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「きょじつ」 (Kyojitsu)
“Fact and Fiction”
It really bothered me that Nikichi tried insisting on putting bocchan to bed in the same breath as delivering the news that the lad’s friend had just been stabbed. Frankly, it’s insulting and it’s infantilizing him. It almost came off as convenient for everyone but Ichitarou- they need Ichitarou to stay put until the bad guy goes away and here’s the perfect opportunity to keep him bedridden. Good on Ichitarou for having a backbone and walking away instead of just caving in. I love that bocchan uses his illness and everyone’s paranoia over it to his advantage- basically threatening Dad that he’ll get terribly sick if the rich person’s doctor isn’t sent for.
There is a part of me that feels this is selfish on Ichitarou’s part (sending the expensive doctor, not guilt tripping dad- boy- you threaten all you want with that illness, put that to use against those assholes). If you know anything about Japanese society, you know there’s an obsession with return gifts and the amount being equivalent to what was given to you. If someone gives something to you, it’s unspoken (but expected) that you give something in return, and likewise, if you give something then they will give something back to you. But you have to give something of equal value- if it’s more expensive then the other party will be pressured to give an expensive gift. And with Eikichi’s family being on a lower economic footing than Ichitarou’s, they will be hard-pressed to fully pay Nagasakiya back. And then, of course, you’ll have the town who will probably use that for gossip fodder. Yes, I know Ichitarou meant very well- he’s such a pure hearted boy. But I don’t know that he fully understands how society works in the little details like that.
The threads of our tale are tying together rather nicely here. We get introduced to a few more yokai. First off, the literally larger than life Mikoshi no Nyudo, which is a yokai that targets travellers and swells in size before killing them. Our Mikoshi no Nyudo seems like a genial enough of a fellow, and brings some big news. There seems to be a trend with Ichitaro’s family “dying” only to be living elsewhere just fine. We saw it with his older brother, and now with his grandmother, Ogin.
We’ve heard Nikichi and Sasuke mention her name before, and for good reason- she is apparently yokai too, a river spirit it seems. Not just that- her appearance rings a bell- she’s the very same yokai that Nikichi was in love with, which, yes, that makes bocchan part yokai as well. Purportedly deceased before Ichitaro was born, she is actually alive and well serving Dakiniten. Why? My first guess was that she was worried the village would catch on to how she doesn’t age, so she faked death before that happened. But no- it’s nothing as harmless as that. After her first grandchild died, her daughter was frantic for another child, turning to supernatural means, which Ogin takes into her own hands, bringing home a Hangon incense that can summon a dead spirit back to the living. The tradeoff- Ogin’s service to Dakiniten. That’s pretty dark, and leaves mom with the weight of having swapped her mother for her son. That Ichitaro is the dead child’s spirit in a live body is creepy in its own right as well. No doubt a bitter pill for the lad to swallow, though he seems to take the news pretty well.
That explains a lot about Bocchan’s fragility- his spirit already left this world once, so it would make sense if his affinity for the human world was also weaker. Again, though, I wonder if he’s actually a lot healthier than everyone in the house makes him out to be. It also tracks with how everyone treats him, knowing that he already “died” once and they can’t bring him back next time (not to mention the dear price they paid for summoning his soul the first time). It doesn’t make their treatment of him right, but it certainly makes sense of it.
Bocchan hits the nail on the head- the failed tsukumogami is after him because he has the scent of the incense, having taken it. Hence attacking Eikichi and running off with Ichitaro’s letter. The bad news- Hangon incense no longer exists. Ichitaro sees the situation for what it is and lays the options out- confront him and fight if necessary. I see no traces of a sickly boy there- he has steely resolve in his eyes that show him to be the man he is rather than the child everyone else makes him out to be.
One of my favorite parts of this episode was Mikoshi no Nyudo calling Sasuke and Nikihchi out on how they baby him. It’s about time somebody told them to fuck off and respect Ichitarou’s adulthood. That felt good to watch, and probably even better for Bocchan to hear someone finally recognizing his maturity. I found it quite symbolic- if Bocchan chose to be coddled by the family and hide inside, Mikoshi no Nyudo was going to whisk him away to the spirit world to his grandmother’s side to avoid trouble. The “wait it out and be babied” path that Ichitarou’s had to follow all this time is stifling, it kills the soul. That Bocchan’s chosen path to fight it out and solve his own problems gives him leave to remain in the human world is not just physical/human life, but also a spiritual life in finding freedom, breaking out of the stifling environment of over-care. Also- Mikoshi no Nyudo’s exit was pretty epic, disappearing in a smoke cloud.
