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黒崎流 | kurosaki nagare
koo·roh·sah·kee nah·gah·reh
black cape (family) flow (given)1

japanese
unknown ):
uncomfirmed2
green
blond

kamakura, kannagawa, japan
exact date unknown, 19603/4
384
(metal) rat 5

personality

nagare is a very stoic man, to the point of standoffishness. his expression, especially in the original chapters of this arc, is a typically a frown or a glare. it's undeniable that he's a dutiful person, and deeply cares about honor, especially regarding the family. he has a penchant for outbursts of anger, even getting violent, albeit displaying remorse for this behavior at a later time. despite coming off as cold and uncaring, there are small hints that in his own way he cares for other people and doesn't enjoy being cruel, such as allowing the staff at the manor to peruse his closet for tatsumi, making an effort to catch miya when she faints, asking tatsumi if he's alright while lying in bed after his own suicide attempt... however, the suicide attempt in itself proves he can be incredibly spiteful if pushed to far, willing to sacrifice an entire village for vengeance on his brother.

family history

the kurosaki clan is that of samurai, descended from kurosaki ren. this legendary warrior is credited with killing the god that was terrorizing his village: yatonogami. by this fame, he was able to found the clan, which is still highly revered to this day.6 there are local rumors about the curse of this household and the effects it has on the village. suffice to say, being a god, it seems this serpent wouldn't actually stay dead for long, and would be able to curse the village for this slight against him. the people of the village begged the god to curse ren and his descendants instead, which he obliged...

birth & early life

nagare was born in 1960, exact date unknown, to kurosaki kai, and an unnamed mother. not much is known about this period, save for a short monologue nagare has where he states he has always been stoic, since his childhood. he also goes on to say that even at this time, he was aware that his father favored his older brother, iwao. he took on the mentality that "you cannot be unborn," and therefore strived to become a person "worthy of bearing the name kurosaki."

adulthood & succession

during the aforementioned monologue, nagare states he was overjoyed when kai named nagare his heir, because he took it as his father acknowledging his efforts. he was under the impression that, finally, he had earned his father's affection, no less his love. he was wrong. in his words, the night he succeeded kai, he came to realize how much kai hated him. this was the night nagare was sacrificed to the vengeful god ren defeated centuries ago. "defeated" meaning "trapped within his physical bloodline."

the "sacrifice," the kurosaki offer to yatonogami, it seems, is suffering, while they quite literally use their bodies as the shield that protects the village by not releasing the beast. the sacrifice involves rape, and is depicted in the manga to such an extent that it's essentially a hentai interlude. the sacrifice also involved profuse vomiting of blood. harboring the god inside for too long causes loss of eyesight, and eventually proves fatal for each head of the family. explained away as a genetic disease, it's common knowledge in kamakura that the kurosaki all die young.

marriage & children

nagare was married at 18 to kasane, maiden name unknown. it's not flat out stated, but with context of traditional japanese marriage, especially for noble families such as the kurosaki, we can assume this was an arranged marriage. based on nagare's indications to tatsumi, and kasane's own commentary when she mistook tatsumi for nagare, it seems the two were genuinely in love with each other. within the year, the two had a daughter, that they named... secret.7

the story goes that hisoka was a stillborn, and in her grief at the loss kasane drowned herself in the marsh... but miya says her mother swore she heard the cry of a newborn in the birthing room. eventually nagare reveals to iwao that he's aware iwao drowned his daughter, and the reason for such a name thus becomes apparent. iwao also denies being involved in kasane's death, which at this point nagare had not accused him of, bringing into question whether kasane actually commited suicide or not. iwao retorts that he was "getting rid of a useless thing," and abiding clan law, which dictates all first borns cannot be female, as only male heirs can inherit yatonogami. to cover up the infanticide, it is also clan custom to reuse the name from the girl on the next born son, thus both of nagare's children were given the same name.

going against custom, too recently near hisoka and kasane's deaths, nagare was forced to remarry8... his bride being rui, kasane's twin sister. together, they had a son, but unfortunately this son had supernatural abilities, such as psychic empathy, which being able to feel other peoples' emotions, along with incredible healing powers. in one of hisoka's flashbacks, it's shown that there was a sort of council, with people telling nagare that hisoka is unfit as an heir... and demanding nagare kill him. it's also shown that rui took matters into her own hands, and attempted to kill hisoka herself, citing her reason being that nagare was too much of a coward to do it. due to being labeled dangerous, a "demon," it ended up that hisoka would be put in the villa's confinement cell.

eventually nagare's son, too, was killed, leaving him without an heir.

to put a sad twist on this second marriage, nagare plainly tells tatsumi "kasane was different from rui," ie... he is not in love with rui.

currently

nagare is afflicted by the curse, and typically wears a blindfold so as not to harm his eyes further, although there is implication that it is also to assist when he has hallucinations. rui is bed-bound, and has been pregnant for years with... something. nagare denies paternity, and the implication is this is the new vessel for yatonogami, once he is released.

tatsumi and watari are attempting to investigate the family, and the recent death of a dr. that was treating rui, but they haven't made too much progress.

notes

1 a good number of members of the kurosaki clan have water themed names, based on visible names in the family tree. nagare's father is kai, the kanji of which translates to "ocean." before him is aoi, "blue." the family's founding member was ren, "lotus." this can apply even to members that marry in, such as kasane ("to drown"), and rui ("tears.")
2 children's blood types are inherited from the parents' type. for hisoka's blood type to be ab, this would mean rui and nagare's blood types could respectively be a, b, or ab, but o would be at incredible odds, and therefore highly unlikely. it's not completely impossible, but it may as well be lol. so while unconfirmed, we can most likely rule out o.
3 an interesting note is nagare and his immediate family members were born in decade years. (iwao, 1950; nagare/kasane/rui, 1960; hisoka, 1980.)
4 the year of his birth and his age are exact, albeit unstated! the kamakura arc takes place in the summer of 1998, and nagare specifically says kasane died 20 years ago. 1998-20=1978. we know kasane died shortly after their daughter was born and killed, and we know the pregnancy period was during the same year the two got married in. we also know nagare was 18 at marriage. thus, 1978-18=1960 for a birth year, with an age of 38.
5 an interesting note is this is the same zodiac sign as tsuzuki, considering matsushita creates other paralells between the two of them.
6 it appears "yatonogami" is this god's name, while "yato-no-kami" is the folklore creature he is based on. it is often also stylized as "yatonokami." the translation of this would be "gods of the night-sword." yato-no-kami are serpent deities with horns, and they bring affliction to humans. they're known to talk a lot, and destroy anyone that sees them.
7 the kanji is 密, which can be read a number of ways, such as "caution," and "dense," but in this instance, with context, we can assume the intent was for the reading to be "secret." 8 nagare specifically says he didn't have time to mourn. in japan, a mourning period is 49 days, and family of the deceased are not supposed to be involved in any sort of celebration during that time... such as a marriage. nagare also specifies he was forced to remarry by "relatives and the village."

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