Tagitsuhime

Tagitsuhime (タギツヒメ, Tagitsuhime) is a sentient Aradama popularly known as the Great Aradama (大荒魂, Oo-aradama) that emerged and destroyed parts of Sagami Bay and Enoshima in an incident known as the Great Disaster of Sagami Bay. Its existence was caused by the agglomeration of massive amounts of noro stored in an American oil tanker bound for the United States, and has currently appeared twice in two large-scale Aradama-related incidents.

Appearance and Behavior

The largest known form of Tagitsuhime, as seen during the Great Disaster of Sagami Bay.

Unlike other Aradama that assume certain forms, Tagitsuhime takes several forms based on circumstances.

In its largest form, it appears as a writhing mass consisting of several "branches" of black noro surrounding a fiery core that funnels into its "main body". The main body, much smaller that its exterior form, is covered with eyes made of noro and has a swirling "core" that resembles a black hole. Tagitsuhime mainly communicates through its main body. The exterior body is capable of spawning various Aradama outward, and appears to form cracks in the sky.

After possessing Yukari Origami, Tagitsuhime mainly appears as an ominous-looking eye replacing Yukari's eyes or appearing beneath her hair. However, in times of combat, it can manifest as a four-armed figure with several eyes emerging from its torso.

Due to the sheer amount of noro it was born from, Tagitsuhime possesses great intellect compared to other Aradama and can even speak the human language with a deep, foreboding voice. It considers itself as a "god of evil", and has demonstrated a scheming and manipulative but patient character.

Chronology

First Manifestation

Tagitsuhime was "born" from a massive stockpile of noro that was supposed to be brought via oil tanker to the United States of America in an ongoing attempt to develop defensive technologies based on noro. On the night of September 26, 1998, Tagitsuhime emerged from the oil tanker in an explosion that immediately destroyed the ship. Then, it made its way inland, causing Aradama outbreaks in Enoshima, where it made landfall. The Great Aradama then spent the next four days in Enoshima, causing 1,089 deaths and 15,246 casualties by the fourth day.

The forces of the Special Ritual Riot Squad were sent to fight against Tagitsuhime's outbreak of Aradama, and a special unit, led by Yukari Origami, then a student of Renpu Girls' School, was assembled to attack the Great Aradama directly. Although successful in reaching Tagitsuhime's main body, the plan was left to the "sealing technique" learned by unit member Kagari Hiiragi, which was ultimately intercepted by fellow unit member Minato Fujiwara. Seeing Yukari lose her two friends in the attempt to seal Tagitsuhime brought the unit leader to a vulnerable position, and the Great Aradama took advantage of this by offering her a deal: leaving her body to be possessed by the Great Aradama in exchange for rescuing her two friends and a term of peace lasting twenty years, after which Tagitsuhime will take action once more. Although Yukari was hesitant in entering a deal with Tagitsuhime, the Great Aradama deemed that she already made the decision and took over Yukari Origami.

Yukari, now possessed by Tagitsuhime, returned to her fellow unit members who were ordered to retreat. At that point, the Great Aradama lived within Yukari as she became head of the Origami Family and the commander of the Special Sword Administration Bureau.

Twenty Years of Peace

As part of the deal, Tagitsuhime used its influence to lower the activity of Aradama for the next two decades, while Yukari started reforms in the Toji system, freeing them of their traditional duties as shrine maidens and focusing on a role similar to that of the police force. Additionally, Yukari helped bolster the development of the S-Equipment, giving the impression that the survival rate of Toji had improved due to the advances in defense technology. Yukari also reassigned the duty of retrieving noro from the shrines throughout Japan to the Origami Family itself, creating a massive stockpile of noro within the inner shrine of the Origami Family Estate.

The duties of Toji under Yukari Origami's administration became less dangerous, and noro retrieval became a generally riskless activity for the Special Sword Administration Bureau. However, nobody was aware that the leader was under the influence of a Great Aradama thus far, except Yukari's own sister Akane, who managed to see Yukari communicating with an Aradama in secret. This discovery would inspire the founding of the anti-Origami group Mokusa, and the start of the first attempts at toppling down Yukari's leadership.

The Instigation

During the decisive match of the National Swordsmanship Tournament held within the Origami Family Estate in Kamakura, a failed assassination attempt against Yukari Origami took place. The culprit was Hiyori Juujou, a student of Heijou Institute and daughter of Yukari's unit companion Kagari who was informed about Yukari's true identity. This attack exposed Tagitsuhime's hidden form (the "eyes beneath her hair") to Kanami Etou, student of Minoseki Academy and Hiyori's supposed competitor for the decisive match, and their cooperative actions caused both Kanami and Hiyori to be considered traitors and fugitives.

Due to the efforts of Mokusa and its sympathizers, Kanami and Hiyori were able to find refuge from their pursuers. Meanwhile, Tagitsuhime remained patient in acting against those who discovered its identity within Yukari. Instead of acting directly, it deployed Yukari's Elite Guards in several occasions to respond to the two girls in pursuit. Eventually, with the help of a noro vial stolen from a temporary base in Ebisu, Tagitsuhime managed to locate the headquarters of Mokusa, bringing it down through a raid organized by the Special Ritual Riot Squad. However, with Kanami and Hiyori already finished gathering their allies, a direct attack against Yukari was inevitable.

Downfall

Using S-Equipment pods, Kanami and Hiyori, joined by refugees Mai Yanase and Sayaka Itomi and Mokusa members Ellen Kohagura and Kaoru Mashiko, performed a direct attack on the Origami Family Estate, and through careful planning, were able to bring down the Elite Guards, giving Kanami and Hiyori the chance to take on Yukari directly. Here, after absorbing twenty years' worth of noro into her body, Yukari finally revealed herself as Tagitsuhime and fought while using the Great Aradama's full arsenal. The combined effort of the six girls was not enough to deal with the abilities of Tagitsuhime. It was only through an unexpected event where Kanami was "possessed" by her mother that Tagitsuhime was weakened enough for Hiyori to use the same "secret technique" her mother used to seal the Great Aradama into the netherworld.

Hiyori was able to perform the "sealing technique" successfully, but was brought back to the living world by Kanami. Meanwhile, in order to survive the attack, Tagitsuhime sealed off its Aradama aspect and split itself into three, causing noro to spread throughout the Kanto region. This incident was later called the Kamakura Special Hazardous Waste Leakage Issue.

Tagitsuhime's fate remained unknown even as four months passed after the incident. However, as a result of the Kamakura Special Hazardous Waste Leakage Issue, Aradama activity greatly increased, plunging the Kanto region into imminent danger. It is later revealed that the Great Aradama survived, but it had to cast aside both Yukari Origami and most of its sentient aspect as it retreated to the Netherworld.

Tagitsuhime ultimately split into four: three self-proclaimed goddesses named Tagitsuhime, Takirihime and Ichikishimahime that carried the evil god's intelligence, and the "true form" of the original Tagitsuhime, later called Hirukomitama by the offspring Tagitsuhime.

Abilities

Immense Strength: Having a huge body provides Tagitsuhime with great strength. It can use its branches to attack intruders; each are capable of destroying a huge wall with ease.

Immense Presence: When Tagitsuhime appears, it can create huge rift wave in the netherworld which affects both active and former Toji.

Aradama Creation/Control: Tagitsuhime has shown the ability to create various Aradama to attack surroundings and the Toji when it have the original body. The ability is not shown when she is using Yukari as a vessel. It is also capable of controlling the Aradama it creates.

Noro Control: Tagitsuhime has the ability to "calm down" Noro, manipulating its activity and suppressing its ability to form into Aradama. She is able to sense Noro under her control to a certain degree. She also can extract her own Noro, separate them into many parts.

High Intelligence: As an Aradama created from a huge amount of Noro, Tagitsuhime possesses intellect on par and possibly beyond that of a human. She was capable of continuing and advancing Noro technology that had been stagnant for a long time when she took charge of the Origami Family under the guise of Yukari.

Insight: Tagitsuhime possesses the ability to evaluate opponent physical abilities, latent power and their thoughts.

Future Prediction: Tagitsuhime is able to see a certain amount of possible futures that can happen. it allows her to change and manipulate things to her liking. But, this ability is limited and cannot see too far into the future. Furthermore, too much calculation can hinder the ability.

Trivia

• Tagitsuhime's name is based on a sea goddess which is considered as one of the daughters of Amaterasu in Japanese folklore. Along with Ichikishimahime and Tagorihime, she was "born" from the spray Amaterasu released from her mouth after chewing the pieces of Susanoo's sword (the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi) in a trial-by-oath.