The Tragedy of All Gods Village
All God's Village, The Lost Village, Minakami Village
Ruled by Kurosawa, Kiryu, Tachibana, and Osaka blood
Black Marsh, Living Life of the Paulownia, Standing Flower, Meeting on the Sloped Hill
Red Butterflies flock and flitter in the night
Altar Twins and Twin Shrine Maidens, one per wing tied to one body until a wing is torn
By decades of Crimson Sacrifice, per decade
Altar Twins and Twin Shrine Maidens, fifteen or younger, split into two halves or souls
Detached by the Paulownia's Living Life and the Standing Flower, one taller than the other
But tied by a crimson sash or by the body that traverses Earth and Sky alike
White kimonos, right over left, mourning the dead who pass
White hair, changed, mourning the dead who live as Remaining Kami, feared but defenders
Stone removed over Misono Hill, the Hellish Abyss
From the Kurosawa Altar to the Lattice and then through the Rope Temple
Passing through stone and by sacred ropes
Younger first born lies to be strangled by the elder second if neither can stand it or kneel
A Crimson Butterfly to mark the Remaining's throat
Four is Shi, Death; Four failures to appease or feed the Hellish Abyss is to die
A Kusabi to Wedge it shut is not strong enough, will not lock the door shut
A single, Multilayered Gauze of Silk, Silken Gauze, is too fragile and lonely to cover it
Abandoned by the Multilayered Eight to hang and deteriorate in isolation, it is torn asunder
Thin weakness snaps the soul, laughing and wedged, erasing God's Lost Every Kami
With a recurring Repentance doomed to repeat the prior and spirit away with Twin Deities
…
As promised a year ago to this day, I bring you the rewritten version of The Tragedy of All God's Village. In my previous Fatal Frame poem, Don't Touch, I said I would be writing about the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual and how the Repentance impacted Minakami Village by destroying it and dooming the spirits of its inhabitants to relive the ritual's failure. That was the previous version's original intention, and although I do not remember its stanzas and do not have it saved anymore, I recall it was much shorter than it is now. This updated iteration renders it obsolete by going into more depth from beginning to end, although the poem itself is still a page long. However, its stanzas contain the meaning and context found in the ritual, or roughly as much of it as possible, to show how critical it is to Minakami Village. Enacting the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual is a story of placation and survival against a malevolent danger, the Hellish Abyss, and what happens when it goes wrong. The Repentance is their damnation, a repeating punishment that never ends until it supposedly does in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly and Fatal Frame II: Deep Crimson Butterfly. I say supposedly since it is uncertain if the Hellish Abyss was permanently appeased in the Crimson Butterfly ending; if anybody knows it was, feel free to say so in your review of this poem. Ultimately, I believe I was more successful capturing the ritual's essence this time, thanks to my research on the terminology.
Disclaimer:
My research on the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual and its mechanisms, and its failure being the Repentance, comes from the Fatal Frame Wikia. I have played Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, though it was a long time ago and I was unable to get past my first encounter with the Kusabi. I have seen playthroughs of the original game and its remake on YouTube from time to time, so I am pretty familiar with the plot. But the wikia is where I was able to learn more about the terminology and how it translated into the English language to apply it here.
I do not own the Fatal Frame (Zero in Japan, Project Zero in Australia and Europe) series. It is owned by Koei Tecmo. I am also not an employee of or affiliated with Koei Tecmo. I do not own anything on the Fatal Frame Wikia either and I am not affiliated with the site.
Happy Halloween!
