Tengai Narumi

Tengai Narumi
"It must not be spread. The Unleashing cannot be allowed to continue."
Japanese	鳴海 天涯 なるみ てんがい
Alias	Hidden Face Man
Occupation	Shrine Carpenter
Cause of Death	Committed suicide to contain the Rift
Encounter	Spirit Tree Garden
Games	Fatal Frame III
Notes	Map with a Mark

Tengai Narumi is a ghost who appears in Fatal Frame III.

Background

Tengai was a young Shrine Carpenter. His family, the Narumi clan, had been in service to the Kuze Shrine for some generations before the Unleashing. Apart from normal carpentry, their role was to kill carpenters who had worked on secret areas of the shrine, to ensure their silence. According to supplementary material, several members of the Narumi clan were killed in this way following major repair work to the shrine two generations before Yashuu Kuze.

It was said that Tengai surpassed his predecessors in skill, and he was chosen to become Master Builder. As was custom, the special techniques, methods and ways of mystic construction used by the shrine carpenters were entrusted to him, to pass on to the next generation of carpenters. Like the other shrine carpenters that he worked with, Tengai wore white clothing and a court hat. He also wore a mask that covered his face.

After the Unleashing

When the Unleashing occurred, the Tattooed Priestess wandered the Manor of Sleep as if in a dream, everywhere she roamed being engulfed by the Rift. Tengai Narumi and nine other top shrine carpenters were summoned by the Kuze Family Head to seal the Kuze Shrine to prevent the Rift from spreading.

The Shrine Carpenters first repaired the Engraving Shrine and built the new section of the Manor of Sleep. The old section of the manor was separated from the new section by the Grave Courtyard. Then they sealed the Engraving Shrine into a great cavern that would never see the light of day again. The door leading to the courtyard of the shrine was then boarded up. Next, the Shrine of the Rift, a hidden shrine, was constructed over the door as a seal to ensure that the Tattooed Priestess wandered forever and never escaped. None of these measures were enough to halt the Rift in its continual spreading.

Tengai was aware of this and ordered the Shrine Carpenters to build the Shrine of Sleep. The Shrine of Sleep was placed inside a dream to prevent the Priestess from escaping and spreading the Rift into the outside world. Instructions were given to the Kuze Family Head to build onto the Shrine of Sleep whenever the priestess became restless.

Next, the Shrine Carpenters needed to be made into Sacrificial Pillars. Tengai regretted having to do this; however, he knew he was obligated to fulfill this duty as the Master Builder. The Shrine Carpenters were gathered into a room to be killed, many of them tried to flee when they realized this. The Engraved Men, four members of the Moriya family marked by the tattoo stood in different rooms in the manor and killed the carpenters when they tried to escape. All of the carpenters were eventually hunted down and killed. Their bodies were arranged and sealed into the walls of what would become the Stained Corridor, and in the Grave Courtyard in an attempt to purify the darkness of the Rift. Afterwards, the Engraved Men sacrificed their lives to become Sacrificial Pillars as well. They were used to fortify the Rift Shrine.

Under normal circumstances, Tengai, as the Master Builder, would have been spared the fate of the other carpenters and allowed to live in order to pass on the craft to the next Master Builder. As construction proceeded, however, both he and the Kuze Family Head came to understand that extraordinary measures would be needed to contain the Rift, and Tengai must then take his own life to hinder its spread. He prepared himself to become the cornerstone as a sacrifice to help fortify the Rift Shrine even further. His last words to the Kuze Family Head were likely: "All the sacrifices have been gathered. I myself shall be the final sacrifice." He sealed himself into the room that is in the center of the Stained Corridor and committed suicide (likely by stabbing himself with his hatchet). Buried near him was the Map with a Mark. When Tengai Narumi took his own life he took the secrets of the Shrine Carpenters' craft with him.

Fatal Frame III

After his death Tengai's spirit became attached to the Manor of Sleep. His spirit continuously wanders the manor, in search of more victims to make into Sacrificial Pillars. He also attempts to prevent those roaming the manor from opening the Rift Shrine seal that prevents access to the Engraving Shrine. He is a very aggressive ghost, charging the player and attacking with a bloody hatchet, and he is the very first hostile ghost Rei Kurosawa encounters in the game.

Misc. Info

• During the framework-raising ceremony a photograph was taken of the shrine carpenters. Tengai can be seen standing in the middle of the picture.
• Another file photo shows Tengai going to his death in the Stained Corridor.
• He drops the Simulacrum Mask in the Grand Hall in the Himuro Mansion section of the Manor of Sleep.
• Places you usually encounter him include the Spirit Tree Garden and the Grand Hall.
• The speaker in the series of "The Same Dream" testimonies encountered Tengai Narumi's ghost in the Manor.

See Also

• For other rituals in Fatal Frame III, see Fatal Frame III Rituals.
• For other hostile ghosts in the Fatal Frame Series, see Hostile Ghosts.