Enju (
History[]
Urasue and Enju.
Just like her "brother" Kawaramaru, Enju was brought back from the dead so she could serve Urasue, whom they both called "Mother" (in Japanese, they used the term "haha" (母), which is used for "birth mother"). As with all her "children", Urasue brought her back solely to take advantage of skills she bore in life.
Few details of Enju's life were revealed, other than she was a potter by profession and died relatively young. Urasue brought her back to assist her in building an immense army of mindless clay soldiers that did not eat, drink, grow tired or die. She planned to use these soldiers along with Kawaramaru's military knowledge to conquer all of feudal Japan and secure power for herself. Urasue trained Enju in using demon magic to generate fire for the kilns and to shape these soldiers by the thousands.
Unlike Kawaramaru, Enju witnessed Urasue's demise by the newly resurrected Kikyō firsthand, as revealed in a retconned scene from episode 15. Though she was saddened by the loss of her "mother", she took comfort in the fact that she was no longer bound in creating killing machines and could finally return to the peaceful slumber of death. However, her dreams of peace were soon shattered when, to her shock and horror, Kawaramaru decided to carry forward with Urasue's dream of supreme conquest, and more or less enslaved her. Through undisclosed means, he managed to force Enju to continue producing Urasue's vast host against her will until he departed to carry out the actual battles required to seize power over Japan as its undead emperor.
During the story[]
Without Kawaramaru watching over her, Enju managed to escape from her work of forging clay soldiers and ran as far as she could until the souls that animated her body could no longer do so. When their energy drained, she collapsed near a riverside into the sleep of the dead. To her fury, Enju awoke to the sight of Shinidamachū bringing her the souls of recently dead maidens, thus engendering her with new "life". Her rage was compounded when she saw the master of these soul-collectors was Kikyō, the slayer of her mother. Cursing the miko for meddling, Enju created a harmless but distracting twister of fire and vanished without a trace.
Later, Enju is seen continuing her escape, putting more and more ground between herself and her brother. Still feeling weak, she stopped to rest and suddenly found herself surrounded by the clay soldiers her brother had sent to forcibly retrieve her. Inuyasha arrived, following the scent of the medicinal herbs Urasue used, and destroyed the puppets; during the commotion, Enju fell and lost consciousness.
She awoke to find "more meddlers" and expressed her wish for everyone to just leave her alone to die. After explaining her past to Miroku, Sango, Kagome and Shippō, she told them she detested her existence, and wanted nothing more than to die, especially since she helped to create that terrible and abhorrent army. At this time, more clay soldiers arrived to collect her, but were quickly dispatched by the group, much to Enju's surprise (mainly because they couldn't be destroyed by conventional weaponry). They then pledged to help Enju destroy her brother's army, but in return they wanted her to give life a try and to see her second chance as a gift. Though seemingly unsure how she would do so, Enju agreed to their terms and they set out to stop Kawaramaru as he moved to conquer yet another castle.
During the confrontation, Enju finally revealed to her brother just how she felt about the wars he was mongering. She told him that, as dead people, they had no right to take anything away from those of the living and that she wanted him to give up his violent ambitions. He refused, believing it was their destiny to rule the world as the living dead. After he summoned Urasue's hell-demon puppet, Enju watched as Inuyasha wiped her brother and his army out of existence with the Kaze no Kizu.
After placing a fragment of Kawaramaru's armor in the river to commemorate him, Enju returned to life as a simple potter. While she was working, she was pleasantly surprised to see one of Kikyō's soul-collectors bringing her a soul as a gift. She sent it back to its owner with the message that she was giving life a second chance, a message that the priestess took to heart.
What became of Enju thereafter was never revealed, although it was clear that unless she was able to replenish herself with the souls of young maidens, she would simply become an empty, lifeless shell. It may be that Kikyō had her Shinidamachū continue to supply Enju with souls, and when Kikyō died again, Enju soon followed. However, seeing as how she and Kawaramaru had kept themselves animated up until their introduction and had furnished each of the soldiers with souls, Enju was probably capable of procuring them for herself. She may have even been able to conjure her own Shinidamachū, seeing as how she knew what they were beforehand, but it's also possible that Urasue taught her other methods as well.
Physical description[]
Enju has long reddish-brown hair, orange eyes, and pale skin. She wears a two-layer sleeveless short orange kimono with a tiger pattern adorning it, and is held together by a simple sash. She has her wrists and ankles wrapped in cloth, but remains perpetually barefoot.
Personality[]
At first Enju showed herself to be a rather cold and hostile girl, but in reality she is a rather melancholic person, because she had a happy life with Urasue and after she died, she began to think that there was no point in continuing to exist.
Miroku and Kagome managed to convince her to enjoy this new opportunity to live, to which she agreed, at first she also had a strong hatred for Kikyo for killing Urasue but she finally forgave her and moved on.
Powers and abilities[]
- Specter physiology: As a Specter, Enju is undead and possesses all of the attributes of one such as:
- Immortality: As a spectre, Enju is no longer bound by time and cannot become sick or age while feeding on souls.
- Magic: While living with Urasue, Enju learned magic and learned powerful spells from it including resurrection of the dead.
- Necromancy: Enju learned the art of necromancy from Urasue, being able to resurrect corpses through mud and bones just like her.
- Pyrokinesis: Enju displayed the unique ability to manipulate and create fire, being able to emanate powerful bursts of fire from his body and even the ability to teleport through it.
- Pottery and ceramics: Before dying, Enju was excellent in pottery and ceramics, after resurrecting, he dedicated himself to creating soldiers of clay and bones for Urasue.
Trivia[]
- Enju's seiyū, Fumiko Orikasa, also voiced four other characters in the anime series InuYasha: Nazuna, Sara Asano, Asagi and Hitomiko.
- If Enju managed to survive on her own, she likely continued a secluded life to avoid demons and humans; though it's unknown if she could continue on indefinitely.