Face-Cutting
 This page contains spoilers for Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. |
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Face-cutting (顔刈り, literally 'face-pruning' or 'face-reaping', a verb often associated with cutting flowers or grass) was a ritual performed on Rogetsu Isle so that the dead would not Bloom.
Preparation
When somebody who was dying had showed signs of Budding, they would be watched over until they were no longer breathing.[1]
The Ritual
A Shrine Guard who knew the island's ritual traditions would cut the face of the deceased from the body, using a curved blade like a small sickle.[2]
Result
The dead person could not Bloom, and the islanders were protected.
The skin of this face might be used to make ritual masks. A skin removed this way was purified overnight in the Shugen Temple, then tanned and used in the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.[3]