Shinano no Kami Kiyohara

A nobleman of the anti-Hōjō faction appointed as the new governor of Shinano Province by Emperor Go-Daigo. A loyal retainer of Emperor Go-Daigo and superior to Sadamune. He refers to his governed Shinano as "Maroworld," imposing heavy taxes on the populace and brutally killing those who oppose him, using the emperor's authority as a shield to enforce his unreasonable dictatorship. Despite this, his ambition to change the world is genuine, and he was appointed as a governor despite his low family status. Although regarded as an incompetent ally by Sadamune and other samurai, his lack of knowledge about samurai warfare allows him to possess a unique creativity, excelling in inventing new weapons and structures, earning him the nickname "Kasha Oni" in the Nanboku-chō period.

In the spring of 1334, when Yasaburō Hoshina, enraged by his misrule, revolts, he orders a pursuit but fails due to repeated blunders, losing his will to fight after nearly being killed in a snowstorm. Encouraged by the emperor in Kyoto, he personally leads an expedition in March 1335 to suppress the resistance forces in northern Shinano, causing chaos on the battlefield with a new weapon, the "Battle Mikoshi," but ultimately retreats in defeat. Abandoned by the emperor, he is later infused with divine power by Takauji and falls into demonic form.

During the Nakasendai Rebellion, he confronts the main Suwa army with a giant "war chariot" and crossbow-equipped private soldiers. He himself rides in the turret of the war chariot, becoming a "Kasha." The flaws in his armament are overcome by exploiting slaves abducted from his domain, earning both admiration and pity from Yorishige and Shizuku for his ingenuity and his fall into demonic form. A strategy by Yorishige and Tokiyuki to counter his divine power succeeds, and Kiyohara is beheaded by Hoshina.