Akiko sat in the shrine office, looking out at the precincts, trying to keep her eyes open. The harae had left her drained, even though Shiraishi’s giggles had infected her in the car. Thinking about it now, she found herself smiling a little; it was true that the whole situation had been more than a little ridiculous. Then she yawned again, and shook herself. This was no good; she couldn’t afford to actually fall asleep. She peered out again. The sky was overcast, but it didn’t seem to be raining. Going out was a sensible possibility, then.

The warmth of the night surprised Akiko, reminding her that summer was approaching, and she still didn’t need a coat. The air was still and rather heavy, close, with a promise of rain, and the only sounds were those of distant cars and Akiko’s own footsteps. Akiko bowed to the iwakura, but it was just a group of stones tonight.

Then she caught sight of a light among the trees, not very bright, but moving, as if carried. Sighing, she checked that she was carrying her cellphone, and headed into the woods to see who it was.

It was only when she was surrounded by the shadows of the trees that she started to get worried. If it was one of the protesters, that was no problem. They would go away when she asked. But if it wasn’t? If it was someone else? She took her cellphone out, opening it ready to call the police, as she made her way towards the flickering light. She stepped round a trunk, and found herself in the clearing around the sacred tree.

Another miko stood beside it, reaching up to fix a new shide to the shimenawa. Her lamp stood on the ground behind her, her shadow huge and dancing against the tree in its flickering light. Akiko froze, and the other miko turned to look at her.

“Good evening.”

There was something strange about her pronunciation, an accent that Akiko couldn’t place. Akiko took a cautious step forwards, and switched her vision to see the spirits.

The tree dominated the scene, seizing her attention immediately, every detail of the bark clear. Smaller spirits, birds and insects, gathered on its branches, healthy and clean. Akiko forced herself to look down and at the miko. She looked human; completely free of kegare, but just human. Akiko’s eyes were drawn back towards the tree, and she switched her vision back to normal so that she could concentrate.

“Good evening,” she replied, still a little hesitant.

“Have you come to tend to the tree?” There was something very strange about the other miko’s accent, and about the way she talked, and something about her face wasn’t quite right. Akiko took another couple of steps forward.

“No. I was watching the shrine, and I saw your light.” Akiko was thinking as fast as she could. The miko was obviously changing the shide on the shimenawa, and someone had been doing that all the time, someone who wasn’t Akiko or Shiraishi. Thus, it seemed likely that it had always been her. But who was she? And where had she come from?

“Oh, I see.” Akiko thought she detected a questioning tone in the miko’s response, and took another step forward, as the miko took a step towards her.

And then her frustration with all the mysteries she had faced suddenly boiled over, and she couldn’t suppress the question.

“Who are you?”

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The other miko looked startled, and then bowed.

“My name is Yoshiko. I serve at this shrine. With whom do I have the honour of speaking?”

Akiko blushed a little at that; Yoshiko was being very polite.

“My name is Akiko. I serve at this shrine,” she said, as she bowed in turn. Straightening up, she looked Yoshiko in the eye, and suddenly realised what was odd about her face. She had plucked her eyebrows, and drawn new ones on.

There was a moment of silence, as Akiko weighed Yoshiko up and, she imagined, Yoshiko did the same in return. Yoshiko broke it.

“Forgive me, this will sound like a very strange question. Which shrine do you serve at?”

Akiko had been about to ask the same question, so it didn’t sound that strange to her at all.

“Tamao Shrine,” she replied. There was something else strange about Yoshiko’s face, she realised. Not just the eyebrows. Yoshiko was obviously surprised by her answer, and she opened her mouth to say something, before closing it again.

Once she had realised what it was, Akiko wondered how she could have missed it. Yoshiko’s teeth were all black. Even in the flickering light of the lamp, she could see that they were dark, at least. A half-memory tickled at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t draw it out properly.

“That’s not…” Yoshiko began.

Akiko’s attention was suddenly drawn to the tree, clearly visible despite the darkness, stretching up into the night, connecting the earth and the clouds like a bridge. She was flooded with a longing to touch it, to embrace it, to press her body against it and feel the bark against her skin, and the desire flowed through her and left, like a river in flood leaving a scattering of pebbles on the shore.

Learn from her. That was the thought that remained. Akiko looked back at Yoshiko, who was also looking back from the tree.

“Er…” Yoshiko said. “We should talk.” Akiko nodded.

“You too?” she asked.

“The tree?” Yoshiko was asking for confirmation, and Akiko just nodded. They both looked back at it, and this time Akiko broke the silence.

“It told me to learn.”

“It told me to teach,” Yoshiko said, “but I don’t understand. What can I teach you?”

“Do you know how to drive away kegare and purify the whole of the city?” Akiko asked, hope suddenly surging.

Her mood crashed down again as Yoshiko shook her head.

“I’m only a miko,” she said, “and you obviously already hear the kami.”

“How long have you been a miko?” Akiko asked, Yoshiko’s statement suddenly making her aware of a possibility.

“All my life, of course.” Yoshiko sounded confused.

“I’ve only been a miko for a few weeks. Maybe you could teach me how to be one?”

“A few weeks?” Now she sounded really confused. “Did you… No, you aren’t married.” Akiko wondered how Yoshiko knew, and what she had been going to ask. “How did you become a miko?”

“Tamao insisted.”

Yoshiko suddenly smiled, which looked very strange with black teeth.

“That sounds like Tamao. And…” She suddenly fell silent, apparently biting back words. She looked down, then at the tree, and then back at Akiko.

“I will teach you, as the kami have commanded. We can meet here at night, so we will study here.” She paused, taking a deep breath.

“But I do not want to know where you come from. I…” She paused again, and looked Akiko straight in the eye.

“I am too frightened of the answer.”

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Akiko was still lost in thought over the encounter hours later, when she was suddenly disturbed by the sounds of a commotion at the entrance to the shrine. She hurried out of the office and down the steps, hoping that it would be easy to resolve the problem.

The first person she recognised, with a sinking feeling, was Mrs Watanabe. Her voice was raised and shrill.

“You should not be going in there! Do you know what they believe? What they do?”

The people she was confronting, however, were the Tanakas, and their grandmother was there, looking much, much healthier than she had when they went to perform the harae. The sight raised Akiko’s spirits significantly, and she hurried down the steps as quickly as she could.

“They helped us! I felt much better after the harae.” While Mr Tanaka looked slightly embarrassed, his mother-in-law seemed to have no qualms about arguing back.

“They’re just trying to exploit your weakness. Can’t you see what they’re up to?”

“How dare you say such things about them? Now let us past. See! You’ve forced the miko to come out of the shrine.” The old woman pointed straight at Akiko, and Mrs Watanabe turned round to look at her.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, peddling lies to the elderly and vulnerable.”

“I am not vulnerable! My mind is still perfectly functional, thank you very much. Now I’ll thank you to get out of my way.” Mrs Watanabe swung back round to face the old woman, but didn’t back down.

“I’d say your vulnerability was well proven by your attitude here. You can’t even spot an obvious con trick like the shrine.”

“They didn’t ask for money.”

“But you’re going to give them some now.”

“A con trick where you wait for your victim to decide to give you money isn’t much of a con trick,” Mr Tanaka said, finally stung into replying. “Now, we have heard your opinion. Get out of the way.”

“Mrs Watanabe,” Akiko interjected, trying to keep her voice calm, “please let them come into the shrine. You are interfering with their business.” The woman turned back to face her.

“Call the police, then. If you care so much, call the police. Let’s see what they have to say about your con tricks.”

“Slander is a criminal offence as well.” Mr Tanaka sounded more annoyed now. “And what do you have to offer? Are you doing anything useful, or just standing here and obstructing us?”

“We’re trying to protect you!” Akiko noticed that Shiraishi had just arrived beside her, and she turned to glance at the priest, who shot her an exasperated look in return.

“Mrs Watanabe,” Shiraishi began, but she wasn’t allowed to finish. The grandmother lifted her cane and swung it at Mrs Watanabe, as her daughter, with a scream, grabbed at her arm, and Mrs Watanabe stumbled back out of the way, lost for words.

“Now, we’re going into the shrine,” the old woman announced, shaking her daughter off and calmly starting to climb the steps. Mrs Watanabe and the other protesters just looked at her in shock.

When they reached the top, the old woman turned to Shiraishi and bowed.

“I do apologise for my actions just now. Some people just don’t understand any other language.

“Anyway, as you can see, I am much better than I was before you performed the harae, and everyone in the family is feeling a lot better as well. We are all agreed that the harae was the cause.” She glanced around at her family, who all nodded.

“So we have come to give thanks.”

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Akiko picked her way through the trees, lighting her way with a torch. The rain had stopped, but she could still hear water dripping from the leaves around her, and her feet were wet from the undergrowth. She reached the sacred tree, the beam of the torch picking out the shimenawa tied around it, but there was no-one else there. She walked round once, checking the whole clearing, but she was definitely alone.

She started to worry that Yoshiko wouldn’t come, and worry about what that would mean, but as she reached out a hand and laid it on the trunk of the tree all her concerns drained away. All she needed to do was wait.

As she thought that, Yoshiko stepped into the clearing, carrying a lamp and a bundle wrapped up in a cloth. Akiko noticed that Yoshiko’s clothes were completely dry, but she did not comment, simply bowing in greeting, a bow that Yoshiko returned.

“Under the circumstances,” Yoshiko began, “I think we should start with the dances.” Akiko just nodded; she had little choice but to trust her teacher. Yoshiko put the cloth bundle down under the tree and unwrapped it, taking out something that tinkled as she lifted it, and gleamed in the light.

“This is a kagurasuzu,” she said, showing it to Akiko. “Have you used one yet?” Akiko looked at it, and it did look a little familiar. A conical metal frame was mounted on a short handle, with several small bells hung from the frame. Five long strips of material, purple, green, red, white, and yellow, were attached to the bottom of the handle. As she looked, Akiko remembered where she had seen it before; in the dream when she had first worn miko’s vestments.

“Er, not really,” she replied. Using it in a dream probably didn’t count. Yoshiko nodded, but didn’t look surprised.

“Watch me first.” She took a few steps backwards, and then bowed to the tree, sweeping the kagurasuzu up over her head as she straightened, the sound of bells filling the clearing.

Yoshiko started to dance, slowly at first, sweeping the bells gracefully through the air while supporting the cloth with her other hand. Her movements got steadily faster, as she spun, running round the tree, swinging the kagurasuzu high and low, quickly enough that the motion was enough to keep the streamers in the air. She passed once around the tree, and slowed down, coming to a graceful stop as she sank to her knees, the kagurasuzu held in front of her chest in both hands, the cloth piled in her lap.

She bowed her head once, and stood up, turning to look at Akiko.

“That’s what you’re aiming for.”

“I can’t do that!” Akiko protested. At least not while I’m in control of my own body, she amended silently.

“Not yet. That’s why you need to practice. And that’s why I want to start with the dances; you need the most practice for these. Here, take the kagurasuzu.” Yoshiko held it out, and Akiko took it carefully. It was a little heavier than she expected, and the cloth streamers were long.

“Now, hold it up,” Yoshiko continued, “and support the streamers… No. Like this.” She reached out and adjusted Akiko’s hand, and the lesson began.

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The sky was cloudless blue, and the sun shone down without pity, white glare from the concrete banks of the river making the clouds of mosquitos almost invisible. Akiko wiped sweat from her forehead once more, and fanned herself with her hand in a desperate search for some relief.

It didn’t help, and the whine of the mosquitos got louder in her ears, overlaying the sound of the river, a constant growl of pain. She looked around for the steps up from the small park where she was sitting, but they had all collapsed, a few sorry fragments still clinging to the wall beyond shattered benches.

She turned back to the river, its surface churning, glistening in all colours, sweeping along plastics, sewage, and now and then the corpse of a dead animal. The stench was overwhelming, suddenly, and Akiko gagged, almost vomiting on her miko’s robes. The waves in the river became higher, its surface starting to buck, water and less pleasant things spraying out on to the bank as Akiko scrambled back, trying to get out of the way, but failing as something malodorous spattered on the white of her kimono.

The river was rising out of its channel now, a great blind snake, jaws gaping wide as its head waved through the sky as if seeking something. The river’s water formed its translucent body, with scales of ripples and oil sheen, and the hiss of the water was the creature’s voice, a cry of agony that filled Akiko with a mixture of pity and fear.

The giant head swung over her, and then paused, flickering back and forth as if it had almost found something. It shifted, and although it had no eyes Akiko was sure it knew she was there. It drew back, preparing for a lunge, and Akiko threw her hands up in front of her, one holding the kagurasuzu, as the snake lanced towards her.

And stopped, just short of the kagurasuzu. Akiko could see the water flowing within it, heavy with the corpses of fish, a sheen of oil spread over the top of its head, covering the places its eyes should have been. The roar of the water got louder yet, filling Akiko’s ears, deafening her, evoking more pity now, so much pity that Akiko felt tears well from her eyes and start to run down her cheeks.

She sat up in bed, the pouring rain roaring on the balcony outside, and willed her breathing to calm down. A dream, then. She got out of bed and pulled a yukata on, walking to the main room to look at the kamidana. Tamao’s goshintai was inside the small shrine now, the mask she had rescued from the old shrine was propped up behind it, and Akiko found herself looking at its impassive face as she thought over the dream.

The obvious interpretation was that she should go to the river and purify it, which seemed plausible enough. Given the amount of kegare she had seen in the area, it would be surprising if the river had escaped. But what was the kagurasuzu doing there, and why had she felt sorry for the kegare spirit? She waited a few moments, but no further enlightenment was forthcoming.

“Come on Tamao, you can talk to me now. Why not just tell me what to do?” she muttered, and then, worried that he might have heard, quickly bowed, clapped, and bowed.

It wouldn’t do to irritate him.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 32 | 6 Comments »

After showering and dressing, Akiko found Shiraishi dozing in the office, and told her about the dream. Outside, the rain was stopping, and the stones of the iwakura sparkled as the light of the morning sun played over them. Shiraishi, looking out at the precincts, nodded as Akiko finished her account.

“It does sound fairly clear, doesn’t it. We’ll have to see when Akira can come to mind the shrine; I’ll give him a call. And then we should do the tsukinamisai.”

“The what?” Akiko was a bit surprised at just how matter-of-fact Shiraishi was, but she supposed that it wasn’t really surprising anymore.

“Tsukinamisai. Come on, you must have read about that. Monthly festival? And it’s the first today.”

“Oh. Yes. Yes, right.” Now that Shiraishi mentioned it, Akiko realised that she had read about it, but she’d completely lost track of the date. Was it really the first already?

“Well, we need the himorogi for it, so can you get that ready while I call Akira?”

Akiko had just finished setting the himorogi up in its usual place, on the site of the old shrine building, when Shiraishi came out of the house carrying the other equipment.

“He said he can come this afternoon, but not tonight. I said that would be fine.”

Afternoon. That meant that they would have to do the ceremony in daylight. For a moment, Akiko was worried that people would see them, and then scolded herself for being silly. It wasn’t as if people hadn’t seen her performing ceremonies quite often enough. And they would be in a public place.

“And,” the priest continued, “I brought this.” She held out a kagurasuzu, and Akiko took it off her.

“I can’t do the dances yet, you know.”

“I know, but you can shake it. Do it at the very beginning and very end of the norito.” Akiko looked at the bells, and then back at Shiraishi. Her puzzlement must have been obvious, because the priest explained. “The bells get the kami’s attention and calm him down, at the same time. It’s an important part of the ceremony.” Akiko nodded her understanding, and took her place. The ground was still wet, but the sky was rapidly clearing, a light breeze leaving the air fresh, more like spring than early summer.

As Shiraishi took her place, Akiko heard the sonorous beat of a Japanese drum, its pace increasing, and she looked around. The shrine’s taiko had been destroyed in the fire, and she couldn’t see anything. Maybe Shiraishi has bought a recording, she thought.

Shiraishi read the norito, Akiko shaking the bells as instructed, and then paused. Akiko heard a taiko beating somewhere, in a rhythm she knew, the rhythm that Yoshiko beat out for dance practice under the tree. A flute joined it, swooping over the top, and the moves of the dance came up in Akiko’s mind.

And then she was rising from her place, raising the kagurasuzu, and dancing, the sweeping moves coming easily, fluidly, as she crossed the space in front of the himorogi, paused, raised the kagurasuzu, turned on the spot to bow towards the kami, moved back again.

Akiko realised that she was not entirely in control of her own movement, but she could hear and feel the drum beat, and she let it guide her through the short dance until she sank back into her place, kagurasuzu held in front of her, eyes down.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 32 | 3 Comments »

“I thought you couldn’t do the dances yet?” Shiraishi was obviously trying to keep the question light, but she couldn’t quite hide the concern and incomprehension. For a moment, all Akiko could do was shake her head.

“I have been practising, but I can’t do it that well,” she said when she finally found her voice. “I don’t suppose you heard the drum?” Shiraishi shook her head. “I didn’t think so. It wasn’t like the time I was possessed, but…” She paused, trying to put the experience into words, and failing. “The music took hold of me,” she finished, lamely.

“Well, you did the dance very well. When have you been practising?” Akiko started to answer, but Shiraishi interrupted her. “And who’s been teaching you?”

“Ah.” Akiko was embarrassed, realising that she really should have told Shiraishi before. “I met another miko at the sacred tree, and she’s teaching me at night.”

“Another miko?”

“Yes. From this shrine.” Akiko could see that the priest was ready to ask more questions, and held up a hand to stop her. “And I don’t know how that’s possible, or where she comes from, or what she is. I’m not asking.”

“Is that safe? She could be an evil spirit.”

“The tree wanted me to learn from her.” That sounds really, really naive, Akiko thought, but Shiraishi just nodded.

“The tree is probably a reliable source. At least as reliable as what this miko would say if you did ask her. Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?”

Akiko thought for a moment, and realised that she was. Yoshiko’s puzzlement with certain aspects of Akiko’s life just added to her confidence. It didn’t seem like any sort of trick.

“Yes, I am. Learning from her is the right thing to do at the moment.”

“Well, then. If she’s teaching you dances like that, I won’t complain. I think we should take the kagurasuzu with us to the river, though.”

Akiko looked at it, and nodded, suddenly remembering the dream.

“Yes, I think that would be a very good idea.”

Akira arrived at half past two, as promised, and the weather was still beautiful, a gentle sun shining on the clean grass of the shrine, and on the fresh shoots now springing up where the shrine building had been. Akira smiled at both of them.

“I should be grateful to you for giving me a good reason to get out of the office. I’d have been stuck inside otherwise.”

“We should be grateful to you,” Akiko replied.

“Purification again?” he asked, and she nodded.

“The river, this time.” He just nodded, and then glanced towards the entrance.

“Only a couple of protesters today, and that noisy woman isn’t there. I should have it fairly easy. Good luck with the purification.”

“Thanks.”

They walked down to the river; it wasn’t that far, and there wasn’t anywhere to park the car in any case. Without the himorogi, things were a lot easier. Akiko and Shiraishi chatted about the shrine as they walked, speculating about whether the Tanakas would be back, wondering whether they would see Mr Fujimura again, and complaining about the protesters. They were nearly at the river before Akiko realised that everyone they passed was staring at them. It makes sense, she thought. We are walking through the streets in full vestments.

At the river, they walked carefully down the steps to the small park at water level. Akiko looked around, and nodded her head.

“This looks enough like the dream. I think this is the place.”

“Right, then. Standing ceremony; the ground’s still rather muddy.” Akiko looked down and nodded. It certainly was. She looked at the river, which did have some rubbish in it, but didn’t look anything like as polluted as it had in the dream. At least not when she looked at it with normal eyes.

Through other eyes, the things floating in the water were clear, but the surface of the river was unnaturally smooth and slick, as if the oil covering it were somehow holding the water down. There were kegare spirits clinging to the concrete walls, and scuttling about the park, although they kept their distance from the two of them. As ever, Shiraishi was free of kegare and shining slightly, and that seemed to make the spirits nervous. Akiko saw one of them, a giant beetle, driving its limbs into the concrete in a cloud of dust, its glittering eyes turned in their direction.

She realised that the priest was looking at her, waiting for a signal, and she nodded her head. Shiraishi bowed once, and began the harae.

The spirits responded at once, hissing and screeching as they scrambled up the walls and away, running from the area before they could be swept out of existence. Akiko could see the light building within the ohnusa, and it seemed that a lot of the spirits could, too.

The river began to surge, large waves passing down its length. Then an even higher wave passed, and Akiko realised that she could see under the bottom of the water. A moment later the water broke free of its channel, a giant, blind snake, just like in the dream, the sound of flowing water conveying anger and pain. Its head swung blindly, and Akiko realised that Shiraishi had faltered in her recitation of the norito.

The light within the ohnusa began to fade, and Akiko looked around to see the kegare spirits creeping closer again around the top of the park, jaws clicking in anger.

“Keep going!” she urged, as loudly as she dared. Shiraishi took a step back, but tried to return to the norito. Akiko saw the river-snake turn its head towards them, as she felt water on her feet. Fast-flowing water, rising.

The river. The spirit was making the river flood. Akiko took a step back as well, and raised her hands to ward the spirit off. As she did, the kagurasuzu rang, and the snake flinched slightly.

Remembering the dream, Akiko summoned up her courage, and stepped in front of Shiraishi, raising the kagurasuzu and shaking it as she swung it down, across in front of her, then raised it again on the other side, swinging it down again to complete the barrier against the serpent. It flinched back, and Akiko felt the water around her feet ebb. Behind her, Shiraishi’s voice picked up the norito again, getting stronger and more confident.

Akiko took another step forward, holding the kagurasuzu in front of her and vibrating it so that the bells kept sounding. The snake shrank back, its head thrashing from side to side, the roar of the water taking on overtones of agony. Akiko felt tears prick her eyes, as the spirit’s suffering pierced her heart.

And then light exploded from behind her as Shiraishi finished the norito and swung the ohnusa, light that ignited the oil covering the serpent, wreathing it in red and black flames that burned with the stench of chemicals, black smoke pouring off to be dispersed by the light, as the flames kept burning, burning clearer and clearer.

The serpent opened its eyes, pools of water set within scales of blue and white flame, and looked straight at Akiko. Its hiss was of pleasure as it dived back into the channel, splashing flames to either side, which flowed up the banks and burned away the last fragments of kegare.

05: Spirit Busters, Episode 32 | 2 Comments »