Pinned Insect & Cursed Nails.

Cursed Nails

Pinned Insect

Let's talk about these two mazo talismans!

In Japanese, Cursed Nails is called [呪釘のろいくぎ] and Pinned Insect is called [翁負蟲おきなおぶりむし]

Cursed Nails is true to its Japanese name but Pinned Insect isn't.

翁（おきな） — old man, elder, venerable old person.
負（お）う — to carry, bear, bear a burden.
蟲（むし） — insect / creature / worm.

It's an insect carrying an old man. There's no mention of it being pinned.

This talisman causes Yoshiro to die in one hit.

The butterfly is Yoshiro and the old man, symbolizing Soh, is being carried by this fragile insect. Yoshiro, the delicate shrine maiden, is channeling Soh.

The old man isn't just an old man! 

The face is Okina(翁). A figure in traditional Japanese performance and religious imagery, particularly Noh theatre. (Masks!)

bottom right...you look familiar.

The Okina mask represents a supernatural, auspicious, almost divine elder figure.

宗そうの体力が一で固定され、回復しなくなる。

Cursed Nails prevents Soh's health from recovering and she's defeated in one hit. In the Japanese, it says she can't recover health and that her HP is fixed at 1. (fixed in place by the nails)

In Kunitsu-Gami lore, damage to Yoshiro is damage to Soh. Soh can be depowered by attacking Yoshiro and Yoshiro can be stunned by attacking Soh. These two cannot be separated in terms of damage.

This means these two talismans are meant to work together: the cursed nails pin the insect, causing Yoshiro's health to be at 1, allowing her to be defiled in one blow.

(Since Yoshiro dances when channeling Soh, is it hinting that by 'pinning in her place', Soh is weakened? The Sacred Spinning Top talisman that raises Yoshiro's maximum health is a symbol of movement, spinning around(doesn't real kagura have circular movements?) and this increases her health. Thus the opposite, restraining her, greatly weakens her.)

If  Yoshiro can be defeated in one hit, so can Soh. Yoshiro is carrying Soh, after all. If she's down, it's all over. If Soh loses her body, Yoshiro is vulnerable.

But this mechanic is not active in the gameplay because it wouldn't be too fun. If we lost power as Yoshiro's health drained, people might perceive that is too difficult?

Something strange though...one needed to look at these talismans in both English and Japanese because the Japanese doesn't mention the insect is pinned. Are the Japanese meant to be reminded of the story of the little insect that kept carrying heavy burdens until it was crushed?

Anyway, it blew my mind seeing that the cursed nails that fix Soh's heath at 1 are the nails that fix Yoshiro's health at 1. The nails pin the insect, Yoshiro, and the old man, Soh. It's all meant to imply these two cannot be separated. 

A terrible pair of talismans.

Forgotten God(祇去) is a former Maiden.

The rock fragments and underneath her are spirit stone.

The gold 'tears trail' is similar to the gold lining on Yoshiro.

The colors inside her are the colors of the barrier we fight Cursed Soh.

So, is it safe to stay we fight the battle against Cursed Soh inside the spirit stone body?

And that the 'spirit stone' is meant to contain the defilement, like a barrier?

There's also the Japanese name:祇去. Kamusari. ( かむさり)

(Google translated it as 'kami gone' It meas the death of a God, according to the Kojiki but the kanji used in the Kojiki is 神避)

祇: Kunitsukami. Read as かむ. Kamu.

'去' can be read as the ashes of a Buddha, and we have seen that the Maiden is alike to a Buddha.

Soh's mazo talismans are also titled in reference to Buddhism: Deva, Bodhisattva, Nyorai.

They resemble Nanamagari and those figures on the sides of the Torii Gates:

The kanji used for this talisman aligns with the title of the game. But why 'forgotten' when she's actually 'dead'?

The stories of the Seethe mention monks a few times so Buddhism is likely existing alongside Shinto? We are in the Heian period after all.

During the Heian period (794-1185), a form of Buddhism usually called Tantric Buddhism in India, but Esoteric Buddhism in Japan became widely popular. The Shingon (True Word or Mantra) sect, founded by Kukai (774-835), was one of two Esoteric sects to spread at this time.

Shingon was associated with a unique style of meditation that involved mandalas (artistic representations of various Buddhas and bodhisattvas or of the world as seen by those enlightened beings), mudras (symbolic hand positions associated with each Buddha and bodhisattva in the mandalas), and mantras (sacred Sanskrit verses associated with these figures). (source)

mandala on the maiden's belly in artwork. we can see them in Cursed Soh's arena too

Mudra. She also performs a set of mudras in the beginning + the talisman 'Cursed Mudra' 

かむ can also be read as 'chew', and when combined with 'bones', does it imply the Seethe chewed on this Spirit Stone?

(the rice might be relevant too since Inari is a kami associated with rice)

In the fight with Nanamagari, I called Shadow Soh the liquidated Spirit Stone, but when she goes to the shrine, the spirit stone is already there. 

But it's not there when we fight Nanamagari and look into the shrine.

So I don't really know if the stone appears because Cursed Soh wants it to and it was originally absorbed by Nanamagari, or if only the power of the Goddess was absorbed from the stone and the stone was left.

Forgotten God has both spirit stone and bland stone that resembles the stone of Cursed Soh, which has no 'spirit stone' appearance like we see in Yoshiro and this talisman.

So the reason it's a talisman is likely the spirit stone in it!

I talked before abut this mazo talisman here: Soh's Spirit Form + another hint that she was a former Yoshiro + a Forgotten Goddess

Impurity Pattern: Mōryō(魍魎).

According to game files, the impurity pattern is actually the geometrical pattern of 'Mōryō'(魍魎). Malicious water spirits.

The talisman we get upon defeating Cursed Soh is also Iso Onna(磯女), another water yokai.

It has the pattern on it as well.

Previous posts on the pattern:

Strange Symbols and Patterns

More Impurity Patterns