Fumizuki issue #1 of Bunbunmaru Newspaper, Gensokyo Year 109/CE Year 1994
The Ninth Maid of Are Appears
The Once-in-a-Century Miracle of Miare
The Hieda family, one of the traditional families of the human village, has announced the birth of the new Child of Miare.
Named Hieda no Akyuu, she marks the ninth generation of the Children of Miare (Maids of Are, Men of Are).
As the name "Child of Miare" suggests, she is the reincarnation of Hieda no Are, who could remember anything after seeing or hearing it once—a wiser family line than any other in the human village or in Gensokyo.
The first of the Children of Miare, Hieda no Aichi, is the person credited with the first compilation the Gensokyo Chronicle.
The Children of Miare know a method of reincarnation, and are reborn a century and a few decades after dying.
The birth of a Child of Miare is called a "Miracle of Miare", and is welcomed by the Hieda clan with with much merriment.
The Children of Miare are born to edit books.
Their minds are well developed, but their bodies are weak, and their lives are short even by the standards of the pitiably short-lived human race.
In compensation, each Child is born with the memories of all previous generations, making him or her more knowledgeable than an average human of the Hieda clan, already known for its brilliant minds.
The Gensokyo Chronicle is compiled by humans from information that they have gathered with their own hands.
In the time of Aichi, this information was intended to help humans defeat youkai, but as Gensokyo became more peaceful, this purpose was lost, and the document is now mainly a collection of readings on interesting youkai.
The Chronicle has now lost all connection with its original purpose, and is available even to non-human readers.
What's more, we now meet the first Child of Miare since Gensokyo was shut off by the Great Barrier. We are excited to see what her contributions to Chronicle will be.
(Aya Shameimaru)
Notice for the Birth Celebration of the Child of Miare
To welcome this fortuitous event, the Hakurei Shrine has offered to hold a celebration. No entrance fee will be charged, and plenty of food will be provided...
Addendum
The newspaper article released at my birth.
I included this as commemoration.
There's one thing wrong in this paper. In truth, the only memories left from the past generations are those related to the Gensokyo Chronicles.
The part about being very knowledgeable is right though.
(Hieda no Akyuu)
Analysis of the article (Gensokyo Year 139/CE Year 2024)
This article was released about 30 years ago. Currently, we're at the precipice of what was called the 'Hieda Transition Period'. Since Akyuu-san is the final incarnation of the single digit numbered Child of Miare, this period is of the utmost importance not only for Gensokyo, but also even Japan.
Why is this the case? Because in Japan, Hieda no Are is recognized as one of the key figures during the compilation of Kojiki. And as one would expect from the Hieda Progenitor, Are-san managed to memorize several important records and oral traditions regarding the Imperial lineage. These memories would be what O no Yasumaro recorded under order of Empress Genmei.
Kojiki itself was mostly overshadowed by Nihon Shoki for much of Japan's history until Edo period following the advent of printing. This, combined with the birth of nativist studies/kokugaku and nationalist sentiment led to its elevated status into a sacred text due to its antiquity. Norinaga Motoori was one such kokugaku scholar that would began the in-depth study of the text, resulting in the creation of Kojiki-den, a monumental 44-volume commentary on said text. I can see why Akyuu-san and Kosuzu befriend each other now.
Back to the article above, I was entrusted to compile a special edition of Gensokyo Chronicles for Outsiders like myself, especially because there's an increase of our numbers since 2017. I believe that this is Akyuu-san's contribution to the Chronicle aside from the 2012 Symposium.
Currently, there's a petition from Hell sub-realm managers of Tiryagyoni (Yasei Sugaku), Avici (Yakari Kaneko) and Mahapadma (Setsuka Myougenguu). For those who haven't been informed, Animal Realm has officially been renamed to Tiryagyoni following the end of Greater Hell Conflict. The petition actually contained an appeal to the Ten Kings Ministry about Hieda lineage's status following the change of status quo last year.
One can surmise that 2023 was one of the most chaotic years in Gensokyo, especially because after Greater Hell Conflict, it's followed by the Second Dream Incursion. This year also marks the first time THREE Incidents occured near-simultaneously, which exacerbates the former further. It's only thanks to our Sengoku Gensokyo tradition that we managed to promptly react and resolve all of them.
I can only hope that the petition will be heeded by the Hell Goddess Hecatia Lapislazuli, since this concerns Akyuu-san's well-being. I heard that she actually participated in the very first Sengoku Gensokyo tournament as part of the Village, and the fact that she insisted on taking part during the Second Dream Incursion forced us Outsiders to be her bodyguard detail, with me as the last line of defense due to my status as her assistant and my table manipulation ability. I'm glad we managed to protect her the entire time.
I certainly don't know what this year will bring, but whatever happens, I'll make sure that Akyuu-san's legacy isn't forgotten, especially after us Outsiders saw her determination to completely record the Second Dream Incursion.
(Hotaru Mizutani)