Timeline (FF5)

This timeline covers the events of Fatal Frame V and the history of Mount Hikami. Very few specific dates are mentioned in the game itself, but it is possible to make approximate guesses based on hints from the story and information gleaned from the rest of the Fatal Frame series.

For a general overview of major events in the series, see Series Timeline.

Early History

Long ago, according to legend, the Black Water overflowed from the Shadowspring, but its progress was halted by three shrine maidens who sacrificed themselves as Pillars. A religion of water-worship centred on Mount Hikami springs up and spreads throughout the Mikomori Region. A complex interweaving of different religious rituals - including doll funerals, Ghost Marriage, fire worship, suicidal pilgrimage, and human sacrifice - takes shape on the mountain, which is seen as a border between the world of the living and the Netherworld.

Kunihiko Asou's Childhood

Most likely in the late Edo period.

• As a child, Kunihiko Asou meets a shrine maiden named Shiragiku on Mount Kagiroi, and they become friends.
• Shiragiku has a near-death experience, but recovers to find Asou beside her.
• This brush with death causes her to become a stronger sacrifice, so the people of the mountain decide to send her to be sunk in a Casket on Mount Hikami.
• Shiragiku hears about the practice of Ghost Marriage, and decides she wants Asou as her partner.
• Before Shiragiku enters her Casket, Asou takes a lock of her hair as a token, and promises to come back for her one day.
• Shiragiku is placed in a black box and conveyed to Mount Hikami.
• Asou begins to doubt his memory of the ritual, and comes to believe it was only a dream.
• Shiragiku's lock of hair is kept in a storehouse belonging to an Asou branch family named Hojo.

Kunihiko Asou's Youth

Around 10-15 years later.

• Ose Kurosawa's family die in a flood.
• Ose becomes a Maiden of Black Water on Mount Hikami.
• Ose Glances the souls of many visitors to the mountain, until her heart is about to overflow and she is ready to be sacrificed.
• Ose is chosen to replace the Great Pillar of the mountain, which is nearing collapse.
• Asou becomes a student and begins work on the first Camera Obscura. He is known in the area around Mount Hikami for his Postmortem Photographs.
• Word of Asou's work reaches Mount Hikami, and he is invited to visit in order to take a photograph of Ose.
• Asou and Ose meet and instantly fall in love. Ose reads his mind and learns how he feels about her.
• Ose entertains a secret wish to live on and be with Asou, but never speaks her feelings aloud.
• Asou leaves the mountain, taking a copy of Ose's photograph with him.
• Ose makes her way to the Shadowspring to be sunk in the black water.
• Kyozo Kururugi forces his way onto the mountain and begins to massacre all the shrine maidens and priests.
• All the pain and fear of the people he slaughtered floods into Ose. Ose is unable to bear the suffering alone while still entertaining doubts caused by Asou, and her ritual fails.
• The mountain is inundated with black water and cursed.
• Asou witnesses the flood from a distance and realises he can never return.

Aftermath
Despite the disaster, the rituals of the mountain continued. Young girls were summoned from the surrounding area to become Pillars, and Outsiders were called to the House of Joining to perform the Ghost Marriage and comfort the Pillars in their reliquaries. In time, the waters of the mountain ran pure again. Nevertheless, it remained a more dangerous place than before, and visitors were at risk of being pulled into the Netherworld.

20th Century

Dates unknown.

• Keiji Watarai, a folklorist, has a house built on Mount Hikami so he can study its history. He befriends a local innkeeper named Harakawa, who has an interest in the postmortem photographs of Dr. Asou.
• Watarai finds Ose's photograph lying on a path lined with higanbana. Her beauty curses him, and not long afterwards, he is spirited away, along with his house.
• Some time later, the innkeeper Harakawa is spirited away as well, and his son takes over management of the inn.
• Local authorities decide to redevelop the mountain as a tourist attraction. They renovate the Shrine of the Ephemeral and the Shrine of Dolls, build a cable car, and start construction of a road and tunnel. However, the project is plagued with accidents and disappearances, and is finally abandoned after a massive landslide.
• The landslide also kills the innkeeper's family, and he takes his own life soon after.
• Mount Hikami gains a reputation as a suicide spot. Rumours of ghost sightings and mysterious disappearances draw occult enthusiasts.

September 1988

Chronologically, these events take place at the end of Fatal Frame III, although they are only described in supplemental material for Fatal Frame V. See Timeline (FF3) for the events leading up to this.

• In a dream, Miku Hinasaki meets with the ghost of her brother Mafuyu at the Abyss of the Horizon, and conceives a child.

Unknown time between 1988 and 1989

• Miku quits as Rei's assistant and goes to live in a house owned by an old woman she knows.

Around June 1989

Miu Hinasaki is born.

1992

Unknown month

When Miu is three years old.

• Miku feels her death approaching and learns about Ghost Marriage.
• Miku leaves Miu with an acquaintance and goes to Mount Hikami.
• Miku performs the Ghost Marriage ceremony with Mafuyu at the House of Joining and enters a casket.

Between 1992 and 2006

The precise order of events is not known.

• Miu is taken in by Sachi Iyama.
• Hisoka Kurosawa receives a missing person request from Sachi Iyama regarding Miku, but is unable to find her. (As Hisoka would have been around nine years old when Miku went missing, it can be assumed Sachi made this request several years later.)
• Ren spends a summer with the Asou Family on Mount Kagiroi. While there, he finds an old camera put away in a storehouse.
• Ren starts to dream of participating in a ritual in which he kills a girl with a knife.
• Hisoka receives a missing person request regarding Akari Narumi.
• Hisoka finds Akari, but Akari jumps to her death before Hisoka can reach her.
• Five high-school girls - Haruka Momose, Fuyuhi Himino, Tsuyuno, Chiaki and Natsuho - go to Mount Hikami to kill themselves. Haruka and Fuyuhi survive.
• Yuri Kozukata's family are killed in an accident.
• Yuri begins to see ghosts and psychic visions. Her doctor attributes this to mental trauma.
• Yuri goes to the same cliff as Akari, intending to kill herself.
• Hisoka receives a missing person request regarding Yuri and saves her just in time.
• Yuri moves with Hisoka in at Kurosawa Antiques Shop.
• Rui Kagamiya meets Ren Hojo and becomes his assistant.
• Fuyuhi Himino seeks help from Hisoka to find a precious photograph she has lost, and is profoundly grateful when Hisoka manages to find it.
• Miu goes to Mount Hikami looking for her mother and is spirited away.
• Hisoka receives a missing person request regarding Miu, but does not manage to find her.
• Ren asks his friend Kazuya Sakaki to search for an album of postmortem photos on Mount Hikami.
• Kazuya vanishes.
• Ren asks Hisoka to search for both Kazuya and the photo album.
• Haruka Momose disappears on Mount Hikami.
• Hisoka receives a letter from Fuyuhi Himino, asking her to search for Haruka.

2006, events of FF5

When Miu is 17.

Unknown month

First Drop

• Hisoka and Yuri visit Mikomori Hot Springs and successfully locate the album of postmortem photos requested by Ren.
• Ren finds a photograph in the album depicting a scene from a dream he has been having since childhood.

Between First and Second Drop

• Hisoka sets out to look for Haruka and disappears.

Second Drop

• Several days later, Fuyuhi visits the antiques shop to ask for help again. Unwilling to wait any longer, she decides to go to Mount Hikami alone.
• Yuri follows Fuyuhi to the Unfathomable Forest.
• Fuyuhi kills herself in front of Yuri's eyes.

Third Drop

• Ren and Rui visit Ichiru Manor, where Hisoka found the photo album. Rui is almost killed by a ghost.

Interlude

• Yuri goes through Hisoka's missing person files and takes on her unsolved cases.

Fourth Drop

• Yuri returns to the mountain and finds Haruka.
• Yuri and Haruka return to Kurosawa Antiques, but Haruka disappears in the night.

Fifth Drop

• Ren receives a strange phone call from Kazuya Sakaki, which leads him to the Watarai Residence on Mount Hikami.

Sixth Drop

• Yuri goes to the mountain in search of Miu Hinasaki.
• Yuri finds Miu in a reliquary and they return to the shop.

Seventh Drop

• Yuri goes to the Lake of the Departed to look for Hisoka, but is chased away by a powerful hostile spirit dressed as a bride in black clothes.

Eight Drop

• That night, the mountain rumbles, and beings from the other world appear in Kurosawa's Antiques.
• While the girls sleep, Ren fights off a succession of spirits.
• Yuri and Rui are spirited away.
• Miu takes Yuri's Camera Obscura and goes to look for her.

Ninth Drop

• Miu finds Yuri walking out into the Lake of the Departed and stops her. The two are chased away once more by the ghost of the bride in black, and forced to return home.

Tenth Drop

• Ren finds Rui in a reliquary in the Watarai Residence.

Eleventh Drop

• Miu returns to the mountain once again in search of her mother.
• Miu reaches the House of Joining and pulls Miku out of her casket.
• Miu and Miku return to the shop and fall asleep side by side.

Twelfth Drop

• Continuing her search for Hisoka, Yuri crosses to the Shrine on the Water.
• Hisoka is inside, but is possessed by a spirit, which Yuri must fight.
• Yuri and Hisoka return home together.

Thirteenth Drop

• As a midnight sunset glares down on the shop, Ren once more fights off a series of spirits come down from the mountain.

Final Drop

• Yuri returns to the mountain to seek the Shadowspring beyond the Shrine on the Water.
• Ren returns to the mountain to seek the House of Joining, leaving Rui asleep in the shop.
• Miu wakes to find her mother gone, and follows her through Twilit Peak, all the way to the shores of the Lake of the Departed.
• Ren is able to choose between Ose Kurosawa and Shiragiku to trigger four different possible endings.
• Miu and Miku walk through the lake to the border of the land of the dead. Miu begs Miku not to leave. Miku promises she is not going anywhere.
• Depending on the ending, Miku will fade away, or Miu will wake back in the antiques shop to find Miku still beside her. It is not known which ending is canon.
• Yuri finds Ose Kurosawa waiting by the Black Lake, and the final battle commences. Yuri glances Ose's soul.
• Because of the understanding between them, Ose asks Yuri to die with her so neither of them will be alone. Hisoka tries to prevent it, but is too late to keep Yuri from jumping to her death. +
  

OR

• Consoled by Yuri's sympathy, Ose is restored to her former beauty, and returns to her casket, taking the black water with her. Yuri and Hisoka are reunited at the Lake of the Departed. +

+ It is not known which ending is canon.

• Ren returns to Rui's side, and is there when she wakes up. (Scene only plays after Yuri's Bride from Black Water Ending.)