human skin that Aihi had created. He had a love interest in a woman called Risa Kagami, who was unfortunately married to Byaku. He grew vengeful when Kagami died and swore to exact revenge on Byaku for her death. He is bound to a contract with a demon that will do his bidding in exchange for his soul. He also seems to possess a number of magical artifacts.
- Kagami (加賀見) A shape-shifting demon that bound a contract with Heisuke Matsudo. Takes the form of Risa Kagami and acts charming and elegant. Does Heisuke's bidding in return for his soul when he dies.
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