Aka me avoiding working on Part 2 of my Father Meta bc idk how to approach it.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been thinking about this ever since Chapter 80 dropped. And if you’ve been thinking about it, there’s one thing we’re all undoubtedly scratching our heads over:
what’s the loophole?
Well, here’s a singular theory. Elaboration under the cut.
Well, now that I’m back to being lost about whether Father went into Yomi 1) alive to get the kotonoha 2) alive to get his girl back or 3) dead and had to be soul called by the girl might as well look into what other people have to say about it.
For someone who supposedly hates Father, I sure talk a lot about him, huh
While I was flipping through the pages of the manga, I once again came to a stop at the soul summoning scene in chapter 37. Specifically at Nora’s tale about Father escaping from Yomi, which I, apparently, did not pay due attention to.
I’ve never had a single opinion on how Father got in and out of Yomi, so I toyed with a few.
1. When Father was still human, he was already interested in researching ayakashi (like Ebisu, for example), somehow learned about the kotonoha (the Word of Yomi) and decided to get one for himself. He voluntarily ventured into Yomi but asked the pock-marked girl to soul call him beforehand, and she did just that.
2. The pock-marked girl died, and Father got mad at the gods for being directly or indirectly involved. He went to Yomi to get her back, stumbled upon Izanami, saw the brushes in action, and either stole or wheedled out one of them.
3.Father was the one who died while the pock-marked girl lived. While in Yomi, Father encountered Izanami, learned about the brushes, and got his hands on one of them.
In this post I want to examine the last option – the one in which Father died and was resurrected by that girl of his through soul summoning.
First of all, let me remind you that soul summoning isn’t something Adachitoka came up with specifically for Noragami, but an actual Japanese tradition.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that whatever exists in our world is also a thing in Noragami universe. All the locations that we see in the series, specifically shrines, are real places (with the exception of the characters’ houses, Takamagahara and Yomi, obviously). This means that the tradition of soul summoning can easily exist in-universe.
Soul summoning is probably a Chinese thing since I came across a similar scene in the novel Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua. There, a child was asked to climb on the roof and call his father who was in a coma so that he won’t die. Therefore I would say it is an actual practice to keep a dying man from leaving this world, not a way to come back from death. So my doubt is still there: was father alive, was he dead or was he in between when he went to Yomi?
Besides, I like the idea of the twin sisters!
To keep someone from dying, huh? Interesting, especially considering that another thing that I’ve been told about Yomi is that some poeple think it’s not a place where people go to the afterlife but rather a place a soul can be lost in accidentally. Was Father in a coma or something and wondered off to Yomi, so that the girl had to bring him back? Beats me.
The problem with looking at the Chinese variations of such traditions is that they’re usually poor reflections of the Japanese traditions. In the early days of Japan (prior to the 9th century), there’s little that you can say didn’t come from China or Korea: politics, fashion, religion (particularly Buddhism), rice farming. Hell, even the Japanese writing system itself was developed from Chinese and Chinese was used by educated men.
(Above:comparison of a Nara period woman and a Tang period woman, which were happening at the same time in Japan and China respectively.)
But by the Heian period (794 to 1185), however, Japan moved away from just mimicking the Chinese and started developing its own sense of cultural identity. Many traditions and fashions that were originally imported from China became transformed and uniquely… well, uniquely Japanese, though Chinese influence was still prevalent. Even Buddhism integrated with Shinto, Japan’s native folk religion – the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas became venerated as kami and many traditional images of kami are strongly influenced by Buddhist imagery.
(Above: Buddhist-Shinto deities, excerpt from my copy of Cultural Atlas of Japan by Martin Collcutt, Marius Jansen, and Isao Kumakura.Kinda old but still a trove of good info.)
Luckily, I was able to find some writings on tamayobaiin its Japanese context in the book Discourses of the Vanishing: Modernity, Phantasm, Japan by Marilyn Ivy. Rest under the cut because uhhh this might get a little long.
Oh, I read all of it, I just don’t know what else to say about this whole returning from Yomi thing. I mean, Nora heavily implied that the pock-marked girl died from a “natural disaster”, so now I’m really confused when exactly it happened, before or after Father’s little trip to Yomi. Still think she was the one to soul call him though, ‘cause I doubt Adachitoka would introduce her solely to be killed off by the Heavens.
These are my thoughts on the first half of 87-2. Spoilers ahead!
I really, really liked the second part of chapter 87. Adachitoka still refuse us Yukine’s entire past, but maybe that’s for the best. If what we’ve been shown so far causes this many emotions in the fandom, I’m scared to think what would have been if they revealed everything at once. But… this post isn’t about Yuknie. Not because I don’t like his character, but because I really want to discuss the first 10 pages of the new chapter.
As I expected, we got some of Father’s flashbacks this time. Except they were about the part of his life that had Yato in it, probably several years (?) after Sakura’s death.
Yato not wanting to kill people isn’t that strange, since he started “slacking off” because of Sakura’s influence, and we know that by this point Hiiro would take initiative whenever Yato wouldn’t put his heart in performing Father’s jobs, as shown in chapter 47. Interestingly enough, when Yato suggested that Father should kill people himself, the former answered that he “was killing gods, at least” – implying that he didn’t kill humans with his own hands. Father’s words about killing gods do sound sinister but as we’ve already seen and will see later in the chapter, not all gods are warriors like Bishamon, Takemikazuchi and Yato himself, so I wouldn’t be too intimidated by this phrase.
His line about the uselessness of killing gods without killing people though … The idea is obvious and logical, so I don’t see the point in developing it further, but even now I think that Father did not choose the most efficient way to do it. Even if Yato stayed under Father’s total control, one god of calamity doesn’t seem to be that big of a threat on a global scale, contrary to whatever Nora has to say later in the chapter.
The thing that caught my attention on these pages is Father’s words about shrines. Yato already revealed before that someone would always tell him he didn’t need a shrine, that someone being Father. Up to this point I simply thought that this was needed to cultivate Yato’s fear of being forgotten – if he doesn’t have a shrine, it’s all the more easier for him to disappear without any chances to reincarnate. The idea that Father actually thinks that shrines are useless somehow never crossed my mind, although now that I see it on paper it makes total sense.
And since Yato raised the question, I’ll take it from here. He said he didn’t understand why did needed to destroy humans if life would be boring without them. I’ve always asked this question in regard to any character whose end goal is total annihilation – what’s the point? Sure, Father isn’t aspiring to be an evil overlord as to ask him a question “who are you going to rule over if there’s no one left”. But his goal, apparently, is killing all gods and also all humans so that old gods can’t reincarnate while new ones can’t appear. But what exactly is he going to do if he succeeds? Die while feeling the satisfaction of revenge accomplished? It’s just so hard to understand someone whose views are so different than your own.
I wish I could say that the small local kami that attacked Yato proves that Father’s words about shrines are wrong, but what happens next actually corroborates his statement. Partially.
One the one hand, the villagers’ prayer was heard, and the local kami attacked Yato for destroying the village. But Father just crushed her. So in the end, the kami wasn’t able to so anything about these humans’ problem, so yeah, their wish wasn’t granted.
This scene also demonstrates that yes, Father can actually kill gods. The more important thing about it though is that Yato sees it. We have already seen just how much Yato used to fear death for the majority of the series. However, knowing that Father has the ability to kill Yato by forgetting him is one thing; but witnessing him kill a kami just like Yato really drives it home. And it’s all the scarier how Father simply intercepted Yato’s weapon – he just summoned Chiki, who moments earlier was in the boy’s hands. Just look at Yato’s face, you can see the terror.
And Father didn’t really have the need to kill that kami. What could they have done with a chopstick anyway? Maybe he god mad at this kami actually answering people’s prayer, disproving his point. Or maybe he just hates the gods so much he couldn’t stand even seeing one of them, so he just had to kill them.
(BTW, does anyone know what’s with the blindfold? I’ve tried looking it up but never found anything).
Nora and Hiyori’s dialogue is my favorite part the chapter, there are just so many things to unpack here. First, “Father would praise the god called Yato”. Is it just me, or is Nora jealous? We saw in Yato’s memories that Father actually praised both his children. Then again, we also saw that he punished Nora when he wanted Yato to behave. Considering that Yato grew increasingly reluctant to kill humans, and Nora had to take the lead and finish Yato’s work, this kind of jealousy is unsurprising. Nora was Father’s right hand girl and supported him all the way, but between the two of them Yato would receive more attention.
“But at some point,Yato started mourning the deaths of other people”. Yeah, we know at what point – Nora must be referring to the time when Sakura was still alive. I’ll just throw in a couple of pics from chapter 47 to remind you why Yato started mourning people.
“When calamity strikes, people always become more devout”. This must be one of the most powerful quotes in the entire manga, because it encapsulates one of the foundations of the Noragami universe. Gods exist to grant human wishes, but who would have more reasons to pray – someone who has it all, or someone who’s in trouble? Remember the main reason why people start seeing the Far shore and things that relate to it.
Of course humans would turn to gods if they can’t solve their problems themselves; that’s the reason they exist. I’ve already mentioned it in the post about memory and memories – the idea of a being that isn’t bound by human constraints, is immortal and can help out when there’s nothing else left takes shape of a person, and that’s how a god is born. Although there’s another reason, too – people hope that if calamity is sentient, you can bargain with it. That’s how people started worshiping Tenjin – not to ask for something they don’t have, but to beg him not to take something they already possess.
It may be that, by sending Yato to obliterate villages, Father was hoping not just for thinning out people, but for a somewhat different reaction from them.
“Thatboylovedpeople”. This line is just so heartwarming. And Hiyorialready said it before. She saw Yato’s past and how even back then he tried to help humans – like making snow shoes for people in need. She understood him and accepted him.
I don’t really have anything to add to Father wanting “to do something” though. I’ve already said before that Father is done with being the game master and wants to be an actual player. Apparently, he is waiting for Yukine to discover GGS completely before summoning him as a weapon.
The line about natural disasters having human faces caught my attention before the chapter was even translated. When people die because of natural disasters, it’s horrible, but there’s nothing you can do about it. We can say that “we need to build sturdier houses/dams/etc.”, “we need to take better precaution measures”, and we try, but you can’t possibly predict everything. But in a world where the sun, the moon, the lightning, etc. are personified as gods, a.k.a “have faces”, not only there’s a way for someone to direct their wrath at those faces, but there’s the question of why these sentient elements of nature do these things that hurt humans.
Let’s look at some of the examples of gods harming Nakatsukuni, the world of humans.
Chapter 7 – Bishamon cuts down a grove to get to Yato
Chapter 8 – Kofuku’s vent releases a horde of ayakashi, which results in rising crime rates in Tokyo
Chapter 60 – Bishamon causes a local hurricane to locate Father
Chapter 66 – Takemikazuchi transforms into lightning to fight Yato
The gods harmed the world of humans, but it wasn’t for fun. Bishamon was guided by her thirst for revenge both times. Kofuku was helping her friend. Takemikazuchi became angry because his guide was hurt. All of them felt very human emotions. Except, since they are gods and their power surpasses that of an average human, the result of their outburst is a dead grove, rising crime rates, a damaged school. They aren’t actually trying to purposefully hurt humans but for those who suffer from these actions that’s hardly a consolation. And like I said, it’s one thing when you don’t really have anyone to blame, because the wind that destroyed your house doesn’t hear you, and another, when that wind has a face.
I think that when Father sent Yato to destroy villages, he hoped that the calamities would make people turn away from the gods. After all, people don’t always become more devout during trying times, sometimes they turn away from religion, which is what happened with Father himself. There’s a phrase going around the Internet – it was allegedly written on the wall of a Nazi concentration camp by a Jewish inmate: “If there is a God, He will have to beg for my forgiveness”. I don’t know how true this story is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s real.
And even with all this in mind, I still don’t understand Father’s logic. Suppose he doesn’t destroy all of humanity, but does manage to kill all gods. I don’t think it would change that much. Amaterasu, for example, is depicted as the sun incarnate, but… if she’s killed forever, will the Sun go out, too? I understand that I’m going off the rails and into the cosmogenic myth territory here, but I can’t help it. If there are no gods left, but the forces of nature continue to destroy human lives, then Father’s actions hardly change anything. (Look at me, trying to find a reasonable explanation for an unhealthily long revenge plan). Also, don’t forget that gods of other religions canonically exist in Noragami – what is Father going to do about them, I wonder?
As for “someone” being killed by the Heavens, I’ve recently made an assumption that the pock-marked girl’s death could have been a payment of sorts to bring Father back from the dead. I made this assumption knowing that Father’s words in chapter 60 imply that gods were more involved than that. What Nora said here about Father hating attributing gods’ actions to natural disasters makes it obvious that the girl died because of one of such catastrophes. I’ve looked some more at that page from chapter 60, and I still don’t see any visible damage on the girl. However, Adachitoka emphasize a skeleton lying in a field near a dead tree. Also, I’ve turned the page upside down to get a better look, and now this skull haunts me.
Was it a drought, a famine that killed her? Or the smallpox? If these are her remains, why didn’t Father bury them? Who then helped him return from Yomi? We know it was a soul summoning, after all. So many questions that are yet to be answered.
However, even if we didn’t get all the answers yet, these ten pages did reveal a lot.
- Nora knows Father’s backstory, but not all of it. Apparently, it’s a thing so painful that Father can’t tell everything even to his most devoted supporter.
- Sakura’s influence on Yato was even stronger than I thought. It’s possible that Father changed his course of actions and started giving Yato jobs that involved punishing criminals soon after the scene we saw in this chapter.
- Father, apparently, thinks of himself as some kind warrior of justice while ignoring the fact that he does as much harm as the gods, and that he is a calamity with a human face.
P.S. that page with the human faces of nature absolutely rocks.
For someone who supposedly hates Father, I sure talk a lot about him, huh
While I was flipping through the pages of the manga, I once again came to a stop at the soul summoning scene in chapter 37. Specifically at Nora’s tale about Father escaping from Yomi, which I, apparently, did not pay due attention to.
I’ve never had a single opinion on how Father got in and out of Yomi, so I toyed with a few.
1. When Father was still human, he was already interested in researching ayakashi (like Ebisu, for example), somehow learned about the kotonoha (the Word of Yomi) and decided to get one for himself. He voluntarily ventured into Yomi but asked the pock-marked girl to soul call him beforehand, and she did just that.
2. The pock-marked girl died, and Father got mad at the gods for being directly or indirectly involved. He went to Yomi to get her back, stumbled upon Izanami, saw the brushes in action, and either stole or wheedled out one of them.
3.Father was the one who died while the pock-marked girl lived. While in Yomi, Father encountered Izanami, learned about the brushes, and got his hands on one of them.
In this post I want to examine the last option – the one in which Father died and was resurrected by that girl of his through soul summoning.
First of all, let me remind you that soul summoning isn’t something Adachitoka came up with specifically for Noragami, but an actual Japanese tradition.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that whatever exists in our world is also a thing in Noragami universe. All the locations that we see in the series, specifically shrines, are real places (with the exception of the characters’ houses, Takamagahara and Yomi, obviously). This means that the tradition of soul summoning can easily exist in-universe.
Soul summoning is probably a Chinese thing since I came across a similar scene in the novel Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua. There, a child was asked to climb on the roof and call his father who was in a coma so that he won’t die. Therefore I would say it is an actual practice to keep a dying man from leaving this world, not a way to come back from death. So my doubt is still there: was father alive, was he dead or was he in between when he went to Yomi?
Besides, I like the idea of the twin sisters!
To keep someone from dying, huh? Interesting, especially considering that another thing that I’ve been told about Yomi is that some poeple think it’s not a place where people go to the afterlife but rather a place a soul can be lost in accidentally. Was Father in a coma or something and wondered off to Yomi, so that the girl had to bring him back? Beats me.
![NrM [ノラガミ]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/avatar_6a9c9626ecbe_30.png){kind=avatar}
