[Senkumo Saga: Book of Blossoming]: How I Envy the Moon

And so, Inari told Taeko and Tsukiakari what she had learned.

“The True Pure Land sect was founded a few centuries ago by the monk Shinran. It’s a sect of Buddhism focused on a different method of attaining Enlightenment. The difference in doctrine wasn't appreciated by the other sects, so they urged the government to persecute Shinran, his master, and all others spreading their teachings. Shinran thus found himself in exile for years, until the ban on Nenbutsu was uplifted.”

“The ban on what,” Taeko asked, completely lost.

Inari sighed and clarified herself. “Nenbutsu. It’s a sacred invocation of Amida, a celestial Buddha. The Pure Land sect brought this practice to Japan with them. This is the method by which they achieve Satori, a state of spiritual awakening. They believe the recitation of Nenbutsu helps cleanse the spirit and negate bad karma.”

“Oh…okay…” Taeko said, still clearly lost.

Inari continued. “Shinran then returned to Kyoto and died there in his old age. His daughter passed down his teachings, and her descendants would become the head priests of the Honganji temples.”

Inari proceeded to wash her hair in the pond as Taeko inspected every naked inch of her soaked, adolescent body with boiling excitement. Tsukiakari sat cross-legged, listening intently as Inari had previously instructed.

“And this Rennyo character, he’s one of the priests? In other words, he’s a descendant of Shinran," Tsukiakari concluded.

“Exactly,” Inari affirmed. “Hmmm...Let's see...”

Inari placed her index finger on her chin and turned her eyes skyward as she kicked her feet in the pond.

”Between Shinran and Rennyo, I suppose you can say that the Pure Land sect had a turbulent existence.” Inari began. “They were constantly being challenged by the other Buddhist sects and leaders. Rennyo is apparently the one who brought a sort of classical restoration to the sect. He's been writing his letters in kana, making it easier for the commoners who can’t read kanji. He humbles himself and sits among the congregation when he speaks, not on the raised dais. Because he set such a powerful example, people listened to him when he brought about a doctrine of community rules. No gambling, no slander of other teachings and schools, and to respect one's governor, among other things.”

“Ahh, so he pretty much cleaned up their act, huh? He sounds like a pretty swell guy so far," Taeko exclaimed with surprise.

Inari shrugged. “I guess you can say that. He's maintained a delicate balance with his followers and the Ashikaga shogunate until now. Now that the shogunate has lost all control, however, it seems his followers have taken matters into their own hands. They’re using violence as a form of aggression instead of self-defense, whether Rennyo approves or not. The Ikko-ikki seems to believe they are in the right, down to a very spiritual level.”

“That's going to be a bit troublesome," Tsukiakari said, thinking about how to tackle such a group. “So, they just go ahead and break their own rules if they feel like it, huh?”

Inari nodded. “It certainly seems that way, yes. I'm afraid Rennyo has no power over the revolts springing up in Kaga. All he really controls are the tenets of the belief system itself.”

Tsukiakari stared at her reflection in the rippling pond, listening as an excited wind brushed through the trees and made their green leaves rain from the sky. Small pieces of a proper plan of action began to formulate and assemble in her head.

“Maybe we can't control their violence, but we can still use Rennyo

. He can influence their behavior to a certain extent, and he can impose new rules and changes to the belief system..," Tsukiakari contemplated aloud.

“What did you have in mind,” Inari questioned.

“I know that look,” Taeko teased with a smug grin. “When Tsukiakari's face gets all serious like that, it means she's cooking up a strategy!”

Inari returned her curious gaze to Tsukiakari. “Really?” 

“That's right! It was her brilliant mind that let us win the Battle of Kyoto," Taeko bragged.

Tsukiakari paced around, walking in circles before she came to a stop and pointed a finger to the sky. Her face snapped out of its thousand-yard stare and her eyes brightened with yet another one of her fanciful ideas.

“I've got it! The Ikko-ikki want war, so they're going to need a war goddess!”

“Hmm? What does that mean,” Inari questioned, scratching her wet head of hair.

“Sorry Inari, Taeko and I have got to get back now. Is that all you have for us?” 

“Well...yeah, that's pretty much everything. Whatever you do, please be careful! If you go against the Ikko-ikki, you'll also have to go against their daimyo allies too!”

“Don't worry, I've got it all figured out! Let's go, Taeko,” Tsukiakari urged.

The young fox goddess waved goodbye as the two departed, and continued bathing in her pond. Later that afternoon, Tsukiakari returned to Bishamon's sanctuary, sitting on her knees with her hands resting on top of her lap. After hearing the information given to her by Inari, and then hearing Tsukiakari's plan, Bishamon softly chuckled to himself as he scratched his long, black beard with his fingertips.

“Are you sure about this, Gekko? You’re going to support the Ikko-ikki against Masachika Togashi," Bishamon asked.

“Yes. We have much more to gain if we side with them over Togashi. The Ikko-ikki are devout Buddhists, Bishamon. We can use that to our advantage. You said the Senkumo clan runs on prayer as well as coin, right? We have all the coin we need right now. It’s about time we accumulated the prayers as well.”

Bishamon nodded, his eyes locked with Tsukiakari’s. “Did your mother ever teach you what happens to gods who aren’t prayed to?”

The spark in Tsukiakari’s eyes was stolen away by the word Mother. It was like a cold wind danced inside of her chest. Most of her body went numb while fireworks went off inside of her palms.

“No...I don’t remember her saying a word about it.”

“Ah, that’s right. You were still young when you fled from Heaven. You may be growing accustomed to the world of mortals, but running away from Heaven doesn’t mean the supernatural world is irrelevant. What happens here on Earth affects Heaven and vice-versa.”

Wanting to remember as little of her mother as possible, Tsukiakari changed the subject. “So, Bishamon, what do you think of my plan? Do you think we can get the Ikko-ikki to venerate Shinto deities alongside Buddhist ones?”

“I think it's a good possibility, Gekko. Why don't we go and do it right now, hmm? There's no need to wait.” 

“Are you serious? Right now,” Tsukiakari responded in slight shock.

“I am a Buddhist god, after all. The Buddhist and Shinto pantheons formed a sort of alliance a while ago, but that relationship seemed to be the most respected among the gods. There have been people on both sides of these beliefs that have tried to suppress the veneration of deities from the other faith. We can use your strategy to enforce this alliance. It won't stop anything that's going on, but it will supply us with prayers. And that is always valuable.”

Bishamon stood from his cross-legged position. The war god was mighty, muscular, and his stature was grand. His very presence could command an army without him ever needing to speak a word.

“Go and get ready. Meet me in the garden," he calmly commanded.

That night, when the Senkumo mansion grew quiet and all of the war orphans fell into their slumber, Tsukiakari approached Bishamon in the garden, her feet crunching on cobble stones. Pagoda lanterns lit the way and reflected off of the small pond where several koi fish swam together in circles. Red torii gates loomed over her head as she approached her lord, wearing a black, hooded cloak identical to his.

“The stars look fine tonight," Bishamon gleefully remarked. “Are you ready?” 

Tsukiakari simply nodded.

“Very well, then. Back to Kyoto we go," Bishamon said.

With just the clasp of his hands, Bishamon teleported himself and Tsukiakari far away from the mansion and into the outskirts of Kyoto, still mostly in ruin and squalor from the Onīn War. What used to be a beautiful, sprawling city filled with stores, entertainment, and laughter was now deathly silent, occupied by nothing more than ruined buildings and wandering monks or bandits.

As these vagabonds appeared in the middle of the street, Bishamon kept Tsukiakari close to him, for the town was more dangerous than ever. The battered and embattled moon was more lustrous than the capital of Tsukiakari's own country.

“Do not stray too far, Gekko. I’d venture to guess that Rennyo is in Kyoto, just like Shinran was before him. However, we'll still need to get some information from the monks here. The Ikko-ikki may be religious, but many of them are still violent bandits out for the rape and plunder.”
Tsukiakari brushed her master's firm hand off of her shoulder and covered her head with the hood of her cloak. 

“I am not a child. I understand the situation clearly," she stated coldly. 

“You’ve certainly grown, Tsukiakari.” 

“Why not go to one of the Honganji temples? In these ruins, they're probably using their temples as living quarters. Since you're coming along with me, we shouldn't have to be too rough with them.”

Bishamon, impressed by her progress as a war goddess, bowed and simply let her lead the way. They marched through war-torn Kyoto beneath the stars and moon, their boots crunching on broken glass and rubble. Every home was flattened or razed to the ground. The once lively streets were dead silent, save for the symphony of crickets in the distance. 

“Bishamon…” Tsukiakari asked

“Yes," he responded.

“I want to ask you something.”

“Well, then, ask away.”

“Why exactly did the Buddhist and Shinto pantheons ally with each other? I would think different pantheons would try to phase each other out of existence.”

Bishamon softly chuckled. “I suppose Amaterasu never taught you about the divine side of warfare. Of course, you were much too young.”

“Stop treating me like a child and just give me an answer," Tsukiakari demanded.

“Very well. You're old enough to know. Your hunch is correct, Tsukiakari. Most pantheons in this world have warred with each other. Some of them survived and continued to prosper while others fell and were forgotten by history. It wasn't just the pantheons themselves that were wiped out. Many supernatural races of beings were also destroyed.”

“How long has this been happening?”

“Since the dawn of gods, really,” Bishamon began. “How much do you know about the founding of the Shinto pantheon, Gekko?”

“I know that my grandmother was part of the seventh generation of gods, and the first gods to have physical form. Izanagi and Izanami created the Japanese islands together and gave birth to a huge swathe of gods. They founded the Shinto pantheon with all of the gods they had.”

Bishamon chuckled. “Close, but not quite.”

“Huh? What do you mean? I think I know my own family’s history pretty damn well.”

“No, you don’t. Amaterasu taught you when she wanted you to know, but she left much of the story out. While it is true that Izanagi and Izanami created this country and birthed dozens of gods, they did not found the pantheon. It was your mother and father that did it. Izanami was more than happy to just have her family. It was your mother’s idea to found the pantheon and create a nation of gods.”

“Really?”

“Indeed,” Bishamon said. “Amaterasu made our people strong, proud, and isolated, preemptively ceasing any conflict with other pantheons. However, things change as the world gets older. Around the time your mother and father took their thrones, Buddhism made its introduction to Japan and threatened the religious unity of the coutnry. It took a while, but eventually, your mother decided to carefully mix the two beliefs into something all people of the country could agree on, without fighting each other. This merging is what's been resulting in the birth of new gods like Inari Okami.” 

“If it took her a while, it wasn't Mother's first intent to unify the two.”

“No, it wasn't. Slowly but surely, people from these faraway lands have been coming to our country on boats capable of traversing across the ocean. With them, they brought stories and accounts of their own beliefs, religions, and supernatural beings. That is when Amaterasu became aware of the existence of foreign, supernatural races. However, one race had her particularly worried.”

Tsukiakari was instantly curious. She couldn’t remember her mother being worried about anything. “Which race could’ve possibly made her worry like that?”

“They are called vampires. They are an undeniably strong race of beings. They conquered just about every other race next to them, and the ones they contended with weren’t pushovers either.”

“So, what makes them so dangerous," Tsukiakari asked.

“Their sheer power, and also the fact that they don't look very different from any human. They blend so infuriatingly well into human society, allowing them to subvert governments, institutions, religious sects, and entire empires. It is said they've orchestrated wars, genocides, and other atrocities to serve the interest of their own race. They have the same proud spirit that we do, as well as the power to preserve and enforce what they hold dear.” 

“Unbelievable...To think that one race could do all of that..," Tsukiakari remarked in terrified awe.

“They've established a powerful and widespread Vampirical Monarchy, as they call it. Their current king is a near-invincible vampire named Count Dracula, if I remember correctly. Dracula and his empire is said to currently hold power and territory in most of the known world.” Bishamon explained.

“Let me guess, he wants to spread his influence here too.”

“Exactly,” Bishamon said with a nod as he ran his fingertips through his beard.

“That’s why Mother sought unification," Tsukiakari realized. “Otherwise, competition between Shinto and Buddhism would’ve weakened the country. It all makes sense when you explain it like that. So that's why you were so eager to come assist me with all of this?”

“Going with your strategy will ultimately strengthen the bond between Buddhism and Shinto. You certainly are an attentive strategist, Gekko. You knew which side would benefit us most," Bishamon proudly complimented.

Tsukiakari smiled, hiding her rosy, blushing face beyond her hood. She spoke with a joyful bounce in her words.

“So then...am I on track...to replace you," she asked with hope in her scarlet eyes.

“Well, it's too early to tell, but....so far, so good.”

Her fear from earlier...the fear of war consuming and harming her dearest friends, slowly expunged itself from her heart, like a wash rag being rung of all its dirty water. Becoming the perfect war goddess was her dream just as much as it was Bishamon's. Even after seeing how one, triumphant victory for her could cause war clouds to spread across the country, Tsukiakari forged on. She kept striving towards that ideal, that perfect image of an unstoppable war goddess, worshiped by glory-hunting lords and soldiers.