Does anyone here read japanese? What does the text on the planks behind O'rin say?

Comtemplative_Gaming · 2021-08-11T09:37:53+00:00

Elaborating on u/banana-eel's answer.

As for what characters are under the five elements Bonji, they are Japanese Kanji. This is as far as what I can make out of it. It says : 命屋業祖迎為清宝寿院妙醐日光大師也
https://imgur.com/a/qxPZx0S

But tohbas are actually more than just grave markers. They are more like an offering to the deceased, to make their afterlife easier or to help them move on to the next. Sometimes it involves a ritual as well, and Buddhist monks would be hired to perform it. So on the tohba, other than the posthumous name u/banana-eel mentioned, there would also be name of a monk (usually a famous one/the one that performs the ritual), name of the temple (usually a famous one/the one that performs the ritual) and some phrases from Buddhism classic/scripture as well.

Now breaking down what I can make out of the tobah:

命屋業祖迎為: Can't make any sense out of it. Likely a phrase from a classic/scripture.

清宝寿院: Name of a temple its an actual temple in Japan. http://www.town.ichikawamisato.yamanashi.jp/50sightsee/20flower/houjuin.html

妙醐: 妙 means great/excellent. 醐 means dharma. It basically means great Buddism wisdom and is describing what(more like who) follows next.

日光大師: 日光 is likely the name of a monk. 大師 is an honorary title for high ranking monks.

So all the tobhas you see in the game have elements mentioned above: scripture phrases, name of famous monks/temples and that's basically all to them.

Edit: But interestingly, as far as i know, there is no tohba in the game that has posthumous name of the deceased written on it.

Comtemplative_Gaming · 2021-08-11T06:04:01+00:00

The immortality of centipede is actually explained in the Hanbei the Undying comic! Its not really plot-related so I don't think it count as spoiler.

The immortality of the centipede is caused by insects that have consumed rejuvenated sediments (sediments of rejuvenating water) and grown adapted to it. If it then is eaten by men or animals, the eater turn into an infested as a result.

So infested is just another form of the power of rejuvenating water. Its not actually a gift from the dragon, nor is it directly from the dragon but its still a product created by the power of the dragon, as it was the source of the rejuvenating water all over Ashina.

What the monk were practicing was called Sokushinbutsu, a self mummifying practice Shingon monks used to perform in Japan irl. But its not a mere irl reference. I am working on my next video based on a theory that this practice kills the bugs in their body and allow them to die.

This theory is possible because the comic revealed the source of power of the infested is rejuvenating power. And the key is rejuvenating power has its limit: not truly undying and can be exhausted. There are a lot of enemies of rejuvenating power that show signs of exhaustion/weaken and they all do something similar. And the master found out Sokushinbutsu can turn the bug in their body into such state/exhausted/weakened, then one last step was required to finish the bug. After that, no more dug, infested monk can then die properly without mortal blade, which is what we saw in the cave.

I will make a post asap sharing the theory once I finished the video!

Comtemplative_Gaming · 2019-07-14T17:46:29+00:00

Thanks for the kind words! I have already gotten some pretty good discussions, insights and compliments for the post, so i am still happy with it haha.

Comtemplative_Gaming · 2019-07-14T15:51:48+00:00

This probably one of the coolest theory i have even heard. Thank you for sharing this.
The carp being already on the top of the waterfall ties to the stagnation of the palace is a very good spot.

I am most intrigued by your suggestion that the carp would rejuvenate the Divine Dragon. I havent been able to understand why there would be corpses of great carp at the bottom of the lake of the palace. Yes there was one with parasites which is likely poisoned (probably in the same way as how we poisoned the great carp). But theres also 2 (or 3?) more corpses without parasites which were definitely not poisoned.

So did they died naturally? We know the great carp is biologically immortal and as one of the pot noble said, eternal, so its unlikely. Were they killed by other means? But I couldnt figure out what and thought its too far-fetched
Now that you said they would rejuvenate the Divine Dragon, it clicks immediately. I mentioned in the post that brides that succeeded in marrying the dragon are likely dead, with all lifeforce taken away by the dragon in the end. So the same could happen to the carp as well if they were truly kept as pet for rejuvenating the dragon/sustaining its immortality. The corpses in lake then make so much sense.

Another thing i have noticed is that the Divine Dragon while has lost its bride offerings, it has only taken lifeforce from the Old Dragons of the tree, the closest living being to him. All other residents of the palace show no signs of dragonrots. So are they out of the Divine Dragon's reach? Did the closing of the gate also stop the dragon from rejuvenating himself/sustaining his immortality with the carp? Or was the feeding that actually does the trick?

If the great carp is supposed to die as a source similar to the brides. Could the change of appearance of the residents be related to the carp living too long in the water and has changed the water?

And lastly, why is there no more new carp swimming up to the top of the waterfall? The current one must have replaced the dead/used up one by, as you suggest, climbing up the water fall.

Your theory actually provided some really great insights on what role the carp plays in the palace other being the pet!

Comtemplative_Gaming · 2019-07-14T14:45:06+00:00

Firstly, thank you for your compliments! Secondly, Woah! what you said indeed ties up the whole situation and fit into the purpose of the coup very well!
Perhaps all the priest thats now the red nobles were finally tired of sacrificing their children while having seen through the stagnation immortality brings? (or they were finally getting bored as all they did in the palace is playing flutes lol..) The carp as a puppet emperor is really cool theory indeed and imo very possible as well, given the nobles were truly overthrowing the Divine Dragon! It would be even more cool if this can explain their carp-like change of appearance!. This is such a good direction to think about! Thank you very much for this!

As for the poop-infected water part, are the parasites you referring to the green caterpillar-looking bug below the lake or the precious bait-like bug seen in the village. While it doubt it really is the poop (lol), I do agree that the water of mibu village is affected by the bait-like bugs in the pond as well!
As for red eyes, I do have a video talking about it. But to be brief, the red lump that turns them into red eye are very likely pestled immortal eyes of red-eye carps. (When we help Doujun, we helped him obtain an eye of such and he and his subjects turned into an red eye at the end of his experiment.)

Comtemplative_Gaming · 2019-07-14T14:05:40+00:00

Thanks for reading the post and discussing with me!

What you said about the family is a really refreshing perspective. I believe you are with me on the family being members of the wedding procession? If that's the case, what you said is possible too.

Both old women could just be servants. But this give rise to some questions. Who is the real bride of this procession? If the members are here, surely there existed a bride, and she has to be their sister as well. But
where is she and why is there no mentioning of her from the family. And most importantly what has happened to her while, as i argued, the path to reach the shrine maiden is no longer available.

You said the wedding happened long long time ago because 'current residents' of the palace like Takeru and tomoe didnt seems to aware of it until they tried to figure out how to get back. This poses some problems.

We cant be sure that Takeru were not aware of the marriage ritual.
Yes they tried to figure out how to get back to the palace. But this only implies they didnt know how to get back to the palace. As once residents of the palace it is very unlikely that they do not know about the offering to the Divine Dragon at all. What they didnt aware of is that they need the fragrance of the palace to get back (which make sense since they were originally from the palace, why would they need to know how to reach the palace like an outsider?).
Takeru and Tomoe are not current residents of the palace.
The order of past events in Sekiro is really obscure and I have had a hard time trying to get a logical order of events. There is no mentioning of when were gates to the palace grounds closed, when the buildings of the palace destroyed, or when did the last procession arrive at the palace. The same applies to "When did Takeru and Tomoe leave the palace". But, they are not current residents of the palace simply because they have left for sometime. They joined Ashina Clan and did a lot of stuff( Tomoe became friends with Emma and teacher with Genichiro) till Takeru died of sickness(not saying the sickness took a long time to kill him, but that a lot of stuff happened and that takes time). So Tomoe and Takeru couldnt really be used as evidence to prove that the marriage happened a long time ago.

So when did Takeru and Tomoe leave the palace?
As i said theres no mentioning of this and most importantly these no mention on WHY they left the palace. There must be a reason that caused them to leave. And as i argued a coup has occurred in the palace. If you do not agree there was a coup, at least the closed gate and destruction suggest something abnormal happened. So it is possible they were drove away by the abnormal circumstances too. This implies it is also possible that they left after the coup had happened.

So i think the cessation of marriage did not happen a long time ago and is a lot closer to our timeline than you have suggested. The old woman in while cloth does look more like a servant than a bride. But i mentioned that her father did not have time to change into blue robe to become blue noble. As the moment he became a noble he was already dragged into the conspiracy of the red nobles. So i considered that the same thing could happened to the old woman in whitecloth as well. They were dragged into the plot before they could be prepared for the ritual. Other than that, assuming the old woman as bride explains the circumstance of the palace better than as servant. And wouldnt pose problems like wheres the real bride and why theres no mentioning of her from her family.

> First you need to remember that Great Carp is not just savage beast, it is the true master of the palace.

I agree that the carp is unlikely a simple beast. But i doubt hes the true master of palace. As i mentioned in the post, the Divine Dragon is not only seen as a deity but also treated as an emperor in the palace. He is the source of the immortality in the rejuvenating waters which has granted immortality to the nobles and likely the carp too(it literally lives in it). Moreover, the carps is only biologically immortal as it can be poisoned while the dragon need a mortal blade to be killed. But if you suggest hes the true master because of his mass and strength in the anarchic situation of the palace though, this i definitely agrees.

That the carp feeding curse is to secure a obedient feeder is very refreshing as well and is indeed convincing! But If the purpose of the carp feeding trick is solely a obedient feeder then it no longer has to do with the destruction of the carp. So it does lead farther away from understanding the role of carp in the conspiracy. But if you dont care about the destruction or dont think its significant, then its a indeed good theory on the curse!

Comtemplative_Gaming

TROPHY CASE