Monks
Sadahiro Mibu (壬生 貞比呂, Mibu Sadahiro)
Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (Japanese); Eric Vale (English)
The Contracted Monk of Akira Tooka, and is working undercover to keep an eye on Ouri and Keisei.Ep. 6 At the start of the series, he is introduced as Ouri's boss at the Parthenon bar.Ep. 2-3 He is a bit laid back. He was former roommates with Keisei Tagami and Akasha Shishidou.Ep. 6
In manga's epilogue, he ends up being chosen as the new Dai Sojo of the Kougon Sect although primarily because his potential competitor, Shiou Tokihana, refuses to assume that role.
Rika Aragami (荒神 莉花, Aragaki Rika)
Voiced by: Saeko Chiba (Japanese); Cynthia Cranz (English)
Rika Aragami is the sole female Contracted Monk in the Kougon Sect. She has light short hair and often goes about her business with her shirt unbuttoned, showing her well-endowed chest in a black bra. She is a Gon Sojo who works at the district office.Ep. 4 She is one of the ten Great Holy Families, which are the descendants of the ten senior disciples of the Founder and obligated to become Contracted Monk to a Shikabane Hime.Ep. 4, 8 She is an expert in medicines, both traditional and modern, partially due to her family background and is almost never seen without Saki Amase, her Shikabane Hime.
Takamasa Sougi (送儀 嵩征, Sōgi Takamasa)
Voiced by: Tokuyoshi Kawashima (Japanese); Joel McDonald (English)
The Contracted Monk of Itsuki Yamagami.Ep. 5 In manga, this otherwise highly-gifted monk is in a constant struggle trying to determine what to do with his relationship with Ituski- initially viewing her as nothing more than just an average girl given supernatural attributes, when he hesitated to fight a close-friend-turned-Shikabane, he not only ended up almost killed by the Shikabane but also caught Ituski with the same cursed expression, realizing that no victim of becoming a Shikabane is safe from its corrupting influence, and that Shikabane Himes have the same destructive potential as their enemies and must never be treated as regular human beings. Both he and Itsuki try to prevent Ouri from making a similar mistake with Makina, but at the same time their actions show signs that they want Ouri to prove them wrong. Takamasa often fights alongside Itsuki using a bow and arrow.Ep. 5-6 In the anime series, he joins Ouri's school as a new health teacher, and assumes the title of Genpaku in the Kougon Sect, the youngest to do so at age 19.Ep. 5
Sougen Takamine (高峰 宗現, Takamine Sōgen)
Voiced by: Hidenori Nakamura (Japanese); Kent Williams (English)
The Sojo (leader) of the district. The Contracted Monk of Kamika Tomoroki and the former mentor of Keisei Tagami.Ep. 5 In manga, he ends up fatally wounded by Keito during the final battle against Sugami Maen and uses his last remaining strength protecting Kougon Sect survivors from the King of Shikabanes' hell fire so that he can die alongside Kamika, in the end willingly sacrificed alongside his Shikabane Hime in fulfilment of her new role as a gate guardian to the world of the dead.
Kanechika Umehara (梅原 鉦近, Umehara Kanechika)
Voiced by: Masaki Terasoma (Japanese); Christopher Bevins (English)
One of the Six Sojos and a colleague of Takamine, he is the contracted monk of Touma Sawamiya and (in anime only) Flesh Backbone as well as the mentor for Takamasa and later Ouri. He is well-known both for being willing to frequently participate in field combat despite his high status and for his perverted disposition. He does also have the reputation of being well versed in Shikabanes.
In Chapter 96 of the manga he was erased from existence by the deified Kohaku Hoshimura, and his bond with Touma along with him. While he was restored following Kohaku's defeat, Touma's regret/obsession was not and Touma herself is thus lost forever, leading Umehara, wracked with guilt over failing to help her find salvation, to leave the Kougon Sect in the epilogue.
Akasha Shishidou (鹿堂 赤紗, Shishidō Akasha)
Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese); Jessie James Grelle (English)
Known as the Traitor Monk, he was formerly a high-ranking monk in the Kougon Sect. He was in charge of the Suppression Unit but his squad was annihiliated and his Shikabane Hime was torn in two. A week later, he killed his Hime and stole some of the scriptures from the Temple. He believes that the Hime are being manipulated by the Sect into murdering their own kind. He gathers the blood of 108 people who have died and become Shikabane and uses that to invoke his advanced zadan techniques.Ep. 5-7 In manga he assisted Ōzei no Kegare in bringing Sugami Maen back to mortal realm seemingly out of the sole desire of destroying Kougon Sect. After Sugami Maen's defeat, he throws his lot with Kohaku Hoshimura as the latter takes over the Kougon Sect, with a more apparent agenda involving his lost Shikabane Hime.
He was proud and strong in his faith, until he was forced to kill his Shikabane Hime, Hibiki, under different circumstances across different media. In anime Hibiki was his fiancé in life but, after killing 108 Shikabanes, became a Destroyer Shikabane and eventually died by the hands of Akasha. Afterwards, he went into exile for five years before allying with the Seven Stars in order to bring down the Kougon Sect, eventually becoming the Contract Monk for Hokuto. However, in the final episode he rejects Hokuto in a bid to reunite with Hibiki, causing Hokuto to revert into a rogue Shikabane and to kill him.
In manga he and Hibiki were total strangers, but he developed an emotional attachment to his Shikabane Hime without truly understanding her. He was manipulated by the Shujou faction into reapplying the Shikabane Hime induction ritual on Hibiki after she was fatally wounded in a botched field mission (of which Akasha is the sole survivor), but because the bond between the two is largely one-sided, Hibiki was transformed into a grotesque monster that needed to be put out of her misery (while the act is attributed to him, he actually ran away instead). He later found out that this whole event was predicated on the fact that even when a Shikabane Hime destroys a Shikabane, the resulting virtue is passed on to her Contract Monk instead of aiding her own salvation, causing him to rebel in belief that the Kougon Sect exploited Shikabane Himes, first and foremost Hibiki. He finally learns the truth via intervention by a deified Kohaku in Chapter 98, and while emotionally devastated to learn that he is not the most important person to her, his resolve is restored after witnessing that Hibiki nonetheless fights to the bitter end to protect him. After Kohaku is defeated, Akasha finishes off the mortally-wounded Kohaku for wiping Hibiki from existence and, now left with nothing and no one to return to, is then taken in by Aegis' vassals in Chapter 110.
Shiou Tokihana (紫央 時花, Shiō Tokihana)
The Gon Dai Sojo and therefore second-in-command of the Kougon Sect, as well as a member of the Shiou Clan, one of the Ten Great Holy Families.
A very capable and pragmatic administrator, he maintains a balance in power dynamics between the Shuhou and Shujou factions prior to the devastation of Kougon Sect headquarters by Sugami Maen as well as a working relationship with the government. After the death of Dai Sojo by Sugami Maen's hands, he is able to promptly enlist assistance from the Great Church of the West in response, apparently allaying all concerns over its ramifications within the Sect. He has a tendency of treating everything and everyone as assets to be utilized fully while acting in his official capacity if only because, as a devout believer of Kougon Sect's teaching, everything he does is in service of the Kougon Sect's founding goal.
Despite being the highest-ranking priest alive by manga's epilogue, he refuses to ascend to become the new Dai Sojo, leading to Sadahiro Mibu eventually assuming that position.
Shuuji Isaki (伊佐木 修二, Isaki Shūji)
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese); Mike McFarland (English)
The Contracted Monk of Minai Ruo. He has a shaved head with two slash marks on his left cheek.Ep. 2 He is ambitious and aspires to advance in the Kougon Sect.Ep. 7 In the OVA it has revealed a little of his past and his hatred for his older brother. Isaki was made a contracted monk due to his brother's contacts. He intended to use Minai to kill his older brother, and claim the reasons that Minai killed his brother was because he was unholy and became a Shikabane. Isaki and Minai both knew they did not have a bond, but before Minai would turn into a Shikabane, he wanted to become higher status to be even higher than Keisei and even be the main monks, to bring down his brother. As it turns out, both Minai and Isaki did form a bond because they had met a long time ago- in Isaki's family store, which young Minai went to frequently as a child. Isaki doesn't show compassion for Minai and tends to order Minai around disparaginglyEp. 2, 3, 7, but he actually did care for her. He ends up killed not in the line of duty but in a clash with street thugs.
In manga, he is given very little characterization except for being a protégé of Takamine and ends up killed alongside Minai by Akasha (the Kougon Sect having learned of his death at the end of Chapter 2).
Honda (本多)
Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese); Anthony Bowling (English)
A monk that works in the Kougon Sect. He does not have a Shikabane Hime, but joins on the missions as the Inspector to observe the pairs.Ep. 1 He is later called to observe Ouri to see that he isn't getting involved in the Sect's matters.Ep. 5 Following Keisei's death, he is promoted to an administrative role in Chapter 16 of manga, with Rinsen Shirae being in turn promoted as his successor.
Like Shuuji, he has a shaved head, but does not have slash marks on his face.Ep. 1
Rinsen Shirae (白江 鈴千, Shirae Rinsen)
A subordinate of Honda and later his replacement as the regional Head Inspector after Keisei's death Ep. 13. He has a conscientious and earnest personality, speaking politely but to the point and rational, and a strict adherent of protocols. While this makes him come off as impersonal and even harsh at times, he in fact has excellent judgments, can readily recognize the abilities of others, and is willing to concede when he is proven wrong. He is also quite caring towards Contract Monks under his charge and actively supports them in the field. Likewise, despite initial skepticism about Ouri, he eventually comes to trust him after working with him on the frontline for a while.
He is visually recognizable via heterochromatic eyes and an androgynous overall appearance.
