Sengoku Youko – 09

「山の神 (前」 (Yama no Kami (Zen))
“The Mountain Goddess”

Finally, we reach the quarter-pole (almost) of Sengoku Youko. Though it feels like the series has already introduced enough material for all three cours. I feel as if Mizukami Satoshi refied his craft from Hoshi no Samidare to Segoku Youko, and then again with Spirit Circle. Sengoku, for me, has an air of grandness and sweep with no wasted space that elevates it about its predecessor, great as that is. And with Spirit Circle he pulls off something even more remarkable, creative a similarly huge and even more moving story with absolute economy. It’s always fascinating to see the evolution of the true geniuses of manga, and Mizukami certainly is one of those.

It’s clear that the lives of the Tama trio have changed significantly with their introduction to Yama no Kami, though whether she represents a true ally is less certain. The cheerful Goddess is happy to explain her wishes to the three, and the fact that she doesn’t have to show off how powerful she is signifies just how powerful she is. This is not simply a katawara, or certainly a human – this is a God. “Lesser” she may describe herself, but she’s on her own turf here and she’s the one calling the shots. Perhaps she could force the youko and two young humans to help her if she wanted, but at the very least she prefers to rely on persuasion.

Her aim, she says, is Taizan. Or Yazen’s moving castle, as he’s affectionately known to manga readers. He’s a mountain God himself – a sleeping one, she says. And what the Yama no Kami wants is the trio’s help in waking him up. Yazen is hiding his presence from her, and she needs their help to break through. It’s a good deal, she says – she’d be taking care of one of the Dangaisyuu’s three greatest assets. The other two being Jinun the Dragon and someone called Kuzunoha. And as soon as Tama hears that name, she goes a very unhealthy color.

There’s a lot of explaining to be done here, but Jika graciously defers the explanation about his fairy eyes so Tama can learn about what her mother has to do with all this. It’s not pretty – she and the young Yazen fell madly in love when he was on a mission, and using her power, they wiped out his squadron of monks and she went into hiding. His whole focus has been on turning a katawara into a human, and Yama no Kami muses that the whole genetically enhanced battle human thing may just be a diversion for him. Her explanation is cut short by the arrival of Rinzu (Suzuki Aina) – a pixie-ish girl YnK describes as something of a cross between an apprentice and a pet – who takes one look at Jinka and immediately falls madly for him.

Meanwhile, Senya having defeated the tengu only to have them disperse into crows who cast a spell to keep them lost, he and Jinun are meditating near a “spirit pocket” on the mountain. YnK is determined to use whatever means she has at her disposal to keep Jinun distracted (including shameless tanuki), so he sends Senya off (maybe to protect his virtue as well) to “act on his own”. As the only human ever to have 1000 demons implanted in him, Jinun says, the boy is more than capable of taking out Jinka Yamato himself.

As it turns out the Mountain Goddess has a very good reason to try and sideline Jinun for as long as she can. She wants to level up the trio before sending them off to battle. And while she can do a bit of time manipulation on her own turf, she implies that there are limits to it. She splits the group (and herself) up – Rinzu and her main body going with Jinka, and two little seedlings of herself going with Tama and Shinsuke. Each has a task to accomplish in the name of exceeding their limits: Shinsuke to split a giant boulder (hmmm) blocking his path, Tama to walk across a pond despite distraction, and Jinka to defeat Rinzu. And YnK promises the latter that if she wins, she’ll bewitch Jinka to make him fall in love with her.

Now that they’re alone (with Rinzu) YnK finally spills the beans on Jinka’s fairy eyes. There’s a lot to unpack here, but the revelation (he knew of course) that he’s a twin explains a lot about why Jinka is the person he is. His parents may have had a good reason for abandoning him – fairy eyes only occur in twins, and when they’re together they draw dangerous attention. But it doesn’t make accepting it any easier. Still, confronting this is the key to unlocking the power inside him – and his fate and that of his twin are inexorably linked.

Jinkas’s reason for being as misanthropic as he is may seem rather mundane, but it’s exactly as Yama no Kami says – he’s just so very, very human. This story is full of people wanting to be something they’re not, each for their own reasons. Tama is struggling to overcome her own block, but for Shinsuke, the key to overcoming his limitations is to free his imagination and stop assuming he’s powerless. In fact he’s the first to complete the task the Goddess lays out (to her surprise), and returns to the real world – and a meeting with Senya, who’s somewhat distracted by a toy (as if it’s the first one he’s ever seen) given to him by a fearful little katawara.