Soh's Spirit Stone. 2.0

I grabbed high quality screenshots from the opening video of the PC version of Kunitsu-Gami. 

Some details that couldn't be seen before...

Soh's Spirit Stone has no face. (Or wasn't rendered one?)

There's a spike protruding from the facial area. We don't know what parts of her turned first but it must have been terrifying for her if it began in her face first.

That gaping crevice on her left arm is unsettling.

She's crystallized in a strange position. Why that pose? It gives the impression of one awaiting something. Sitting, or slightly crouching, on one leg. This post would look very odd in the mikoshi.
It would also look odd if she were watching her Messenger defeat Nanamagari.

Yoshiro's pose is understandable. Sitting on her side.

I wish we could have seen another cycle.

Could we, one day, maybe get a DLC of a previous cycle with a different Maiden?

Because of my previous posts on faces, I wonder if this is really 'Soh's Spirit Stone', or if a Maiden's Spirit Stone is just a way to pray to the Goddess.

Then again, if Maidens merge, then Soh is a previous Maiden having merged and so she is the Goddess now. (And she is, judging by artwork, lore and interviews)

Maiden detail.

In the ending, the Maiden is already wearing red eyeshadow.

Is this Yoshiro's model?

Silhouette: Cursed Soh's Message.

Looking at this animation again, I realized that Cursed Soh doesn't take on a silhouette of Yoshiro. 

The two silhouettes are actually on top of each other to the point of becoming one, signifying a merging during a prayer.

Cursed Soh tells us that through prayer, Yoshiro and Soh merged. 

But that Yoshiro held more defilement in her, resulting in Cursed Soh? Or is it just because its's happened so many times and the ultimate result is the defiled Goddess?

More importantly, she specifically antagonizes Yoshiro. So, she blames the Maiden?

Kunitsu-Gami is definitely using the 'Maidens fusing with the Mountain God through worship' belief.

Faces of the Maiden.

 

+

= 

The bottom face is 'Yoshiro' and this is when the Maiden becomes the abode for the Goddess.

Is it safe to say that the Maiden's face changes due to their intertwining/merging?

It's made visually clear that her face changed to resemble Soh once she became Yoshiro.

This face from the art is seen in the trailer:

Original face

Originally, Yoshiro's face was closer to Soh's face. It might've been changed to avoid confusing them to be the same person. But this change in her face absolutely should have been shown somehow in-game. 

It makes it very clear when that the Maiden becomes 'Yoshiro', she is merging with the Goddess.

And that this merge actually physically changes her.

In the final game, Yoshiro keeps her Maiden face:

Versus her first face, which is true to the art:

Here's Soh's:

Her 3D face seems prettier and less harsh.

A missed opportunity to show what 'Yoshiro' actually is and what's happening to the Maiden when she undertakes this duty.

I once said this face resembles Soh's:

Here she is becoming a vessel for the Goddess. It would explain her face resembling Soh's.

In the scrolls, I just noticed the 'Birth of the Goddess', this Goddess has her eyes closed:

I always thought she was looking down...but it appears not? Her eyes are closed.
The black in the middle is her make-up.

Looking at the scrolls again, are the Maiden's eyes meant to represent something?

Faces are definitely important in Kunitsu-Gami. Everyone is masked. Yoshiro wears a veil until her  petrification begins.

Only Soh gets to see her without her veil, in the tent. Oh, and the villagers who come to leave offerings for her.
(and Soh as they are seen as one in the same. It's why we receive the offerings.)

Maiden in white.

More questions than answers.

The Kunitsu-Gami Collector's Edition.

I received my collector's edition.

It's as small as advertised.

Better official images here. 

The biggest issue is that the artbook is incomplete. It's missing Seethe artwork and certain artwork present in the mini-artbook, and artwork shown in the 'Behind the Scene's videos.

Everything is tiny but it's A5 and I bought it knowing that. But I expected it to actually contain all artwork.

It's been a huge disappointment and feels like false advertising. :(

For example, in the mini-artbook, you can see more of Yoshiro and the back of Soh's armor. These images don't exist in the artbook.

Most Seethe images aren't drawn art. They're 3D art.

I can barely even see Cursed Soh's art. It's just a small little piece in the corner. 

Since she's such an important boss with heavy lore implications, you'd figure she'd get a few pages. (or at least 2)

On a brighter note, look at how pretty the Maiden is!

As pretty as a flower!

We have Soh's face, too! Fashionable earrings... But they were shown in the image of her back!

Building on the Eyes on Yoshiro post, here's her face in the artbook:

In the mini-artbook, we saw her frontal with her crown on.

this isn't in the artbook!

And they had Puppet Yoshiro! Her outfit was altered for the play.

There's more but I'll make a post since it's about the spirit stone.

And a new rendition of that special image...

Overall, it was so very expensive for me due to importing and customs and I'm disappointed. The artbook was what I was looking forward to the most and it's not even complete.

Map of all pots in Kiritake Village by Satoko_Kuke.

#くにつがみ #KunitsuGami
予言通り、腹の立つミッションが多いですが、ほぼ初見か2回目で全条件クリアできています。

皆が無駄なストレスを溜めないように、
使い終わった自作のマップを共有しておきます。
（IGNでもまだでした）

　霧竹村 Kiritake Village
　全ての壺の位置 all pots pic.twitter.com/iXRNrgFDJ1

— くけさとこ (@satoko_kuke) July 21, 2024

 

Location of all pots in Kiritake Village by Satoko_Kuke on Twitter.

Red bibs & hinting at the cycle of the Goddess.

While researching the red bibs in Kunitsu-Gami and their possible significance, I learnt no one knows why these bibs are added to statues. 

But it's speculated to honor children who died.

(My research is what began my Spirit Stone post but I never posted on the bibs themselves as it turned out to not go anywhere. It's not unique to Kunitsu-Gami.)

I thought child mortality, or even infertility, was an issue in Kunitsu-Gami but actually, in the past Japanese children would die young often. So this is rather normal.

But I wonder in times of woe, when the Seethe attack, is infertility an issue? The Path takes at least a year. It confirms all 4 seasons pass in the game. 

What does the pact affect? How bad do things really get?

Some photos of statues:

They are in many places. Along with pinwheels, too. Pinwheels can represent the cycle of life, reincarnation or to honor dead children.

But here, they're put by the Goddess:

Is Kunitsu-Gami using the old belief that the Mountain God is an ancestral deity? It would explain why she is 'replaced' every cycle by the new Maiden, who was first worshiped as the Mountain Deity she had devoted herself to, effectively being able to replace her due to this perceived fusion.

(there's a belief that the maidens who worshiped the agricultural(mountain) goddess fused with her and were worshiped as well. This is what happens to Yoshiro)

A short that touches on the Red Bibs topic:

Soh's chainmail.

Soh has chainmail across her chest!

cursed outfit. (power stolen by Batsu)

Its design differs depending on whether she's in her 'cursed' outfit or her normal one. It protects the exposed skin.

In her 'cursed' outfit, the chainmail is clumpier, providing more protection?

The design is quite clever. It gives her a feminine neckline but still provides her with protection.

I realized it when I was looking at Wolf's outfit. He has chainmail, too. 

Yoshiro's (lack of) eyebrows.

A long time ago, I stumbled across a Reddit post that was a clip of Yoshiro eating. The comments weren't interesting but they referred to the circles on Yoshiro's face as 'eyebrows'.

In artwork, Yoshiro actually has no eyebrows!

It's in line with her make-up being from the Heian period. (mentioned in the future Kuon post)

I remember when I thought those circles were related to her becoming the Maiden and were magical in nature.

They aren't but it is interesting that she's the only one wearing such make-up. The other women in scrolls don't wear make-up in this style nor does Soh.

When the Maiden becomes the 'Spirit Stone Maiden', she shaves her brows and dons the special make-up. In the artwork of the Maiden when she's younger, she retains her eyebrows.

I can't believe I didn't notice her lack of eyebrows.

The Cannoneer's Eye.

When the Cannoneer aims, the eye on their helmet looks to the target alongside the nozzle of the canon.

Those glowing blueish jewels are often placed on the 'eyes' of the masks.

Spirit Stone Yoshiro's Body and Cursed Soh's Body.

Defiled Yoshiro≠Cursed Soh: The Spirit Stone and previous misconceptions.

Building off this post...I noticed something when looking very very close at Yoshiro and Cursed Soh.

I mentioned Yoshiro's Spirit Stone body is to protect her from impurity. There's very faint kaleidoscope patterns on her!

It looks exactly like the sky in the Unknown Land, too.

(PS4 isn't very high quality so I can't get good photos. It's also why I didn't see the pattern at first. That and the lighting made a huge difference.)

look at her glove, too.

Cursed Soh also has these patterns all over her. It's a symbol of the power of purification(or the Goddess) because we see it in Soh's attacks and when she makes her appearance. 

Another detail: Soh has a fox on her glove. Does Cursed Soh have a nine-tailed fox? Is that what those shapes could represent?

Cursed Soh, the Goddess, is trying to protect herself from impurity and has possibly turned her body into Spirit Stone?

Or is it that the Maidens who become these things and have merged with the Goddess has caused her to turn into this?

When Yoshiro's hair turns pale lilac/grey, we get the scroll 'Birth of a Goddess', signally she's become like the Goddess. Or has merged with her.

She indeed looks like Cursed Soh.

When the pair sync up Yoshiro's movements sync with Soh's, not the other way around.
Yoshiro is becoming like Soh(Cursed) but because the lines have blurred due to Maidens being worshiped as the Goddess, Cursed Soh in turn became like her. (The long hair and outfit changes)

I talked here about the Goddess's behavior when encountering Soh and Yoshiro.

Another detail that rattles me:

Cursed Soh's footwear is symmetrical, unlike Soh's.

But in artwork, it's symmetrical:

A very deliberate change. But why?