While translating the play's script with google, the kanji for the Mountain Goddess used in the official play is
山神の
Farmers have a belief that in spring , the mountain god descends from the mountains and becomes the god of the rice fields, and then returns to the mountains in autumn . In other words, one god is seen as having two spiritual personalities: mountain god and rice field god. In Japan, not just farmers, there is a belief that the dead go to the eternal world in the mountains and become ancestral spirits to watch over their descendants, and the prevailing theory is that for farmers, the mountain god is actually an ancestral spirit.
I mentioned the Shinto belief of the 'otherworld in the mountains' before. The villagers are spirited away, which is probably why they can embody their ancestral spirits through the masks during the fights. Once we clear a stage, we return to the normal world.
For mountain people such as hunters , lumberjacks , and charcoal burners , the mountain god is the god who protects the mountains, where they work . Unlike farmers' rice field gods , the mountain god has no concept of coming and going , and is said to always be present in the mountains. This mountain god is said to have extremely strong fertility, giving birth to 12 children a year.
The 12 is interesting. Apparently it's meant to be the twelve months of the year.
The play says people have a lifespan of 7 days. Is it hinting at the Goddess being infertile due to defilement? (it's a bootleg translation so let's be skeptical)
As a goddess, she is said to hate the impurities of childbirth and menstruation, and women have not been allowed to participate in festivals. Some legends say that the mountain god is an ugly woman, and there is a custom of offering ugly-faced stonefish to the mountain god, as she would be happy if there was something uglier than herself.
The fact it is a Maiden becoming Defiled and how much of the defilement resembles male genitalia can't be a coincidence. In Shinto, childbirth causes a lot of impurity.
I often wonder if Yoshiro hasn't hit puberty yet and that's actually why she's flat. Maybe it's also why she's considered to be so 'pure'.
Her birth is also a mystery. Who is birthing these Maidens? They're all related and every generation someone has to go. You can't walk the Path if you've been married or have had children. Shrine Maidens can't do those things. (Are they having many daughters then?)
I often say Yoshiro is like an object, not really a 'woman'. The deity lives inside her, like a Yorishiro. She's the yorishiro of Soh as when she's unwell, Soh no longer has a physical form.
(Soh is the spirit of the 'Goddess', the previous Maiden and so she is bound this way to Yoshiro)
The Mountain Goddess is an ancestral spirit and the twelfth mask must be hers.
The Maidens are her offspring then as they are capable of wearing the mask.
(In lore, you can only wear the mask of your ancestral deity. But game-play wise, anyone can use any mask with the exception of women being sumo wrestlers and men being shamans.)
Yama-no-Kami (山の神) is the name given to a kami of the mountains of the Shinto religion of Japan.These can be of two different types. The first type is a god of the mountains who is worshipped by hunters, woodcutters, and charcoal burners. The second is a god of agriculture who comes down from the mountains and is worshipped by farmers. This kami is generally considered as a goddess, or a female deity.
Yoshiro and Soh are said to have descended from above...but it's because they are both 'Yoshiro'.
There is also a belief that spirits can ascend to ancestral spirits and then to gods , and such ancestral spirits are worshipped as ancestral deities (sojin) or ujigami (ujigami) by communities such as clans and villages. In the Okinawa region , it was believed that a person would become a god in seven generations. (x)
So, this is why everything ends on cycle 8!
On cycle 8, 7 cycles have been completed. 7 Maidens. 7 generations. 7 Yoshiros.
Cursed Soh emerges, is purified and a new Goddess is born.
Incredible...I finally have answers!
But who is the Goddess?
According to Kunio Yanagita, in Japanese folk beliefs (Koshinto), spirits that are the subject of memorial services within a certain number of years after death are called "dead spirits" and are distinguished from ancestral spirits. The more memorial services are performed for the dead spirits, the more they lose their individuality, and when they are "enshrined" a certain number of years after death (50, 33, 30 years, etc., depending on the region), they lose their individuality completely and become part of the ancestral spirits.
The white lights Soh absorbs could be 'dead spirits' who become a part of her in the end.
It takes 7 generations but our Soh was the previous generation. It has not been 7 Yoshiros since her sacrifice. So, the Soh 7 generations ago is the one who ascended?
Could this be why we don't see her face?
In societies where the concept of ancestral spirits exists, the concept can be broadly divided into two types: punitive spirits that bring disaster and protective spirits that bring blessings.