"Miki!" "I've had it up to her with that man!" "What did Takanao do now?" "Nothing's good anyway." "He took that woman with him to the city yesterday!" "Why did he go there?" "He says he went about the Ancestor Rites." "Like I believe that!" "I'll divorce him!" "That could be." "This is the 900th year, you know." "He wants to get everything right." "She's probably helping out." "Takanao loves you, Sonoko." "It's not just that woman." "Since his internet business went broke, he uses his computer for gambling!" "We're overdrawn on five credit cards!" "Why is everything all scattered around?" "There was a wind." "A wind?" "Yes." "Anyone here?" "I ran out of gas." "You're from around here." " Yes." " Hello." "Could you give me a lift to a gas station?" "There's one in lkeno." "I've got to stop in Omine first." "Is that far from lkeno?" "It's just up here." "Over where, those hawks are." "The Prefectural goes to lkeno." " The 'Prefectural'?" " Yeah." "Oh, you mean the 'Prefectural Road'..." "Hang on a second." "Good morning, Takanao." "What are you doing?" "That's hurt." "Why can't I come?" "The head of the household needs his vestments for the Ancestor Rites." "Why did you take her?" "Why didn't you take me?" "Every time we have a fight, you come running to Miki." "It looks bad." "Look at her." "She's embarrassed." "We're going." "Don't you love me?" "Do you want a divorce?" "Do you want a divorce?" "I'll be teaching at the middle-school." "But it's still summer vacation." "I thought I'd come early." "I'm Akira Nutahara." "Seiji Doi." "So I'm the first person you've met here..." "Omine's up around the bend." "They always sit there." "Well, it's a bus stop..." "They stopped that bus ten years ago." "That's Fusa." "She delivers papers and packages." "She's Omine's resident biker." "Seiji!" "The speed limit's 10 kph!" "Sorry!" "That's old Mimoto." "The mayor?" "They call him 'the hunter'." "He claims he's shot 999 animals." "Nice house." "The branch family lives there." "The main house is bigger." "Nice day, Michio..." "This is Hirofumi" "What are they doing?" "They have their Ancestor Rites in two months." "'Ancestor Rites'?" "It's a Bonomiya family thing." "This is the main house here." " Put it in here." " Ok" "Are the Bonomiyas priests?" "As head of the family, Takanao is." "He does things on the internet." "Last year he was dealing in wine, but that didn't work out." "When I was small, the Bonomiyas wouldn't use electricity." "Even now you don't point a camera at them." "They say it stains the soul." "This is their graveyard." "They fled from Kyoto 800 years ago, after the Gempei War." "You can walk the 'Animal Path' here to lkeno in half an hour." "It takes about that long to drive it... on the Prefectural." "Some people want to build a tunnel, but others say it's spoil the place." "(Chapter One" " The Village)" "I guess the trip tired you out." "I haven't had much sleep..." "Where am I?" "Miki Bonomiya's washi paper mill." "You can't call this a 'mill'." "My family's company sells the paper she makes." "She's like a mother to me." "She's not that old!" "Sure she is!" "Miki is old." "She looks so young..." "Sir, You should check your eyes." "Look at her, will you?" "She's an old lady!" "She needs glasses to thread a needle." "But still..." "Believe it." "The place certainly has character." "Her great-uncle lived here." " Seiji." " What?" "Did you find out about the paper exhibition?" "Oh, I almost forgot." "That's important." "We'd like to ship some of your Tosa Seven Colors paper." "Yeah?" "30 sheets." "I'm back!" "Seiji, come right into the school office." "I'm working, and he wants coffee." "Coffee?" "I didn't have any!" "Good night." "The bath's empty." "I'll take one later." "The days of the caste system are over, you know." "The spinster doesn't have to wait." "I'm not waiting, Rita." "Keep this a secret." "I'm leaving Omine after the Rites." "To do what?" "Work in town." "Do you have a job?" "I'll find one somewhere." "There's nothing here." "An unmarried woman, can't even live alone here." "Sorry, I'm not criticizing you." "I know that." "Don't tell anyone." "Seiji won't like it." "He should get out, too." "He's so spineless!" "It's coming!" "Breathe!" "Breathe in... and out..." "Fifteen... sisteen... sevsnteen... eighteen..." "Mother?" "What's wrong?" "What are you counting?" "I couldn't sleep." "I was counting the straws in the floor mats." "Back by the shrine?" "Can't you sleep, either?" "Did you have a bad dream?" "Yes." "Me, too." "I wounder if that means something..." "Dreams are not 'good' or 'bad'..." "They ooze up through the cracks at the bottom of your heart." "They're where your real self comes from." "It's time to sleep." "Morning." "Sorry, I'm late." "What happened?" "I slept in." "The chickens kept me up all night." "They've never been noisy at night before." "Maybe there's wild dogs around." "Morning." "What a nightmare!" "You, too?" "I was on an operating table, cut wide open... with all the Bonomiya men looking on... whispering." "Here, just one touch." "But if we put this there..." "They were talking about... where to put the entrance to the parking lot." "It hurt me." "You had a bad dream, too?" "And Mother." "You were calling out in your sleep." "I was?" "Crying and calling my name." "Momoyo!" "Miki had nightmares, too." "She did?" "And Mother." "Mother?" "Miki said so." "I guess she'll be going into lkeno, for Mother's medicine." "I used to hunt." "I shot 999 beasts, mostly wild boar and deer, then I quit." "A dream told me, the thousandth should be the one... that saves Omine." "Something will happen." "Is anybody here?" "Hello, Miki." "What can I do for you?" "My Mother's medicine ran out." "Your Mother?" "You mean Tomie?" "Last night I dreamt..." "I was in the cedar woods, on the Animal Path with my rifle." "I was waiting." "I heard it coming closer... the thousandth animal." "So I loaded my rifle and waited." "The trees started shaking, and guess what steeped out..." "What?" "My wife, rest her soul." "Miki!" " Yes." " Your mother's medicine will ready soon." "Have a seat." "Ok." "What a nightmare!" "Next." "Go for it..." "Good morning." "Rumor says the new classics teacher is also a calligrapher." "We can work together." "Thanks for these samples." "The principal wants something for her office." "Sun-dried paper takes the ink better." "Yep!" "That's the one!" "Sorry?" "Miki made that sheet." " Good afternoon." " Hello." "You look like a teacher!" "Oh, stop!" "Here's lunch." "You can go." "Let's go." "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "You sure?" "Yes." "I'm just tired." "Why?" "I dreamt you got badly hurt in a car crash." "Like the one my parents were killed in?" "You'll make someone a fine husband." "Who would marry me?" "What?" "You're the only man in lkeno or Omine who can cook." "Believe in yourself." "Don't be stupid!" "Sorry..." "I got lost coming over from lkeno..." "May I watch?" "I'm mixing in the glue." "'Glue'?" "Hibiscus root." "Then I put it in the mold." "Hibiscus?" "Were you born in Omine?" "Yes, and I'll probably die here." "I've never been off Shikoku island." "Not even on your high-school trip?" "I was sick then." "Some people here go all there life, without even seeing the sea." "Has this always been a papermaking area?" "The kozo and mitsumata plants, grow on the mountains." "Each household used to boil it, peel it, dry it... and take it to sell in town." "Why don't you do that yourself?" "The peeling's a lot of work." "This is the most difficult step." "One woman can't do it alone." "Seiji's place does that." "I get my raw materials from him." "A household of three is best for paper." "Then five." "No even numbers?" "No." "One three or five." "Or one." "A whole life in one sheet of paper..." "Sorry?" "Something with a past... is washed, beaten... taken apart and reborn as paper." "Oh, no." "There's dirt in the fibers." "Can I give you a ride back to lkeno?" "( Chapter Two" " The Seven Herbs )" "you grandmother wants you." "She does?" "She has a visitor." "What's Takanao want?" "He wanted to ask her about something." "Probably another scheme." "Grandma?" "Did you want me?" "Come back later, Honda." "Seiji... are you telling people, Miki Bonomiya might be your mother?" "No." "Is that fair... to the parents who died shielding you went that car hit them?" "I never said that!" "It's true that Miki worked here, when she finished high school." "Your father wanted to marry her, so we did some investigating." "I know that." "Dad was told 'no way'... and he went alone with it." "She carries the lnugami curse." "The what?" "In Omine they say, if you anger the Bonomiyas... they sic the lnugami, the 'Wild Dog Gods', on you." "We looked into this." "They say the Bonomiya women..." "What?" "Miki, her mother... and... her mother before her." "Theirs is the blood of the wild dogs." "That's an old wives' tale!" "She wants revenge." "Who does?" "Who else?" "Mike!" "I told her we'd never let a trollop like her into the Doi family, and sent her away." "And now Rita's trying to get close to you." "Don't be silly!" "We work with Miki!" "She's an artist!" "It's business!" "All right, then." "See Miki." "But why Rika?" "I'm told you met her yesterday." "You want a wife?" "I can find you one." "But not one who's cursed." "I've told you that pictures sap the spirit!" "That's just superstition!" "I've never heard..." "Hirofumi and Kiyomi fight before..." "Yes..." "It doesn't make sense." "What?" "We can't have a TV, but computers are OK." "We didn't used to use electricity at all." "If we can have computers, why not TVs and cameras?" "Takanao breaks the rules whenever he feels like it." "I want a TV!" "Kiyomi wants pictures of her baby." "The men have spoken." "You've got so much energy!" "Don't you need your glasses?" "I can see." "Maybe papermaking strengthens the eye muscles." "Maybe." "Are you dyeing your hair?" "No." "Why?" "I thought you were grayer." "Mother, are you going to eat with us?" "No, thank you." "Do it quickly." "What are you thinking?" " Thinkof drawing." " You draw then." " It's great." " You're better." " I'm not good." " I never do that." "Do it quick." "Move it." "Good morning." "A family murder-suicide." "Are they from here?" "It's hot." "No." "The car's from Tokyo." "Maybe strangers." "Sonoko has been to Tokyo?" "Really?" "Time to take the boy swimming." "Hello, Mr Mimoto." "He drives all the way from Tokyo, to strangle his wife and kid..." "No way!" "Why Omine?" "Captain, we have finished." "You're looking well." "You look ten years younger." "I slept well last night." "Going out for herbs?" "Yes." "I wouldn't go alone." "There's a big wild dog roaming around on the mountain." "Not in daylight." "You stay." "The lnugami might have got them, you know." "Inugami?" "Mimoto said that." "Really?" "He will." "They blame us whenever something happens." "Have you been sleeping well lately?" "I never sleep well." "What's wrong?" "I heard a wild dog..." "Around here?" "Impossible." "You're up here sketching?" "Yeah." "What about you?" "You use that for dye?" "It's madder-root." "Through madder-red fields," "Off to Murasakino, and to Shimeno..." "Oh!" "Did the field-keeper see." "Yes." "Her old lover, Prince Oama, waves to her in a field." "Maybe his kimono sleeve was dyed with madder." "Are you done?" "This is only one color." "You need seven." "Seiji told me." "He says you're trying to make one sheet of seven colors... rather than seven sheets of different ones." "They're all mild, elegant colors that don't clash." "If I use seven colors of fiber, it should make beautiful paper." "Are we lost?" "There's a cave we can shelter in." "I'm sorry." "I'm not much of a guide." "At least we're out of the rain." "Once a long time ago I came in here... out of the rain." "It was the start of a very bad time." "Don't tell me, then." "I was in love with the wrong man." "I got pregnant." "I was going to let nature take its course... then abandon the baby." "Letting nature take its course... that's how it all happened." "Now it horrifies me just to think of it." "I was still in high school." "That's all I could think to do." "When Mother found out, it was too late to stop it." "We gave the baby away." "Is it a boy or a girl?" "That baby you hear is someone else's." "That child's fine." "But yours..." "It didn't bother me that it was born dead." "I felt free." "All I had in my head then was that man." "I would have eloped... anything to be with him." "But when I came back to Omine... he was gone." "Mother?" "What are you counting?" "That urn's for the Rites." "Well, I've been meaning to tell you this for a while..." "Now might be as good a time as ever." "Tell me what?" "About the lnugami." "When I got married and moved down here from the main house... my mother gave it to me." "She told me the Bonomiya lnugami Gods were in here... and it was my job to look after them." "They're greedy little things." " If we don't take care of them..." " That's just a folk tale!" "Only the old women of our family know...about the lnugami." "The men don't know." "Even if they did, they couldn't see them." "They wouldn't believe it." "So only women of Bonomiya blood can see them?" "The only ones who can see them..." "are you and Rita." "I don't want to see them." "It's our job to look into this urn every day... and count them." "If even one gets out, it goes and brings harm to other families." "And lately... every night..." "there's been lots of them missing." "It's like they're being summoned." "I have a bad feeling..." "Oh, they'll be back in the morning." "Let's get to sleep." "Look in the urn if you don't believe me." "You're a Bonomiya woman." "You should be able to see them." "Mother, there's no such thing as an lnugami God!" "Look in the urn!" "Look hard at the bottom of the urn." "There's one lnugami God," "for everyone in the Bonomiya family." "Miki!" "Don't do that!" "There are no lnugami!" "They don't exist!" "You lie." "There are no lnugami." "They don't exist!" "( Chapter Three" " Earth Mother )" "Which way did you come?" "By Lotus Pond." "It took 15 minutes." "You timed it?" "Once I'm shape" "I can get here from school in 20." "In shape for what?" "The journey." "No poems today?" "No." "Do you have a cell phone?" "Of course not." "OK, then... what about e-mail?" "My niece and nephew do." "Well... if I can't get here, how do I let you hnow?" "It doesn't matter." "School starts next week." "Once a week will be fine." "No." "Every day." "People will talk." "I don't care." "I'll come every day." "Miki..." "Miki..." "Miki..." "Midnight Monday, Wednesday and Friday." "And Sunday morning." "I'll get awfully tired." "Don't be silly." "You look younger every day." "Miki..." "Miki!" "Where is she?" "Where are you going?" "Rai's kid was bullying ours." "Why the scythe?" "He was teasing my son about your family being lnugami!" "Maybe Takanao should go." "What would he do?" "Try to seduce Rai's wife?" " Let go!" " Wait a minute." "Grandma, stop it!" "She's possessed!" "She wants my clothes!" "Stop it!" "It's the lnugami!" "Take it away!" "Inugami won't leave until it got what it wants" "Miki!" "Please!" "You came for the lnugami?" "No." "This is your fault!" "Go away!" "And don't come back!" "Fusa..." "Killed by the lnugami." "It's is all because of you." "Leave here." "I don't want tot see you again." "Someone threw a filthy sandal into the garden today." "Who did it?" "A neighbor." "Why?" "You don't need to know." "Because of being lnugami?" "You'd think since I live here I'd have a right to know." "But I guess... a woman with her womb taken away doesn't have any rights in this house!" " Well, pardon me!" " I won't shut up till the day I die." "It's to ward off the lnugami." "You smear excrement on a sandal and throw it over the house they're in." "So while we're sleeping... there are shit-covered sandals... sailing over our heads?" "I guess so." "You skin looks lovely you sleep well and your appetite's good." "Inugami is energetic." "You carry the curse, and they're throwing shitty sandals at me!" "Stop it, Mom!" "Why pick on her?" "She didn't do it." "Should be someone else." "Dad just came back from a big fight at the village meeting." "Hirofumi..." "They should know, Dad." "They want to cut down the cedar woods." "How much of it?" "All of it." "Where Miki works, too?" "Yes." "For a country club." "Right up to our cemetery." "But that'll be good for Omine." "Whose idea was it?" "Old lady Doi." "But that's Bonomiya land!" "Takanao's in on it." " Where are you going?" " Guess!" "No!" "But where will I work?" "Takanao said he talked to you." "No, he didn't!" "He said he'd spent the whole day at your workshop." "That Seiji came, and you sent him away." "At this rate, the villagers will ruin our Ancestor Rites." "Mrs Doi's always wanted that land." "Maybe now she'll calm everyone down." "Takanao's selling off our ancestors' land to pay his debts!" "He's leaving Miki to wipe his ass for him." "The coward!" "He always was." "Mother..." "But if the main house has decided..." "the branch family has nothing to say." "That Lao Tzu calligraphy?" "I can't read it." "The spirit of the valley." "The earth goddness, or the female." "Immortal, it is the gateway to the root of heaven and earth." "It exists like gossamer, but used, is not drained." "It means the mother of heaven and earth lives forever." "Reborn and reborn, she is never exhausted." "Mother lives on forever, huh?" "Tell me about it." "It's not midnight yet..." " Seiji, is your grandma still up?" " Why?" "I want to talk to her." " Not now..." " Why?" " She's gone to bed." " Please..." "She won't be happy." "I have to see her." "What is it?" "What is going on?" "What's all this noise, Seiji?" "Hello." "Miki?" " What do you want?" " Grandma..." "Look at you." "You look like you did when you worked here." "All made up like young girl!" "I'm not wearing make-up." "First my son," " and now my grandson?" " Grandma..." "Of all the nerve, you little bitch!" "Who let you in here?" "Get out!" "Are you buying the Bonomiya woods?" "Takanao's selling it." "We need clean water to make paper!" "Don't worry." "I've called in an environmentalist group." "What?" "Grandma, this is not necessary now." "The age of golf courses is over." "We have to preserve the environment!" "Where will I work?" "A dog sleeps with its own kin!" "This bitch slept with her own brother!" "You hear that, Seiji?" "The baby she had was her brother's!" "Takanao's!" "Stop it!" "You've got dog's blood in you!" "( Chapter Four - lnugami )" "An exorcism..." "What is it for?" "Just make us feel better." "And you!" "Are you going to run away, too?" "If the Ancestor Rites is going to be cancelled..." "I'll object." "It can't be cancelled at this time." "It's must be carry on." "We have to pray to the lnugami... not to go out and work evil." "Mother, stop talking like that." "Well, we do carry that curse." "Why didn't you tell me before we got married?" "Miki, you should go to Katsuko Doi's wake." "Can't I even speak to my students before I leave?" "Why are you quitting?" "Old Mrs Doi died of a heart attack." "There are rumors going round about me and Miki." "Bullshit." "What?" "You're running out on her." "Miki's not here." "I'll wait." "My plans died with the old lady." "I underestimated Seiji." "Poor Miki." "She's never been anywhere." "This is all she's got." "Her work, me... and you." "Where have you been?" "I was ten years in Tokyo." "When my father died, then finally let me come back." "With a wife..." "Listen." "I didn't know Miki was my little sister." "The main house adpoted me when I was born." "No one ever told me anything." "Then all of a sudden..." "Tweet!" "You're offside!" "Miki's so dumb..." "She thought without the baby, we would have been all right." "I know what happened!" "I know she had the baby... her mother killed it... and they buried it..." "By the Child Buddha..." "She prays to morning and night." "I know that." "But, you know, all this trouble started when you showed up." "I wondered about you from the start." "Akira Nutahara... who are you, anyway?" "Miki's new boyfriend." "Look... she's a Bonomiya." "I own her!" "If I go down, they all come with me!" "Miki's here!" "Go away!" "Why are you here?" "It's your dogs... that took Mrs Doi away!" "She had a heart attack!" "They said stupid things." "Ignore them." "Thank you for coming." "Come in." "There is nothing we can do about it." "You can say that." "I hate to see it." "Let's go." "I hate you." "Leave now." "I leave then." "Why do we have to stay there?" "Nothing's good." "They'll do that regardless." "That's true." "What are you doing hanging around here?" "Anywhere you look around here... there's running water." "I just want to look at it." "This pond is the only place it just sits there." "I find dirty water relaxing." "Can't we go back and start over?" "You've stayed alone because you couldn't forget me." "That teacher's just a fling." "Don't speak for me!" "Are you trying to regain your lost youth?" "Think about it." "He's young enough to be your son." "All the women I fool around with... are only me trying to forget how I feel about you." "Are you going to call the dogs?" "I'm the one who took the blame." "The man who ran away has nothing to say to me!" "What is it?" "Stop!" "Stop now!" "Come away from here with me." "I resigned from the school." "Miki" "Answer me." "They never forget my past." "No matter how long we have passed, I'm still the lnugami." "So what?" "I love this place." "Not the people." "The air!" "You don't need water and herbs from here to make Seven-Color Paper!" "But from here I can see the mountain!" "They wrecked your place!" "Next they'll come for you!" "It's like I'm halfway to the sky here!" "Let's go to the city." "It's time to leave Omine." "Do you understand what you're saying?" "Miki is much older than you are." "I don't care." "Have you spoken to your parents?" "Not yet." "Are you sure they won't mind?" "We're not a normal family." "They won't." "I'm more conservative than my father is." "Miki, aren't you content to just sic lnugami on people?" "Hirofumi!" "Enough about the damn lnugami!" "Calm down." "Think about your family!" "You'll start the village talking about us again!" "I'm marrying Akira and leaving this house." "Have you talked to Mother?" "Mother?" "Shall I call her?" "Mother..." " Mother..." " What?" " Mother is listening" " Where?" "Momoyo." "She's sitting right there..." "Where?" " She's been listening." " Where is she?" " Right beside Michio!" " I couldn't see." "She's right there!" " Where?" " There" " Where?" " There..." " Where?" " There..." "There..." "I said not a word of complaint... when grandmother gave me that urn." "Once the task is yours, there's no choice but to accept it." "Every single morning, since then I've offered prayers to the lnugami." "Amazing!" "I put a dumpling out for them and the next morning..." "When that happens you have to take another one... put it into the urn... and then you have to pray." "The world is against the Bonomiyas." "Whenever something happens, people say we sent to lnugami." "But we must not be angry." "We must not envy... or the lnugami will go and bite them." "A Bonomiya woman must spend her whole life in prayer... or the lnugami will get out." "Miki..." "Teacher, please leave." " What are you doing?" " Miki" "Why you hit her?" "Lead him out." "Lead him out now." "Miki" "Force him to leave." "Don't let him come." "Go." "The lnugami curse... comes from her mother's ghost!" "Miki's mother died last year!" "Miki's mother's spirit has taken possession of her" "It started when you came here." "How do you know that?" "Seiji took you to Miki's place." "That's the first night she saw the ghost of her mother." "How do you know?" "She was at the Clinic the next day... getting medicine for her mother, who'd been dead a year." "But Miki wouldn't accept what she had to do." "Is that why the lnugami started?" "Because she wanted to be a woman?" "Will this all stop if she accepts it?" "When Miki's mother was young, she let the lnugami loose, too." "She didn't want to be their guardian, and she tried to run away with a man." "They ran away, I guess." "She was only gone five days..." "before the Bonomiyas brought her back." "Everybody knew it." "And the man... did they kill him?" "I killed him." "One." "Two." "Three." "Four." "Five." "Six." "Seven." "Eight." "Nine." "( Chapter Five" " Eternity )" "There's been fog in Omine every night the whole month since you left." "Everyone's on edge." "Miki, too?" "I haven't seen her." "She's become an lnugami slave and locked herself away." "But deep down inside she's waiting for you." "She can never leave Omine." "If it were me, I'd take her away... even if she were my own mother." "But it's you she loves." ""There's some old paper in Nara."" "So what?" ""It's in a cedar chest." "It's been there a thousand years and hasn't deteriorated."" ""Omine is Miki's cedar chest."" ""lf I take her away from there"" ""she'll crumble into pieces."" "Miki's not a thousand years old!" "Are you still there?" ""Yes."" "The Rites are next week." ""So?"" "I can't do anything to help her." "Rita says the Bonomiyas have turned against her, too." "She's pregnant." "I'm not cursed!" "Don't you go blaming me... for this damn fog!" "Sonoko's gone crazy." "She's killed our son." "This is a weird fog." "I've never seen anything like it." "It'd drive anyone nuts." "Aunt Miki's sent the lnugami out to bite her own family, too!" "Who's saying that?" "I am!" "Is that all you can say?" "That's not alright?" "No." "Why it's not okay to say anything." "Shut up and keep looking!" "Yes." "You knew what the Bonomiya men, think of the women they marry, Sonoko." "We're fleas on the body of the their ancestors." "When I had that growth they never talked to me." "The men and the doctor decided... that my uterus was coming out." "I had no say in the matter." "Now Miki can't even talk in her own words." "All we are is fleas." "You wanted to talk to us?" "This lady heard rumors about Miki and Akira." "She's the one who called" "Ikeno Middle School." "That's why he resigned?" "They're like animals!" "Do you have anything new to say?" "Tell them." "My name... is Hide lshiyama." "I was a nurse out on the coast." " Please help..." " Go up-stairs..." "Please look after her." "A beautiful baby boy, Aunt Tomie." "He shouldn't have been born." "There were two women in labor that night." "The other was a breech birth." "The baby died." "Aunt Tomie asked me to switch them." "I was originally a Bonomiya, too." "I didn't want that known, so I couldn't tell her no." "The dead baby's parents' name..." "was 'Nutahara'." "Are you sure?" "I wouldn't be wrong about something like that." "Does he know this?" "I doubt it." "The lnugami summoned him!" "Miki's pregnant with Akira's baby, isn't she?" "What?" "Miki's sown the seeds of disaster." "This fog proves it." "It's going to be a throwback." "I'd better leave." "The fog will be coming down." "This all starts to add up." "What's the last verse of the chant for the Ancestor rites?" "Mix blood with blood, and the ancestors are reborn." "The ancestors are reborn..." "Long, long ago lived the chimera called 'Nue'" "He was cut into pieces and thrown in the sea." "His head floated to shore, and spawned the Monkey God." "His trunk spawned the Raccoon Dog, and his tail the Snake Gods... and his hands and feet the Dog Gods." "Can you hear?" "They're cutting down the forest." "Why?" "So they can burn you alive at your Ancestor Rites!" "That's crazy!" "Remove the Bonomiyas, and their curse goes with them." "Get the police!" "All right... you calm down and think what to do." "We'll talk tomorrow." "We can't just abandon Miki!" "If so..." "I'm not sneaking out of the village!" "Enough of this babbling." "We can all die, and there's an end of it." "Takanao!" "Are you crazy?" "What are you talking?" "You bastard!" "Is that all you can come up with?" "Don't say anything stupid." "It isn't stupid." "What's the problem?" "I'm here to turn myself in and he says come back tomorrow!" "You can't bribe me." "The case officer's off today." "Then come back tomorrow!" "You're making a mistake." "Just like that hit-and-run last year, your reported as an accident... because the paperwork was too much trouble" "That's not true." "I'm from Doi Paper." "I'd like to see the chief." "Hey!" "Doi Paper's here!" "The village cop won't listen." "Are you kidding?" "A village problem should be handle in the village?" "Let the lnugami burn." "We enforce the laws of man, not the laws of Gods." "Is there proof of conspiracy?" "I doubt it." "Go dye your hair, like the other kids." "Seiji did and he looks younger." "The police won't help you... if there's nothing in it for them!" "Will you shut up!" "We've got a job to do!" "Even if she's a thousand years old and my mother..." "I'm still taking her." "I'm go alone from here." "There's a rumors they're going to burn Miki to death." "To my parents."" "If my bike's still here after the Rites... send that to my parents." "But..." "Then they'll know." "Whatever you say." "What am I going to do with it?" "I'm not having baby." "We're leaving tomorrow after the Rites." "No, leave immediately." "Miki needs me." "As Miki's fiance..." "I will join in the Rites!" "Glad to see you." "The fog's kept everybody else from outside the prefecture away." "Where's Miki?" "You'll see her tomorrow." "Very good." "Abracadabra." "That's the spirit!" "Come up!" "Have to destroy the bodies at dawn." "Bodies?" "What does that mean?" "Have you mentioned bodies?" "What?" "You can't get through." "What is that?" "with his pole of bamboo..." "Pure of heart, strong of mind!" "We came here for our lives." "We will create a new land!" "Women get lost!" "What?" "What is happening?" " Go ahead if you want to die." " Go ahead..." " Try it if you dare." " Go ahead..." "Why do you killing people here?" "Shut up!" "What are you thinking?" "Wait, what are you doing?" "Rika...run..." "Damn you..." "My baby..." "Go to stop him now." "What's going on up there, Honda?" "What are you doing to us?" "He will be killed by lnugami" " Seiji!" " Let him go." "Run..." "Go to hell!" "Rika...run..." "Run." "Quick." "Hurry up." "Run faster." "Seiji, I count on you." "I don't want to die in here." "Let's go together." "Just hold on." "Let's go together." "Takanao!" "Who born you?" "Wasn't it me?" "The perfect place to die?" "You decided to die and you're taking your women with you?" "What for?" "You should stop." "Don't give up..." "Call an ambulance!" "Captain...please help!" "Hurry up..." "Shit." "Shit." "Akira!" "I am your father!" "You're the thousandth beast..." "My bike's at Lotus Pond." "With a bike... we can go anywhere." "And the baby?" "I'll have it." "It will live."