Tamahome
Tamahome represents the ideal of pure love. He is the embodiment of all that is good in love. There is no doubt why he and Miaka are destined to be together. Tamahome is devoted, caring, and thoughtful partner. He grows to love Miaka unconditionally, even when she begins to think of herself as tainted and unworthy. He shows restraint and responsibility for his actions (if you recall, he refused the advances of Soi when she, disguised as Miaka, offered herself to him).
This isn't to say that Tamahome and Miaka's relationship is without flaws. They get into fights, they break up multiple times, and they gain and lose trust in one another. In addition, they often have trouble expressing their feelings to one another. Yuu Watase indicates that this is only natural. Love isn't about being together during the good times; it is about sticking together through the bad times. True love is the ability to love someone in spite of their faults and the fights you have. No two people are perfect, and so love between two people will never be a perfect thing. However, if we love a person no matter what, our love will be pure.
Tamahome also doubles as love of material possessions.
Hotohori
Hotohori also loves Miaka, but unlike Tamahome, Hotohori's love is built on illusion. Hotohori spent his childhood in loneliness, and as a result, he dreamed of a person who would love him, not for what he was (the emperor) but for who he was. He centered his dream around the legend of the Suzaku no Miko. When Miaka appeared and became the Miko, she became the embodiment of all of Hotohori's dreams.
Hotohori represents this sort of illusory love. It is a selfish form of love, because it involves the fulfillment of personal desires over the desires of the object of your affection. At the same time, however, it is not a malicious form of love, simply a misguided one. Hotohori's danger stems from his denial of reality. He lives in an illusory world of love, beauty, and idealism, and that proves, ultimately to be his downfall. Hotohori only truly understands what love is when he loses his life. Having lost a wife and son, he understands how truly precious that love is.
Hotohori, like Tamahome, represents two qualities. His second quality is self-love.
Nuriko
When Miaka discovers Nuriko is a male cross-dresser, Nuriko replies, "Yes, but I can put my manhood aside for love." This is perhaps the best foreshadowing in the entire series. Although it's clear that Nuriko is attracted to Hotohori at the beginning, by the end we discover Nuriko's true love: his sister Kourin. The death of Kourin traumatized Nuriko so much that he actually began to dress as a woman; to "live for his sister."
Nuriko represents love that is taken to extremes. In this case, it is love for his sister and not a romantic sort of love, but it is an equally powerful form of love. Nuriko's love is also a selfish sort of love, but in a different way. His love is selfish because it does his sister no good; it only satisfies his own internal guilt. Furthermore, he ceases to live for himself and as himself. While this might seem an unselfish act, Yuu Watase implies that we must live both for ourselves and for the people we love. Nuriko finally learns to do this just before he is killed.
It's important to note that Yuu Watase really makes no mention of the concept of homosexuality as being good or bad. Indeed, we can't really call Nuriko a homosexual after his circumstances are explained. He does love Miaka after all. But as Tasuki points out, "I couldn't ever figure out whether he was a man or a woman." He was who he was, and that's all that truly matters.
Chichiri
Chichiri takes his place as the counselor figure of the group. His tale of love remains relatively unknown until much later in the manga and until episode five of OVA 2. Chichiri's story is a parallel of Miaka's own story: that of romantic love coming between friendship. Chichiri's story is meant to remind us that sometimes we are left with no good choices. Sometimes stories end in tragedy.
Chichiri is the embodiment of tragic love, and as such he cannot really be blamed for it. If we were to assign him a tragic flaw--which all tragic heroes must have, according to Aristotle--it may have been that he did not see the dangers of the path he was taking. This is why he urges such caution to Miaka.
In addition we might add that Chichiri is the embodiment of secrecy in love. He keeps his true face hidden behind a happy mask, just as he masks his true feelings behind a cheerful personality.
Tasuki
Tasuki maintains that he hates women, but (woe to the viewers) the TV Series never explains why. In the manga we learn that he grew up with his sisters and his mother who used to take out their frustrations on him (by throwing logs at him). Given such a background, it's understandable why he'd grow up in such a state.
Tasuki represents the defiance of sensitivity. He passes himself off as indifferent, cool, and uncaring, but often times he merely can't express his true feelings adequately. In fact, Tasuki is probably the most sensitive of the Shichiseishi. Next to Miaka, he was the most emotional over Nuriko's and Chiriko's deaths. Tasuki's aspects are in many ways a lesser forms of Nakago's aspects. In Tasuki's case however, the indifference is the predominant trait. With Nakago, it remains to be seen.
Mitsukake
Mitsukake is given such minimal status in the series that it is difficult to accurately define what he represents. Since he was unable to save his beloved Shouka, Mitsukake turned away from his practices for a time, but it was because of those practices that he did not save Shouka.
Mitsukake's love is a love of all people. In the end, he sacrifices his life, for the life of baby Shouka and the other wounded and dying. The greatest fault of this sort of love is a lack of foresight. Mitsukake died saving lives, but how many lives could have been saved had he not given up his life?
Chiriko
Chiriko's love is perhaps the most distinct of all the Suzaku Shichiseishi. Chiriko represents duty and love of country. It is clear beyond all doubt that his greatest love is for Konan. At thirteen, he is taking the civil service exams--not to prove he is smart, but because he feels it is the right thing to do. His only regret is that he cannot do more to help the Miko and his fellow Shichiseishi.
In the case of the Suzaku Shichiseishi, the sorts of love represented are positive forms of love. Some of them have been taken to unhealthy extremes, but each of them is important to being a healthy person. To summon Suzaku (to attain our wishes) all of the Shichiseishi are required. We must seek a balance between these feelings in order to find true happiness.
By contrast, the Seiryuu Shichiseishi represent dangerous form of love and experimentation.
Article copyrighted 1999 Bard
