Misako Kurata

Misako Kurata is Sana's adoptive mother in Kodocha.

Misako is a novelist. She divorced her husband for several reasons, one of which was that the two of them could not conceive. She became withdrawn and depressed, but then decided that if she couldn't be normal, she would just be weird. She started wearing her hair in bizarre styles and wearing kimonos all the time.

She found one-day-old Sana abandoned on a park bench and took her to the hospital. Then she adopted her. Although, she always harbored a fear that someday, Sana's birth mother would show up and try to take Sana back.

In the third volume, she publishes her autobiography, My Daughter And I, which is written hoping to FIND Sana's true mother. Sana worries that Misako wants to give her back, but Misako reveals later that she wanted to find the woman as quickly as possible, to tell her that Sana is HER daughter and that she will never give her back. The book IS read by Keiko Sakai, who claims to be Sana's birth mother (and looks exactly like her). She and Sana meet, talk, and spend the day together, but Sana tells Keiko that she doesn't want to see her again, because she already has a mother.

Misako has a pet chipmunk named Maro, and he lives in whatever tiny structure she happens to be wearing on her head.

Misako is eccentric, often engaging in silly behaviors such as riding a coin-operated dog on wheels around the house.

Misako is also stern and wise when she needs to be. She always gives Sana sound advice, but also gives her the space to make her own mistakes and learn from them.