280 The Curse (1/2)
”Unto Shrine?” Otome Sakagami jokingly said, ”Didn't the Majin break the seal and destroy Unto Shrine?”
This… Kimura Kazuki was silent and speechless. Obviously the whole village knew about this incident, and it was treated as a superstitious joke.
Seeing that Kimura Kazuki and Sei Shigeru were quiet, Otome Sakagami thought she said something wrong and she subconsciously stuck out her tongue. Then, she placed the dishes on the table, wiped her hands on the apron, and said carefully, ”Actually, there's another legend about Unto Shrine, do you want to hear about it?”
”What legend?” Kimura Kazuki asked. Since the entire Sakagami Village knew about this and even treated it as a joke, then maybe Sakagami Village knew something else. Now that Otome Sakagami asked, he also became curious.
Sei Shigeru curiously looked toward them while eating his meal. Since noon until now, he had not eaten anything, so he was completely famished.
”I heard that the thing that sealed the Majin, is called the Jade of Four Souls.”
Hearing about the Jade of Four Souls, Sei Shigeru's hand which was holding his chopsticks stopped for a second before he continued eating. Nonetheless, he was really not used to eating with the lights off.
Kimura Kazuki squinted his eyes as he looked at Otome Sakagami. He watched as she thought to herself for a second. Then, she remembered something and continued saying, ”My grandpa told me about this, but grandpa passed away a few years ago. I think grandma should know a little about this too.”
”The Jade of Four Souls… There is indeed such a legend.” Grandma Sakagami thought deeply for a while and spoke, ”According to the legend, the four souls from the Jade of Four Souls, Happy Soul, Harmonious Soul, Rude Soul, and Wondrous Soul, symbolize love, family, courage and wisdom respectively. If the Jade of Four Souls were to fall into the hands of evil, it will turn into an evil spirit or a wraith. If it's in the hands of the kind-hearted, their bodies and spirits will be purified.”
Happy Soul, Harmonious Soul, Rude Soul, and Wondrous Soul? The moment Kimura Kazuki heard these phrases, he thought for a while and immediately knew that these were the names for the three hun and seven po by the Japanese in the olden times. Or in other words, those were the names given to human souls by the shrine maiden who became the Jade of Four Souls.
The three hun and seven po was the teaching of Chinese Taoism which was deeply rooted in people's hearts. It was normal for this older part of Japan to not know about it.
”They are indeed not to be believed,” Otome Sakagami said with a laugh. ”Such a legend exists only because the villagers refuse to rebuild the shrine.”
Hearing what she said, both Sei Shigeru and Kimura Kazuki suddenly came to a realization.
No wonder Unto Shrine was left idle even after being destroyed for a year. Just because a portion of the Sakagami villagers were unwilling to pay for the reconstruction, they used this legend to warn the people of Sakagami Village. If they were to renovate the shrine, there might be disasters upon them all. On top of that, there were a lot more people who did not want to rebuild Unto Shrine, so they went along with the myth.
It was impossible for them to chip in, so they used this terrifying myth to scare everyone in order to maintain the current situation. After some time, those who wanted to repair Unto Shrine would probably have given up as well.
After all, Unto Shrine had no contribution to Sakagami Village. Besides, every generation had to choose someone to become the Onmyoji and shrine maiden. This had left the parents who had high expectations for their children grudgeful. But only because of the ancestor's teachings did they not rebel.
”Are there any other legends?” Kimura Kazuki smiled. As he saw Grandma Sakagami and Otome turn to look at him, he laughed. ”I'm really interested in these kinds of stories.”
Otome Sakagami thought really hard, but ultimately said in disappointment, ”There is no more. I only know about the Majin being sealed by the Jade of Four Souls and the Unto Shrine still holding the Jade of Four Souls. But a lot of people from the village went to Unto Shrine before and they didn't find any Jade of Four Souls, so this story was probably made up by someone.”
So that was why Unto Shrine had signs of being searched.