#ookuninushi noragami

[incorrect-madness]

mann i just love the whole takemikazuchi, ebisu, tenjin, ookuninushi, and kofuku team up like they’re just a whole living sitcom

[avidvampirehunter]

I know we are sad about Hiyori but can we take a moment to appreciate the sheer blessings of Yato-suffering we have received for the past three chapters? I can't be the only one reveling in all this delicious ✨ angst ✨

[mymindimpaired]

Woah he has eyes

Volume 12 Ch. 56

[kurisus]

Noragami reread: Volume 23 & 24 thoughts

My last post with two volumes--the next, and final one, will have 3. Also, these volumes were not released during my last reread, so there are some discrepancies and things I didn't realize before, translation-wise.

It took me this long, but I finally figured out what Yuuki's vessel form is. It's a shadow. Symbolically this represents how he's a shadow of his former self, and is silent, insubstantial, reduced to nothing but omnipresent; living in the blind spots but caused by the presence of light (the sun). In a more practical sense, he can shape himself into a human form and send out tendrils to influence other humans, and this is also how he can become a spear for trash dad while maintaining human form. It also explains the black hair and outfit difference, and why he appears to be a human vessel, something that according to Kazuma should be impossible. Trash dad also says Yuuki is a growth-type vessel who will keep morphing depending on the enemy he's facing, which makes sense as to why his powers keep evolving when he fights Yato, then hunts for his dad, then blames heaven.

Anyway volume 23 is an absolutely miserable time and I had to psych myself up to read it for several hours. Yato's realization of who he's fighting, Hagusa losing control and believing he's attacking the father that killed him, Hiyori fainting at Yuka's house, rock paper scissors, the reveal of Yukine's real name...hell. I'm in hell.

While Yato is fighting Yukine, he addresses why he left--to ensure that everyone else lives happily. However, Yukine doesn't buy this, because his greatest fear is being abandoned. Yato wouldn't do that to him again, right? This means that Yato isn't gonna disappear, right?! Right?!?!??!!

Also in 23 is Ookuninushi accidentally knocking the Yatori plaques and hanging them back up with a blessing: May you all live happily ever after. I'm hoping that means that Kofuku tying the plaques meant they'd both die (in a sense) and him blessing them would mean they both...undie. SO YATO CAN'T DIE. SCREAMS

I'm looking SO hard for evidence that our three main characters will survive to the end, as they are, but still choose to part ways. But the thought of the last chapter is torturing me because I really have NO idea what they're gonna do.

Back to the volume at hand, instead of calling Father a goryoujin, they say he's basically the same thing as Tenjin, a human who died with a grudge and was deified to quell his wrath. There isn't a translation note about this either, which I find odd because I'm pretty sure a goryoujin is not that. Earlier they were heavily implying that Father only got his powers by returning from the dead--and this is backed up by his backstory later. So why now say he was deified, and THAT'S how he got his powers? I think it's entirely likely the official got it wrong, because they've gotten stuff wrong before, but unless there's something I'm missing, it just makes it all the more confusing.

Not a lot from volume 24 since it's mostly fighting, but I did want to say every time I go back and reread the chapters I read as they were releasing (and especially for the half-chapters we've been getting the last few years), I'm always surprised by how well everything flows together when compiled in volume form. Volume 24 is the one where Yato finally faces his fears and goes after his father, showing a long journey from earlier in the series, when he was so afraid just from his presence that he couldn't even move.

The art also goes craaaaaaaaazy in this volume. Every panel with Hagusa is amazingly composed, and the fighting between Yato and his father is well-choreographed and breathtaking to read.

I'm also realizing I solved another of my minor hangups with the series ending. I kept expecting something terrible to befall Take and Ebisu when they were on Tamatsuki because of how they talked about it, but nothing did. On a reread, it seems like what actually happened to Ebisu's previous incarnation was that trash dad was waiting for him on that island, Chiki in hand, and destroyed him and his shinki. So he deemed it too dangerous to try again, but in the present day trash dad is busy getting his ass handed to him.

Another one was also resolved, with the deal with Amaterasu and her shinki. The official makes it seem less like they're out to get her, but more that she's starting to question "the heavens are always right" and they are too, a bit.

Discord reactions, only a couple this time:

[nyappytown]

Susano'o Theory Bones:

First: What lead me to look into Susanoo in the first place was a mention of Kushihime in Clash! Oh Ye gods of Calamity. Upon looking into her I had to of course, look into her husband. And immediately he reminded me of Yato’s behavior.

Second: While Yato mentions that Yukine is scared of the dark, Yukine mentions that same chapter how Yato hates storms. Since the beginning of my looking into the theory it has always made sense that he would despise his own nature.

Fourth: The reoccurring motif of storms through the series while we still have no sign of the storm god.

“I wonder if Yato has another name too… I’ll go ask Mayu about Yato after I stop by the team room…”

Now onto a very rough comparison of folk lore!

Susano'o is a key figure and works as a foil to Amaterasu through in many points of the mythology, many of the events of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki cannot exist without him, yet, he is no where in Noragami as it stands. But as I will list below, we still see some of those stories interpreted... but with Yato in place of Susano'o-no-Mikoto.

Susano'o was born of Izanagi’s nose in the Kojiki. Yato is constantly shown with a runny nose.

He was sent to Ne no Kuni by Izanagi after his birth because he wailed to be with his mother.

Yato was sent to Yomi after wailing to be reunited with Hiyori and Yukine.

(Ne no Kuni translates to “land of roots” but it has been associated with the underworld in just about everything I have read.) fun fact! We have seen Yato demonstrate he may have some sort of control over Ayakashi.

The heaven arc is honestly where the most was shoved in our faces. Susano'o is the god who slew Yamata no Orochi and retrieved Kusanagi from its belly.

In the heaven arc Yato is who takes down Take’s dragon.

The trial by pledge is known as “ukei” which is the same ritual that was performed by Susano'o and Amaterasu to determine his innocence. Each party took an item from the other and was chewed on them to produce children. The party to produce daughters would be seen in the right and the party to produce sons, wrong.

Susano'o was declared in the right, and upon winning was so overwhelmed with joy he proceeded to make a mess of Amaterasu’s weaving hall and flayed her horses. (Normal person behavior, I know.) And that is, in one of the accounts, when he was banished!

Those primarily in order they appear in Noragami and not the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki but hopefully it is enough to express why I am so in love with this theory! There are also other more humorous moments and little call outs which I adore.

At the beginning of the series, in chapter one, Yato makes mention of how stormy it is, and then sneezes, which can indicate someone is talking about you.

At the divine party Yamata no Orochi gets mentioned, directly across from that, and paneled to the same size, we see a “gloomy” Yato drinking by himself.

In chapter 83, we see Take with his perm and watch Kofuku break the rafters of Izumo Shrine down on him in a way that is very similar to how Ookuninushi and Suseribime managed to hold of Susano'o to get out of the underworld. This may in fact be a call out to this story. This is also potentially quite punny, as one of Susano'o-no-Mikoto's titles is Takehaya-Susano'o-no-Mikoto.

While it is Take in the scene, we see Coo phone, and black cats which are both associated with Yato through the series. But of course, black cats could also just be bad luck. (Poor kitties)

I adore that Ookuninushi is in this shot too. It’s just too perfect.

On the note of the above story!

In this tale, Ookuninushi received scarves from Suseribime to protect him from the trials Susanoo set him on. At the end of the tale, he receives a sword, as well as a bow and arrows from Susano'o.

And what is Rekki’s vessel form?

Exactly that-

I would like to end, with the manifold fence.

“Ah, a manifold fence.”

Bonus:

I FORGOT MY FAVORITE

For shame.

I need to add this because I can’t stop thinking about it. “In other words, you’re the invisible hand of nature.” Also, the pesti-germ is a reference to pestilence. Which Susano’o is associated with via Gozu Tenno. While Father, in this case, is associated with the Capyper.

This has been my first attempt to back up a Twitter thread! Thank you for bearing with me as I know these are probably strange in bullet point format on Tumblr. The other two are a bit more complicated, so I will get to those at a different time.

[kanotototori]

so about that new chapter

[manikas-whims]

Noragami Chapter 93 Thoughts

I believe none of us is ready to see Yato sacrifice himself along with his father, even if there's a chance of him reincarnating due to Hiyori's memories of him.

So I'm hoping, a very betrayed Bishamon shows up, cause the first thing she asked when she woke up is where's Kazuma.

Then I guess..somehow Hiyori and Hiro will make it to these buildings.

And lastly, when there's no hope left. Amidst all the chaos of angry Bisha, Hiyori's frustrations, heavens armies and Yato Vs Yukine & Trash Dad..

This infamous bunch of Gods shows up with baby Ebisu ofc!

And I'm hoping with the Vlog of older Ebisu, they've actually figured out a better option to defeat the Sorcerer than Yato having to sacrifice himself...

Crossing fingers...

[x0401x]

[osomanga]

The God of Love and Marriage himself has blessed the union made unlucky by Goddess Recession 

[brave-symphonia]

Wonder if him knocking them down and putting them back up means anything.

[carrotcouple]

I was thinking this morning about how chibi ebisu interacts with the other gods of fortune (I'm counting yato bc he's a fuckin god of fortune okay) but kofuku and bisha and the others are p used to him reincarnating a lot right? do they have any traditions or like pranks they play on him since he doesn't know? does ebisu leave himself notes about the pranks so he knows they're coming? do the shinki get involved? basically how do the other gods of fortune interact with newly reincarnated ebisu

OK, but this is like a huuuuuuuuge issue for Ebisu. You know the little black notebook he’s always carrying around?

The one. He’s got gazillions of those filled with schedules, appointments, thoughts, doodles, little depressing ‘I wanna sleep forever’s written there and of course, warnings for the next reincarnation cause well shit, we ain’t gonna have Kofuku going around and kissing every new baby Ebisu just cause he’s sweet and cute, it would signal the apocalypse.

Well, obviously when it comes to Kofuku, the shinki intervene as well, always carrying around sacred purifying salt if they get wind that she might be in Takamagahara. Kofuku dealt with right there. 

Then of course there’s Ookuninushi. Listen, this man is a force of nature, the head of Izumo, the people’s favorite and he wears sunglasses with yukatas and rides motorbikes with pet bunnies in tow. Friend or not, Ebisu must have left notes to himself ‘don’t let this is weird af man influence you, although he’s a good guy’. Ookuninushi in normal circumstances, is probably like: big, really strange dad that’s never home for Ebisu. He brings Chibisu treats whenever he drops by, checks what he’s been up to and ‘hey how’s the reading going, wanna stroke my pet bunny’s fur?’ Moreover, Ookuninushi probably also really annoys Chibisu cause he’s always treating Ebisu like a little kid, regardless of his age really.

Look at his face, ‘no sorry, Ookuninushi, I really appreciate you came to see me and you’re like one of my best estranged God friends, but I’m like what - thirty something now. I’m a big boy, stop poking your nose into my business.’ So obviously, Ebisu leaves behind notes like ‘hey I know you want to get mad and pouty cause he’s making fun of you for reading so slow, but don’t take it out on the black scraper fish, kay?’ (reference to ‘picture book lessons’ omake). ‘Also p.s. beware of hugs, there’s big and warm and nice and disgusting. NO HUGS.’

Then comes Bisha, of course. At the top of all the Bisha related pages in those little black notebooks ‘See if she’s tired of her hafuri yet or if her hafuri is tired of her. Lol, steal him.’ Ebisu doesn’t know how to handle women, especially really nice ‘lemme take care of you, I’m mom material’ types. He really likes it, he does, but he’s never wanted to get close to his fellow Gods cause he dabbled in ayakashi naming. So he probably has a note like ‘don’t let your guard down around her, don’t let the walls weaken.’ cause really all his life he’s wanted a mom figure and Bisha is well Bishamom. Bisha brings Chibisu flowers, memorizes all of his favorites, brings by anything that he’s mentioned even once like ‘hey, Bishamonten san, have you heard of taro bubble milk, I hear the humans like it a lot’ and then she brings it to him the next day. Listen, I see Ebisu as the kind of person who grows up really curious about a lot of things but is also so lazy he’s just like ‘no too troublesome to deal with,’ that describes his relationship with Bisha and so he doesn’t get close to her either. In legendary black notebook number 150 ‘she’s not your mom, so you can just hide whenever her mom-side takes over’.

In relation to the others apart of the ‘Seven Lucky Gods’:

Juroujin - Ebisu is a kind kid, he takes care of baby kittens, feeds the poor, helps the eldery. So basically, although no one knows wtf Juroujin is even talking about as his toothless mouth chatters in time to the violent trembling of his spine, Chibisu helps him walk to meetings even though he has perfectly capable shinki and the like. So he probably has notes in his notebook along the lines of ‘find a good day to take Juroujin to the dentist’, ‘get Iwami to check out his schedule for days he needs help crossing the streets’ and the like. Juroujin will give him some really old molasses candy, pat him on the head for anything nice he does and go on his way.

Hotei - Ebisu hates Hotei with a passion. Here Ebisu is working his ass off till three in the morning ‘hey I’m a fifteen year old and I’ve already had like five shots of super black coffee already and the day hasn’t even started’ and Hotei sits there eating pizza with earphones in his ears, seriously this guy was sitting a Kamuhakari with earphones plugged in and not giving a damn about the Japanese Economy like ‘Excuse me, sir, but about your food expenses, I’ve got a pretty long speech,’

So in the end his notes on Hotei amount to ‘seriously, don’t pay attention to him, it’ll itch you for the next thousands of years otherwise.’ Chibisu stares sometimes and Hotei will randomly offer him a bag of chips if he notices Chibisu staring and that remains that. They keep their safe distance.

Fukurokuju - In legendary black notebook 134: ‘old fashioned man, a little over reactive but over all makes sense, having a conversation with him isn’t so bad.’ also added in a little scribble underneath ‘it’s fun teasing him’. Cause face it, Ebisu likes teasing old men, do you even see what he does with Kuraha? Moreover, the rest of the Seven Lucky Gods love teasing him too, so Chibisu actively takes part in pranking him and somewhere along the way, every Chibisu records an elaborate ‘hey I’m back from the dead prank’ and it gets better every time with every new incarnation trying to one over the previous ones and of course, the rest of the Seven Lucky Gods pitch in to help and Fukurokuju is caught in the trap every time.

Benzaiten - Ebisu is proabably kind of wary of her. She gives the ‘I’m a tiger with my claws in only at the moment’ big sister kind of vibe. But he does have notes like ‘be polite to her, if you are, she visits with homemade cookies and fuzzy slipper and sweaters’. He probably has elaborately written notes on how to knit cause if he doesn’t at least know how it works she slams in through the front door like his worst nightmare and forces him to learn without Kunimi’s help (it doesn’t work, she always ends up passing out while driving herself crazy from trying to make him even hold the needles right.)

As for pranks, when he’s younger, they’re much subtler pranks. The Seven Lucky Gods will somehow switch his grey vest with a bright pink one when Kunimi or Iwami aren’t looking, or sneaking into Ebisu’s office and filling it with balloons or convincing Ebisu that helium balloons are normal balloons filled with sweet tasting air ‘go ahead and taste the air while I whip out my phone to record some really good stuff’. When Ebisu hits teenager stage them Ookuninushi starts to legit misplace all of his clothes and drive Ebisu and his shinkis crazy. When Ebisu hits adult stage, all hell breaks forth and all the Seven Lucky Gods are in on these pranks and because it’s unfair to only target Ebisu, they all start forming secret alliances and betraying each other and crawling in through each others windows and into their closets and bathrooms at like four in the morning. It becomes the worst war zone ever. Takamagahara is on red alert and holding it’s breath until the war dissolves. And as expected Ebisu has a secret bookshelf of past notes labelled as ‘War Survival 101′.

And of course this all comes down the most important note handed down to each Ebisu ‘Listen kid, if you don’t learn how to read at the speed of light so you can read all these notes, you’re dead meat. Good luck, my work here is done.’

Bonus:

He’s still compiling information on a certain God.

[catboyyukineapologist]

Noragami 96/96-2 chapter thoughts

hey guys! I’m back from my month long break how’s everyone doing what’s been ha-

OH MY FUCKING GOD. OH MY GOD. HOLY SHIT. HOLY FUCK. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

two chapter double whammy under the cut because BOY do I got THOUGHTS and FEELINGS for y’all today

---

FIRST I GOTTA FREAK OUT ABOUT BOTH COLOR PAGES EXCUSE ME????? E X C U S E  M E ????????? M A ‘ A M?????????

Alright okay alright. okay. We’re doing this chronologically because i cannot DEAL RIGHT NOW

- 96 -

HIYORI OH MY OHHHHHHH MY GOD

MY GIRL IS BACK

She looks so tiny and I am 100% sure that is on purpose 

yeah hiyori your parents must be worried sick about you, huh

“And that right now, Haru was...” I mean she’s not WRONG

I am in SHAMBLES. I am NOT OKAY. I KNEW this was coming I KNEW HIS DAD WAS KEEPING THE LETTERS AND IT STILL HIT ME LIKE A BRICK TO THE FUCKING THROAT

See this is what I mean when I say I keep looking at Noragami like a western tragedy: That sense of knowing for certain the Bad Thing is going to happen: You know it is, you’ve seen it, the entire story revolves around it happening, yet you still feel for the characters and empathize and it still hurts when all the awful things inevitably come crashing down and why didn’t you see this coming? It’s literally right there in the cover.

Yes I’m in pain how could you tell :)

these character interactions are forcing my hand further into hurt/comfort fic territory every single month

Once again I am legally obligated to tell Kazuma to shut the fuck up

Not everyone has a weird codependent one-sided romance with their god bitch don’t go talking like you’re the paragon of god-shinki relationships<3

Again I love Kazuma but he’s uhhh Been A Bitch the last five chapters or so.

YUKI’S FACE PLEASE SOMEONE ACTUALLY HELP HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS EXISTENCE

So basically that entire fight between Yato and Father was functionally pointless. cool. good. alright. thanks.

excEPT IT WASN’T bc bOY OH MAN did everyone involved get nicely placed on the board like little chess pieces with a side of good good character development and PAIN

no i will not elaborate (coherent analysis? in my nonsensical ramblings? never)

- 96-2 -

Kagutsuchi thirsters where you at (it’s me I’m Kagutsuchi thirsters)

“The sorcerer’s true form”... lol

Well, heaven guy uttered Three (3) sentences and I’m already annoyed and terrified

“I have to keep damage to a minimum” *immediately turns into a giant fuck you spider*

NORA MY BELOVED I LOVE HER I LOVE HER I LOVE HER SHE DESERVES EVERYTHING I LOVE HER

zuko who? redemption arc of the century

Hiyori being an impeccable audience surrogate as always in this trying time

I like that this is the Sorcerer Task Force’s idea of “minimum damage”

it’s been a hot minute since we saw Kagutsuchi’s face!! heyy👁️

“BUT”???????👁️👄👁️

SEE THIS IS EXACTLY WHY THEY WANT TO FUCK Y’ALL UP THIS IS EXACTLY IT THERE IS NO INTERNAL COHERENCE AND YOU’RE GONNA GET ALL YOUR SHINKI FUCKING DECIMATED AND GIVE ZERO SHITS

Finally my fave gets some angst (my fave being Ookuninushi for no particular reason other than Chill Uncle Vibes)

I might be joining the heaven bad bandwagon after this-

NO GOD FUCK NO NORA WAIT- NOT- THEY JUST- THE SHINKI- NO

THEY JUST DISH OUT HIS FACE LIKE THAT HOW DARE HOW DARE HOW D A R E

I hate it here I hate it here I hate it here I hate it here I hate it here I ha

GIRL HELP MY FAVE JUST GOT FUCKING MURDERED

...Yeah so this is your monthly reminder that if you see this man it is fully legal and encouraged to commit manslaughter On Sight.

[noragami-ru-manga]

Soul summoning and Father’s return from Yomi

For someone who supposedly hates Father, I sure talk a lot about him, huh

While I was flipping through the pages of the manga, I once again came to a stop at the soul summoning scene in chapter 37. Specifically at Nora’s tale about Father escaping from Yomi, which I, apparently, did not pay due attention to.

I’ve never had a single opinion on how Father got in and out of Yomi, so I toyed with a few.

1. When Father was still human, he was already interested in researching ayakashi (like Ebisu, for example), somehow learned about the kotonoha (the Word of Yomi) and decided to get one for himself. He voluntarily ventured into Yomi but asked the pock-marked girl to soul call him beforehand, and she did just that.  

2. The pock-marked girl died, and Father got mad at the gods for being directly or indirectly involved. He went to Yomi to get her back, stumbled upon Izanami, saw the brushes in action, and either stole or wheedled out one of them.

3. Father was the one who died while the pock-marked girl lived. While in Yomi, Father encountered Izanami, learned about the brushes, and got his hands on one of them.

In this post I want to examine the last option – the one in which Father died and was resurrected by that girl of his through soul summoning.

First of all, let me remind you that soul summoning isn’t something Adachitoka came up with specifically for Noragami, but an actual Japanese tradition.

I think it’s reasonable to assume that whatever exists in our world is also a thing in Noragami universe. All the locations that we see in the series, specifically shrines, are real places (with the exception of the characters’ houses, Takamagahara and Yomi, obviously).  This means that the tradition of soul summoning can easily exist in-universe.

Maybe it’s just me (or the translation), but the way Kofuku talks about soul summoning seems to imply that she knows what it is and expects others to know about it, too. Apparently, they just never thought of using it on a god because it’s a human tradition.

And it goes against everything both Father and Amaterasu say.

Amaterasu says humans can’t (mustn’t) come back to life at all, Father implies he is the only one who’s managed to return from Yomi/come back to life. How do we reconcile these statements with people climbing on roofs and staring down wells trying to revive their loved ones? The answer is – people did all that, they just weren’t successful. Except for the pock-marked girl.

I’m absolutely sure she was the one who called Father back from Yomi, thanks to a discussion I stumbled upon here on Tumblr.

@sayaka19fan​ gave an alternate translation of this scene that differs from both the official transalation and the fan scanlation: “Even if he said I was a girl with pock marks I wonder if she was his loved one”. Aka “he was cold to me, even if I had her appearance”. So Father being distant made Izanami question her choice of appearance and wonder if she impersonated the wrong person.

If the girl was alive, then Father not being swayed by Izanami is easily explained, he simply knew that whoever was in front of him couldn’t have been that girl. This rules out her dying first and Father coming to Yomi to retrieve her the way Izanagi came after Izanami (not to mention that this particular scenario would require some other person to call Father’s name). So between the two of them, Father was the only one who got into Yomi.

The thing about Yomi is that it’s unclear whether it’s really a place where people go after their deaths. On the one hand, you have this word “yomigaeru”  - to come back to life = to return from Yomi. On the other hand, there are opinions like this one:

In no ancient Shinto textual source is it explained who exactly goes to Yomi and why. Some historians suggest that the concept of a life after death was not a familiar one to the ancient Japanese and it only took form with the introduction of Buddhism from China in the 6th century CE. Yomi certainly has a very limited place in Shinto thought where a life after death is only vaguely alluded to and where there is an absence of a general concept of punishment and reward for souls in the next life as found in many other religions. The only suffering of souls in Yomi, if indeed there is any at all, is their separation from their living loved ones. The noted Shinto scholar and theologian Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843 CE) explains Yomi and its limited significance thus,

“The old legends that dead souls go to Yomi cannot be proven. Then it may be asked, where do the souls of the Japanese go when they die? It may be clearly seen from the purport of ancient legends and from modern examples that they remain eternally in Japan and serve in the realm of the dead governed by Okuninushi-no-kami. This realm of the dead is not in any one particular place in the visible world, but being a realm of the darkness and separated from the present world, it cannot be seen…

The darkness, however, is only comparative. It should not mistakenly be imagined that this realm is devoid of light. It has food, clothing, and houses of various kinds, similar to those of the visible world. Proof of this may be found in accounts…in which a person has occasionally returned to tell of the realm of the dead.

After death the soul leaves the body and resides in the area of the grave, a fact attested by countless accounts…of both ancient and modern times of miraculous occurrences by spirits in the vicinity of graves…Some say that the soul goes to the filthy realm of Yomi, but there is not a shred of evidence that this is the case”. (Scott Littleton, 94)

Even in the manga itself Yato and Ebisu didn’t encounter a single soul when they were in Yomi, only ayakashi and Izanami’s maidens. Then again, we learned in chapter 86 that where souls go in their afterlife depends on what they believed in when they were alive. So technically, if Father believed that dead souls end up in Yomi, that’s where he could have gone after he died.

Why do I now think that he died and didn’t venture into Yomi as a living person specifically to get the kotonoha? Again, it all comes down to the pock-marked girl. I think that her death could have been, in FMA terms, an “equivalent exchange” for Father’s return from Yomi.

See, gods in Noragami are pretty powerful, I give them that. They can, for example, turn into giant spiders (Ookuninushi) and lightning (Takemikazuchi). And while the series never really explains how exactly Tenjin goes about helping students get better marks, or how Ebisu helps businesses, I’m pretty sure that gods can alter reality to some extent. However, they aren’t all-powerful, and there’s one thing they can do nothing about – death.

Of course, we should take into account that Yato isn’t exactly a god of healing to at least theoretically be able to postpone someone’s death (he can totally do the opposite though). I do think, however, that any other god would have said the same, because this is the one thing the gods cannot change. They can’t postpone death because the circle of life is the nature of things and shouldn’t be meddled with. Not because “Amaterasu said so”, but because that’s how the world is. Who made the world like this is a tricky question to answer, since to extent to which the Japanese cosmogoniс myth is applicable to Noragami, aka what came first, the egg or the hen, is a topic for a discussion of its own.

Bottom line is, if Father came back from the dead, something had to balance that out, and that something was the pock-marked girl’s death. It wasn’t a punishment from the Heavens for his breaking out of Yomi, which the Heavens, apparently, don’t even know about. It wasn’t an injustice that some god committed, ‘cause gods had nothing to do with it all. Father became bitter at the world for taking the pock-marked girl away from him, at the gods who didn’t help him when he needed them, and at humans who created and support those useless gods. The clothes Father was wearing when he was escaping from Izanami are the same ones he was in when he was hugging the girl in chapter 60. If this is how things went, then the effect of his return was immediate – as soon as he came back, the girl died.

There’s one more thing that bothers me about Father – how he’s survived after his return from Yomi, specifically how he changes bodies. It’s hard to tell if he had a body in the scenes from Yato and Nora’s childhood, since Far shore beings can interact with the real-life objects (food, clothes) just fine. All we know is that he’s had the same appearance in Yomi, in Yato and Nora’s childhood, and even now; and also that he doesn’t just possess bodies, but their souls as well. His current “host” Fujisaki is a third year high-school senior, meaning he’s roughly two years older than Hiyori. If Father is reborn in a new body each time, then Yato hasn’t seen him for 17-18 years now. And that Yato has never seen Fujisaki before his father made himself known when he and Yukine were walking down the street is apparent not just from their exchange in Fujisaki’s house

but also from the very first scene Father was in. Yato saw how Fujisaki caught Hiyori, and if he knew that the guy was his father, he definitely would have warned her to stay away. Granted, Yato probably didn’t see the guy’s face, but it doesn’t change the fact that Yato first saw what Father now looks like in the year the events of the manga currently take place – after 2010.

Except we see in the Volume 8 omake that Father collected articles about the “Yatogami miracle” from 2000′s, too – when Fujisaki was barely in primary school. (I don’t know if I need to explain this, but just in case it confuses you. I’m not talking about who and when was collecting the papers. What I mean is that Yato worked as a magatsukami in 2000′’s when Fujisaki was only a child).

Could Nora have been the one to make Yato go back to his work as a magatsukami all on her own on those occasions when Father couldn’t command him, being a grown man in the body of an infant or a child with all the restrictions that come with it (also, gross)?  She was able to deliver him to Father using the masks, but for the most part she was just following his orders. So I’m really curious what Father meant when he said that he “didn’t get to chose”. Does it mean he has to be reborn as a baby each time he dies?  Or maybe two souls are just too much for one body to handle, thus he has to switch them quite often and at the most inconvenient times, so he just uses whoever is available? He had to change schools to spy after Yato and Hiyori because Kouto didn’t live in Tokyo, and he seems to somewhat care about his “sister” and “nieces”. But his being out of Yato’s life for a solid decade after each rebirth (before he at least has some freedom of movement, being a child and all) is too good to be true.

And even though I’ve said we don’t know for sure if he had a body after his return from Yomi, I’ll just go out and say that he had – his own body, no less, the one we saw in Yato and Nora’s memories. He had to be human to have wished Yato into existence in the first place, and since his appearance back then matches his current looks, he could have initially returned into his own body.

After all, time flows differently on the Near shore and on the Far shore. Although so far we’ve only seen that the passage of time is slower both in Yomi and Takamagahara.

Is the opposite possible? Could it be that while Father was in Yomi, very little time has passed in Nakatsukuni, so instead of burying Father the girl tried calling him back and succeeded? It’s a wild guess, but if day and night don’t have a set length on the Far shore, then it means that one day in Yomi can also be shorter than one day on Earth.

In any case, if Father did come back to his own body, it lasted for a while – at least until Yato was a teen.

Another thing that bothers me is how come Yato didn’t know what Father looked like after an entire month of staying in that cottage. Did Yato never look at him during that whole time? Or would Father come to the cottage as himself? We know that his soul can separate itself from Fujisaki’s, but is it accidental or intentional?

Look at his latest encounter with Hiyori.

Father showed himself for a split second, distracting Hiyori and letting the ayakashi bite her. Did he accidentally “slip out” because of his strong emotions, or did he do it deliberately to make Hiyori lose focus and be an easy target for his doggies? The second one is a very Father thing to do, and if he can separate himself from Fujisaki from time to time, it explains why Yato didn’t know he looks like a student now. However, he was Fujisaki when he came to collect Nora after the whole ordeal with Ebisu.

Maybe Yato only saw Father that one time during his entire stay at the cottage – when Father ordered him to go to Yomi. This way it’s possible that Yato indeed never looked at his face. Except chapter 29 seemingly disproves that.

The background to Yato’s thoughts is Father putting down the bucket with purifying water in it. If this is just to remind us that this person is Father, I’m fine with it. But if this is Yato’s memory, something he saw with his own eyes, then it can only mean that Father did not look like Fujisaki then.

TLDR: I think that Father came back from Yomi because the pock-marked girl resurrected him via soul summoning and died in exchange, accidentally or voluntarily. I’m not overly attached to this theory and I won’t be surprised or disappointed if it’s never confirmed. It was just fun to dig into Father’s possible past once more.

P.S. while I was reading the soul summoning scene, the inconsistencies in Amaterasu’s actions and words (“call him like in a soul summoning” – “people can’t come back from Yomi”, “call him by his real name” – “are you the one called Yatogami?”) made me entertain the idea that the girl who helped the gang wasn’t Amaterasu, rather her lookalike. Like her twin sister Tsukuyomi? They weren’t twins according to the Japanese mythology as far as I know, but in other mythologies the sun and the moon are twins *cough  Greek cough*, and we’ve already seen that Adachitoka don’t exactly retell mythology but adapt it however they like. I did cast away the thought since there was too much focus on the sun during the scene, but it’s still a fun little idea.

[thedeliverygod]

love how tama makes a canon appearance in noragami

I know I honestly died laughing because for a split second I was like “maybe it is Yato???” like when Ookuninushi-sama was leading up to the announcement and then they announced Station Master Tama who had only recently been deified and I was just like omfg

[manikas-whims]

So...

In chapter 58

when Lady Kofuku tied Yato's plaque with Hiyori's, many fans considered it like an ill omen.

Now in chapter 91.2

Lord Ōkuninushi picks up their fallen plaques, hangs them back up and gives his blessings. So like..their bond is blessed now, right?

[osomanga]