MONAS | Tone 1 | Phrase 12: The Divine Gate of Chikubu Island

Aureilia
Jul 22
34 min read

Updated: Aug 26

[Tone 1. Shiga: The Sea of Niho] 〜 This muddy vesture of decay 〜

“Ah, that was so much fun!” Kaho exclaimed, her face glowing. “I haven’t done any kawarake-nage since I was a child! I was absolutely amazed, Kai-san—you threw yours like an Olympic athlete!”

“Yeah, but you weren’t half bad yourself, Boss,” Kai replied. “You got a decent amount of distance on yours... Hang on. What’s this...?”

“What is the matter?”

Kai, who had flipped the power switch of his beloved SIGMA sd Quattro H to capture the texture of the rock face, suddenly froze. On the rear LCD screen, the battery level indicator was violently flashing red.

“...It was fully charged, and I’ve only taken a handful of shots since the pier, yet it’s already at zero per cent. The battery is draining ridiculously fast today.”

While Kai swapped in a spare battery, Kaho occupied herself by reading the historical legends from a tourist pamphlet of Chikubu Island.

“Look at this, Kai-san,” she said. “They say this spot is called Niōzaki because of a legend that the monk Gyōki, who built Tōdai-ji Temple, enshrined the Niō—the guardians of Buddhism—here in 724 under the orders of Emperor Shōmu. Apparently, the great deity Amaterasu Ōmikami once appeared at Emperor Shōmu’s bedside in a dream and declared, ‘In Lake Biwa, there lies a pure island bathed in kondei golden mud. It is a sacred sanctuary of Benzaiten, and so you must construct a temple hall there and worship her...’ They say Gyōki crossed over to Chikubu Island and carved the statue of Benzaiten with his own hands. The year 724 was the exact year Emperor Shōmu ascended the throne at the age of twenty-four... It seems this area used to be the gateway for landing on the island before the modern port was built. But how on earth did they manage to moor their boats on such a rocky cliff?”

Looking over at Kaho as she peered inquisitively around the rocky shoreline, Kai replied.