Evening was drawing in, and the preparations for the festival were nearly complete. Half a dozen vendors had come to set up temporary stalls, in the precincts but set back a bit. The ritual equipment was set up in front of the iwakura, with the mikoshi on stands, facing the stones. Akiko fought down the urge to fiddle with the decorations again, and was turning to check on the tents for changing when she caught sight of Mr Fujimura, standing at the entrance to the shrine.

Bowing, she quickly hurried over, as Noriko came up the steps behind him.

“Mr Fujimura, I am very pleased you have come,” she began, but he shook his head, his face stern.

“I will certainly not be attending this festival. No, I wanted to try one last time to persuade Revd Shiraishi not to hold it. Or at least to make it more decent.”

Akiko involuntarily glanced around at the preparations. Did he really think they could stop it now? Still, he had saved the shrine; he had earned a hearing, at the very least.

“One moment. I will find Revd Shiraishi.”

That actually took a bit longer than anticipated, and she finally tracked the priest down arguing with one of the vendors about his cooking facilities. When she mentioned that Mr Fujimura had come, however, the priest quickly conceded the last couple of points, and came with her.

“What does he want?”

“The same,” Akiko replied. Shiraishi shook her head in frustration.

“Does he really think we can stop now?”

Shiraishi greeted him politely, nevertheless, and invited him into the shrine house, as the first people had started to arrive for the festival. They sat in the reception room, Noriko sitting behind Mr Fujimura, and off to one side, with an attitude of deference that made Akiko uncomfortable.

“I will come straight to the point,” Mr Fujimura began. “I am asking you, based on whatever respect I might have earned, not to hold this festival, at least not as advertised.” Akiko stole a glance at Shiraishi, and thought she saw the priest wince. It was true; refusing Mr Fujimura was difficult. The priest bowed deeply before replying.

“Your service to this shrine has been great, Mr Fujimura, and I do not want you to think that we do not appreciate it.

“But I am afraid that we must hold this festival.”

“Revd Shiraishi, Shinto has a long tradition of noble and dignified festivals. Can you not see the damage you might do to the reputation of the kami as a whole?”

“This festival also has a long history.”

“Are you not concerned that it might make things worse?”

“It seems very popular.” Shiraishi’s tone was questioning, as if she wasn’t quite sure what Mr Fujimura was asking. Akiko, also, started to wonder once more just how much Mr Fujimura knew.

“I am not talking about the number of visitors to the shrine.”

“We are sure that the kami wants us to hold this festival.”

Mr Fujimura looked thoughtful, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

“How sure?”

“Completely sure.”

He still looked doubtful, but suddenly he nodded, bowed, and stood up.

“In that case, I can see that I will not convince you. I still believe that you are making a mistake, and I fear that I can no longer offer you any protection.” He turned towards the door, and then noticed that Noriko had not stood up. As he glanced down at her, she bowed, and then looked up at him.

“I will be participating in the festival.”

For a moment, Mr Fujimura actually looked angry, or upset, or something, but he quickly brought his face under control, and simply nodded.

“Very well.”

06: Wild Festival, Episode 42 | 1 Comment »

Akiko held up the length of white cloth, looking at it.

“It’s just a piece of cloth.”

“Well, yes.” Noriko sounded slightly amused. “That’s how loincloths are made, you know.”

Kazumi, unsurprisingly, was already getting undressed.

“I looked up how to put them on,” she said. “There are pages on the internet. Actually, there are quite a lot of pages, with pictures, but most of them weren’t… ah… aimed at women.” She grinned, and Akiko rolled her eyes. “Anyway,” she continued, “I’ve been practising. Should be no problem.”

“And I’ve learned how to do them,” Noriko added. “It’s not that hard.”

“But if you don’t do it right, they fall off!” Kazumi giggled as she finished, and Akiko glared at her.

“Stop that! We’ll do them properly.”

“Excuse me, is this where we change… Oh.” Akiko looked round, to see a mother and daughter standing just inside the entrance. She remembered them from the purification a few days earlier.

“Ah, yes. Yes, please come in.” She glanced round, and saw that Kazumi had just started taking her underwear off. She does wear underwear, then, she thought, quickly followed by Oh, for goodness sake woman! “Um,” she turned back to the two women, “if you take your clothes off we’ll help you with the loincloths.”

“Mm.” Both of them looked a little embarrassed, although it was the mother who spoke. “I don’t know why I let my husband talk me into this.” She took a deep breath. “OK. Let’s get changed. You’re still OK for this?” This to her daughter, who nodded.

“Unlike my brother, who is a chicken.” She suddenly grinned. “Actually, I think it’ll be fun. People will be looking at the mikoshi, not us, right?”

“Well…”

“Right, right,” Akiko quickly burst in, before Kazumi could say something to frighten them off. Any help would be good. She glared at the girl, who was now standing there naked as she began to wrap the cloth around between her legs, but Kazumi just grinned back. She looked back, and saw the mother’s mouth twitch in a half-smile.

“Excuse me…” Another voice, this time from just outside. Akiko hurried over to see who it was, and was quite surprised to see the Tanakas’ grandmother.

“Yes?”

“My daughter-in-law is being useless and refusing to help, but do you think I could help carry the mikoshi?”

“Er…” Akiko desperately tried to think of a tactful way to put the question, but before she could, Kazumi came running up, loincloth fixed but no coat on.

“Show us your muscles!” she said, flexing her arms. The old woman looked shocked for a moment, and then grinned.

“I’ve been feeling much better recently.”

“Well, the more the merrier.”

“Kazumi, get back and put your happi on!” Akiko scolded her, and then turned back to Mrs Tanaka. “As she said, we’d be glad of your help.”

“Akiko, get your clothes off!” Akiko turned back, to see that Noriko was already changed, and she and Kazumi were fixing loincloths for the other two women. Kazumi was grinning at her, and Akiko shook her head.

“You get on with that loincloth!” She was right, though, and Akiko reached for the belt of her hakama.

“Excuse me…” Another woman’s voice from outside. Surprised, but suddenly much more confident about the event, Akiko turned back to see who it was.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 42 | 3 Comments »

Akiko felt a bit self-conscious when she came out of the tent with the other women, lining up beside the women’s mikoshi. In the end, sixteen women had decided to take part; glancing at the men, Akiko could see that there were far more, twice the number at least.

It’s not going to be easy to win the race, she thought, with a wry smile.

They all knelt down on the prepared mats, and the heat and humidity made Akiko briefly glad that she wasn’t wearing any more clothes. A quick glance at Shiraishi’s glistening face confirmed that the outfit did have its advantages. Still, she pulled at her happi, making sure that it was still decent. Noriko, kneeling to one side of her, was still blushing slightly, but she noticed Akiko’s glance and flashed her a quick smile.

Akiko turned her attention back to the ceremony, and switched her vision over.

The men were heavy with kegare, worms and insects crawling over them, wrapped round their bare legs. Motion out of the corner of her eyes warned her that the women were no different, so she steadfastly refused to look round. The mikoshi, however, were largely clean, and the iwakura stones were untouched, with a flame burning deep within them.

Shiraishi finished the harae norito and stepped up to swing the ohnusa over them. Akiko ducked her head as waves of light swept out, and when she looked up again the men were all clean, so she risked a glance round at the women. Also clean.

Ready, she thought.

Shiraishi stepped forward again, to kneel in front of the iwakura and begin intoning the norito asking the Aramitama to send his spirit into the mikoshi. As she intoned the prayer, Akiko saw the flame within the iwakura stir, and start to dance. It pulsed in time with the words, sinking down further each time the priest paused, until nothing remained but a tiny kernel of light.

It exploded outwards, flame engulfing the stones and towering into the air, a wave of heat washing over Akiko as the flames wrapped around each other, and split apart, coiling in the air, taking on shapes. A dragon and a phoenix hung in the sky for a moment, looking down on the gathered people. Then they dived, flying through the crowds, Akiko’s stomach lurching as the phoenix passed through her, before rising back into the air at the shrine boundary and returning to the mikoshi.

Slowly, gently, the phoenix landed on the rim of the bucket, flaring its wings out forward to cover the container, while the dragon gripped the spear, coiling its body around the shaft, its head lying along the blade. As the norito came to an end, both faded, disappearing within the structures of the mikoshi.

Akiko realised she had been holding her breath, and let it out, slowly.

Shiraishi stood, and turned to face them.

“Take up the mikoshi!”

They all stood, jostling round the mikoshi as they found their places, lifting it onto their shoulders. Akiko was glad they had made them light.

“Turn around!”

Carefully, they turned the mikoshi, to face out of the shrine. Akiko realised that she was holding her breath again, and forced herself not to.

“Go!”

They ran forward.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 42 | 3 Comments »

It didn’t take long for the mikoshi to stop feeling light. They were barely down the steps — behind the men, unfortunately — when they had to stop trying to hurry, sweat already pouring off them in the heat of the twilight. Akiko carried the mikoshi for as long as she could, and Kazumi and Noriko had already dropped off for a break before she gave up, her shoulder too sore to continue. Mrs Tanaka took her place, with a surprising amount of energy and enthusiasm, even leading the other women in a chant. Grinning, Akiko joined in as soon as she caught her breath.

There were quite a few people by the roadside, gathered in small groups, with cameras. Akiko winced a little at the flashes, but reflected that it was inevitable, really. She glanced down again, to check that her happi coat was in place, and got nudged by Kazumi.

“Don’t think about it,” she whispered. “You’re doing nothing wrong; what does it matter if something slips out?”

Akiko looked across at her, and the girl’s face was surprisingly sincere. Akiko couldn’t think of anything to say; Kazumi had a point, but…

To have something else to think about, she switched her vision over, and almost stumbled. The dragon was visible again, coiled around the spear, its light pulsing brightly, occasional tongues of flame detaching from its body to consume the kegare over the houses. The polluted spirits clinging to the roofs of the houses were disappearing as they approached, and ahead of them, where the men had already passed, she could see that the road itself, and the people waiting, were clean.

“Hey, look!” Kazumi sounded excited, and it broke Akiko’s concentration, so that she saw the ordinary scene again. Ahead of them, a family was waiting outside their house — with rows of drinking bottles on a table.

Akiko gladly took the offered bottle, and made sure that they had enough for the women who didn’t have hands free.

“Looks fun!” said the woman, as she handed over the bottles.

“It is. You should join in next time,” Kazumi replied, making her laugh.

“Maybe…”

The water seemed to restore Akiko’s energy, and she slipped back in to carrying the mikoshi, resting it on her other shoulder this time. It even felt a bit lighter, and, glancing at the others, she started up the chant again.

“Yo-sha!” They were picking up the pace again, and the men came back into sight.

“We’re gaining!” Akiko wasn’t sure who had said it, but they could all see it.

“Faster!”

“We can catch them!”

The men had heard them, of course, and glanced back, before sending up a shout of their own, and putting on speed.

Akiko’s vision switched by itself, and the light dazzled her. The phoenix was spread out over the men’s mikoshi, its fiery wings brushing the houses to either side, tumbling kegare from them and sending spirits scurrying for cover, those that were too slow bursting into flames. She glanced up at their own mikoshi, where the dragon, its claws firmly gripping the frame, rippled in the air, flying, sheets of flame sloughing off to further purify the area around them. It was bigger now, and brighter.

And helping to carry the mikoshi.

“Yo-sha! Catch them!” Akiko shouted, and pushed herself into a run.

The mikoshi seemed to weigh nothing at all.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 42 | 7 Comments »

“If you let us past, you can stare at our bottoms!” Akiko just about had enough breath to laugh at Kazumi’s comment.

“Nice try. Afterwards!” was the reply that came back, although Akiko couldn’t see who said it. They were very nearly back at the shrine now, and they were only a short distance behind the men, who were constantly looking back, and going just fast enough to stay ahead. They also looked quite tired, and even with what Akiko was sure was the kami’s help, she was very glad that they were almost back to the shrine.

The men went round a corner ahead of them, and a cheer went up, Akiko assumed from people waiting at the entrance to the shrine; moments later her guess was confirmed.

“We have to pass them before the steps.” Mrs Tanaka was behind Akiko, and sounded very determined. “Far too narrow on the way up.” The old woman’s stamina had astounded Akiko, but her competitive spirit was, by now, a bit less of a surprise. She looked around, and there were a number of nods.

“Make them fight for it, at least.”

“Sei-no. Yosh!” Akiko shouted, and they all put all their strength into it. Akiko could have sworn she felt a touch of fire on her back, as they caught up to the back of the men’s mikoshi, and then started moving forward. The men, startled, looked sideways, and for a moment Akiko was looking straight at Akira, for the first time in a while. His eyes dropped, then he blushed, and lost his rhythm for a moment, stumbling. Akiko grinned to herself, and the women made it further forward, the front of their mikoshi drawing level with the men’s.

Unfortunately, they were on the outside, the men having quickly taken the shrine’s side of the road. The entrance was getting closer, with shouts of encouragement from the waiting crowds, and if they could just pull ahead, maybe they could block the men, and get onto the steps first…

“Yo-sha!”

With a shout, and what sounded like groans, the men started to pull ahead again, and although Akiko tried to accelerate she just didn’t have anything left. Neither, it seemed, did the other women, and the men pulled ahead further as Akiko realised that the women were giving up. We’d need to jump over them now, she thought. She was vaguely aware of a stirring from the dragon, but didn’t risk making further contact. The Aramitama was not as careful about injuries as she would have liked.

The men were cheering and shaking the mikoshi violently as they climbed the steps, sure that they were going to win.

“Are we going to let them gloat like that?” Mrs Tanaka asked. “All together now: Yo-sha!” Grinning, Akiko joined in the shouts, as did the others. Maybe they could drown them out, even if they couldn’t beat them. Kazumi started shaking their mikoshi as well, and everyone else joined in, to much cheering and applauding from the sidelines.

Akiko assumed that only she saw the waves of light shaken from the mikoshi, and that only she saw the kegare being burned from the spectators as it flowed over them.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 42 | 3 Comments »

Akiko shifted slightly in place, trying to calm herself as she knelt in front of the iwakura, dressed in her miko’s vestments. It was fully dark now, the precincts lit by large braziers burning wood, two of which stood near her, the firelight playing over the stones so that they almost seemed to be dancing themselves. She could see Kazumi and Shiraishi raising the white curtains around her, and hear the murmuring of the spectators. Most of them were staying to see what came after the secret ceremony, it seemed.

Kazumi and Shiraishi knelt off to each side, and bowed towards her. Taking a deep breath, Akiko bowed to the iwakura, her face touching the ground. Bowed again, her mind clearing of everything except the dance. She clapped, and thought she heard echoes. The second time she was sure she did, the scatter of sound bouncing back from the rocks. She bowed once more, then calmly took up the mask and placed it over her face. Kazumi got up, moving round behind her, and tied the cords to hold it in place. Then she bowed, and returned to her seat as Akiko watched herself stand up.

I am in the iwakura, she realised. The kami is in me.

She reached down, picking up the sakaki branches laid in front of her, and stood smoothly, her strange perspective causing no problems at all. She raised both sakaki vertically, and bowed, towards the iwakura, towards the place whence she was looking out.

And she danced. As she moved, the flames of the braziers flared up, dimmed down, guttered like candles, cast strange shadows across the curtains, and then, in one dazzling flare, went out.

There were two points of light in the darkness, fixed in a pair, moving up and down, towards her and away. My eyes, she suddenly realised. A fire burned in them, the only light now in utter darkness, but still she danced, the ground firm under her feet. Even through the sandals she could feel every blade of grass, every particle of soil as it moved beneath her. She looked down, and the points of light vanished, as she swept the sakaki along the ground, the gentle smell of the bruised leaves filling her nostrils for a moment. The rasping sound of the leaves drawing across the soil drowned out the noises from the crowd beyond the curtain, without seeming to get any louder, and then the silence was complete.

She was still dancing, but there was no sound in the darkness, no scent of grass, no sense of wind on her skin or ground under her feet. Nothing but her awareness of her own body, her right arm stretching heavenwards as her left drew close to her chest, touched her chest.

But she couldn’t feel it. There was nothing but the dance. Nothing but the movements. Nothing but a pattern of limbs in space, a pattern that cried something out, as she jumped, from nothing into nothing.

And landed in blinding light as the earth rang under her like a bell.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 42 | 3 Comments »

Her vision did not clear, and slowly she realised that she was wreathed in flame, that the light blinding her was the fire up against her skin. But the mask protected her, and she did not burn. She took a cautious step forward, and the ground rang again, smooth and slick under her foot, like metal. She looked down, but there was nothing but light. The feel of her vestments on her skin reminded her of what Yoshiko had said; it seemed that the mask really was protecting her clothes as well, this time.

She knelt on the ground, bowing her head respectfully, and waited. There was a humming in the air, a tension. The anticipation leaked into Akiko, and she felt her heart speeding up, her breathing becoming shallow and rapid, as fear and hope tumbled over one another in her stomach.

And she could see herself, kneeling on white-hot metal, the mask still firmly fixed over her face, the red and white of the vestments barely visible in the light. But she, she was in the fire now, and could feel it gathering, drawing in, becoming denser, a swirling mass in her centre.

She moved, in a direction she could not name, and was within the iwakura, looking out, light spilling from the stones and illuminating Kazumi and Shiraishi, who seemed frozen in place. Between them, two sakaki branches hung in the air, caught in the moment of falling to earth.

There was kegare there, too, and it was not frozen, writhing in the earth, flowing through the air, battening on the grass, drawing the life from every stem. Strands of the black web were already reaching into Shiraishi and Kazumi, threatening the lights that shone in the cores of their beings. Akiko felt the anger of the Aramitama, and her own anger at the pollution rose up to join it, as the light boiled out of the iwakura, catching the lines of kegare, igniting them so that they blazed with a furious white light for a moment before vanishing. The fierce exultation of the Aramitama merged with Akiko’s own feeling, as it paused for a moment at the curtains, before surging through.

The spectators were also frozen, most looking towards the curtains, but others concentrating on the food they had just bought, or on other attendees.

Kegare ran through them, reaching out from the ground to join the dark shapes that writhed and boiled in their hearts, pollution and weakness settled into their souls, eating them from within. Akiko felt an overwhelming surge of disgust, transforming into bitter anger, rage against anyone who brought such pollution into the kami’s home, a rage that wanted to burn, to cleanse, to leave the shrine pure.

As it started to move, Akiko’s mind exploded in panic. It is going to kill them all! She struggled to pull it back, pleading with it to wait, to think, but it was like beating the seats of a train; the Aramitama was moving forward, every moment stretched out in Akiko’s awareness as the flames reached towards the first of the spectators, the one closest to the curtains.

Satomi.

The corruption was lodged deep in her heart, running through her whole body, bursting through the skin even now, pestilent mouths searching for the streams in the air. She was a plague, a rot. She carried decay.

She is my friend.

I am not here, Akiko suddenly realised. I am seeing through the Aramitama, but I am in my body. And with that, she knew what she had to do, though her mind shied away from it. As she hesitated, the flames moved closer to Satomi.

She reached up, behind her head, and felt the threads holding the mask. For a moment, her courage failed, but then she imagined Satomi burning, not just in a vision, not just for a moment, and slipped the knot.

The mask fell.

Akiko was looking out of her eyes, but she could see nothing as the agony swept through her, clothes gone in a moment, flesh curling and falling away as her body was consumed to ash, to dust, to nothing.

She was in the Aramitama as it swept towards Satomi, and now it was the easiest thing in the world to sweep it aside, swing round her, and then dive in, focusing on the kegare, following the lines of corruption into her heart even as the pollution flexed and twisted to escape, not even attempting to strike back.

As if it could strike back against the inferno.

The fire pierced into Satomi’s heart, consuming every last trace of kegare, and the woman’s life was, for the briefest of moments, utterly open to Akiko. And then it was gone, as the Aramitama swept on, guided by Akiko, striking at the kegare in every spectator, splitting into two streams, then four, then eight, doubling each time until there was a web of fire filling the precincts, linking all the spectators as their pollution burned away, white fireworks against the dark sky.

The streams of fire merged and flowed out across the shrine, no threat now to the purified spectators, flowing across the open grass, through the house, into the woods, around the base of the sacred tree. All the kegare was burned up, consumed, and the rage began to change, to harden into satisfaction and defiance. The light reached the edge of the precincts.

And stopped. Beyond, a great wall of dark smoke, within which eyes and mouths and insectile limbs and gaping wounds weeping foul liquids moved and hissed and mocked, forbade passage. The light rose up against it, making its own wall, claiming its own ground. The kegare shrank back a little, giving no ground but avoiding contact. The kegare was not afraid, though. Akiko could feel no awareness in it, nothing beyond a mechanical repulsion from the light.

The fire soared upwards above the shrine, cleansing the air, raising a shield over the shrine that covered the trees of the forest, and the air above them, a shield that closed into a burning roof, as the fire poured down again, into the heart of the iwakura, and further down, down into the hill beneath, driving the kegare from the cracks in the stone and awakening something that had been dormant for years.

The hot water rushed up through the rock, bearing Akiko with it, bursting up through the iwakura, bouncing over the rocks to splash onto the ground, which sank away beneath it, forming a pool, a pool that rapidly filled with water. Akiko could feel the water warm on her skin, relaxing, calming, refreshing.

She stood, and stepped out of the water, the mask in her hands, her vestments perfectly dry.

On to Part 7: Spreading the Light.

06: Wild Festival, Episode 42 | 6 Comments »