Folk lore and the Seethe backstories.

After discovering that the director of Kunitsu-Gami was heavily inspired by folk-lore and finding Kunio Yanagita's work mentioned in the Mountain God Japanese wiki article, I decided to read a few stories.

Here is a link: The Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale

Some of them remind me of how the Seethe backstories are written.

Noderabo, for example. It really has the vibe of a folk-lore story.

There once was a priest who enjoyed ringing the temple bell to lure in a colony of frogs. One day, a wounded warrior came to the temple with his pursuers in tow. The priest tried to hide the defeated warrior, but his lies were seen through and he was cut down. Frogs gathered around the fallen priest's form, and the rescued warrior shrouded him in his own armor.

 Or Shiniku Zamurai...

There once was a samurai who swung his sword at all those in his path, regardless of friend or foe. His life came to an end one night when he was taken down in his sleep. Legend says the corpse left behind was merely a collection of faces, with no way to tell which one was the true face of the samurai. Even in death the samurai's lust for blood is unyielding, and it can be found roaming the mountains at night, a sword pulled from its own head in hand.

Mukadejoro...

Long ago, there was a woman who lived in a cave. According to legend, all those who laid eyes on her would soon find their fields infested with plagues of insects. As time passed, the villagers began to fear the legitimacy behind this tale and started to worship the large pillar of fossilized bones found in her cave. Full of pity, the villagers made to lay the old bones to rest, only for a woman in the form of a tremendous centipede to scurry its way up the pillar.

Raikobo...

There once was a monk hidden away in a temple who fervently studied the patterns in the weather. Word of his forecasts reached far and wide throughout the mountain, and one day, a lord summoned him to demand that the monk forecast the weather of his domain to ensure his crops would grow strong. But the monk, who was unfamiliar with the area, was unable to complete the task. The lord became enraged and punished the monk for foolishly disobeying his orders. And ever since that day, the alleyways echo with incessant laughter as the land crumbles at the hands of unforgiving lightning storms.

The Seethe plaques are worth a read.

Folktale horror...this game could've been much darker. What stops it from really feeling like horror? 

I wonder if the stories were written and then the Seethe were designed or if it was the reverse.

Rosokuro could've been a 'sorcerer' when he was human? Look at his lore:

There once was a man so entangled with his work, that it devoured him alive. Upon finding a tome detailing the other world, he sought for the power to control the Seethe. His chance eventually came when he was spirited away from the mountain, where he threw himself into his research in the other world. Possessed with manic ambition, he finally mastered the art of the cursed flame. However, joyous in his newfound powers over the Seethe, he does not realize that he has become the very creature he sought to control.

I mentioned the masks are social and agricultural(is this the right term for woodcutting and fishing and the like?) roles possibly created or given to humanity by the Goddess as the masks belong to her.

Do the Festering Seethe have history with the masks they stole? Mukadejoro held the thief mask, but is her tale related to the thieves spoken of in the mask's description...? I don't think so....?

I noticed monks are often characters that become corrupted. Why is this?

Yatsurao's story is an easter egg to Orochi:

Yatsurao is a sacred tree that has existed since ancient times. It is said that the tree absorbs all of the defilement that has afflicted felled trees into itself out of pity. The tip of the tree is known as its face and has features that change on occasion. Villagers who witnessed this change feared the tree for its likeness to an eight-headed snake.

The Goddess Susanoo saves:

The goddess is named 'Kushinadahime' (櫛名田比売) in the Kojiki, while the Nihon Shoki variously names her 'Kushiinadahime' (奇稲田姫), 'Inadahime' (稲田姫), and 'Makamifuru-Kushiinadahime' (真髪触奇稲田媛).

'Inadahime' may be translated either as "lady / princess (hime) of Inada", with "Inada" (稲田) here being understood as the name of a place in Izumo Province (part of what is now the town of Okuizumo (formerly Yokota) in Nita District, Shimane Prefecture),[2] or "lady / princess of the rice fields" (inada literally translated means "rice field" or "rice paddy")

Considering Yoshiro is merged with the 'rice field god', Soh protecting her from Yatsurao is a cute easter egg.

It's sacrifice reminds me of Yoshiro's sacrifice.

Quite flirty. 

The mikoshi was carved from this tree. Since it was around during the time of the gods, maybe that's what this interaction is about?

I'll read the Seethe backstories again.

Yoshiro's power being stolen by the Seethe: confirmed in game + we play as the Goddess.

Relevant post Strange symbols and patterns on the Torii Gates, Soh and Villagers. (it's been updated) 

After reading Ten's post on symbols and how this 'curse' symbol appears in multiple places, I realized it's confirmation the Seethe are stealing Yoshiro's power when they attack her, like what was done to Soh.

The only time the stealing power is mentioned is in a trailer but now you can see that it's definitely what's happening to Yoshiro! 

When Batsu steals Soh's power, she can no longer use her mask to its the full ability.

But when Yoshiro falls, Soh can no longer use her mask at all.

The Seethe are 'cursing' Soh and the villagers when they attack. When Soh's health is depleted, her power has likely been sealed for a brief amount of time.

This game's story is in so much of its game-play!

I wonder what's occurring in Tenko's Sacrifice though? When Soh sacrifices her life and a cherry tree blooms, purifying and healing villagers. A transferring of power?

On playing as the Goddess, while reading interviews, I saw this:

From an interview:

"We wanted to make an isometric view farther away this is obviously on purpose because players have sort of like a god watching over Yoshiro so you'll see a little bit of a higher vantage, and that also obviously has to do with themes of the story."

We play as Goddess, from above, controlling Soh, who is also us and is being channeled by Yoshiro.

This must mean Soh is a descended version of the Goddess.

Otherworldly Venture...Soh's outfit is different.

 The image of Otherworldly Venture existed on Steam before it was ever announced!

from Steam. I saved this in early January

More importantly...

Her purple chiffon petals are gone...

Where are Soh's chiffon petals...? Her outfit is different.

There's a special stream happening for Kunitsu-Gami on the 29th May and they'll be showing off the DLC!

Link to the stream.

8pm Japan time so check your own timezone.

I don't want to spoil the DLC for myself but I'm too excited...maybe just a peek...

Soh is not the 12th mask.

On the saving screen, the stamp with musubi shows the 12 masks. 

I got excited, thinking Soh's would be at the top...only to realize I have been miscounting this whole time.

For some reason, I kept counting Soh's mask as part of the 12.

It's not!!

Upscaled by AI

What's wrong with me!! How did I not count correctly!!

I wrote several posts speculating about the '12th' mask!

+ I have caused my own confusion in speculating about this '12th mask'!!

How could I have let such a simple thing get overlooked? I played this game 14 times!

I think I made the mistake because they always say the 12 masks of the Goddess and I automatically counted Soh's in the 12... 

I am a fool... :( and I feel really embarrassed...

The 'image of the Goddess' and the real Soh.

To follow up my posts on 'Heaven' and 'Cursed Soh antagonizing Yoshiro', I want to look at the endings as they both contain 'Heaven' and the 'image of the Goddess'.

In every ending, an image of the Goddess awaits us in Heaven. A shining Soh and a Cursed Soh.

In the normal ending, Yoshiro arrives in 'Heaven' and meets Soh, who is glowing with white light.

Shining Soh

She waves her hand, not touching Soh, and receives the mask as Soh's face is revealed. The face of the Goddess. This is the Goddess that sent Soh and acted through Soh.

Soh's head posture...she looks at Yoshiro's hand as it comes to her face

Yoshiro is then left alone in Heaven, holding the mask and descends as 'Soh' in the next cycle. 

She now becomes the new Agricultural Goddess/Soh, the one who will descend wearing the mask of the Goddess. (She descends merged with the agricultural Goddess who is the descended Goddess)

The Maiden's job is to bring prosperity to the villagers through sacrificing herself as a living katashiro, cleansing the land and becoming a spirit stone to ward off evil.

Her becoming the next Agricultural Goddess, bringing prosperity and abundant lands, is thematically appropriate.

(I call the descended version of the Goddess the Agricultural Goddess. It's the same Goddess in myth but she descends as the Goddess of Rice Fields.)

'Now that we're fully one, the mask is yours'.

The Soh she meets in Heaven is the Heavenly Goddess/Mountain Goddess. There is no 'spirit state' when she leaves. But in the true ending there is.

These two are now connected by spirit, so no words are needed. The mask is hers and she must be the next Soh. 

But why does she leave?

I wonder if this is when the Goddess becomes 'merged' fully with Yoshiro? The entanglement that's said to have happened?

After this ending, we receive this message:

"The pact with the Mountain Goddess - its blessings, its calamity- a world in a cycle and fortune and woe. These constants have been broken. The world after awaits."

If something in this ending caused such a big change, what was it? We see Yoshiro remain in Heaven, the Goddess's domain. It might not be the ending itself but the number of times this has happened. After happening 7 times, the constants have been broken.

(About the number 7...

We receive Cursed Soh after completing 9 cycles. I've been counting canon cycles from NG+. We must defeat Cursed Soh 8 times to get her skin so I've been going with '8 canon cycles'. Especially since Nanamagari(7 curves) and 'Seven Woes'.) Which means on the 8th cycle, 7 Maidens have already passed. Yoshiro is lucky 8.)

The next time we're here, it is Cursed Soh who awaits us. 

Is her mask symbolic of her relationship to Yoshiro, just like Soh's mask?

It's said Cursed Soh is an image of the Goddess that's become entangled over time with man's impurity. Man's impurity is held within the Maiden. 

Cursed Soh is very clearly an image of Yoshiro + Soh.

Yoshiro, during her journey while holding the impurity of humanity, became entangled with the Goddess. The merging begins when she turns into a spirit stone, as that is when she must be carried in the mikoshi: a god being transported to another shrine.

The normal ending serves to show us a normal cycle.

In the true ending, when Soh defeats Cursed Soh, she is glowing with light just as she did in the normal ending.

Shining...

The image of Soh in Heaven that merged with Maidens

So this heavenly image of Soh is the one that became entangled and turns into Cursed Soh. 

After defeating Cursed Soh, the impure version of herself, Soh regains her power but this time purifies Yoshiro completely. There is now no need for the Ceremony of Purification. The villagers keep a piece of the spirit stone in every village, warding off evil.

When Soh disappears, this time she 'breaks' like a mirror/reflection and the spirit state is there. The spirit then ascends.

So there are two images. The first is the Goddess, who has no spirit state when she departs. (Mountain Goddess)

The second has a spirit state. (Agricultural identity of the Goddess fused with a Maiden)

The cycle might've broke because our Soh is 'Maiden + Agricultural Goddess'. When she defeats Cursed Soh, there's a chance the Maiden became the dominant consciousness because the 'Goddess' had been defeated and purified, that power now belonging to her.

Upon gaining the full power of the Goddess, she purifies Yoshiro.
(If the Shining Soh had this power, why did she not purify the Maiden and stop the cycle as done in the true ending? Is it because the Goddess wants to keep the pact, but Soh(Maiden + descended Goddess) wants to end it?)

The story is of a Maiden who's merged with the Goddess's descended self, defeating and purifying the Goddess who had become impure, and replacing her. Thus making the Mountain Goddess now an ancestral deity...

If so, Yoshiro becomes a descendant of the Goddess. Her lineage becomes related to the Goddess.

In 'Eternal pool of sunlight', we see a descendant(?) of the Maiden side by side with the Seethe, who were once the underlings of the Goddess. They are friendly and getting along, hinting that the Maiden's lineage is now related to the Goddess. The Seethe are her friend. Perhaps she now understands impurity for what it is and the Seethe for what they are?

The spirit stone that grew from within Yoshiro is kept safe in each village to ward off evil.

In Soh under the Moonlight, Soh's title is 'gozen'(female samurai) yet in most of the game, Soh being inhuman is made clear, even having a gender-neutral pronoun so as to say she's not human(or to hint at many Maidens being a part of the agricultural goddess?)

Why in this image is her human identity acknowledged?

Her body faces Yoshiro, Yoshiro looks up at her the same way the little girl did at her mother in 'Pestilence'.
The implication might be that Soh is her ancestor and in this particular moment, the Maiden wearing the mask is here with Yoshiro and not just the Goddess within the mask.

This could support my 'the previous Maiden merged with the descended part of the Goddess absorbed the Goddess's power and replaced her' but maybe that's too simple.

But I do know that the shining Soh we see in the normal ending is the Goddess herself.

This game is said to be a 'new tale of the Goddess'...

I'm still curious about Cursed Soh being a heavenly deity and who the 'kunitsukami' in the game is. BUT she's said to rule from the heavens. It could just be the 'heaven' I talked about in the past post. Meaning, she's not a heavenly deity.

The Mountain Goddess is called Kunitsukami but I wonder if the Shining Soh is a Heavenly Goddess and the 'Mountain Goddess' is actually the descended version of her and gets called a Kunitsukami because of that.

Basically...what if the Sun Goddess descends as the Mountain Goddess/Agricultural Goddess(Kunitsukami)? There's so many references to the sun...it's why I keep wondering about this.

This photo is still very mysterious to me. Who is the kunitsukami receiving light, becoming tainted by the human world? It must be Soh.

Is to receive light a way of saying 'appears'? Or is created?

Then the Kunitsukami version of the Goddess is created every cycle...only to be tainted? Is tainted referring to the merging of her and the Maiden?

In the very end, the logo is purified. Yoshiro is purified. The Goddess is purified.

A little about the logo...

Director Kawada appeared on Capcom TV!! Talk broadcast on 7/26/2024

Listener: "Why does Kunitsukami/kami change to Kunitsugami/gami?"

Kawada: "The voiced consonants have a meaning. God doesn't use voiced consonants, but I added them on purpose... I think you'll understand if you play to the very end."

Crab said this about the name:

・KAMIではなく複数であるKAMIGAMIの意味を含めた⇒宗+咒（+または世代）

・濁点をつけることによって濁り＝穢れを表現したかった　←たぶんこっち

真エンド後のタイトル回収は旧エンドタイトルの文字が浄化されたような演出が入りスッキリする。この感覚外国人に伝わるかな。宗咒＝国津神設定ならば以下も成り立つ

・国津神「Kunitsu-Gami」だった「宗咒 / SOUJYU」が浄化され「宗 / SOU」が国津神「Kunitsu-Kami」になった

・Included the meaning of KAMIGAMI, which is plural, not KAMI ⇒ SOUJYU (+ or generation)

・By adding a voiced consonant mark, they wanted to express the cloudiness = impurity ← Probably this

The title recovery after the true ending is refreshing with a performance that makes it seem like the characters of the old end title have been purified. I wonder if this feeling will be conveyed to foreigners. If SOUJYU = Kunitsukami, the following also applies

・The Kunitsukami "Kunitsu-Gami" was "SOUJYU", but "SOU" became Kunitsu-Kami

If you look at the the characters:

くにつかみ/kami⇒くにつがみ/gami

That's very creative! Those parts get purified in the true ending! This game had a lot of thought put into it.

Indeed, Soh must be the Kunitsukami.

Heaven and the Unknown Lands.

Soh is said to cross the bridge between heaven and earth.

Although I sometimes interpret this literally depending on the theory I'm considering, another meaning can be that she's coming from a different world.

Cursed Soh is said to rule from the heavens. But these plaques are a little subjective. If a god comes from somewhere, we might call it 'heaven' by default. Heaven can just be another world.

Kami are said to inhabit parallel world to our own, one that mirrors ours.

After some consideration, 'heaven' is here:

It looks like the peak of the mountain, doesn't it? As the sun is rising...

The place the Maiden is in when she's enshrined as the spirit stone and Goddess.

It's actually the same place as the Unknown Land.

The Unknown Land becomes corrupted during our cycle.

Soh is horrified when she sees what the place has become. It's crystallized, like defilement...or spirit stone? This barrier is similar to the one used to protect oneself from Seethe. What happened in this world?

I wrote more on this world in a longer post featuring multiple theories I'm still working on... so I'll paste what I wrote:

In the true ending, when Soh enters the Unknown Land, this is the same place. Only it's been completely distorted. The kaleidoscopic pattern is all over and has become hard and crystallized, like defilement. There's no more beautiful scenery. Instead, we're looking at the remnants of the main shrine.

When something is crystallized, it remains in stasis. Much like how the mountain was stuck in a cycle, never truly advancing forward . Every time the mountain is rebuilt, the Seethe tear it down again. There is no advancement. Everything is torn down to nothing. Villages must be rebuilt.

Kaleidoscope represents the Goddess's power...and here it takes on a disturbing appearance. The floor is wet and reflective, much like 'Heaven' was. It seems a cursed image was reflected multiple times because of the reflective surfaces?

When Cursed Soh is defeated, the pieces of the kaleidoscope break apart and turn into the bright light that empowers Soh.

Once purified, we see it's the same place as 'Heaven'!

Take a peek into the shrine.

Upon entering, I was hit with anxiety. It's very claustrophobic and deeply unsettling. Kunitsu-Gami has always had horror elements to it that get easily overlooked.

Onto this idea of it mirroring our world...

I accidentally put a snare trap when I was running around before entering the stage.

It appeared in the Unknown Land!

I tried it again. Here's a video:

The Unknown Land is on the same terrain as the main shrine.
(Which is probably obvious as we can see the shrine in the background of the Unknown Land)

But could this mean that 'the Unknown Land' is part of the mirror world kami live in?

I mentioned they live in a parallel world to ours, described as mirroring ours. Did the game decide to play with the idea of mirrors in relation to this?

This strange movement...

Same type of crystal as what's in the masks.

Doesn't it remind you of the way Soh's barrier moves?

On the mikoshi...

祓. Ritual Purification/Exorcism. Why is it crossed out on the mikoshi but not the shrine?

The drums that are beside the shrine in the real world are replaced with these statues that can be seen outside the real world shrine.
(not really important but at first I thought they had come from nowhere and had meaning. But these statues exist in the real world, just outside the shrine)

Where did the very first Soh come from? 

What if the Unknown Land is a reflection of Heaven, where the Goddess resided before she descended? And the Maidens live in a makeshift Heaven, a place designed to keep their spirits?

As in Heaven is where the Goddess lives and its reflection is where the Maiden's spirit rests. Which means the Soh met in the normal ending is just a reflection of the Goddess.

But I don't know...the Goddess herself became defiled so this can't be right. But Cursed Soh is an 'image of the Goddess entangled with man's impurity'. Is image used because it's one part of the Goddess and Soh, the other, isn't impure?

It could just be a world that's the resting place of the Maiden's spirit when she becomes the spirit stone and nothing more.

In the Japanese translation of Cursed Soh's plaque, it can be translated as 'image of the god' or just the god itself. But I'll use the English translation.

I want to think on the idea of 'images'...

Cute photo of Yoshiro in the Unknown Land

Cursed Soh's Introduction: antagonizing Yoshiro.

When Cursed Soh conjures up the Goddess symbol and invokes the powers of the Heavenly Generals, she uses the same movement Soh uses when creating a protective barrier.

Everything is intentional in this game.
The motion actress says the actions of the Tsuba guards have meaning.

So why does Cursed Soh use a protective gesture?

When first appearing, she challenges Yoshiro not Soh.

When luring them to the shrine, she's made of impurity and imitates Yoshiro praying. 

Yoshiro's silhouette

Her dark figure is then 'sucked' into where the spirit stone is placed. Horns are already forming on her head.

No horn.

Horns! On the left side, it appears. I checked frame by frame so it's not part of the spirit stone. Squint!

The horn in question

Looking into the shrine shows a barrier inside it, similar one that Soh can create. 

The Unknown Land stage looks like we're in one of Soh's barriers, its sky rotating.

Looking at this with my current theory, could she be saying that Yoshiro, filled with impurity, is merged with the Goddess and is the cause of Cursed Soh?

In the Unknown Land, she acknowledges Soh as herself, greeting her.

It is Yoshiro who she is actually intent on destroying, the 'source' of impurity.

Every time she intentionally kills Yoshiro, she uses Taion's Lightning.

Yoshiro harbors all the impurity and is the cause of the Goddess becoming impure.

The protective gesture fits, as she wants to protect herself from the impurity held within the Maiden.

The Unknown Land looks hard, like spirit stone. The spirit stone wards off evil.
Is it the Goddess trying to protect herself? Casting a protective barrier over herself and hardening it like spirit stone?

The Spirit Stone is crystal but so is defilement. It's easy to get confused and I still do...so I am unsure once again about this.

Spirit Stone or Defilement?

Yoshiro turning the symbol into a spirit stone...was it intentional? Or is it saying in that moment, the merge was complete, the impurity further defiling the Goddess and causing Cursed Soh to be unable to use her full powers?

Perhaps this symbol is the 'marriage' of the Maiden and the Goddess. The spiritual union that resulted in this mess. Cursed Soh shatters it in her final stage.

This is the phase where she accesses the powers of multiple Tsuba Guards and we hear the soft melodies of the bases. The feel is melancholic as Cursed Soh nears her end.

(Could the destroying of this symbol have been what allowed Yoshiro and Soh to separate, thus enabling Soh to purify her after she's obtained her heavenly power?)

But...in all other cycles, there was no Cursed Soh nor was the Unknown Land corrupted this way. We see it in the normal ending. It looks like heaven.

This means during our cycle in particular, this mirror world became steadily infested with defilement.

Was there something special about Yoshiro and Soh's bond? 

Cursed Soh's plaque says 'over time, the impurity entangled with the image of the Goddess', so it's probably related to 8 cycles...

(Nanamagari's theme is also Seven Woes. Something about 7...7 previous Maidens.)

Onto the Unknown Land...