Rite of Purple Ink

Rite of Purple Ink "Those who would offer their pain to the priestess must allow the red and indigo of living and dead blood to mix together to become the ink of the soul, which is then used to tattoo their pain onto the priestess." Kanji 紫魂ノ儀 Location Kuze Shrine Participants Engravers Frequency Unknown Purpose To create Ink of the soul Game Fatal Frame III

The Rite of Purple Ink is a ritual mentioned in Fatal Frame III.

Preparation

Female tattoo artists from nearby villages were brought to the Kuze Shrine to become Engravers. The Engravers gouged out their own eyes, beginning their lifelong service to the Kuze Shrine. This allowed them to see dreams even while awake and distinguish between the red and Indigo ink. With the ability to see a priestess's dreams, they could also reveal any forbidden attachments she might hold before the Piercing of the Soul could begin. By blinding themselves, the Engravers also relinquished their own attachments to the world, and were able to engrave the tattoos without being led astray by sight.

Worshippers would visit the shrine in a masked procession, carrying the bodies of dead loved ones in wagons. Their names were recorded in their own blood in a register in the Commandment Tome.

The Ritual

The dead body would be suspended between the Buddha statues in the Wooden Figure Room, using the reins held by the statues, and the Engravers would collect their blood as indigo ink. The living worshippers would also offer their own blood as red ink. The two were then mixed.

Result

The mixed blood was the purple Ink of the soul, which was used to etch the priestess with the Snake & Holly Tattoo, allowing the worshippers' pain to be passed on to her. The same ink was used to dye the dolls impaled by the Handmaidens.

Names

In the English translation of FF3, the ceremony is also called the "Rite of Spirits". In both cases the same Japanese phrase is used: 紫魂ノ儀 (lit. Purple Soul Rite).