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Kapitel 47

"Does such an ignorant law really exist?"

"Yes, it was established in response to the petitions of the Physicians' Association and other enlightened individuals at the time. Besides, many prohibitions on sorcery, such as the ban on Shugendo and the ban on spirit coal, were already established in the early Meiji period. So—well, Grandfather, for someone who strictly adhered to the law, a hypnotist expert was the same as a thief expert, and clairvoyance was no different from petty theft. Doing so was tantamount to saying that his wife was a habitual petty thief. Of course, he was angry when a thief expert praised her."

"A thousand-mile-sighted person leading a sheep."

Bird Mouth repeated the phrase, seemingly quite fond of it.

"Speaking of which, Bird Mouth, what's written on the note in the pot?"

Kyogoku-do can maintain his own pace no matter what situation he encounters.

"I heard it says something like '魍魑' written in Chinese characters."

"Wangliang?"

A look of confusion appeared on Kyogoku-do's face. I was completely baffled at first, but I quickly realized it was because of those two unlucky characters with the "ghost" radical.

"Is '魍魉' the same as '魑魅魉' (chī mèi yáng liǎng)?"

"I don't know, but the old man at the bathhouse said it's a very difficult Chinese character to write. I don't know which characters you're referring to as '魑魅魍'. Anyway, the cult leader seems to sense something as soon as he sees these two characters."

"What did you sense?"

"Inspiration."

"After seeing the demon?"

"Yes, after seeing the demon. Then his behavior started to become strange. At most, he was just withdrawn, but he was still a normal person. But after seeing the words, he stopped talking. After putting the demon into the pot and closing the lid, he put it back in the box untouched. Then he told the bathhouse old man to get out of there. It was very annoying. So the bathhouse old man got angry and hasn't spoken to him since. He's very stubborn, that bathhouse old man—"

These things are not important at all.

However, before being reminded, Toriguchi proactively corrected his course.

"After the New Year, nothing happened for a month. Then, after two or three months, believers started coming and going. The neighbors certainly didn't expect the box house to have become a god. They thought most of those people were there to order boxes. And I heard that most of the visitors were actually people from the doll industry, wholesalers, and other industries who regularly ordered boxes. It seems that it started with the doll industry as the center. The name 'Ookura-gami' was just what those people were used to calling him. And they were still making boxes at that time. In the summer, a new regular customer came and made a lot of large wooden boxes—this is what the tofu shop owner said."

"And that's how he became an overnight sensation?"

I often hear about these kinds of stories.

Especially these kinds of dubious paranormal rumors always spread quite quickly.

"But—it didn't become an instant success. As for whether the number of followers gradually increased or the scale grew—not really. The result was the same as before, a slow and steady operation. However, I heard from the old man at the bathhouse that one day suddenly many workers..."

People flocked to the container house factory to carry out renovation work. While the exterior remained untouched, the original factory area inside was completely demolished and replaced with paved floors.

Wooden planks were laid on top. The living area was also modified, creating a prayer room that resembled an altar and was decorated with Girls' Day dolls. The old man at the bathhouse was...

Because I live next door, I could see it through the wall. The other neighbors had no idea what was happening.

"Suddenly—?"

"I heard it was really sudden. Soon after, the renovation was completed, and the billboard, which had been left unattended for twenty years, was transformed by Terada Woodworking Works into a sacred object for sealing away evil spirits. The box house thus officially became a sacred object for sealing away evil spirits."

However, the local residents still didn't know what had happened. The increase in worshippers came after that. Improvements were completed at the end of August, and the steady stream of worshippers didn't begin until around October. For example, the old woman in the mandarin orange hut thought the box hut was still making boxes.

Kyogoku-do scratched at his face, then his hand gradually moved upwards and began scratching his head.

It seems like something is wrong.

"so,"

Kyogoku-do asked:

"So it seems they didn't gradually increase their followers through word of mouth, but rather prepared to accommodate them first. Then the followers responded and flocked in in large numbers?"

"Yes. It's probably because it was originally a store that sold boxes, so if you're going to do something, you have to start with the containers. It wasn't that the number of believers increased so much that they had nowhere to house them, so they converted it. After that, in less than a year, the number of believers increased to one hundred."

"I want to know who Terada Hei first helped solve his troubles. In everything—the beginning is the most important."

"You mean—the first person to come for help? I'll go check it out."

Bird Mouth took out the manual and wrote it down.

"Hey, Kyogoku-do. It's certainly interesting to see an ordinary person become a medium with special abilities. I'm also curious about who the first follower is and what they said to each other. But it's pointless to have Shimaguchi investigate; it's just a waste of time. It has absolutely nothing to do with the dismemberment murder case."

"That's not the case. I need to know what the trigger was."

"Wasn't the trigger Dr. Fry's box? No, it should be the note with the word 'Wraith' written on it." "That might be the holy artifact that triggered his sadness, but it has nothing to do with psychic powers. As I said before, psychic powers are not a physical ability but a technology. What I want to know is how he learned this technology."

Kyogoku-do's face darkened further, and he shifted his gaze from me to Sekiguchi.

"What did he do next?"

"Okay, okay, I've been waiting for you to ask this for a long time. I even mentioned it the day before yesterday. He doesn't do anything. At most, he listens to people complain about their troubles."

He lectures and instructs people to live honestly and uprightly. However, while listening to their troubles, he might say things the visitor hadn't said before, which is why the visitor trusts him.

"I understand. Toriguchi, he didn't guess something the client didn't know, nor was it a secret. Nor was it something that would happen in the future; it was simply something he hadn't told Terada, right?"

“That’s right, but believers can be deceived, because I’ve been deceived too. Furthermore, Terada’s teachings are really simple. He wants people to remove the barriers first. No matter if a house is in a town or a city, things will grow in places with poor ventilation and poor drainage: the same goes for the heart. If there are barriers, bad things will emerge. It’s that simple.”

"Heart barrier?"

What is the barrier of the mind? I do have some knowledge of psychology and psychopathology, of course, because I myself was once a patient with depression who needed treatment. I have this less-than-glorious experience.

Based on my limited knowledge, I speculate that it is probably similar to the concept of "defense mechanism" in psychology.

But Bird Mouth's explanation is completely different.

"The so-called mental barriers, simply put, are things like desire and lying. The despicable mentality of wanting money, wanting things, wanting everything is the root cause of accumulating ill-gotten gains. Once you've accumulated wealth, you don't want to let go, and you want to accumulate even more, right? That's human nature. But this kind of attachment is very bad. Because of this attachment, people are constantly comparing themselves to others, competing with them, which in turn breeds the desire to be better than others. This is the source of a vicious cycle—"

Uh! That's right.

However, this is not a particularly insightful perspective.

I said this view was quite common, and Bird Mouth agreed.

"Is this the barrier of the mind?"

"Yes. If one continues to live such a morally reprehensible and base life, base thoughts will soon arise. And base wealth born from base thoughts will cloud the mind, causing the flow of energy to become stagnant. Then, bad things will emerge from this blockage."

It emerged from the void, and this is precisely the cause of misfortune. The cult leader helps people remove and drive away this evil thing. Then, people need to maintain their mental health to prevent a recurrence.

Contrary to my expectations, it seems to be a rather boring doctrine.

"This is less a doctrine and more a moral exhortation. He wouldn't use such a doctrine to encourage people to abandon desires, live a simple life, be content with what they have, not compare themselves with their neighbors, and advocate a frugal lifestyle, would he?"

"No, that's exactly it."

Bird Mouth spoke very simply, looking at me with a dazed expression.

It's unbearable. Are believers really so obsessed with this naive doctrine that anyone could understand, that they're willing to give away their entire fortunes?

Kyogoku-do said:

"This is a common tactic. Even that old lady at the convenience store could say something like this. No, I think she might be even more obvious about it when lecturing her grandson. But that's where the opportunity lies."

"How can one board a plane? Are the public really that ignorant?"

"As a representative of the ignorant masses, what gives Sekiguchi Tatsumi the right to feign such an arrogant attitude of being above the law? Listen carefully to what he says all day long..."

An old woman, annoyed by her grandson's constant runny nose, preaches the method of seeking wisdom through hearing and retaining knowledge; a shopkeeper, consumed by jealousy over her husband's infidelity, expounds on the concept of "Ah"—all to no avail. Before a foolish masses who only pursue worldly gains, no matter how lofty the doctrines, they are powerless. Not only are difficult-to-understand teachings useless, but time-consuming practices and rituals are certainly ineffective. The best approach is to use simple, quick-acting principles that can be practiced tomorrow, immediately—principles as simple as the old lady's sermons at the alleyway. Just add a stimulating ingredient, such as the Buddhist flavor of saving lives and the world, which would be perfect. Perhaps the most effective is the spice of mysticism.

"So that's how it is. So you're using naive doctrines with dubious miracles? You mean this is the specialty of new religions and third-rate psychics?"

That's true, but there's nothing wrong with that. Even top-tier religious groups use this approach. As mentioned before, as long as someone is saved through it, that's enough. However, sometimes even religious groups with originally lofty doctrines, in their quest to increase their followers, replace their noble ideals with vulgar parables, and soon even they themselves can't distinguish which is true. Ultimately, they get their priorities backward, sinking into a sea of mysticism, and being labeled as doubtful and unbelievable by society—such cases are not uncommon.

"I see. The original goal was replaced by the means."

"That's right. However, religions with a guiding ideology are fine, but new religions that lack a guiding ideology often have no choice but to do this. So, while they may become popular for a time, they can't establish a stable foundation. Getting back to the point, what spices did our God of the Mighty Kingdom add when he taught morality?"

"Alright, about this point, the God of Yuju said that whether it's the mind or the house, if it's not clear, that thing called a demon will definitely appear."

"Wangliang?"

"Yes, it is a demon."

"A demon?

Kyogoku-do wore a puzzled expression.

"The Savior said that the emergence of demons is very bad. Believers live in fear every day, afraid that demons will emerge from them. And once they do, there is no other way to be saved except to ask the Lord to seal them into the palace."

Why is it a demon?

Kyogoku-do frowned, as if to say that it shouldn't be a demon.

“Wangliang”.

Xia Mujin, who had been sleeping peacefully, suddenly sprang up as if he had a spring in his body.

"Brother Xia, what's wrong? So you've been listening the whole time?"

"Of course I'm listening. But speaking of which, what exactly is this 'wraith'?"

"I'd like to know that too. It would be easier to report it if I knew first."

Upon hearing Torikochi's words, Natsukizu said, "Great minds think alike," and then laughed.

"Isn't '魍魉' a general term for monsters? Am I right, Kyogoku-do?"

That's all I know about spirits. So I don't find the idea of spirits appearing around the God of the Ooku no Tsurugi any strange. It sounds a bit novel, but to me it's the same as saying a ghost appears or a monster emerges.

Kyogoku-do raised one eyebrow and glared at me, saying:

"If we use '魑蛙魍魉' together, it is indeed the same as what Guan Gukou said, an idiom that is not much different from [demons and monsters]. But if we separate them, they are slightly different. '魑' means mountain, and '魅' is pronounced as [sudama]: referring to a kind of long-lived spirit."

However, the distinction between "wangliang" and "liang" is quite vague. For example, "wangliang" is sometimes considered to belong to the same category as monsters called "wangliang," "fangliang," or "wangxiang," thus blurring the lines between the two.

"I'm a little confused here. Are you saying that the demon is different from monsters like the kappa and tengu?"

"There's no difference, but your statement that you're a little confused is actually the correct answer. You can tell from the characters that this kind of monster is related to China, but in China, the 'wangliang' was already a kind of ambiguous monster."

Kyogoku-do, so there are yokai you don't know about? I thought you were some kind of founder of a yokai organization, someone who didn't know anything.

"What monster wouldn't know?"

"The pass. Who was that monster who started it all?"

Kyogoku-do took an old book with Japanese binding from the pile of books behind him.

Judging from the binding, it should be the yokai encyclopedia titled "Gazu Hyakki Yagyō" (Illustrated Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), written by the Edo-period painter Toriyama Sekien. It was one of his favorite books.

Kyogoku-do explained as he flipped through the pages.

"Many people believe that Japanese monsters originated from China, which can be considered both correct and incorrect. Since ancient times, many artifacts have flowed from the mainland to Japan, and monster legends naturally followed. However, it would be a grave mistake to think that Japanese monsters are merely products of Chinese monsters that developed and transformed within their own country. Many places around the world have similar monsters despite no apparent cultural exchange, suggesting that monsters can be seen as a universally emerging culture. Humanity possesses several fundamental elements that can be considered archetypes of monsters, and these elements took shape under the influence of diverse cultures in different regions. Therefore, even if similar monsters exist in different cultures, we cannot definitively conclude that the earlier origin is the true source. It's possible that similar types of things originated simultaneously in various places."

The conversation seems to have moved into a niche that Kyogoku-do excels at.