Mirage of Blaze (炎の蜃気楼[ミラージュ] Honō no Mirāju?) is a Japanese light novel series written by Mizuna Kuwabara, which are published under Shueisha's Cobalt label. It was partially adapted into an anime TV series directed by Susumu Kudo in 2002 and an OVA directed by Fumie Muroi in 2004.
Difficult to classify, Mirage of Blaze is equal parts melodrama, historical, romance, and supernatural fantasy. Japanese history predominates a heavily structured plot, which mainly involves the continued aggression between magic using guardians, or "possessors," and the denizens of a "feudal underworld," or the restless souls of long-dead samurai attempting to re-ignite ancient war on the modern plane. As for the main characters; Takaya Ougi and Nobutsuna Naoe's relationship was inspired by Mozart and Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer's play "Amadeus", Jesus Christ and Judas in Osamu Dazai's short novel "Kakekomi Uttae".