Origami.

祇力.  Giryoku. A pig. Strengthens offense. 力 means force/power/strength.

祇硬. Giko. A kabuto(Samurai hat). Strengthens defense. 硬 means hard.

祇速. Gisoku. A cicada. Increases movement speed of the villagers. 速 means fast.

They all have the kunitsukami(祇) kanji in the beginning. 

Are we invoking the strength of the Goddess through origami?

Yoshiro also has origami butterflies surrounding her during battle:

I was confused when I first saw their render. But now I'm quite sure they're origami.

In Japanese culture, butterflies hold various meanings. Origami butterflies symbolize the souls of both the living and the dead. This symbolism is evident in an ancient wedding ritual where origami butterflies represented the bride and groom, marking their transition into married life. (X)

I beat Otherworldly Venture on hard mode. 99 new areas is the max. (2million)

 

New tips:

Tenko's Sacrifice is free heals. You can heal everyone at the end of a stage and between waves if you time it right. Use it right before the final Seethe is killed, kill them, then suspend the save. Re-enter and your tsuba guards are fully charged and everyone is healed!

I ended this run with 98 rations and almost 40k orbs.

Kochin's Ward and Taijo's Favor were my other tsuba guards but I'm doing a new run and opted for an offensive one to replace Taijo's Favor. When you max out defense, villagers and Yoshiro can't be hurt anyway.
(I had no idea maxing out defense made Yoshiro invulnerable too.)

Always pick orbs as a reward because the mazo talisman shrine can give you a freebie.

Use talismans to reduce damage to villagers and increase their health. I only had two for Soh: Greatly increase attack and slightly increase tsuba guard recharge.

Outset vs 原初.

Soh's Outset outfit is called ' 原初' in Japanese.

Primodial; primeval; origin; source; beginning; starting point.

The most accurate synonym for "outset" when referring to the beginning or start of something is "inception". Other synonyms include "start," "commencement," or "beginning." For "primordial," which means existing at or from the beginning of time or something, synonyms include "primeval," "primal," "primitive," or "ancient." 

Hmmm. Similar but not exactly the same? I'll trust the translator's decision.
The name Outset stands out.

I suspect it's the first outfit created for her. I'm glad they changed it.

Venturing in...(A million in Otherworldy Venture and some tips)

I've been playing Otherworldly Venture for a few days.

I reached a million.

I first managed to get to Wave 56, no hit on Yoshiro.

The secret is...that Soh can rewind time. (;3)

But I couldn't go any further.

I complained a lot to myself. And on Twitter.

But on my current venture, I'm doing quite well. I made it to 72! But I don't have enough orbs to continue...

72, no damage on Yoshiro.
She will die in one hit in later stages,  even with full health, so it's best to protect her as much as possible.

Conserving orbs and rations for when Festering Seethe arrive is the key to enduring the nightmares of later waves.

On wave 56, I recall fighting for my life against Raikobo and Cursed Soh's specter but on my next run, they appeared on wave 46.

But this time I was prepared with 9k orbs! Using the boosting options (attack/defense) is a must or you won't do any damage to anything. It's so frustrating...

If you max out Giko, you take no damage!!!

no damage taken

Tanking the fire attack lol

When I discovered this, I tried to just get hit as much as possible to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

Back to damage output...

A normal little Seethe can take almost 3 combos to kill. With the talisman to greatly boost Soh's attack power. I also die in one hit so I'm probably going to take off the 'greatly reduce damage from Seethe' for Soh because it's useless...(yet I keep it just in case? Sigh...)

I can't continue on this run. 72 is the max. I don't have enough orbs to defend myself from Cursed Soh and the wave of Seethe...

I really wanted to get to wave 100. Is it possible?

Tips:

• Use Giko and Gikon. 5 Giko makes everyone except Yoshiro invulnerable.
• Conserve orbs as much as possible to use them when needed.
• Take the '1000 orbs' option whenever possible. It's worth 2 uses at the shrine.
• Don't go near Yoshiro when fighting a Festering Seethe. Make sure she's properly protected at all times because you won't be able to defend her without drawing the Festering Seethe to her.
• In later stages, Yoshiro will die in one hit from even the weakest Seethe. Get used to protecting her all the time. It's best to aim for her to never take damage.
• Use talismans to boost the Villagers' health. Soh will die in one hit in later levels anyway.
• Always hit that running box bastard!!!

Evil!!

A death on 71...

Yep. That's how it is sometimes.

This DLC gave me lots of cool death scenes though.

With no Maiden to channel the Goddess, all that's left is the spirit of the previous Maiden.

(You can also see I was wrong and that nothing emerges from Soh's mask when she dies. It's the attack of the Seethe's that causes that darkness,)

For rewards: Otherworldly Venture: rewards and thoughts.

A look at the Otherworldly Venture Drop Box.

They drop from tough enemies and Kagokaburi. They make a cute little giggling sound, too!

A yellow orb? It looks like a corrupted oyster. A pearl...

More on the DLC here:

Venturing in...(A million in Otherworldly Venture and some tips)

Otherworldly Venture: rewards and thoughts.

Otherworldly Venture: rewards and thoughts.

After playing for a few hours, I obtained the Otherworldly Venture's rewards.

The first two difficulties, Easy and Normal, are fine. You play up to a certain wave and need to obtain enough points during to unlock the reward. (Or it unlocks automatically?)

On Hard, you need to obtain enough points as it's endless.

I enjoyed the first two difficulties but Hard is a bit repetitive. I don't enjoy cycling through the same levels over and over nor do I enjoy fighting the same Festering Seethe only one level later from the previous time I did. 
The Seethe start off difficult and are as hard as later-cycle Seethe. (the small flying ones take two shots to kill instead of one)

I struggled the most with Hard, especially wave 11. The game is strategy but also chance as what items you may pick from is randomized. 
I discovered that it's better to upgrade Villager levels, have talismans that support their vitality and have the Tsuba Guard that engulfs them in a holy aura. Once a villager falls, they are cocooned until the end of the night and there can be many waves in one night, leaving you struggling.
Using the picks that boost damage and lower damage from Seethe are vital. Especially when facing Festering Seethe. The mini-bosses can be devastating, especially in small, enclosed spaces.
(I struggled terribly in Wave 11, fighting Raikobo and a spectre of Cursed Soh. It was only until I used the boosting options that I was able to defeat them.)

Onto the rewards!

• Easy Reward: Outset Costume.

A new outfit for Soh. Too bad it's ugly. I'm not sure how this design managed to get approved...

The colors are pretty.

I like the mask though...

The white nails have debuted!

White nails!

More photos:

Short hair! Cursed Soh's long hair is because of Yoshiro.

Since Soh's outfits are related to lore, what is the lore behind this? Has Soh become corrupted from venturing into the Otherworld?

This design on her arm is seen here, on the concept art for the Spirit Stone:

Original design for the Spirit Stone

So now we have another link between Soh and the Spirit Stone?

Those symbols also appear on her outfit. (I also updated the symbols post with image from the artbook)

Both symbols

It's called 'Outset' which means the beginning or start of something. Could this have been the very first Soh's outfit? Or perhaps this was the first design for Soh?

Normal Reward: No Mask(Original Costume)

I thought they changed her make-up(she has red lips here)

No mask!!

I couldn't believe it! I had my suspicions a maskless model had been created for her and here she is!

Unfortunately, she doesn't emote and her bangs don't move. Her face isn't lit up like Yoshiro's.

See how there's a light on Yoshiro, brightening up her face? Her eyes are also reflecting a light.

No such thing with Soh...her face is very blank, which makes scenes feel awkward.

Her face, as I suspected, is totally different to Yoshiro.

What a beauty!

(Before I played the DLC, I was working on a mazo talisman post that I planned to publish after I wrote about the DLC and in it, I mentioned their faces are not similar at all, actually. Nice to see I was correct. The reason we think they look similar is because they have the same hair color and eye color and are very beautiful. They are also the only faces we see.)

Hard Reward: Outlet(No Mask)

No-mask version for this outfit. Very disappointing...

I had high hopes. Something for Yoshiro. Maybe something related to Cursed Soh...

No extra lore. (Yet?)

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...

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is coming to Nintendo Switch 2!

Beautiful Art!!

It'll be on 5 June, the same day the Switch 2 releases!

A new mode called Otherworldly Venture(畏界遷宮（いかいせんぐう)）will be included. The rest of us will receive the update on our respective platforms. 

No PS5 Collectors Edition yet? No other merchandise...?

Hopefully we'll get more stuff soon.

I was saving up for an OLED so I guess that's on hold. 

But the problem here is...it's not good to buy a new console on release day. Usually you want to wait a year because there are often faults/bugs in the console and it gets upgraded with new releases.

Anyway, isn't it wonderful?