The Thirteenth Night: About Nanakodou ~ And My Wife's Secret Meeting

Author: [If you feel annoyed, please skip the first half. It does not particularly hinder the story.]

_________________

In the end, what were the Nanakodou(Seven Children)?

When it comes to child yokai, the first thing that comes to mind is Zashiki Warashi, a yokai that is said to bring good fortune when inhabits a house. However, Zashiki Warashi and the Seven Children are complete opposites - while one brings good luck, the other brings disaster.

That being said, there are theories that even with Zashiki Warashi being portrayed as fiction with only its positive aspects extracted from traditional folklore, there are dark aspects to its original folklore.

However, for now, let's put aside the topic of Zashiki-warashi and focus on the Nanakodou. Rather than focusing on the "child" aspect, let's focus on the "seven" part of the "Seven Children".

In my previous world where I lived before coming here also existed spirits or vengeful ghosts who acted in groups of seven. They were called "Shichinin Misaki."("7-person Misaki")

They always moved around in groups of seven and anyone who encountered them would develop high fever and die. Those killed by them would become part of Shichinin Misaki themselves.

To allow one spirit among their group to rest in peace after death, the group must always consist of seven members and cannot increase or decrease.

There are variations too; sometimes if they lose members due to certain circumstances such as becoming enlightened, they will possess humans so as not to reduce their numbers.

The identities of the spirits that make up the group vary, including those who died in maritime accidents, groups of pilgrims who were killed by villagers, and samurai (though the "Seven Samurai" is probably unrelated). The group is also sometimes referred to as "Shichinin-dosho" or "Shichinin-dongyo."

It can also be a child called "Zashiki-warashi"

So perhaps we can consider Seven Children as a subspecies or variation of Shichinin Misaki too?

Now then: assuming that Seven Children is indeed related somehow with Shichinin Misaki...

Why do Shichinin Misaki always move in groups of seven?

Why do they possess humans and have a unique system to maintain their numbers? Why do they kill people?

Why seven in particular? The reason for the group consisting of seven members may have been due to the number of deaths in the incident that led to the group's formation, but there are various variations to the incident, such as maritime accidents, deaths in battles, or murder by villagers.

It's probably just an after-the-fact explanation that there happened to be exactly seven dead people involved in the incident that started everything.

Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that there was originally a group of unknown vengeful spirits consisting of seven members, and later on an anecdote was added as an explanation for how they came into being.

That's why there isn't much explanation about why they move around in groups of seven or why they possess humans.

I think this "incomprehensibility" is the reason for the fear of the Shichinin Misaki.

Also, it can be thought that there were once "Six Misakis" or "Eight Misakis" (which seems to actually exist). However, as these legends were passed down, they gradually became obsolete and only the legend of Seven Misaki remained. Could it be that other numbers of Misaki were eliminated and converged into Seven Misakis through a process incorporated into the legend in forms such as "haunting people and possessing comrades" or "when exceeding capacity, senior members will become enlightened to maintain capacity"?

So why did only the legend of Seven Misakis remain? Perhaps it's due to a certain mystique associated with the number 7.

Firstly, when you hear '7', you may think of 'Lucky 7'. This is because seven days are considered sacred since God created heaven and earth in seven days; on the seventh day he rested and was praised. Thus, one week consists of seven days. However, this too was added later. In reality, when establishing units like weeks based on lunar cycles (which last 29.5 days), dividing by both 30-day months and 29-day months resulted in a remainder less than seven.

In addition, Pythagoras considered 7 to be the number of the universe, obtained by adding the perfect number 3 and the world number 4.

In Japan also: first-seven-days after death; seventy-seven days after death; Shichifukujin (Seven Lucky Gods); and the lack of seven habits.

Therefore, regardless of the East and the West, it is speculated that the number 7 is treated as special due to its universal, mathematical factors.

7 is a prime number. There is a saying that "prime numbers are lonely numbers," and since ancient times, when people were upset, they counted prime numbers to calm their minds. "Prime numbers" are numbers that can only be divided by 1 and their own numbers, and are both lonely numbers that cannot be divided by others and numbers that give courage to people. Among them, "7" is a number that is "mutually prime" with any number from 1 to 10 in mathematical terms, and is a "lonely number in the midst of loneliness." Perhaps these things make the number 7 special.

Furthermore, I believe that the number 7 is the minimum number that gives a sense of "many." If there are 5 or 6 people, the number can be relatively easily grasped, but if there are 7 people, especially at night, you can only recognize them as "many" at a glance.

Combining all these things together - I believe that Seven Misakis' true identity embodies both the mystique associated with the number 7 and fear towards an unknown group. In addition for Seven Children's case - perhaps there is also fear towards children who have gone beyond adult rules despite once being like themselves; The fear and anxiety towards the group of "terrifying child Unfortunateables" is what I believe is the true identity of the seven children.

Well, I've been rambling on for a while now, and some people might say, "you're just guessing." But I'm an amateur, and I can't be like a long-haired, black-robed heretic anthropologist. Please forgive me for that.

・

・

・

・

While thinking about such things as I scrolling through the town.

I enjoy wandering around this town, sometimes alone, and other times with my wife. Every time we explore the city, there is always something new to discover.

While I was lost in thought, walking along, the only thing on my mind besides the Seven Children was my wife. Fortunately, even after Nanakodou and Tsumakari came into our lives as well, our relationship hadn't changed.

However, lately my wife hasn't been feeling well; Tsumakari's work has been unexpectedly hard on her. Could it be fatigue? But when I asked her, she said it was because of something called "yin energy."

Yin energy is a type of energy emitted by yokai, like a kind of aura. It's also known as yokai energy or miasma. Depending on the yokai, the amount of yin energy emitted can vary, but just being near them can cause humans to absorb it. During sexual intercourse, one can take in large amounts of yin energy, which can cause health problems.

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly but my wife said:

"There are ways to dispel yin energy so there's no problem,"

She didn't explain those methods clearly though;

Instead she went out saying that she would go consult someone about how to disperse the yin energy.

When I offered to accompany her she gently refused saying:

"It's an internal meeting."

I wondered if it had anything to do with some kind of occult secret?

Although I was worried about my wife,

I trusted her words when she said "it'll be fine,"

So today I took a walk alone.

As the evening approached, I strolled aimlessly through the city, much like a rakugo apprentice. Suddenly, I felt a tug on my pant leg, and when I looked down, I saw a small figure, about the size of a kitten, tugging on my pant leg with its tiny hand.

Of course, it was a yokai.

The outline of that figure was vague and I couldn't see it clearly. Things like this happen all the time in this town, which is what makes it so interesting.

When I noticed the yokai, it tugged on my pant leg again, seemingly saying, "Come this way."

Since it didn't seem harmful, and I was intrigued, I decided to follow it. The small yokai led me, running quickly despite its size, through several alleys until we arrived at the front of a small apartment building.

A cheap apartments for students.

This kind of place doesn't change whether it's in this world or the one I used to live in.

A steel outdoor staircase that creaks loudly when climbed, leading up to a cheap apartment building. It seems like the destination is here.

The small yokai led me to a certain room on the second floor, so I hurriedly followed.

In front of that room, the yokai pointed at the door with its tiny hand and seemed to be saying "go inside."

I hesitated about entering a stranger's room, but then I heard the sound of the key turning and felt relieved as the door opened smoothly.

Did the person inside open it because they sensed our presence? But when I entered, there was no one there. It was like the door had opened by itself.

I could hear voices coming from inside.

Even though I was hesitant about entering someone else's room, when I saw my wife's shoes placed neatly in the small entranceway behind where we stood, recognition dawned on me immediately: those were her shoes - ones that I had given her as a present - with their distinctive decoration making them unmistakable. Why would she be here?

Before long, without even realizing it myself, I found myself having entered into their conversation space within their apartment unit. These kinds of affordable apartments are all pretty much alike: upon entry you find yourself facing an open kitchen area with a small dining table nearby; beyond sliding doors lies what must serve as both study and bedroom combined. The voices were coming from there...

It sounded like two people (a man and woman) discussing something urgent...and without question now recognizable as my wife's voice!

But who was this other person speaking with her?

As my heart raced faster than ever before trying not to make any noise while approaching closer to listen through slightly-opened shoji screens separating us, the scene that unfolded before my eyes caused my heart to skip a beat.

My wife was sitting on the bed with a young man I had never seen before. He looked like he had just transitioned from being a boy into becoming an adult, and appeared much younger than her.

It wasn't odd to use a bed as a sofa in a sparsely furnished room, but the problem was the position they were in: They were sitting so close that their bodies were almost touching.

Furthermore, my wife leaned towards him as if she wanted to be closer still; his hand rested on her ample chest...and she held it there with hers!

This is clearly an affair scene, isn't it?

At that moment, my wife suddenly turned her head and our eyes met directly.