Bundle of Burned Letters
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It seems you've also come to this island for work. I have come to Rougetsu Island to focus on studying its society.
The culture on this island is interesting. It really stands out with its originality.
The purpse of my latest research is this island's mask. It is known that the mask is related to the island's religion; however, there are still many mysteries.
This is the year of the Rougetsu Kagura which occurs every decade. Many masks are made for the Kagura.
If all goes well, perhaps I might be able to visit the actual place where the island's masks are made.
I think I'm going to stay on the island for a while. Remember my younger sister, Iori? She's also with me.
I'm looking forward to this mysterious Kagura. It's completely adapted for tourists.
Iori wants to meet you and have a drink together when you come to the island. We haven't had many opportunities to drink since becoming productive members of society.
- Kusanagi University Asst. Prof. Takashi Aiba
First of all, the Kagura mask is the part of the ceremony believed to represent the gods. Traditionally, the form of the god for the coming year is unified with the current god during the Kagura.
However, Rougetsu Island's mask is not the face of a god. First of all, this island does not worship a god.
It became known as the Rougetsu Kagura recently, however it was formerly known as the "Kiraigou". The name takes its meaning from an old word wich talks of the return of the dead.
...I think that since masks are put on the faces of the dead, the island's mask perhaps imitates the dead.
Covering the faces of the dead with masks, dancing...
These customs are rarely ever seen...
...This mask is the form of death on the island?
Or perhaps in the form of the dead..?
If you imagine an unchanging dead face, could this eternal face be the true representation of the island's mask? Did the mask used in the Kiraigou have some kind of unique role in the ritual..?
...That is the mask worn by the Utsuwa. The Utsuwa's mask was made before all the other Kagura masks, and these other masks have different origins.
Even among those, I was struck by the prominent prescence of the imitation of the lunar eclipse made by Souetsu Yomotsuki, the Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse.
However, the island fell into ruin when the Utsuwa wearing the Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse Bloomed. After this, its existence became a taboo on the island and even mentioning it is frowned upon.
The mask-making techniques of Souetsu's era were lost as a result of the disaster that once occurred. Other than that, we know nothing of the jet-black mask.
Now, Souya is trying to revive the advanced mask-making techniques of Souetsu's era.
Just maybe, part of the Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse...
...I was told that my sister has a mild case of Getsuyuu Syndrome.
After watching the Rougetsu Kagura, she might get better. Even so, she'll be hospitalised here for the time being. Extended hospitalisation was discussed, but only as an extreme and unlikely option.
I will continue to research the masks.
I did come to the island to visit, but...
- ...a black mask...
...At the time when the dead return,
the dead are all the same formless spirits...
...I cannot imagine the purpose of this mask.
What sort of ritual is it that suggests summoning spirits back from death?
Its peaceful smile is like a Buddha statue.
However, the Buddha statues do not share the primitive sense of emptiness in this mask.
I believed before that they were speaking of death with this mask, but now...
It may be that it isn't death, but something else.
...When I see it, it drags me into the bottom of a deep nothingness.
A feeling of dreadful relief floods into me...
- ...it's so beautiful...
Mask of...the
- Lunar
Ecl ipse
even though...my eyes were....crushed
- I still....looked
I...saw..it
it ' s....be..au
- ti..ful