Ginchiyo Tachibana

Overview

Ginchiyo Tachibana was a woman that lived during the latter part of Japan's Warring States era from September 23, 1569 to November 30, 1602. She was the tomboyish daughter of Dousetsu Tachibana, the Tachibana clan's lord on the island of Kyushu. Because Dousetsu had no sons to pass on the hereditary right of rule, he ensured that Ginchiyo would become the head of the clan instead. Ginchiyo ruled the Tachibana from 1575 to 1581. After marrying, the clan rule was passed to her husband and Dousetsu's adopted son, Muneshige Tachibana.

Ginchiyo's reign was unusual, as it was extremely rare for a woman to be placed at the head of a clan in that age of history. It is said that she trained her handmaidens in the use of swords as a means to heighten defenses. However, there is very little else about her reign that is easy to separate as fact from fiction.

In Samurai Warriors

Ginchiyo's first appearance in the Samurai Warriors series came in Samurai Warriors 2. In this game, she is depicted as being a fierce warrior with a great deal of pride in her clan. She and her forces are allied with those of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Her clan fights for control of Kyushu with the rival Shimazu clan and Yoshihiro Shimazu, who is depicted as her arch-rival. After the conflict is settled, she aids in Hideyoshi's efforts to unify all of Japan under his rule.

In Samurai Warriors 3, Ginchiyo's struggle against the Shimazu clan and her subsequent aid of Hideyoshi are once again depicted. However, her husband Muneshige is also made a playable character in this iteration, changing the dynamic of the storyline.

Ginchiyo's personality is depicted as being serious and stern. She hides her tender side, including her affection for her husband, under a prickly exterior. However, Warriors Orochi 3 also reveals that she has a comical weakness for cute animals; in her support conversations with Xiaoqiao, she falls into a cuteness-induced stupor when Xiaoqiao mentions she's buying a cute, fluffy baby panda as a gift for her husband Zhou Yu.

Gameplay

Ginchiyo's fighting style is heavily influenced by lightning and electricity in reference to her father Dousetsu, who had historically survived a lightning strike. She uses a sword with a serrated, lightning bolt-like edge to slash her opponents. She also has control over electricity, as demonstrated by her musou attack, which creates an orb of electrical energy around her to strike and juggle enemies with its area of effect. Depending on the game, she also has extra skills that allow her to attack nearby enemies with lightning blasts or temporarily strengthen her attacks with electricity.

In Warriors Orochi and Warriors Orochi 2, she is classified as a Power character. In Warriors Orochi 3, she was redesignated as a Technique class.

Other Appearances

Ginchiyo makes an appearance as a possible recruitable character in Kessen III. In this game, she is fond of Nobunaga Oda's wife Kicho and has similar skills and abilities. She also appears as an NPC in Nobunaga no Yabou Online, an MMO spin-off of Koei's Nobunaga's Ambition series, and as an officer in Nobunaga no Yabou: Tendou on the PS3 and Xbox 360. She also appears in Tecmo Koei's social game Nobunaga's Amibition parody, Nobunyaga no Yabou, as one of the many historical figures redesigned as cute anthropomorphic cats. In the game, she is named "Ginchiyo Tachibanya."

Ginchiyo makes an appearance as one of the numerous historical characters in Pokémon Conquest and is cast as the leader of the nation of Violight. Like the other officers, her design is based on her appearance in the Samurai Warriors series. True to her Samurai Warriors interpretation, she excels in the training of electric-type Pokemon.

In Tecmo Koei's Toukiden: The Age of Demons, Ginchiyo appears in game as a DLC soul for the player to collect and gain abilities from.