[ home, rena, keiichi, rika, hanyu, shion & mion, satoko ]
Furude Rika (古手 梨花) is ultimately the true main protagonist of the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series. She is the daughter of the late shinto priest of Hinamizawa. She is the current miko/kannushi, or shrine maiden/priestess, of the Furude Shrine, appearing in miko garb for her part of the Watanagashi Festival. She appears as the protagonist of Minagoroshi-hen.
Rika seems like little more than a secondary character for much of the first half of Higurashi. As the story progresses, however, viewers learn that she is actually at the heart of most of the strange events, as her death is the trigger for the Great Hinamizawa Disaster (excluding Watanagashi-hen and Meakashi-hen) and following incidents. Despite only being killed five times on-screen, dialogue eventually confirms that she has been killed once for every arc (until Matsuribayashi-hen and Miotsukushi-hen) and all other unseen worlds.
The villagers of Hinamizawa hold Rika in high esteem, as not only is she the only daughter of the Furude clan, one of the three great houses of Hinamizawa, she is also believed to be the reincarnation of the local deity Oyashiro-sama. Although Rika is entitled to attend and have a voice in village meetings due to her family status, she is not required to attend because of her young age. She lives with her classmate and best friend, Hōjō Satoko, in a small house by the Furude Shrine.
In the third season of the anime, an adolescent Rika wears a school uniform shirt with the same crest Shion wears in Curse Deceiving Chapter Part Three of the same season's Tataridamashi-hen, which suggests that Rika eventually attends St. Lucia Academy. The will ultimately be confirmed. The first episode of that season's Nekodamashi-hen reveals that five years have passed since the events of Matsuribayashi-hen in 1983.