I wonder if all sanzos end up playing this game with each other... It'd be funny, considering how technically they're not supposed to hang around together unless the sutras explode.

I agree, I don't see how some random youkai could kill Koumyou, unless he wanted to let it happen. So it was definitely a sacrifice. It's funny, both Koumyou and Ukoku baffle me - it's so hard to see their motivations.

Maybe Ukoku resents Koouryuu for being the person that Koumyou would die for - there does seem to be a strong hint of sibling rivalry in the things Ukoku says, like stressing that Koumyou was his father.

It strikes me that Sanzo is also not functioning on full power - he never is, and never will be until he has Seiten sutra, and that was taken away at the moment he received it. Maybe that was partly Ukoku's purpose too, in having a hand in taking them, to make sure Sanzo would actually be reduced significantly in power. I am just going off at tangents now, sorry.

Thanks for your interesting take on this.