This woman, a doctor, whose name was never revealed in the series, fell in love with Raizen and bore him a child. She and Raizen are Yusuke Urameshi's ancestors.
Quick Answers
Who is the mother of Raizen's child in Yu Yu Hakusho?
How is Raizen's lover related to Yusuke Urameshi?
What profession did Raizen's lover have in the series?
How does Raizen describe his lover's appearance?
What is the significance of Raizen's lover in the storyline of Yu Yu Hakusho?
Appearance[]
Raizen's lover had long dark hair, reddish purple eyes and pale skin. She wore a dark-blue kimono with an obi sash. Raizen describes her as "the most beautiful creature he had ever seen". She had rather large breasts, and possessed a very curvy, feminine figure.
While only her insides and blood are corrupted in the anime, in the manga Raizen sees that the rotting flesh she ate has taken its toll on her body, as her flesh seems to be rotting and corrupt as well, making it much more threatening in the manga.
Personality[]
She had a temper, but was also apparently very intelligent. Raizen says that Yusuke has inherited her fiery temper.
History[]
Raizen and his Lover
700 years ago, in her time, the Human World was a very different place. The Kekkai Barrier had not yet been erected, and there was chaos and disorder throughout the land. The humans of the time were in constant fear as they lived side-by-side with demons, and the daimyō weren't above contracting their help in order to defend their territories from rivals and enemies. Raizen explained that at that time in his life, he was particularly uncaring because he saw all humans as food.
He then talked to Yusuke about how he couldn't find it in himself to care that in her eyes, he could see his downfall; he had fallen in love. He then goes on to talk about how she was a medicine woman and healer at the time, being an esoteric Buddhist witch doctor known as a kudakusushi, who practiced medicine by ingesting deadly poisons and contagions in order to turn her own blood into primitive vaccines. Her techniques were surprisingly effective, and his wounds healed quickly.
When the woman fell asleep, Raizen began thinking about how to eat her. The woman woke up and taunted Raizen, stating he may eat her, but that her flesh and blood turned toxic and polluted enough over the years in her tenure to kill him, and that he had better hurry up with whatever he ended up doing. She then stripped naked to show Raizen that this was no bluff and to let him eat her. Raizen was mesmerized by her fearlessness, and the two of them ended up making love. The result of their sexual intercourse with each other resulted in the conception of their child.
In the morning, however, Raizen left after realizing that he wasn't worthy of her. His reasoning was that she had devoted her life to saving people, while his life had been nothing but destruction, and vowed to never eat another human being until he saw her again. After he left, Raizen's lover spent the remaining time carrying Raizen's child in her womb that he impregnated her with. Unfortunately, he was never to see her again, as she died in childbirth.
Legacy[]
The night they consummated with each other resulted in the conception of a baby who was mixed with demon blood from Raizen and human blood from his lover. Raizen, however, left after their child's conception. After finally giving birth to the child, the woman died in childbirth. Raizen's child was able to live long enough to have his/her own child, and thus started a family line of humans with demon ancestry, who were descended from Raizen. Yusuke was born from these humans 44 generations later, making him a direct descendant of Raizen. Raizen spent years searching for her reincarnation, but ultimately realized that she was far too enlightened to be brought back to this world. Before his death, he stated that he hoped to be reunited with her in the next life. It was stated that Yusuke inherited most of his personality and temper from her.
Trivia[]
- In the Japanese version of the anime, her Japanese is written in a historic script appropriate to the era of her lifetime, being in the 13th Century or the Kamakura Era, not unlike the use of Olde English for Shakespearean plays.
- Her practice as a kudakusushi is more explicit in the manga, where it is historically shown and depicted with old texts that they eat portions of the infected corpses of the diseased and afflicted. The anime is more subtle but gives more vague leeway, instead suggesting they drink the blood of the succumbed and other toxins directly to work their magic.
- The existence of kudakusushi is entirely fictional, and unique to the YuYu Hakusho series, but has a basis in their concept. While her faith is not specified, she is often referred to as an Esoteric Buddhist/Shingon Buddhist doctor in Japanese materials. Her practice of ingesting pathogens and toxins to allow her body to become a source of healing is suggestive of a more occult faith of Kujaku Myoo or Mahamayuri, a more elusive Shingon Buddhist deity said to be related to the practice of magic and the familiar deity of En no Ozuno, the founder of the magical arts of Onmyodo. With imagery based on peacocks and peafowls, Kujaku Myoo's practices involve transforming poisons into energies of enlightenment, akin to how peafowls are not hesitant to hunt and devour cobras and poisonous snakes, and in turn, are believed to transform its venom into its renowned plumage.