About a Place in the Kinki Region Translation Notes 2

These translation notes cover content in parts 9 to 16 of About a Place in the Kinki Region. The translation notes are ordered per part, but please be cautious of reading ahead due to spoilers.

Part 9

Hasshaku-sama

Hasshaku-sama (八尺様; lit. eight-foot tall-sama) is the subject of a well-known horror story/urban legend. She's a supernatural being often depicted as a tall woman (eight-foot tall, as her name suggests) in a long, white sundress with long, black hair and a large, white sunhat. The story goes that she just happens to take a liking to someone, often a child, and then stalks them. Eventually she spirits them away. The specifics vary from depiction to depiction, but she usually makes an odd repeating 'poh' sound.

Part 11

FC2

FC2 is an online service which offers blog hosting, video and livestream hosting, and website hosting. It's not very well-known outside of Japan but has been a popular service since its founding in 2004, hosting a huge amount of Japanese content online. For our story, the only important part is the blog hosting—think of it similarly to blogspot or wordpress.

Shinto Shrines 2

Please reference the translation note for part 1 which discussed Shinto shrines. In this chapter, we get to see more of the shrine described there. The main hall is again referenced, but now we hear about another shrine. This shrine is called a hokora (祠) by the poster. Hokora are small shrines, often found on roadsides or within a much larger shrine complex—but can really be found just about anywhere. They usually serve to enshrine kami not venerated in any larger shrine like a local kami or a minor spirit. This would suggest that the Shinto shrine upon the mountain and its main hall do not venerate the same kami as this smaller shrine. It's not even clear if these shrines have anything to do with each other. However, as the poster says, its unclear what is enshrined in this hokora, if anything, as it's been jammed full of dolls.

Licca-chan

Licca-chan is a line of fashion dolls aimed at young girls. They've been around for several decades now and are essentially the Japanese equivalent of Barbie. While they still produce successful products today, Licca-chan dolls have fallen out of popularity recently. They were especially popular in the tail end of the 20th century.

Part 12

Cult Compounds

The interviewee here mentions articles on cult compounds and that being 'what people were into.' The term used in Japanese is 宗教施設 (shūkyō shisetsu; lit. religious facility) but I feel it's more understandable when translated as 'cult.' Some historical context here, this use of the word 'religious' typically refers to 'new religions,' which are modern religious movements either divorced from dominant religions or offshoots of them. Japan has many which branch from Buddhist or Shinto sects, but the most important for this story are the unrelated religious movements. They have a long history of controversy in Japan with many being considered dangerous cults operating from privately funded compounds. There are (in)famous examples such as Happy Science or PL Kyodan (itself founded by a buddhist, but considered very separate) but the most well-known internationally would be Aum Shinrikyo—a group which perpetrated two sarin gas attacks in 1994 and 1995, the latter being deadly. Many of these fringe religious groups have been tied to some kind of criminality, whether that be multi-level-marketing-style schemes or more serious crimes. In popular culture, new religious movements have an association with 'cosmic spirituality' and esoteric powers. As the interviewee suggests, news and scandals involving these religious movements were very sensational for a long time, but less so these days.

Locked Out on the Balcony

I really just wanted to note that this is a real thing. Domestic disputes ending in someone (usually the woman) being locked outside on the balcony as a 'punishment' do happen, and you can see various media reference it. That's to say, the neighbour who treated it like it was nothing to get worried about at first is kind of a piece of garbage.

Part 15

Tsuno Daishi

Tsuno Daishi (角大師; lit. horned great master) is a name given to a highly influential buddhist abbot known as Ryōgen, who lived in 10th-century Japan. He was abbot of Enryaku-ji, the temple mentioned, and is known for bringing the temple prosperity among many other things (some apocryphal.) Ryōgen was later deified as Tsuno Daishi, appearing as a black figure with large horns. You can look up the name to see the most famous example. It is said that this demonic-looking form was Ryōgen's evil side, which he had conquered—thus, he could defeat evil and protect the mountain his temple sat upon even in this form. This depiction has been seen positively and negatively over the centuries, but is currently viewed as a benevolent symbol. Tsuno Daishi appears on protective charms and talismans produced at Enryaku-ji, invoking his power to defeat evil as a means of protection.

Forty-Nine Day Memorial Date

In buddhist beliefs, bardo (known as chūu in Japanese) is when the soul exists in an intermediate state between life and death. In several cultures, like Japan, buddhist funeral rites respect this with a 49-day mourning period where the soul is believed to be held within the body, preparing for reincarnation.

了

While 了 was explained in the footnotes for this chapter, I wanted to add a small note on its interpretation. As F-san describes and as we can see in the supplemental post for this chapter, someone distributing this image uses the phrase 'what a cute child.' In Japanese, this is written かわいい子です with 子 being the character meaning 'child.' As you may have noticed, 了 and 子 are quite similar—子 uses the radical 了 in its composition. This does not necessarily imply a connection, but a Japanese reader is likely to notice the similarity.

Part 16

Malicious Deities

Sesuji presents their original assumption that the Shinto shrine's main deity was the cause of the incidents, describing a deity that lost the faith sustaining it. This is a fairly well-known trope in Japanese horror stories. The basic premise is as so: a kami worshipped at a shrine is given offerings and gains power from the faith of its followers. When the shrine is abandoned for some reason, or the local population dwindles or forgets to perform their duties, the deity becomes displeased. They may then become twisted (see the obake explanation of the previous translation notes) and act maliciously to regain their power and offerings. Stories about malicious deities causing chaos can be found all over the place. There is an additional trope of these deities' malice spreading to or corrupting their main worshippers (like priests and shrine maidens.) Thus, the fact that the biker's blog indicates the source of the 'luring' may be a hokora throws Sesuji's theory out the window—anything enshrined there would never have possessed the influence, worship, or power that could lead to the above scenario.

Unintelligible Chanting

The nonsense that the partygoers start speaking in Ozawa's story is seemingly total nonsense. It's a random string of Japanese characters. I was unable to discern any meaning to it, and neither could any Japanese readers that I could find.