Strawberry daifuku
Good.
Yamagami, how does that taste?
What plump and juicy flesh!
Such a sinful flavor.
This "collaboration" of smooth bean pastes and strawberries is indulgent.
It even made you use an English word to describe it?
Way to go, Hizen-an.
Hm?
What's going on?
The outdoor classroom of Ho'o.
Teaching Japanese bush warblers how to chirp?
Indeed.
What you should do is to make your first "ho" more relaxed.
Once again!
Yes, that's right. Next!
Nice sound. Consider yourself praised.
Okay, last one!
Oops.
It's all wrong!
Do it like this.
Birdy is so popular. Always surrounded by everyone.
Quite. How lively.
Spring has come.
Kusunoki's Garden of Gods
The Kami Realm of the Goddess and the Power to Seal Things
Rice cake in bean paste
Mr. Katsuragi, what's your situation?
Still plenty here.
That's why we call this the Spring Evil Spirit Fest.
There's so many of them.
It really chips away at our spiritual powers.
These are small fries.
Leave them to me!
Number One, eat your fill!
Mr. Katsuragi.
I know. Counting on your support, Number Two!
You had a lot, huh?
What? Not enough?
Don't worry. There will be next time.
Another evil spirit.
Calm down, you guys!
My head isn't for eating!
Hey, Harima!
Come on, let go! Aw, aw, aw!
Souvenir
Yamanaka-do
Okay, I've got souvenirs for everyone, so let's head home.
Hey, isn't that...?
Oh! The bird whisperer!
Wow, I've heard so much about him!
Bird whisperer?
Whoa!
Amazing! More birds keep coming!
Holy crap! Take a photo, quick!
Stop
This always happens when we go out together.
All right, it's done.
My sweet little clay figure-shaped hedge.
This is specimen No.25!
Looking nice. I almost want to call it Mr. 25.
Huh? Oh, Mr. Kusunoki!
It's good to see you.
It's a rather... avant-garde hedge.
Yes. The owner of this house told me I could do whatever I want with it.
Wow.
I mean, I've been on a roll since I worked on your garden. See?
Hm?
Whoa! Why so many birds?!
Y-Yeah, I wonder why.
If you'll excuse me!
Huh? Mr. Kusunoki?
Yamagami!
We've got a problem!
There's a bunch of abandoned kami realms in the mountain!
And Minato hasn't come back from shopping!
What do we do?
Do not panic.
There are so many. It must be too many for you to handle.
Let me take care of it.
The Yamagami himself would...?
Aye.
Follow his lead.
Yes!
Yeah!
Huh? The birds are gone.
Did something happen?
Hey!
Fujin, Raijin.
You'd better go home as soon as possible.
Why is that?
Today, there's an outbreak of abandoned kami realms and evil spirits.
Abandoned kami realms?
There are millions of kami in this world,
and even more "kami realms," or sacred grounds.
Some kami realms end up abandoned by their creator.
Is that so?
Speaking of which...
Was that...?
An abandoned kami realm.
A portal to it can be anywhere.
On the ground, in the air, or even in the water.
And it moves around, which is problematic.
Humans could get pulled in every now and then.
It's called being spirited away.
Oh, so that's why the birds didn't follow us.
You seem awfully relaxed about it,
but you should be the most vigilant here.
What?
Your affinity with kami is extremely high.
It's because you not only live in the sacred ground,
but you also bathe in Yamagami's hot spring.
If you get pulled into a nasty kami realm,
you won't be able to get out by yourself.
I-I'll be careful.
Oh, speaking of which,
it seems Yamagami has also set out to destroy the abandoned kami realms.
He did? It's that serious?
Do be careful.
See you later.
Birdy, let's take a shortcut today.
Oh my! There are so many!
This is bad.
It's spreading toward Minato's house.
We must banish it all right here!
Let's split up.
Yes, sir!
Leave it to me!
Let's do this!
Hm?
Wow, this place looks really run down.
No, no! You need to stay away!
Huh? Birdy, did you say something?
It sounded like someone's voice.
Did I imagine it?
Huh?
Wh-Whoa?!
M-My body is being pulled in?!
Birdy?!
Whoa!
Birdy, are you okay?
Where are we?
This feels like when I stepped into a kami realm before.
Are we in one now?
Be that as it may, it's kind of hard to breathe.
Let's find the exit quickly.
What are these wooden boxes?
There are so many of them.
There's something Yamagami said before...
Kami realms reflect the minds of their creators.
It's a replica of the space they find most comfortable.
This creator must really love wooden boxes.
Hm?
What's that?
The air is bad around here.
Hm?
Is someone there?
Is this the god who created this kami realm?
Kusunoki's Garden of Gods
Is this the god who created this kami realm?
Agh! This dreary air!
It's so muggy I can't even sleep!
It needs to be ventilated.
But I don't want to bother.
I don't wanna move.
I just want to sleep all day long.
Excuse me.
Hm?
Are you the creator of this kami realm?
That's right.
Who are you? You're human, right?
Yes.
Oh, is that you, Ho'o?
You seem to have a whole lot of protection.
Why are you here?
I didn't summon you.
I'm not sure.
Are you lost?
That's strange, the portal should have been completely closed.
Right now,
a lot of portals to the abandoned kami realms are appearing in the outside world.
How rude. I didn't abandon this.
Oh no. Did my power get weaker?
The shrine I saw on the way here seemed rather run down.
Oh no! You're right.
But when?
How many moons has it been?
Well, whatever.
Huh? Um...
Listen, you're connected with Fujin, right?
I don't know if "connected" is the right word.
But you have his power.
You can tell?
Of course I can.
A shrewd character like him, giving his power to a human, no less...
You know, I have a favor to ask.
Can you use Fujin's power and ventilate this place?
Ventilate, you say?
The air here is stale, you know?
That's true.
If it's something I can do, let me try.
When was the last time it was ventilated?
In human time,
I think people were talking about stopping envoys to the Tang Dynasty.
AD
So over a thousand years ago.
894
894 AD
Cancellation of Envoys to the Tang Dynasty
It is?
Humans come and go so fast, I can't remember their names.
I see.
All right, thanks for your help.
When I'm done with it, will you help me get out of here?
Sure thing.
Do you promise?
Cut it out already.
Do I seem like an irresponsible deity to you?
You kind of do...
Oh.
Whoa!
What's this hole?
While you're at it, chuck all the wooden boxes in this area in there.
Okay.
Oh my. What a view.
Ha!
Ya!
Take this!
Are you okay, Utsugi?
Hehe, I messed up.
Goodness, you all are quite noisy.
Yamagami!
How goes it?
I took care of the ones in the north.
The west side is done.
And I finished the east side.
Well done. Now we rescue Minato.
Minato?
You don't sense it?
He's trapped in a kami realm.
What?!
So the cry of Ho'o earlier...
We must go at once!
Hm?
Again?!
There's no end to this!
Not to mention they're headed toward Minato's house!
Looks like you're in trouble.
Do you want us to help?
Much obliged.
Leave this place to me.
You all go now.
Yes, sir!
All right, shall we get this over with?
Sure. Yamagami, why don't you take a break?
As if.
Ooh, nice.
Reminds me of when he used to be wild and erupting all the time.
When was the last time this mountain erupted again?
Like a thousand years ago?
Stop talking nonsense.
It was one thousand five hundred years ago.
This is the last one. Phew.
How's this?
Wow!
Finally uncluttered!
But the air is still rather stale.
Then...
What's that?
The leaves from the sacred tree in my garden, kusunoki.
Ha, not bad.
You just happened to have them on you?
I was saved by this the other day.
So I had some on me, just in case.
Great work, thank you.
Look how clean it looks.
I'm glad I could be of help.
Listen, if you have more of those leaves, can I have them?
Of course.
They smell really nice.
Yes, the scent is rather strong.
As a thank you, I'll let you have some of my power.
What kind of power is it?
A power to seal things.
Seal? Seal what?
What cannot be seen.
People's feelings, troublesome desires, supernatural powers...
You can seal things like that in whatever you choose.
Then those boxes...
Yes. Humans pray to me about them, so I seal those away for them.
Things like dreams they can't let go of, jealousy and resentment towards others,
and supernatural powers they can't handle.
It doesn't have to be a wooden box.
You can find what works for you.
It's totally up to you to use my power or not.
You're free to seal away the power to seal in there,
or you can release it with conditions.
Anything is possible if you... train your power.
Hey! Goddess, please don't fall asleep!
Where is the exit?!
Exit?
What is an exit?
She's asleep.
I can't force her to wake up.
What do I do?
Minato!
Everyone!
Are you okay?
I am. Thank you for coming to get me.
We're sorry we're late.
We got held up by a lot of abandoned kami realms.
You had a rough time too.
She was an extremely ancient deity.
An unmotivated goddess.
An unmotivated goddess?
I was given the power to seal things.
That must have been Amaterasu.
Amaterasu...
You mean, the Amaterasu?!
Not quite what I imagined her to be.
How did you know where I was?
The voice of Ho'o gave us a good idea of where you might be.
Oh, his cry from back then...
Oh boy.
I have to thank him when he wakes up.
You can also thank the wind spirit.
Wind spirit?
The voice of the wind guided us here.
Did you hear anything right before you got pulled in?
Oh!
No, no! You need to stay away!
That voice... tried to warn me of the danger there?
It might still be hard for you to see and hear them.
Listen carefully.
Focus and try to listen to them.
That's what matters.
My attention...
I'm glad that you're okay.
Was that...?
You heard them.
Thank you, wind spirits.
Harima, don't leave me behind.
I have no stamina anymore.
Hm? What's up?
Well, well.
You're late, my dear onmyoji.
We exorcists took care of the miasma around here already.
Oh wow, thank you kindly.
And what brings you here to our jurisdiction?
When there are exorcists rooted in the area,
onmyoji cannot banish evil spirits there.
That's the unwritten rule, isn't it?
Well, we don't have time to waste, so please excuse us.
Who was that man?
There are disgraceful exorcists who take on cases for outrageous fees,
and he's their leader.
I hope they're not up to something.
Yamagami, I'm back!
I bought you something.
Huh? Yamagami?
Good grief.
You all are—
Yamagami!
Hm?
You've gotten small again?
Aye, it looks like I overused my power.
Please eat your fill and grow big again!
I bought you Japanese sweets too.
What do you think?
This should bring me back to normal in no time.
I hope so.
But your small form is quite adorable.
It's a perfect size to play with Dragon and Kirin.
Don't you dare make fun of me!
I'm a mountain god.
Translation: Tomoko Takedani Sater Timing: Andy Ellis
Editing and Typesetting: Ashley Barboza Quality Control: Salem Alabanza
Episode Six: "Welcome to the Spring Garden."
Next Time
Welcome to the Spring Garden