shinigami takamagahara monogatari book 2 xia xia lake

Still, he is wealthy and his father is indulgent at times Hiro buys Ryu to be his personal servant. In this case, Hiro’s intervention leads to Ryu being beaten and sold as a slave. A recurrent theme for Hiro’s journey is that whenever he attempts kindness, the object of his kindness is left in a far worse situation than if Hiro had never intervened. Hiro is learning to take the census of his father’s crops and Ryu’s father is beaten near to death by one of Hiro’s orderlies. Hiro encounters Ryu many years after their first meeting-when they are both teen boys. As we watch Hiro grow, we know this story is told through the god-observer’s eyes, and he steps in to change Hiro’s fate to bring forth the god-power within Hiro.

This god-observer plays many parts in the development of Hiro’s character and the plot of the story. Hiro has another supernatural observer, from deep behind the veil of Yomi, the Land of the Dead. This first soul reaping creates Biko, a yokai who serves Hiro later in his punishment. Hiro discovers his god-power later, when one of his half-brothers kills a nightingale and Hiro is able to capture its soul and have Inari transfer it to another being. At age nine, Hiro discovers an urchin in their garden stealing rice to feed his sickly father, and he gives the boy, Ryu, food, medicine and clothing that will keep them both alive. Hiro is an anomaly within his hypermasculine family in that he is compassionate of the poor and loves nature. The story mainly follows Hiro growing up in the protective shelter of his wealthy and powerful family. Inari does not know why Hiro is different, only that he smells part-human and part-something else. A kitsune is a fox yokai with magical powers of shapeshifting. Hiro is not completely like his family he can see yokai, spirits of the Earth, and is often visited by Inari, the seven-tailed kitsune god of rice and prosperity. Hiro and Abe are raised in proximity, and Abe, knowing she will never receive scolding, often goads Hiro into foolish and daring plans.

Since birth, Hiro has been betrothed to his cousin, Princess Abe, a girl who will one day be Empress of Japan. The major benefit of reading in order is familiarity with language conventions and Shinto deities that are common in this medieval Japan setting.įujiwara no Hirotsugo, called Hiro for short, is the firstborn son of Umakai, a high-ranking member of the Fujiwara clan. In fact, I went back and re-read Kogitsume after this one, so I could better appreciate nuances of the novella I missed in the first read. The author recommends reading the novella Kogitsune first, but I think you could read them out of order and still be fine. Shinigami is the second book in the Takamagahara Monogatari series and is an epic, supernatural, historical with two intertwined, but doomed, love stories.

Shinigami takamagahara monogatari book 2 xia xia lake