Watch Out! The Willawaw!

“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” 

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Considering Toujou Genya is always getting involved with murder cases that are related to religious ceremonies, it's only fitting I too have found my own ritual when reading this series. Not that it's a positive ritual though. I have mentioned it earlier in my reviews of the Toujou Genya novels, but maaaaaaaan, the set-up takes ages in these stories. The novels are usually around 500-600 pages long and I think in every one of them, the main mystery won't happen until the halfway point. Usually, some mystery that happened in the past will also be discussed in the set-up, but mostly, it's reserved for in-depth research by Genya where he learns about the local religions and shrines and the history of the ritual he'll be attending, and his folkloristic interpretations of said ritual. It's interesting stuff and always relevant to the plot as a whole, but things move at a snail's pace these first 200-300 pages. So my ritual for this series is I always take AGES to get through the set-up. I'm talking me reading one or two pages a day and then trying something else because nothing happens in the story and I want to read something else. Once I finally get to the main murder, I can finish the book in a few days, but sometimes it takes me a month or more to even get that murder. Today's book for example, I think it took me two months since I first started reading it to get past the halfway point, after which it took me just two days to finish it.

Toujou Genya series
1) Majimono no Gotoki Tsuku Mono ("Those Who Bewitch Like The Evil Spirits", 2006)
2) Magatori no Gotoki Imu Mono ("Those Who Are A Taboo Like The Malicious Bird", 2006)
3) Kubinashi no Gotoki Tataru Mono ("Those Who Cast A Curse Like The Headless", 2007) 
4) Yamanma no Gotoki Warau Mono ("Those Who Sneer Like The Mountain Fiend", 2008)
5) Himemuro no Gotoki Komoru Mono ("Those Who Stay Inside Like A Sealed Room", 2009)
6) Mizuchi no Gotoki Shizumu Mono ("Those Who Submerge Like The Water Spirit" 2009). 
7) Ikidama no Gotoki Daburu Mono ("Those Who Turn Double Like The Eidola", 2011)
8) Yuujo no Gotoki Uramu Mono (2012)
9) Haedama no Gotoki Matsuru Mono (2018)

Magatori no Gotoki Imu Mono ("Those Who Are A Taboo Like The Malicious Bird", 2006) is the second novel in Mitsuda Shinzou's series about Toujou Genya, a writer of horror stories, amateur anthropologist (folklore) and collector of scary folklore stories. Genya travels all the way to the small fishing settlement of Tori no Ura in the Seto Inland Sea as he has the rare opportunity to witness "the Ceremony of the Birdman" of the Nuejiki Shrine. Nuejiki Shrine is dedicated to Torinoiwakusubu-no-Kami, or the Great Bird (an eagle deity) and is located on the small island of Torijikishima. The Nuejiki family of shrine maidens that own the shrine usually resides in Tori no Ura however, as the main Nuejiki Shrine is mainly used for rare occassions. This year is such a special case: the Ceremony of the Birdman is a secret ritual with esotoric roots that may only be used when either Tori no Ura or the Nuejiki Shrine is in imminent danger. With dangerously few fish being caught this year, it's decided the Ceremony of the Birdman will be conducted by the shrine maiden Akane. While the actual ceremony must be conducted by her alone, her younger brother Masana, the shrine help Akaguro and three promiment young men from the community also accompany her to the island to oversee the ritual. Accompanying the locals are Genya, and the folklore student Tamako, who both have academic interest in the ritual. While doing his 'homework' on the ritual, Genya learns the ritual was also conducted eighteen years ago by Akane's mother Akana. She was accompanied by a six-year old Akane as well as a professor from a university and his team, who wanted to witness the ritual themselves too. However, Akana disappeared from the shrine during the ritual, even though all exits were watched by the college students and that same night, all the other people too disappeared mysteriously from the island, leaving only the six-year old Akane locked up in a closet. Apparently, the men had been in a panic because of an attack by a Torime, a monstrous bird believed to roam this area, and Akane had been hidden by one of them in the closet, making her the only survivor.

Torijikishima is a small island that is not only surrounded by dangerous underwater streams, but also features an impressive rise at the northern half that ends in a rock cliff. The way the cliff extends both left and right, and partially in the middle makes it seem like a giant bird in flight when viewed above, and is also why the Nuejiki Shrine is built on top of this cliff, with the main shrine in the 'head' of the bird, flanked by two storage quarters in the 'wings'. One needs to walk up a slanted gallery walkway (from the "tail end") to get near the shrine. A set of doors at the end of the gallery give access to another steep staircase, which end at the doors that lead inside the shrine (head). Because of what happened to their mother, Masana is quite worried about his sister doing the same ritual, and he and Genya are stationed at the set of doors at the end of the gallery. A mechanism of bells and strings is set-up between the inner sanctum of the shrine and the watch post and Akane is to ring every few minutes or so to let Masana know she's okay. When the bells are suddenly rung violently, Genya and Masana decide to go inside the shrine. They break open the doors with an ax and find... nobody inside the shrine. While part of the shrine is in a state of chaos, Akane herself is nowhere to be found. Given that Masana and Genya were standing guard at the only exit, and that they can also find no trace of her having jumped off the cliff ends of the shrine (she wouldn't have been able to reach the sea), it seems the only way she could have left the shrine is by flying into the sky. Discussing the matter with the whole group leads to the realization this event is similar to what happened eighteen years ago, and to their great shock, more men of their party disappear one by one.

Magatori no Gotoki Imu Mono is the seventh Toujou Genya book I've read in these two years, which should tell you how much I love this series. I seldomly manage to read three books of the same series within a year, and never in consecutive years, so seven books in two years is a personal record, I think. But I also have to say, I think this second novel in the series was also the least amusing of the bunch, though it's still of a high quality: the 'problem' that the other books (especially the novels that follow) are even better, reaching legendary status, while this one is a book I usually would love, but which now even slightly disappoints, considering I know the heights the series will reach. Perhaps I should've read them in order.

For the most part, Magatori no Gotoki Imu Mono follows a familiar pattern, with an impossible happening occuring during a religious ceremony, which isn't completely visible to the reader (Genya) and which has a certain historical meaning, which in turn is interconnected with the motive and means of the how the trick was done. This novel is unique in the sense we're not talking about a clear crime here, as all that has happened is that Akane, and later some other people, disappear from the island. There are no traces of any crime having happened and that muddles the investigation, as one has to consider whether there has been foul play or not. In fact, soon after Akane's disappearance, Genya starts with a "Disappearance Lecture", in the spirit of Dr. Fell's Locked Room Lecture. The Disappearance Lecture is somewhat small in scale, as it focuses specifically on the ways Akane could've disappeared from the shrine while for example the third novel, Kubinashi no Gotoki Tataru Mono features a Decapitation Lecture that has more general use (Yamanma no Gotoki Warau Mono has a short Nursery Rhyme Lecture). As we don't know whether we're talking about a crime or not, Genya also explores the possibilities Akane escaped on her own, that she had an accomplice, or that she was spirited away by someone else against her will, all set against the available time in which she disappeared. The Disappearance Lecture helps the reader visualize the several possibilities (and of course the true solution is one that manages to fall outside the categories in a smart way), but I can't help feel the scale of the mystery is somewhat small. Yes, Akane disappeared in a completely impossible manner, but does that warrant that many pages of discussion? The other disappearances in return are very straightforward and are not really treated as a mystery.

I don't know if it's bad luck or not, but earlier in the year I read a book that also utilized a certain very rare story element that forms the core solution to Akane's disappearance, so the reveal was perhaps less surprising than it should've been. I am kinda torn on the solution: it doesn't seem really practical and doable in that amount of time, but it's also adequately hinted at through the usual psychological and physical clues, but also historical, folklorististic and even linguistic clues. That's one thing Mitsuda always does well, point in the direction of the solution through a very wide selection of clues at several levels. It's a reason why these novels often need the long set-up, as the historical background to the rituals is usually of the utmost importance if you want to really understand how and why the mystery came to be. The moment you realize that not only the one object mentioned is of importance, but even a bit of talk about the etymological roots of a word or something like that, that sensation is always fantastic in these novels. Also, Mitsuda once again does a great job at creating countless of false solutions, which he disregards as swiftly as he presents them. The way Genya works is he always tries to think out a possibility, but is always ready to throw the theory away once he realizes it's the wrong one. This means he usually suggests quite a few theories which sound absolutely convincing and which could've easily made for a real solution in a different story, but in these stories, they are misdirection, false solutions to bring you off the trail (though usually elements of each false solution will come back for the real solution).

What made this novel less entertaining than the other novels (even if it's still a good one)? Hard to tell. Partly, I think it's because the long set-up is less captivating: like most of the other novels, the first half discusses a past mystery (The disappearance of Akana and the others eighteen years ago) and we're shown that through the disposition of the then six-year old Akane as she's being questioned by both the police and her doctor. Ultimately, she sees very little about what has happened, so it's kinda hard to get into the mystery, while for example Yamanma no Gotoki Warau Mono and Kubinashi no Gotoki Tataru Mono also talked about mysterious events that happened in the past, but told in a more engaging manner. This made their set-ups, which were also very long, a bit easier to get through. I think ultimately, the final solution of Magatori no Gotoki Imu Mono is less grand in scale: you can easily summarize it in one short sentence, and you can then easily guess how it relates to the other elements of the book, while in the subsequent novels, the plots are more based on a common theme, which is utilized in various and diverse manners, rather than just one idea. The first novel, Majimono no Gotoki Tsuku Mono, also revolved around mostly one idea, so it seems Mitsuda really got the synergy theme going on from the third novel on (Kubinashi no Gotoki Tataru Mono).

That said, Magatori no Gotoki Imu Mono is still a well-plotted mystery story, that features an interesting problem, a memorable solution and most importantly: the way the path to the solution is plotted is excellent, with diverse and subtle clues that give you more than enough a chance to get at least close to the truth. I am not sure when I'll be returning to this series by the way: at the moment of writing, there are still two novels and one short story collection I haven't read yet, of which only one novel is available in the pocket format I prefer. So perhaps I'll wait a few years until more of them are re-released as pockets.

Original Japanese title(s): 三津田信三　『凶鳥の如き忌むもの』