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Notes on Fairy Nights
By: Michelle Rogers
This is Part II of The Fairy Gods Series. A light fantasy story with enjoyable characters and cute designs. Good for an afternoon when you just want to kick back with light
entertainment.
The Story
Prettier and more entertaining than its predecessor, the sequel leads Jango and the gang to the home of the Mountain
God clan for the Festival of Shukuna. In Kumi and Koukaku's village they learn that the festival that only happens
every 300 years isn't what they imagined it to be. Local legends and fairy lore abound in this installment, and anyone looking
for a story touching on the nature of localized legends and rumors, and spirits out of Japanese tradition, will enjoy
this go around.
Themes & Symbols
Notes will contain spoilers. See also the notes for the first game as I won't go over the use of
Taoism and characters introduced in the first.
Dream World: Jango at one point is separated from his body, and his mind or soul is transported into a dreamworld of sorts.
This world can also be interpreted as a type of underworld (spirits of the dead can be controlled here such as Kourou) or a world of the unconscious as it is the
mind/spirit/soul only that is exists within it. The scene between Jango and Kourou needs to be broken down a bit before discussing this
sequence of the story. Caverns such as the one Jango ventures down into in search of Kumi/Two-Faced Shukuna can
be a symbol for venturing down into the unconscious as dark, wet places such as caverns and caves are associated with the womb, they're a type of belly of
Mother Earth in other words. Elements of the unconscious can be repressed elements (memories or aspects of a society) or simply elements of life that are closely tied to the feminine,
to the natural world, or to things that are archetypal.
Two transformations are in a process in this sequence, one is Jango finally coming to terms with Kourou's death and the other is that the sequence is part of the step
in dealing with Shukuna and what he and Mutsuki represent (not only spirits but part of a culture that was long repressed by the government and part of society until it was transformed into a
destructive element and forgotten by even the common people). In stories such as Sleeping Beauty, the odd number fairy is the one neglected and because the darker side is neglected it turns into a destructive element.
On a personal level, Jango never let go of his friend or his shikigami's death. He continues to blame himself for it; and in doing so is probably putting up an emotional
block to the shikigami now in his life. In the dream world, it is his first shikigami he is forced to confront, the one whose death
he blames himself for. He has to pass the battle with her and face her before he can continue on and save Kumi. But once he does so, he is free to fully realize and fight for his feelings for Kumi and
as the ending hints, love and marry her one day. On a cultural level, Mutsuki as a full water spirit and Two-Faced Shukuna represent the old beliefs that are driven to
persecution and finally into a destructive corner (a bit more on Shukuna and this role below under Fairies). Mutsuki is a kind of gatekeeper to Two-Faced Shukuna in the sequence, Jango must pass
by her first. She is a fully negative anima, the one who would lure Jango to his death (versus the positive earlier in Ryuju, a water spirit who is gentle and helpful). She is a lesser element leading to the larger.
Once Jango has dealt with Mutsuki and his personal challenge within the realm of the unconscious he is free to journey deeper
symbolically, deeper into the cavern, to face Two-Faced Shukuna/Kumi and heal the neglected aspect that is Shukuna and his love for Kumi which he would not let surface.
Fairies: Akemi, Akasha, and Shumon - members of the mountain clan, members of Kumi and
Koukaku's family.
Mutsuki - When she was found as a human at the beginning of the year, the villagers named her after the word
for January in the old calendar. This is fitting not just for when she appeared, but as she has fairy blood in her,
to give her an old name turns out to be appropriate as she is the last of her people. She is a child of a water spirit and a human.
When the line of water spirits was about to run out, the spirit chose to mate with a human, and thus Mutsuki was born.
In her form as a true water fairy, her hair is longer and blue, and she has long nails and her ears are finlike. She can command the water, indeed
one of her names for herself is the Sorceress of the Water. Legends of water fairies are not uncommon around the world. They include mermaids, nixies, nereids,
water dragons (like Ryuju), and rusalki. Just as is illustrated through Shukuna's character and the snow lady in the game Snow Drop,
spirits of nature and elements often have a dual purpose and nature. Mutsuki in her pure spirit form is a very destructive
force (destroying the dam and village for example), but when she is benevolent she can restore and nurture. This might also be compared to stories of water maidens
like mermaids, at once beautiful and sometimes benevolent in fairy tales their appearance can also foreshadow death and shipwrecks.
Two-Faced Shukuna - The village and festival are named after him. One folk legend about him is narrated by Mizuki:
"There was a terrible magical monster named Two-Faced Shukuna, that walked the hills near the country of Satsuma.
Over twenty feet tall, he had two faces, one of a child, and one of a terrible red-faced demon... Over 1000 of the Emperor's
best soldiers were raised to battle the monster. One man eventually succeeding in defeating it... It lived deep in a limestone cavern,
coming out at night to sneak into houses that might have treasures. It would kill any that tried to get in
its way. According to legend, a warrior under command of the Emperor came and drove it out... But there are stories of it driving away a giant
snake that was praying on the locals. Some even say that it was a guide to the first Emperor and helped with his enthronement." Note
that Mizuki is a collector of folk stories and legends, which is significant when looking at the one she recounts here. Nozomi who is
one of the listners to the story is from Shukuna village but she doesn't even know the legends behind her home or its namesake, it's Mizuki
who makes the connection through what she knows of folk beliefs and the way stories travel. The legend she recounts has two sides to it, this is
probably due to the variations on Shukuna's character that were passed around in earlier days, leaving the variations to be combined by the time
they reach modern ears after centuries of oral retellings. As we learn later, the Emperor did indeed become jealous of Shukuna's popularity with the
people and the Emperor tried to wipe out both Shukuna and his followers (so that the people would only follow the Emperor and his way). The evil side of Shukuna
in the legends may have arose from stories the Emperor spread to discredit the popularity of the mountain kami. Or after many years of fighting, the kami may
have changed from it, and some truth could be indeed found in the tales. The positive stories of Skukuna probably survived due to the persistance of the
followers of the kami and the common people keeping alive the stories of the deity they felt was a protector spirit. In addition, the element of the Emperor (the official government)
trying to force underground a popular religion of the people is similar to instances historically where the government or majority persecuted "pagan" religions or religions of the people or
minorities such as Christians at one point in Japan.
A note in regards to the part of the legend where Shukuna helped the first Emperor reach his enthronment. This is a kind of combination
of the legend of the Japanese goddess Amaterasu, the line of Emperors is said to be descended from her, and the Chinese unicorn (these animals pick or foreshadow an Emperor when they make an
appearance).
Mayura - She is a shadow. Her kind have no bodies of their own so instead they take the form of anyone they choose.
Koukaku says Mayura "comes from the mist of the hot springs." This also makes her a unique spirit in that she can travel the divide
between the conscious world and unconscious when Jango is forced into a kind of dream world where his mind is
separated from his body. Her existence as a shadow makes this possible.
Ryuju - Daughter of the rain dragons. In Chinese and Japanese lore, dragons are guardians to bodies of water and
control weather such as storms and rain. This is why a young dragon is called upon to help against Mutsuki, because Ryuju
is the dragon that dwells in and protects the river that is used to flood the valley and village. One of the most
well-known stories of such dragons is the Japanese folk story of Urashima Taro. Urashima was a fisherman taken to the kingdom
of the dragon king below the sea (Ryugu) and there the princess entreated Urashima to stay with her. He did so but soon felt he should return home.
The princess gave him a box which he was not to open unless he had great need to do so. But on leaving the kingdom of the sea, the longer he wandered
on land he learned a lifetime had passed while he was away but a few days. Finally, he sat upon the beach and opened the gift of the princess and became the old man
he should have been.
Like the princess of the story, Ryuju gives Jango and his companions a gift. But hers is quite different from the box, she gives them a bag
of medicine balls that will allow land dwellers to breathe underwater for three hours. It's a secret known only to her clan.
Kourou - She was Jango's first shikigami, a fox spirit. In Japanese tradition, the fox is a great trickster animal and one endowed
with much magical ability: from shape-shifting to possession to a messenger of the gods. To be Jango's first shikigami, she would
have been a great companion indeed.
Festival of Shukuna: Only occurs every 300 years. During most of the game, no one remembers the true meaning
behind the festival, only that it is a long held tradition of the village and the mountain clan who watch over the village. In truth, it is
a ritual performed by the mountain clan to renew the seal around Shukuna and keep his sleep restful. The ritual itself lasts from sundown and
all through the night. Clan members go down into the shrine (which is a kind of cave), but villagers are not allowed near the shrine and
instead spend their time praying all goes well inside the holy place. This is a small parallel to the myth of Amaterasu. The goddess fled into a cave to hide from her brother
and on doing so took the sunlight away from the world. The other deities eventually tricked her from the cave when she ventured forth
out of curiosity at the laughing and dancing she heard outside. So the perception of the villagers might be similar to ideas about festivals
honoring similar events such as that as Amaterasu as a reason for the span of a full night and praying all goes well.
Stone Phalluses: On walking in the mountains, Mutsuki has a somewhat surprised but also recognition-type reaction to these
statues before an old shrine by the path. On one level, these probably bring back hidden memories for the water spirit inside her as these would be
very old symbols erected during that lifetime. Second, they could also have been put up as a symbol for Shukuna (afterall once her full-blooded spirit side
awakens she desires only to awaken Shukuna), so a phallus would be a fitting symbol sculpted by his followers. It'd be a symbol of masculine power watching
over his mountain land and people. On another level, these could be viewed as the obvious fertility and prosperity objects prayed to by the people for
many generations in want of healthy children and prosperity for the land and people. The deity behind such a shrine and symbol would not
necessarily have to be Shukuna, it could be any kami or for the wish itself to be manifested. As a side note, which may or may not be relevant, Terri Hamilton in
her book notes that some cultures would have a ceremonial deflowering of the young women when they came of age by a stone phallus of a certain deity or as
part of a ritual seeking fertility in the girl in the times to come. For some such as the Greeks this was thought to also ensure a good life for the woman,
the prosperity that is associated with fertility.*
*Skin Flutes and Velvet Gloves: A Collection of Facts and Fancies, Legends and Oddities About the Body's Private Parts by
Terri Hamilton from St. Martin's Press, 2002
This essay is copyright of Michelle Rogers 2004.