Neo-traditionalism of Japan/Story

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Trojan Green Asteroid

Neo-traditionalism of Japan

Dr. Latency's Freak Report

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地底のビジョンは地獄の物なのか ――感度の上がったメリーのアンテナが、日本の真実を想像する。

Are these visions of the underground Hell? - Merry pictures the truth of Japan through the increased sensitivity of her antenna.

Story

緑のサナトリウム

#01	緑のサナトリウム	Green Sanatorium "Sanatorium in Mountain"
「退屈しなかった？」 　「退屈しない訳が無いわ。こんな電波すら入らない山奥に隔離だなんて」 　「隔離って……、療養よ、療養。一応」		"Was it boring?" "Of course it was boring! I couldn't believe that they had to quarantine me all the way up in the mountains like that! You can't even get a signal out there!" "Quarantine...? It seemed more like therapy, I guess."
行き過ぎた環境保護主義は都会を見かけだけの森林に飾り立てた。天然の植物の無い、まさに絵に描いたジャングルだ。 　人間は自然を創造し、全てを管理したつもりでいた。管理外の物の存在を否定するようになるのも時間の問題だった。病気も大抵治療法が確立していた。絶対に治せない先天性の物等は病気では無く個性として認められ、社会が適合できるように変化していった。 　治せない病気は、事実上“存在しない”のだ。		Due to extreme environmentalism, cities have been decorated to look like forests. Like a painted jungle, there is no natural vegetation. Humans tried to create and bend nature to their will, but it was only a matter of time before the untamed portions were totally neglected. Treatments were found for most diseases. Incurable hereditary conditions were treated not as diseases, but rather as idiosyncrasies, and the society changed to accommodate them. Incurable diseases were de facto "nonexistent" afflictions.
マエリベリー・ハーン（メリー）は鳥船遺跡で怪我を負ってから、原因不明の病に冒されていた。どうやら地球上には存在しないウイルス性に依る譫妄だと診断された。 　管理外の物を恐れる社会の性質により、メリーは信州のサナトリウムで療養という名の隔離治療をさせられていた。この度、完全に治癒したとの連絡があって、宇佐見蓮子が迎えに来ていたのだ。		After Maribel Hearn (Merry) became injured at the Torifune Ruins, she caught an unknown disease. It was diagnosed as delirium caused by a virus that does not exist on earth. Since society fears things beyond their control, Merry was quarantined under the name of therapy at the Shinshuu Sanatorium. Now, after being informed that Merry is fully recovered, Renko Usami has come to greet her.
「誰とも会わせて貰えないし、そもそも日本に身寄りがいないし」 　「まあまあ、ところでどんな病気だったの？」 　「何か、熱に浮かされて寝ながら歩いたり別世界の幻覚を見たりしたわ」 　「ん？　それってメリーにとってはいつもの事じゃあ……」		"They wouldn't let me see anyone, and I don't have any relatives in Japan anyway." "Well, what kind of illness was it anyway?" "I had recurring fevers, and I would start sleep-walking and seeing visions of other worlds whenever they happened." "Huh? I thought that was normal for you..."

牛に引かれて善光寺参り

#02	牛に引かれて善光寺参り	Led On by a Cow to Visit Zenkou Temple "Goslings lead the geese to water."
「ほら、本堂の柱が土台から随分とずれているでしょ？」 　「これが地震柱？」		"See how that pillar at the main temple is way out of alignment from the rest of the foundation?" "So this is the 'Earthquake Pillar'?"
退院ついでに信州観光を行う事にした二人は、まず日本最古の仏像を祀るという善光寺に立ち寄った。 　観光客がごった返す仲見世通りには目新しさは無い。お土産屋は伝統に縛られたまま、百年以上は時が止まっているようだ。		After Merry was discharged, Renko and Merry decided to go sightseeing through Shinshuu as they were in the area. Their first stop was at the Zenkou-ji temple, where they planned on visiting Japan's oldest Buddha statue. There was nothing new about the main shopping street that ran through the shrine, packed as it was with visitors. As the world of souvenirs was bound by tradition, it was like time had been stopped for over a hundred years there.
「これが善光寺地震の爪痕と言う事になっているわ」		"It's supposedly one of the after effects of the Zenkou-ji Earthquake."
――善光寺地震。弘化四年、信州北部を襲った地震である。 　善光寺は七年に一度だけ秘仏を公開する事で有名で、その時は全国から人が集まり非常に混雑する。善光寺地震は、その御開帳の真っ最中に起きたため、死者数千人とも言われる甚大な被害をもたらした。		The Zenkou-ji Earthquake struck the northern part of Shinshuu in the fourth year of the Kouka era (1847). Zenkou-ji temple was famous for publicly displaying its private Buddha statue only once every seven years, and during that time the temple would be flooded with people from all over the country. Since the Zenkou-ji earthquake struck right in the middle of the ceremonial unveiling, the damage dealt by that powerful earthquake was catastrophic, and it is said that the dead numbered in the thousands.
「地震で柱だけがずれたって言うの？　そんな事あるのかしら」 　「本当はね、これは柱が時間が経って乾燥して捻れた物だって判ったの。 　　でも、それより地震柱と呼んだ方が地震の恐ろしさを後生に伝えられるって 　　みんな判断して、正式名称になったのよ」		"Are they trying to say that just this one pillar shifted in the earthquake? Is that even possible?" "Well, the truth is that the pillar dried out and twisted that way over time. However, everyone decided that in order to convey the fearsome power of earthquakes to later generations, they should call it the 'Earthquake Pillar', and the name stuck."
メリーには見えていた。柱が歪むような恐ろしい地震の光景が。		But Merry had seen it. She had seen a landscape wrought by a frightening earthquake that could easily have twisted that pillar.

ハートフェルトファンシー

#03	ハートフェルトファンシー	Heartfelt Fancy
「どうしたの？　何か顔色が良くないみたいだけど、 　　まだ病み上がりで調子が悪いの？」 　「あ、ああ、そんな事ないわ。むしろ絶好調みたいで……」 　「？」		"Is something wrong? You look a little pale... Are you still not feeling that well?" "Ah? Oh... No, it's nothing like that at all. In fact, I'm in the pink..." "Hm?"
メリーは最近、結界の切れ目だけで無く、異世界の風景を見ているようだ。 　さらに夢の中だけで無く、実際に移動したりする事があるようで気になっている。		Lately, Merry was not just seeing gaps in the boundaries between worlds, but seeing the worlds themselves. And it wasn't just in dreams anymore, there were cases where she actually went to the places she saw, and that was making her a little worried.
先日の鳥船遺跡の時もそうだ。蓮子にとってはただの夢かも知れないが、彼女にとっては現実と変わらない。だから、彼女だけが怪我をしたのだ。 　サナトリウムに行った理由も、精神異常と判断された、と言うのが正しいのだろう。無論そんな事はないが、社会は不思議な者を受け入れないのだ。 　だから、彼女の能力はオカルトな物として秘密にしなければならない。		Then there was that time at the Torifune Ruins from the other day. It might have been just a dream to Renko, but it was real for Merry. After all, she was the only one who was wounded. The real reason she was put in the sanatorium was probably because it was determined she had some kind of psychological anomaly. Of course that wasn't the case, but society just isn't receptive to strange people. That's why Merry had to keep her ability secret, as some element of the occult.
「私は、メリーが不思議な力を持っているのは判っているわ。 　　でも、その力っていつも神社仏閣が関係しているのよね」 　「そうだっけ？」 　「ええ、だからここに来てみたんだけど、まだ体調が優れないのかしら？」 　「だから、平気だって。 　　ただ、少し調子が良すぎてねぇ、なんか余計な物まで見えて」 　「余計な物？」 　「地獄とかね」		"Merry, I know that you have some kind of mysterious power, but I also know that that power is somehow related to shrines and temples." "Really?" "Yeah, that's one of the reasons we came here, but are you sure you're feeling alright?" "I already told you, I'm fine. It's just... maybe I feel too fine. Like I'm able to see more than I should." "More than you should? Like what?" "Like Hell."

六十年目の東方裁判

#04	六十年目の東方裁判	Eastern Judgement in the Sixtieth Year "Fate of Sixty Years"
「うわー、これはちょっと」 　「随分とファニーな顔をしているわね」		"Whoa, this sort of has..." "It's got a really 'funny' face, doesn't it?"
二人は善光寺の閻魔像の前にいた。閻魔像は顔を真っ赤にして怒りを表している様だが、二人にはただの酔っ払いのオヤジにしか見えていない。		Renko and Merry were standing in front of a statue of a yama. Its face was bright red in anger, but to them the statue just looked like an old drunk.
「ねえ、メリー。さっきの話だけど、地獄って本当にあるの？」 　「うーんと地獄はね、 　　地下４万由旬に存在すると言われているの」		"Hey, Merry. Back to what we were talking about before, does Hell really exist?" "Well, it's said that Hell exists forty thousand yojana underground."
「由旬って長さの単位？」 　「そう、古代インドの長さの単位で１由旬はおよそ７キロ。 　　つまり、４万由旬はおよそ２８万キロくらいね。 　　地球の直径が１万２千キロちょっとだから、地球も通り過ぎちゃうわ」		"And 'yojana' is a measure of distance?" "Yes, it's a unit of length from ancient India. One yojana is about seven kilometers, so forty thousand yojana would be about two hundred eighty thousand kilometers. The diameter of the earth is just a little over twelve thousand kilometers, so the distance goes through the earth."
「２８万キロじゃ、地球を通り越して月の方が近いくらいね。 　　つまりは存在しないのかな」 　「んー、そうとも言えないんだけど」		"At two hundred eighty thousand kilometers, that puts the moon closer to Hell than earth, even if you start by going through the earth. In other words, I guess that means it doesn't exist." "Uh, I wouldn't be quite so sure about that..."
地下４万由旬に存在するのは地獄の底である。 　実際には地獄はそこから３万９千由旬の高さがある。つまり地獄の天井はずっと近く、地上からそこまでの距離は１千由旬しかない。キロに換算すると地下７千キロ。これは地球の中心近くに地獄がある事を意味している。		The place that's forty thousand yojana underground is the bottom of Hell. Hell is actually about thirty nine thousand yojana high; that means that its ceiling is far closer, just a thousand yojana from the surface. Converting to metric puts that at about seven thousand kilometers underground. In other words, close to the center of the earth.
メリーには地球内部の事まではよく判らない。もし自分が地獄が存在すると信じたら、いつか必ず行く事になるのでは無いか、そんな不安が頭をよぎる。 　彼女は今、そう感じさせる物を持っているのだ。 　不安を誤魔化すべく話を続ける。		Merry didn't know that much about the inside of the earth, but the thought had crossed her mind that if she believed Hell really existed, she was bound to find herself there someday. After all, Merry was carrying a piece of evidence with her. Merry continued the conversation, trying to conceal her anxiety.
「それでも極楽よりはずっと近いのよ？」 　「え？　極楽は雲の上にあるんじゃなくて？」		"Still, that puts it a lot closer than Paradise." "Huh? Wasn't Paradise supposed to be somewhere above the clouds?"
「極楽にすむ阿弥陀如来の身長は6×10125由旬もあるのよ？ 　　雲の上どころか――」 　「――えーと、阿弥陀如来の身長だけでビッグバン宇宙より遥かに大きいわね。 　　何そのインフレ」		"Hey, Amitabha, who lives in Paradise, is 6×10125 yojana tall, right? Just 'above the clouds' isn't even..." "Umm, if that's the case, Amitabha's height is far greater than the scope of the universe, at least according to the Big Bang Theory. That's some ridiculous inflation."

アガルタの風

#05	アガルタの風	Agartha Wind
「地獄に比べて極楽は遥かに大きくて遠いのね」 　「同時に、地獄は極楽に比べるともの凄く身近で、現実的という事なのよ」		"So I guess compared to Hell, Paradise is a lot larger, and a lot farther away." "At the same time, Hell is a lot closer, and a lot more realistic."
遥か昔から、人間がいる限り地上にも地獄は存在した。その地獄よりも遥かに大きい極楽を想像して恐怖を和らげていたのかも知れない。 　しかし、地底にある本物の地獄は未だに沈黙を続けている。		Since ancient times, as long as there have been humans, there has always been 'hells on earth'. It may be that people imagined Paradise to be far larger than their own hell as a way to quell their fears. Yet, the real Hell deep underground still remains in silence.
蓮子には黙っていたが、メリーはサナトリウムで療養中。地底奥深くの不思議な世界を体験していた。 　恐ろしい死の匂いが充満した洞窟の入り口。何処か古事記に出てくる黄泉比良坂を彷彿させた。彼女はそこで手に入れた不思議な石片を現在も持っている。何故かこの石片を持っていると、いくつかの風景が頭に浮かんでは消えるのだ。 　メリーは予感した。地底には何か秘密がある。それもこの国の創世に関わる、何かとてつもない秘密だ。		Merry didn't tell Renko, but when she was undergoing "therapy" at the sanatorium, she experienced a strange world that lay far beneath the surface, in the depths of the earth. There was that cave entrance, filled with the frightening stench of death. It reminded her of Yomotsu-Hirasaka as it was described in the Kojiki. Merry was still carrying the strange rock fragment that she found while she was there. For some reason, when she held it, she envisioned several landscapes in her mind, appearing and then vanishing just as quickly. Merry had a hunch that some secret lay beneath the earth, and that it was somehow connected with the origins of this country. Some monumental secret.
「メリー、どうしたの？ 　　また考え込んじゃって」 　「ねえ蓮子。私がサナトリウムにいたとき、何か起きてなかった？」		"Merry, what's wrong? You're drifting off again." "Hey, Renko, did anything happen while I was in the sanatorium?"

イザナギオブジェクト

#06	イザナギオブジェクト	Izanagi Object
「え？　何か、ねぇ」 　「特に、地底に関わる事で」 　「う、うーん。そういえば、完全に情報は遮断されてたのね。 　　ＯＫ，ＯＫ。一ヶ月くらいのニュースなら大抵覚えているわ。 　　地底に関わる事なら……、そうねえ眉唾物のニュースで良ければ」 　「お願い」 　「日本海のメタンハイドレートの採掘場から、何やら不可思議な成分の鉱物が出たって……。 　　２５００万年前に完全に消えたイザナギプレートの名残だって、一時大騒ぎになったんだけど、どうもその情報が眉唾物でね。見つかった石片が、どう見ても人の手が加わった形をしていたのよ。 　　それで学者もみんな冷めちゃってさ」		"Huh? Did anything happen, huh...?" "In particular, anything that has to do with the depths of the earth." "Uhh... Oh yeah, now that I think of it you were completely cut off from all outside information weren't you? Okay, okay. I remember pretty much everything that went on in the news in the last month. As for something to do with the depths of the earth... Well, if you're fine with fake news..." "Tell me." "At one of the methane hydrate drilling sites in the Sea of Japan, they found some ore with a strange composition... Those involved said that it was a relic of the Izanagi Plate that was thought to have completely disappeared some twenty five million years ago, and there was an uproar about it for a while, but it seems that some of the information was fabricated. The rock fragment they found turned out to have been shaped by human hands. Once that came to light, the entire scientific community lost interest."
イザナギプレートとは、太平洋側からユーラシアプレートにぶつかり日本列島を生んだ太古のプレートである。２５００万年前に大陸の下に潜り込んで、完全に消えた。その名前は日本列島を生んだ神にちなんだ物である。		The Izanagi Plate was the ancient tectonic plate which gave rise to the Japanese archipelago when it ran into the Pacific side of the Eurasian Plate. Twenty five million years ago it was completely submerged under the Eurasian continent and disappeared. Its name comes from the god that was said to have created the Japanese archipelago.
「遥か地底から人工物？　それって本当？」 　「いやー、どうだかねぇ。過去にはこれは７０万年前の石器だ、って捏造した学者もいたみたいだけど、２５００万年以前、じゃあねぇ」 　「つまり逆説的に、捏造では無いと」		"Something man-made from deep under the earth's surface? Is that true?" "Well, I'm not so sure about that. There was that one case of a scientist who claimed that some stone artifact dated back to seven hundred thousand years ago turning out to be a fake, but for something twenty five million years ago? That seems like a tough argument to make." "In other words, it's actually almost certain that it's not a fake."
メリーが何か確信を持ったような表情を見せた。		Merry looked as if she had made up her mind.

妖怪裏参道

#07	妖怪裏参道	Rear Temple Path of Youkai "Enigma Street"
「良いニュースだわ。 　　その人工物は、本物よ！」 　「へ？ 　　今日のメリー、何か変よ？　急に不安がったり、急に自信持ったり」 　「実はね、私、そのイザナギプレートの名残だという石を持っているのよ」 　「へ？ 　な、何言ってるの？　やっぱりおかしくなっちゃった？」		"That's great news! That man-made object is real!!" "Huh? Merry, are you a little off today? You keep switching from looking worried to being full of confidence at a moment's notice..." "The truth is, I've got one of those fragments of the Izanagi Plate!" "Huh? Wh-what are you talking about? Are you sure there isn't something wrong with you?"
蓮子は何やら興奮しているメリーを観察した。 　何か、伊弉諾が実在……等、ぶつぶつと呟いてる。何かちょっと遠くに行ってしまったようで寂しく思った。		Renko looked on as Merry was getting all excited about something. She kept on muttering things like “Izanagi was real..." on and on. It was as if Merry was going off somewhere all by herself and Renko started to feel lonely.
そう言えば最近、メリーの能力が高まっている様に感じていた。最初の頃はただ不思議な世界が見られると言う事で遊んでいただけなのに、今ではその世界から物を持ってくる事も自在という。		Come to think of it, recently it felt as if Merry's abilities were getting stronger. At first they had fun enough with just being able to catch a glimpse of strange new worlds, but now they were bringing things back from those worlds as if it were nothing.
不思議な世界では妖怪のような者に出くわす事もある。蓮子にとってはそれはただの幻像であるが、メリーには現実なのだ。		In those strange worlds they had sometimes encountered beings like youkai. To Renko, those were just figments of her imagination, but to Merry, they were real.
蓮子には、メリーがその妖怪と同じレベルにいると思えてならなかった。		Renko couldn't help thinking that Merry was on the same level as those youkai.

アンノウンX

#08	アンノウンX	Unknown X "Unfound Adventure"
「ねえねえ、メリーが持っているっていう石って……」 　「はいこれ」		"Hey, Merry, about that rock you said you had with you..." "Here it is."
メリーは小さな石を差し出した。その形は、釣り針とも鍵とも言いがたい形容しがたい形をしていた。明らかに人工物である。		Merry held out a small rock. Its shape was hard to describe, something like a fishing hook and something like a key, but it was clearly man-made.
「これがイザナギプレートから見つかった人工物、伊弉諾物質 (イザナギオブジェクト) よ」 　「んー、なんでそう言い切れるの？」		"This is what I found at the Izanagi Plate. It's an Izanagi Object." "Hmm... How can you say for sure?"
「私には見えるもん。 　　２５００万年前に伊弉諾が創った日本の姿が」 　「今日のメリーは、いつもにも増して電波ね」 　「何とでも言って、今は新しい映像が次々と入ってきて絶好調なんだから」		"I can see it. The shape of Japan as Izanagi made it, twenty five million years ago." "You really are acting a lot weirder than usual today, Merry." "Say whatever you want, right now I feel amazing. I keep seeing these new visions, one right after the other."
サナトリウムから戻ってきて、メリーは一段と感覚が鋭くなった様に見える。 　蓮子は羨ましく思うと同時に、何とかして自分もその映像を見なければと思った。		Ever since Merry came back from the sanitorium, her sharpened senses seemed to be on a whole new level. While Renko felt a bit jealous, she hoped that somehow she too could see what Merry saw.
「ねえ、私にも見せてよー。その映像」		"Come on, show them to me, too!"

日本中の不思議を集めて

#09	日本中の不思議を集めて	Gathering the Mysterious from All Around Japan "Mysterious Island"
人はいつから不思議を受け入れなくなったのだろう。		When was it that people stopped accepting the mysterious?
暗闇に火の玉が浮かんでいれば、昔は死者の無念の魂とか、狐が人を騙す時の火だとか言ったものだった。		When will o' wisps appeared, people used to think they were the regretful spirits of the dead, or fires which foxes used to deceive humans.
そこには深い想像力があった。		In those thoughts was a deep sense of imagination.
科学が進んでも、想像力が重要なのは変わらなかった。科学の大半は想像力で出来ているからだ。火の玉は燐の自然発火だとか、プラズマだとか、脳の仕組みで起こる錯覚だとか想像した。		Even as science advances, the power of imagination does not grow any less important. The better half of science is still based on imagination. In order to explain those will o' wisps, we imagined that perhaps they were natural combustions of phosphorus gas, or perhaps they were plasma, or perhaps they were some sort of hallucination caused by the inner workings of the brain.
しかし、情報化社会が進むと想像力は死滅した。 　情報が誰にでも平等に与えられる物になった時代に想像の余地は無かったのだ。 　火の玉の正体は与えられた情報の海の中に必ず答えがある。無ければ、何かの間違いで片付ければ良い、と。		However, as this society built on information advances, the power of imagination has been all but extinguished. In this age where information is equally available to anyone, there is no room left for imagination. "On the true nature of will o' wisps, in the vast sea of information given to us, there will surely be an answer. If there isn't, then the whole thing should be labeled as some kind of mistake."
人は答えのある不思議を娯楽として楽しみ、答えの無い不思議を否定した。 　それが、この国から神様が消えた理由である。 　今はもう、日本中が神様の墓場なのだ。		People have taken great pleasure in mysteries that have answers, but the mysteries whose answers cannot be found are spurned. That is why the gods have vanished from this country. Already, the entirety of Japan has become their graveyard.
「メリー！　この場所、見た事があるよ！」		"Merry! I've seen this place before!!"

素敵な墓場で暮しましょ

#10	素敵な墓場で暮しましょ	Let's Live in a Lovely Cemetery "Neo-traditionalism of Japan"
「この逆さに刺さった鉾は、高千穂の天逆鉾 (あめのさかほこ) ね。 　　伊弉諾命と伊弉冉命 (イザナミノミコト) が大地をかき回したという鉾よ」		"That spear that's stuck in the ground, that's the Ame-no-Sakahoko of Takachiho! That's the spear that Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto were said to have roiled the ground with!"
メリーは蓮子の目に手を当てていた。こうする事で、不安定だがメリーのビジョンを共有する事が出来るのだ。		Merry had put her hand over Renko's eyes. Though unstable, Merry was able to share her vision with Renko in this manner.
「え？　この世界に実在するの？」 　「高千穂峰の山頂に刺さっているのよ。もの凄く不思議なのに、誰もまともに研究しようとしないの」		"Huh? That exists in our world?" "It's sticking of out the peak of a mountain in Takachiho. Even though it's really strange, no one's properly researched it."
メリーからもう不安は消えていた。自分が見た地底の光景は地獄なんかじゃ無い。 　これは現実にある、神々の世界の映像なんだ、と。		All of Merry's anxiety was gone. The land under the earth that she had seen wasn't Hell. What she had seen were images of the world of the gods, a place that actually existed.
「じゃあ、きっとその天逆鉾も本物ね。 　　この伊弉諾物質と同じ石で出来て居ると思うわ。確かめなくっちゃ」 　「良いわね。今度、メリーの快気祝いに行こう。 　　天逆鉾が本物だとすると……、もしかしたらここの近くにも伊弉諾物質があるかも知れないわ！」		"Then that must mean that Ame-no-Sakahoko is real, too. I think it's made out of the same rock as this Izanagi Object. We'll have to check it out!" "That sounds great. Let's go in celebration of your full recovery. If the Ame-no-Sakahoko is real, then... there might be another Izanagi Object close by!"
二人の想像力はとどまるところを知らない。		Their imagination knew no bounds.
「休憩したら次は戸隠に行ってみようよ。 　　あそこには天手力男命 (タヂカラオノミコト) がぶん投げたという天の岩戸があるんだって」		"After we rest a bit we should go to Togakure. Supposedly that's where Amenotejikarao-no-Mikoto burst through the gate of the celestial cave, Ama-no-Iwato!"
「天の岩戸といえば高千穂の……」		"Isn't Ama-no-Iwato part of Takachiho's..."
「そう、きっと天の岩戸も伊弉諾物質だわ！ 　そうと決まれば行こう、戸隠へ」		"Exactly! I'm sure that Ama-no-Iwato's an Izanagi Object! Now that that's that, let's go to Togakure!"
「ワクワクするね。 　　きっと誰も気にかけないだけで日本中に伊弉諾物質が眠ってるんだわ。 　　それに気が付いた者だけが、神の時代の風景が見られるの。 　　素敵だわ、私達で見つけ出しましょう！」		"This is really exciting, isn't it? I think that Izanagi Objects are sleeping all throughout Japan, it's just that no one's paid them any attention. Only people that have realized them for what they are can see the land as it appeared in the time of the gods. This is wonderful! Let's go out and find them all!"
神様の墓場が史実として動き始めていた。 　それは秘封倶楽部、不思議を受け入れた者だけが見える、別の日本の姿だった。		So they started off, taking the graveyard of the gods as factual history. It was what the members of the Sealing Club, those who accepted inexplicable mysteries, could see: a different Japan.

Afterwords

あとがき	Afterword
どうもＺＵＮです。久しぶりではありませんね。 　私は信州の出ですので、長野の善光寺には何度か行った事があります。	Hello, it's ZUN. It hasn't been that long, has it? I'm actually from Shinshuu, and have been to the Zenkou-ji temple in Nagano several times.
あそこには戒壇巡りという、真っ暗な通路を手探りで歩く施設があります。	There is a pitch black passageway inside of the temple where it's so dark you must feel your way through. It is used in a certain set of monks' trials.
「真っ暗、って言っても、観光客が多いんだから安全性を考慮して非常口の灯りくらいはあるんでしょ？」	"Pitch black? But if there are many people that come as tourists aren't there emergency exit lights there for safety reasons?"
いえいえ、本当に真っ暗です。あの中で事件が起きたら目撃者ゼロです。 　その真っ暗な通路の中で、極楽の錠前を握る事が出来ればミッションクリアです。	No, no. It really is pitch black in there. If an incident happened in that passageway, there would be absolutely no eyewitnesses. The whole point is that if in the middle of the dark passage you can grip the lock of paradise, you've cleared the mission.
そんな戒壇巡りですが、一度だけ中にライトが入っている時がありました。 　確か七年に一度の御開帳の時だったと思います。大変な混雑だったので恐らく安全性を考慮しての事でしょう。子供心にはガッカリした物です。	That's the way it usually is, but there was one time when there were lights on inside of it. I think it was during one of those ceremonial unveilings they do every seven years. It was terribly crowded, so they must have done it out of safety concerns. It was really disappointing to me at the time, like I'd lost some of my innocence.
でも今になってみれば貴重な経験。 　普段見る事の出来ない極楽の錠前の形をしっかりと覚えています。	But looking back now, it really was a valuable experience to me.　After all, I still remember clearly what the lock to paradise looks like, and that's not something you see everyday.
あ、音楽ＣＤとは関係無いですね。 　秘封倶楽部の二人は、普段こういう活動をしていますという話でした。	Ah, that really has nothing to do with the music CD, does it? This story was just one of those adventures the two members of the Sealing Club usually have.
上海アリス幻樂団　ＺＵＮ（戸隠そばを食べたい）	Team Shanghai Alice: ZUN (wants to eat Togakure soba)

Notes

• Original translation by kafka-fuura

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Trojan Green Asteroid

Neo-traditionalism of Japan

Dr. Latency's Freak Report

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