Kikunojo of the Lingering Snow, more commonly referred to as Kiku, is a samurai from Wano Country and a retainer for the Kozuki Family, serving as one of Kozuki Oden's Nine Red Scabbards. She is also the younger sister of Izo and the daughter of the dancing school head of the Hanayanagi School in Ringo. After traveling 20 years forward in time, she worked as a tea house poster girl in Okobore Town while gathering information for the planned rebellion. Kikunojo has a feminine appearance and is very tall, easily towering over Luffy and Zoro at 287 cm. She has indigo eyes and long dark violet (dark blue in the anime) hair that falls onto her back. She also wears sandals and a yellow kimono with chrysanthemum floral patterns and a pink and cream and lavender obi, white tabi and black-soled zōri. When she prepares for combat, she ties her hair into a ponytail with a red ribbon and sometimes dons a white Noh hannya mask. When heading towards Onigashima for the battle against the Beasts Pirates, she wore a full set of Japanese armor. Before being transported to the future, Kiku dressed in more masculine clothing typical of a samurai. After arriving in the future, Kiku began showing a significantly more feminine side, such as wearing red lipstick and dressing more in feminine clothing.
During the Scabbards' fight against Kaido, most of Kikunojo's left arm was sliced off by one of his attacks. Despite her reputation as a legendary male samurai, Kikunojo describes herself as being "a woman at heart", and thus lives and presents herself in a traditionally feminine manner. She is a very upbeat and friendly person. To friends, she is helpful and nurturing, as seen when she treated Zoro's injuries and tended to Tama when she was being healed of her poisoning. Kikunojo is shown to be a confident, hardened warrior whose friendly nature translates into a strong sense of justice and desire to protect those around her. This was first demonstrated when she served as an ally to Luffy in his mission to rescue Tama from the Beasts Pirates. Kiku even went as far as to cut off Urashima's top-knot (a sign of great disrespect to someone of the samurai class) after hearing him use dehumanizing language toward a crowd of Bakura Town residents, regardless of the fact that just moments prior the same people had berated her due to low social standing. When Kin'emon contemplated the possibility of one of the Nine Red Scabbards being a spy, Kikunojo rebuked him for being indecisive about the matter and told him that they should identify the spy immediately. Kikunojo's desire to do right can sometimes result in her making rash actions, as she acknowledged when she inadvertently showed her samurai abilities in front of the Bakura Town citizens while living in hiding. Afterwards, she showed more restraint about going to fight enemies, and had to be convinced by Zoro to use her abilities to help save Tama. Kikunojo typically becomes extremely emotional when she loses something dear to her, as she quickly teared up and ran off to be alone after going to the ruins of Oden Castle for the first time since Oden and Toki's deaths. Additionally, she was very emotional when Kanjuro revealed himself to be working for Orochi, and when she reunited with Izo. However, she did not lose any resolve when being grievously wounded herself, not showing any distress after having her left arm severed beyond an initially shocked look and a brief grunt of pain while having her wound cauterized by fire. Kikunojo takes pride in her role as a retainer of the Kozuki clan, and occasionally refers to herself using sessha, an archaic pronoun similar to "I" in the English language, which is used primarily by samurai. When Momonosuke used the word "Sunacchi", Kikunojo quickly rebuked him for doing so as she believes members of a noble family like the Kozuki should not use coarse words associated with commoners.
Izo is Kikunojo's only brother. After their father was arrested and convicted, they stayed together to survive in the streets of Ringo and they both joined Kozuki Oden. When Oden, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, and Izo went missing, Kiku expressed worries as she could not find her brother and the others while crying. Later, when Nekomamushi and Inuarashi returned to Wano and informed Kiku about Izo staying with the Whitebeard Pirates, Kiku expressed positivity, knowing that her brother will be happy. During the raid on Onigashima, they reunited for the first time in over 25 years, with Kikunojo overjoyed to see Izo again. True to her large size, Kiku has immense strength, able to apply enough strength in her swordsmanship to perform powerful flying slashes. She is extremely fast and agile, able to easily evade Urashima's attempt embrace as well as sprinting towards Kanjuro instantly while wearing a full set of armour. She has extraordinary endurance, able to withstand having her arm amputated with only mild discomfort, and quickly rejoined the Scabbards in battling against Kaido. As a samurai and a member of the Nine Red Scabbards, Kikunojo is an extremely skilled swordswoman whose strength was acknowledged by Orochi himself. Specializing in the Gentle Blade swordsmanship, Kikunojo was capable of swiftly cutting off Urashima's topknot and fought against several Gifters and samurai effortlessly. She compares her swordsmanship to snow that lingers in the spring, saying the wounds it inflicts will remain with its victims in the afterlife.After Kaido's wind scythe attack broke her sword, Kikunojo picked up another one from the battlefield. Kikunojo and Izo were born in Wano Country. During their childhood, they were raised in a dancing school, but their family was torn apart after their father was arrested. Afterwards, they had to survive on the streets in Ringo. When Kozuki Oden arrived about 39 years ago and gave them food, they joined him. After Oden became daimyo of Kuri, Kikunojo became one of his retainers. For the next few years, Kikunojo and the other retainers educated themselves and trained to become dignified warriors. 30 years ago, they visited the Flower Capital with Oden. After meeting the Whitebeard Pirates, Oden and his retainers had a feast with them. After the Whitebeard Pirates left Wano two weeks later, the retainers discovered Oden, Izo, Inuarashi, and Nekomamushi to be missing. During Oden's absence, Kikunojo and her fellow retainers protected Kuri. When Oden and the two minks returned to Wano with the Roger Pirates, the retainers greeted Oden, but before they could say anymore, Kozuki Toki stopped them from convincing Oden to stay in Wano so he could continue his journey with Gol D. Roger. Nekomamushi and Inuarashi told Kikunojo about Izo's stay with the Whitebeard Pirates. Around six months before Oden finished his voyage, Kikunojo and her fellow retainers were furious at Kurozumi Orochi for abusing his position as shogun. While Inuarashi and Kawamatsu stayed behind at Oden Castle, the other retainers marched to the Flower Capital to confront Orochi only to discover that a group of Beasts Pirates were in Kuri threatening Oden's family. When Oden returned to Wano after finishing his journey, the retainers (except Denjiro and Ashura Doji, who were elsewhere at the time) welcomed him back and told him about Wano's situation. Oden then ordered his retainers to protect his family and Kuri before charging to the capital by himself.
