How come this ED is so good.
Nikkari Aoe got his name from a story where he supposedly slashed the ghosts of a women and her child. Here’s the ghost of the women.
Two things here. First, you can see Willow branches and a bridge. Willows have long been related to ghosts. A popular superstition was that ghosts would appear under Willow trees. Long ago Willows would be planted alongside rivers to help maintain the banks. But due to the poor safety precautions and lack of illumination, a lot of people would fall into the river and drown. Again due to the lack of light at the time, people who walked near rivers at night would confuse the swinging Willow branches with ghosts. Overall it was a pretty eerie place to be at night, easily associated with ghosts.
Second, in Nikkari’s ghost story they went to check back on the bodies in the morning. But instead hey found two broken stone lanterns. Here you see the two lanterns
And then here you see them broken, right after being slashed by Nikkari.
Now these lanterns are a reference to the Marugame castle. It’s the place where Nikkari is being kept at today.
This part is also a room from the Marugame castle. The Marugame had a reputation of being cursed. Strange things would happen in the castle and its lords were haunted with bad luck. One of Nikkari’s owners, the Kyougoku clan, had moved into Marugame castle and brought Nikkari with them. Once they did, it’s said that all the strange events suddenly stopped. In this scene you can see Nikkari slashing all the ghosts in Marugame.
From right to left, the ghost/youkai here are:
Ubume, the ghost of a pregnant women or one who died in childbirth.
An Oni, maybe Shuten-dōji who had its head cut off?
Kawaakago, a youkai found in rivers, ponds, and swamps, who mimics the sound of a crying baby to attract passersby.
Gashadokuro, born from the hatred and bones of people who died in war or by the roadside, essentially those who didn’t receive a proper burial. This one has a large cut in his skull, it’s most likely a sword cut from someone who died in battle.
Ushi-oni. There’s different types of this youkai, and one of them is said to use another youkai related to children called Nure-onna. She would trick passersby into holding her baby, which would then get stuck onto the victim’s hands and grow heavier, making it harder for them to escape from the Ushi-oni.
Both Nikkari and Juzumaru are from the Aoe school, here you can see Juuzumaru’s crest on one of the lanterns. Also on a lot of the lanterns, particularly the ones with Willows, you can see tiny baby hands all over them, from the baby Nikkari killed.
Also if you look the windows you can see little pinwheels, something children would usually play with and also something offered to stillborns and young kids who died.
In here, once Nikkari slashes all the ghosts not only do they disappear, but the pinwheels on the windows also vanish. Then in the middle of the room you can see a broken pinwheel.
Then the flowers here are Tuberoses. Not sure if it’s related to a date this time. These flowers’ fragrance becomes much stronger at night, and they were once really popular as funeral flowers. In flower language they can mean dangerous pleasure.
Now the flowers behind the Tuberoses painted in a goldish color might be Chinese peonies, which would match the day of Shibata Katsuie’s death, one of his previous owners.
Then the Chrysanthemums in the back might be referencing Toyotomi Hideyoshi, another of his previous owners who served as the Imperial Regent of japan. The Imperial Standard (flag) of the Regent has a Chrysanthemum.
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