Yoshiro's Red Markings/Tattoo.(入れ墨))

In files, it's called 'irezumi'(入れ墨) in files. Tattoo.

The full design can't be seen. It gets cut off where she has no body and where her chest area is blacked out.

Spirit Stone Maidens: Normal ending Soh vs True Ending Soh.

In many of my old posts, I'm always asking:

Why does Soh poof into white light in the normal ending but in the true ending, she turns into her spirit state and disappears into the heavens?

It finally dawned on me the obvious: the normal ending takes place within Yoshiro.

It's even shown directly.
(God, grant me better eyes so I may stop humiliating myself)

The Soh she meets is the piece of the Goddess she held within her.

Now that her duty is done, Soh leaves Yoshiro's body.(?)

If Soh's spirit that resided within the former Spirit Stone Maiden is returned to her after Yoshiro absorbs Nanamagari(both the defilement and the spirit in its belly) then the glowing Soh in the normal ending is the glowing Soh in the true ending because Soh regains her full powers as the Goddess in both.
(But why nullify the pact in the latter?)

The True Ending occurs because Soh's spirit becomes cursed from the defiled body it's been housed in. The Goddess spirit mixing with the Maiden's putrid body.
Soh's mask contains the pattern of impurity and it is her mask that remains with the Maiden inside her spirit stone.
(Is this what the director meant when he said Soh's mask represents her relationship to the Maidens?)

But this means a piece of the Goddess remains in the crystallized body of the Maiden for there to be remnants of Her power in the spirit stone.

So why does Soh poof away in the normal ending? Doesn't the spirit of the Maiden and Goddess remain together, inside her body?

Or is leaving her mask with Yoshiro meant to be leaving some of her spirit behind?

In the opening, Yoshiro is praying to the spirit stone. We know she prays to ancestral spirits, so is she praying to her ancestor, the Maiden, or is she praying to the Goddess inside? Or both?

Yoshiro comes from a long line of Maidens such as herself, according to Soh's Japanese bio:

本作の主人公であり、山の巫女「世代」の護人。村人たちと協力し、自らも刀を取って巫女を護りぬく。

She is the protagonist of this story and the guardian of the mountain shrine maiden, who belongs to a long line of such maidens. She cooperates with the villagers and takes up a sword herself to protect the shrine maiden.

Yoshiro's:

穢れ祓いの力を宿した山の巫女。穢れに覆われた村々を救うために宗と共に各所を巡る。その力が原因で、人々を脅かす存在である「畏哭」に狙われている。

A mountain shrine maiden possessing the power to purify corruption. She travels with So, visiting various villages to save them from being overwhelmed by corruption. Because of her power, she is targeted by "Ikoku," a being that threatens humanity.

It specifies that Soh took up a sword herself. Does it have meaning for it to be phrased that way? Perhaps t's about Soh descending to help?

The normal ending has people praying to Yoshiro the same way she prayed to the stone. Is this meant to show how the lines blur and the Goddess and Maiden become intertwined through worship?

Then again, she's housing the Goddess so praying to her is fine.

To rehash: 

A Spirit Stone Maiden is a girl who becomes crystallized after purifying the mountain using her body, and then her crystallized body continues to serve as a yorishiro for the Goddess, warding off calamity and misfortune. Because this crystal also houses defilement which accumulates through generations, the influx of impurity in the 7th stone defiled the Goddess.

I made a post claiming Yoshiro was and is and will be Soh's Spirit Stone.

Now I realize it becomes more sensible if I replace 'Spirit Stone' with 'yorishiro'. Or just abode, as I've always called her.

The Maiden serves as an abode until the next time calamity hits. This means she's still housing the Goddess even when she's a spirit stone. This is how the Goddess becoming mixed with impurity occurred. Her vessel was tainted, always. For 8 cycles, including ours.

When the game starts, it starts with Yoshiro activating her powers as an abode, and allowing Soh to occupy physical space in the world. Soh can no longer manifest once the spirit stone is taken and so Yoshiro is the next abode.
(Why does she appear so far from Yoshiro?)

Yoshiro is the 'body of the goddess'. The Spirit Stone Maiden. Her destiny is to become the next Spirit Stone.

In the Normal Ending, we see Soh watching a Maiden, which made me think this Maiden was already an abode. Instead, it's more likely that Soh is still tethered to our Yoshiro. Only when the spirit stone is stolen by Seethe for the Goddess power within it, does Soh need a new abode.

(Speaking of stolen power and stolen masks, when Nanamagari stole the Spirit Stone, did it steal the mask of the Goddess that was given to/left with the Maiden? Is this why Nanamagari wears a bastardized version of the Goddess's mask in its first phase? Or did it steal the power, but the power is symbolized as the mask?)

As for the True Ending, I believe Soh turns into a spirit because Yoshiro is no longer an abode.
As she departs, she says something about the mask. Maybe that she's taking it back, if the mask symbolizes a portion of her power?

Is Yoshiro holding the mask within her? Who can really say...but she certainly is in the normal ending.

This nullifies quite a bit of what I've previous said, I think...

The story is quite simple, isn't it? 

The Messenger of the Goddess is the Goddess that's manifest when she uses a yorishiro.

A cursed yorishiro produces a cursed messenger. And when said yorishiro has 'merged' with the Goddess, its form is alike a sum of its parts.

But the mirror part of Cursed Soh's plaque is still mysterious to me.

This represents the normal ending. We receive it when Yoshiro is nearly completely stone.

What battle? Against impurity? But it's a part of life.

Or is the battle against Cursed Soh actually occurring multiple times?

(I have many unpublished posts and in one, I thought the circles on Yoshiro's head were related to her becoming an abode. Rather than it being fashion lol. I have come a long way with theories. It's impressive, the leaps I have made in the past.)

Remember someone calling Yoshiro a Living Buddha? Crystallized alive...

Amaterasus's Messenger: The Green Pheasant (Outset Armour)

The green pheasant is said to be the messenger of Amaterasu.

Outset(原初): 'the beginning'

Is it a reference to Japanese mythology or is it lore-related?

It makes it difficult to know which is which.

The implication here is that Soh's first appearance was as Amaterasu's Messenger.

'guiding and bestowing the power of masks'

I was re-reading Ten's post on Soh and Yoshiro.

There are many things I disagree with, by comparing to what's shown in the game.

For example, Soh defies physics frequently and can even rewind time or slow down time. Her body looks human but it's a 'physical form' not a physical body.

My post on Soh's body: Soh's Physical Form

I added some new information! (or am trying to...blogspot is not obeying me)

In the game files, Soh's spirit state is called 'hitodama'.(人魂)

"a hitodama—a human soul turned into a fireball."

Appearance: Hitodama are the visible souls of humans detached from their host bodies. They appear as red, orange, or blue-white orbs, and float about slowly not too far from the ground.

Behavior: On warm summer nights, these strange, glowing orbs can be seen floating around graveyards, funeral parlors, or the houses where people have recently died. Most often they are seen just before or after the moment of death, when the soul leaves the body to return to the ether. It is most common to see them at night, though they occasionally appear during the daytime. Rarely, hitodama materialize when a person loses consciousness, floating outside of the body, only to return when the person regains consciousness.

This makes Soh's physical form more mysterious. But in cut-scenes, she leaves no body. 

Back to the plaques...

In his post, he says something about Soh's plaque: 

The Japanese version omits the subject, so it can be read as "Sō (only) descended to the human world," but it doesn't sound particularly strange even if it continues with "He bestowed guidance from the next generation."

Soh guides all villagers and bestows masks upon them. Soh is the one who descended into the human world.

So is there a translation error?

人の世に降り立ち、よしろより導きを授け、

宗より仮面を通じて力をあたえる。

Descending to the human world, they bestow guidance from Yoshiro, and grant power from Soh through masks.

In Ten's post, there's this:

 In English, it means that they have descended to the human world (from a high place or a higher realm).

In the Japanese version, "descending to the human world" has two meanings: that of descending to earth in a physical body, and that of a sacred being, a messenger of God, joining the villagers and wielding a sword himself (entering the area).

Yoshiro descending could mean that she isn't a normal human. After all, she has that bead stuck in her chest and is from a lineage that can wield the Goddess power.

If we decide it's only talking about Soh, then could it be that it was meant to say that Soh bestows the power of masks and Yoshiro receives guidance from her?

Because it's what we see in game!

Soh gives villagers masks and guides Yoshiro(literally, she walks ahead of Yoshiro to lead the way)

Tent animations even show Yoshiro listening to Soh!

Yoshiro never does anything that puts her in the role of 'guiding' villagers. 

Unless it's meant to be that we guide the villagers through her, since they cannot see us. Does she give our orders? Or do we control them through the masks?

It's difficult when lore is contradicting what we experience in game.

BUT...

Can this also be seen as the Yoshiro who descends alongside 'Soh'?
As in, the end is also the beginning?

What if Soh is who resides within the mask?

Then she descends alongside the spirit of the former Yoshiro, who channels her by wearing the mask.
Then Soh, 'they', is providing guidance from Yoshiro and power from Soh.

I've said this before in my 'Soh as the former Maiden' theory...haven't I?

In circles, we go...

Meowden. :3

She looks like a cat!

:(

She's crying. :(

The pain must be terrible.

But still, she remains determined to fulfill her duty...

呪 and 宗.

center of the chest

宗 Can also be read as 'mune', which also sounds like chest/heart.

Center. Chest.

(Am I understanding this correct? The kanji can be read as 'mune' which can sound like chest?)

Soh is the origin and source, and possibly her ancestor. Is Soh simply the previous Maiden who is the new Goddess and the source of Yoshiro's power? Or is she a part of the Goddess, with Yoshiro as the other half? Or is she the Goddess, fragmented?

The curse kanji can be read as 'soh':

The kanji 詛, meaning curse, can be read as Soh. 呪 is the main kanji used for curse in the game, appearing when Yoshiro is attacked and Soh is depowered. 

But Soh wears that kanji on her Outset armor. There's also the impurity pattern on her clothing(not just her mask).

The Seethe are called the Goddess's kin and many have the impurity pattern on them.

They can steal the Goddess's power and they drop crystal orbs, the Goddess's power.

"...people and gods, gods and Seethe, and misfortune and fortune are two sides of the same coin."

Everything flips when the time comes.

...could the ritual be about absorbing and containing the defiled Goddess who has become cursed? Why is her presence in everything, including the Seethe?

Or is it about purifying her?