Kusabi
 This page contains spoilers for a recent release. |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
The Kusabi was an outsider, offered as a human sacrifice to appease the Hellish Abyss in All God's Village. A Kusabi was needed when there were no twins available to perform the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual. The Kusabi's calming effect on the Hellish Abyss was only temporary, and was meant to suffice until a proper Crimson Sacrifice could be offered.[1] The first Kusabi was not an outsider, but rather a Ceremony Master who performed the first Cutting Ritual by slashing himself and sacrificing his own body.[2]
In Fatal Frame II, Deep Crimson Butterfly, and Crimson Butterfly Remake the vengeful ghost of the last Kusabi to be sacrificed, Seijiro Makabe, is encountered. Although his ritual succeeded, it did not calm the Hellish Abyss as much as the villagers had hoped.[3] After Sae Kurosawa's Crimson Sacrifice Ritual failed, Seijiro Makabe's spirit, alongside Sae's, returned from the Abyss. The vengeful spirit ransacked the Kurosawa House and slashed all the people in the Great Hall, as well as those who tried to flee, to death.
The Kusabi's spirit, called Rope Man, or The Bound Man in Fatal Frame: Deep Crimson Butterfly, serves as one of the two possible final bosses of the game.
Fatal Frame II
The first phase of the Hidden Ceremony was the Cutting Ritual, which took place in the Rope Temple. During the Cutting Ritual, the victim's body was bound with ropes and slashed in ritualistic torture by the Veiled Priests. It was believed that the more the individual suffered, the greater the calming effect on the Hellish Abyss.[1]
After being tortured in the Cutting Ritual, the Kusabi's body was lowered into the Hellish Abyss. In order for the ritual to succeed, the Kusabi still had to be alive at this point. Those who failed to survive the Cutting Ritual were not considered suitable offerings. Their bodies were buried in a chamber beside the Underground Passageway.[4] After death, some of the Kusabi's severed body parts would be interred and enshrined at a grave mound called the Umbral Mound, hidden behind Minakami Cemetery and guarded by Mourners. This was an attempt to appease the spirits of those who died such a painful and unnatural death and seal away their resentment.[5][6]
Known Victims of the Kusabi
Fatal Frame III
A Kusabi also appears in Fatal Frame III in the Minakami Village areas. This Kusabi has a different appearance and it is likely that it is not Seijiro Makabe, but a previous Kusabi sacrifice. The Japanese spirit list states he was an outsider who wandered into Minakami Village and was made into a Kusabi, and was then drawn into the Manor of Sleep through Mio's nightmares.[7]
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake
In the remake of Fatal Frame II, the Kusabi becomes an even more threatening presence. During Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 he roams Kurosawa House, pursuing Mio and Mayu whenever they encounter him, and in Chapter 5 he leaves the mansion and is encountered several times around the village, searching for survivors. In Chapter 8 he pursues Mio and Mayu to the Old Tree and attacks Mio at the Umbral Mound.
Gallery
-
The Kusabi in Fatal Frame III -
The Kusabi's appearance in Deep Crimson Butterfly -
The Kusabi's appearance in Deep Crimson Butterfly
Misc. Information
- The Kusabi is one of the very few enemies in the series that instantly kills you with one touch.
- In Fatal Frame II the Kusabi cannot be harmed until the end of the final chapter.
- The ropes used to bind the Kusabi in the Cutting Ritual are sacred braided rice straw ropes with zig-zag paper streamers (注連縄, shimenawa and 紙垂, shide, respectively), and are used in the Shinto religion to mark sacred spaces.
- The Kusabi's body in ghost form is covered with talismans (御札, ofuda).
- In Fatal Frame II, when he appears in the Great Hall, the Kusabi's spirit has no right arm where it should be. His arm can clearly be seen tied to his body in the inverse direction. It may have been removed during the Cutting Ritual and then tied back to his body before being thrown into the Hellish Abyss. His boss fight at the Sacrificial Altar uses a different model with both arms still attached.
- The word Kusabi means "wedge, linchpin".
- In the Japanese version of Fatal Frame II, Kusabi were described as a type of hitobashira, though this was not directly translated into English.[8][9]
See Also
- For other hostile ghosts, see Hostile Ghosts.
- For other rituals in Fatal Frame II, see Fatal Frame II Rituals.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ritual Tome, Fatal Frame II
- ↑ Mio's Memo: Hidden Ceremony, Fatal Frame II
- ↑ Ceremony Master's Note 4, Fatal Frame II
- ↑ Fatal Frame II Spirit List, Entry #142.
- ↑ Glossary: The Umbral Mound, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake Digital Deluxe Art Book, 2026.
- ↑ Folklorist's Note 10, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake
- ↑ Fatal Frame III Spirit List Entry #19: "皆神村に迷い込み、楔とされてしまったマレビト。澪の悪夢の為、村の一部と供に眠りの家に引き込まれた。"
- ↑ 儀式ノ書 人柱, 零～紅い蝶～
- ↑ 楔となった学者, 零～紅い蝶～