Okuni

Okuni 1st appeared in Samurai Warriors.

Samurai Warriors
Okuni unknowingly wanders onto battlefields, and being a priestess, usually tries to stop the violence or solicit money by putting on a dance. Her dances work to a degree but ultimately fail to stop any fights. Although she is infatuated by Keiji Maeda, she wears her heart on her sleeve and can be fascinated with various men and women. She often wants the one she is infatuated with to return with her to Izumo. Because of this, she has the most alternate endings in Samurai Warriors. In her movie ending, she entertains Keiji and Goemon with a dance. During her performance, the object of her affections walks out as he wants to return to the battlefield. When she's done, she goes with Goemon to look for the missing Keiji. Okuni is a hidden character in Samurai Warriors 2 who can be unlocked after a winning play in the Suguroku minigame. Like Ranmaru, she lacks a personal Story Mode. She rarely appears in other character's story scenarios except for certain dream stages such as Mitsuhide's struggle, the beauty competition for Noh, Oichi -and later Gracia, and others. Her other appearances are mostly limited to Survival mode.

Voice Actors

 * Melissa Fahn - Samurai Warriors (English)
 * Erin Agostino - Samurai Warriors 2 (English)
 * Karen Strassman - Warriors Orochi series (English)
 * Wakana Yamazaki - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)

History
Izumo no Okuni was born near a shrine in Izumo and was daughter to a blacksmith named Nakamura Sanemon. She became a priestess there and, as part of her duties to help support the shrine, she was often sent to Kyoto to perform dances and collect alms. While performing there, she became widely known for her sensuous nembutsu dance and various humorous skits involving lovers spats. The Tamoniniki writes that she was performing as early as eight or eleven years old in 1582. Various other accounts also confirm her presence at Kyoto though they each state different years and dances that she could have performed.

Around 1603, Okuni began to entertain on the dry riverbanks of Kamo river where she exclusively gathered female outcasts and prostitutes and taught them dancing, acting and singing to help form her trope. Their early performances consisted of the ladies reacting to Okuni dressing and acting as a men thus earning her the name, woman kabuki, due to her eccentricity and social daring. Many others, particularly brothels, emulated these shows to amuse wealthy clients and to gain marketable prostitutes. She later gained sponsoring from Ujisato Sanzaburō who helped her to develop kabuki into a more sophisticated art form.

After she established kabuki in 1607, records of her performances dwindled and she disappeared from the public eye. A rumor says that she appeared once more to dance at the imperial palace with her team in 1612. Her death year has been speculated to be either 1613, 1644, or 1658. Others suggest that she spent the rest of her years at Izumo or Kyoto as a nun since a large grave marker was supposedly made near a shrine in the area.

In 1629, the Tokugawa shogunate forbade women from performing kabuki due to public moral protests. It was eventually ruled that only older men were allowed to perform in theaters.