Synopsis: The truth about the murder is revealed. Who did Ochou really kill?

「思い。。。思い出。。。私だけの胸の内にあるなの。同じ時を過ごそうと、同じ景色を見ようと、私とあなたの胸の内にある物は決して同じではなく。あなたの姿。。。あなたの声。。。私だけの胸の内にあるあなた。。。あなたはだれ。」

“Feelings… memories… they exist only within my heart. Though we may pass the same time, or see the same sights, what we hold within our hearts can never be the same. Your face… your voice…you who exist only within my heart… who are you?”

The Mononoke’s mask falls off but he vanishes before his face could be revealed. The mask laughs and speaks that he won’t bend to the Medicine Seller’s will. The Medicine Seller tells it that if it won’t show him his true From, then at least, he must be quiet for a while. Paper shoots forth from the Medicine Seller’s hand and it binds the mask shut completely.

The Medicine Seller gives the wrapped mask to Ochou and tells her that they will restart their little play. He explains that the intertwined fates of men give the Mononoke its Form. When an Ayakashi clings into a person’s thoughts and feelings, it becomes a Mononoke. Oyou says that she realizes the Medicine Seller came to kill the Mononoke. The Medicine Seller tells her that if he could kill it then, it would be easier. He says that he must discover the Mononoke’s Truth and Regret and without its Form, he cannot draw the Sword of Exorcism. He also says that it is a troublesome Mononoke.

The Medicine Seller shoots wards and they becomes walls around him and Ochou. He explains that Truth is a physical state and Regret is a state of mind. He says that if the Mononoke will not show its Form, he will have to make it tell him its Truth and Regret. The Medicine Seller then asks Ochou about her life.

She remembers again the scene when her husband asked her to bring more sake. The scene plays again and Oyou cowers. The Medicine Seller tells her that the Mononoke is showing him what she feels. The mask moves, wanting to escape. The Medicine Seller tells Ochou that her feelings were perfect for a Mononoke to leech. She tells him it is not a laughing matter but he says it is. She was using a laughable situation as an excuse. He asks her how many did she kill. The Medicine Seller tells her that it was the result of relying on the Mononoke’s strength.

The Medicine Seller looks at something and asks Ochou if she remembers it. She looks at it too. It is a window that shows part of the sky. The Medicine Seller tells her that it is her own sky which she watched everyday.

Ochou again remembers the scene when her husband demanded that she bring more sake. She has broken a container and was cleaning it up. She paused then looked at the sky through the window. Somehow, it relieved her feelings.

The Medicine Seller tells her that she simply looked. Ochou says that though she only looked, it made her happy. The Medicine Seller asks her why she did not leave. The mask moves and tells the Medicine Seller to stop but he goes on, he asks the woman who is it that she really killed.

The Mononoke tells the Medicine Seller not to step further into Ochou’s heart. Ochou and the Medicine Seller find themselves back in the prison but only Ochou is behind bars. The Medicine Seller tells her again that if she believes the place binds her, it will be her prison, but if she does not wish to leave, it will become a fortress. He says that it is the same as her place. She thought of it as a prison.

The scene where Ochou broke the container plays again. She looked at the window and felt better. Watching that scene, Ochou asks herself why she didn’t just leave.

The Medicine Seller raises his sword. He finds himself in a compound. From a window, he could see Ochou and her mother inside a room. She was wearing a mask. She told her daughter that she looked just like she did when she was young. She told her that with her beauty, she would certainly be able to marry into a wealthy family. A younger Ochou, wearing the happy mask, told her mother that she will do her best.

Ochou says that she loved her mother. The Mononoke tells her that she doesn’t have to tell the Medicine Seller anything. He is just deceiving her. The Medicine Seller controls the paper that wraps the mask and it becomes unable to speak once again. The Medicine Seller tells it to be quiet as the play is not yet over.

Ochou remembers again the scene with her mother but this time, her mother isn’t wearing a mask. She told her daughter the same thing about being able to marry into a wealthy family. The young Ochou agreed to what her mother said but she no longer wore the happy mask. Ochou’s mother praised her and this time, she wore a mask again. Ochou then wore her happy mask.

Ochou says that she loved her mother and wanted her praise. The Medicine Seller told her that she bore through it to the point of losing her own soul.

A scene showing Ochou’s mother wearing a red oni mask is played. She was reprimanding her daughter. Ochou, in her happy mask, apologized. Her mother told her that she warned her so many times. Ochou apologized again. Her mother ordered her to start over again. It seems as if she was practicing how to play a stringed instrument.

The Medicine Seller tells Ochou to watch the scene closely. A part of Ochou left her. Ochou could not believe what she saw.

Again, the scene changes to the time of Ochou’s wedding. Her mother came and told those at the wedding that she hid herself so as not to interrupt the couple’s taking of their vows. She told the couple that she merely wished to express her gratitude and extend her best wishes. A woman, probably the groom’s mother, told her to sit up as they don’t derive pleasure from watching her prostrate herself. A man, the groom’s brother perhaps, comments that Ochou is beautiful and asks if she is as good in bed as she looks. A young woman beside him says that it’s for their brother to find out. The groom says that he can buy as many woman as he wants with money. Ochou’s mother begs him to keep Ochou for all her life.

The Medicine Seller asks Ochou if it was her mother’s wish. She says it is. Her father died young and his pension was confiscated. All her mother wished was for her to marry into wealth.

Ochou’s mother spoke that she can now finally hold her head high as she visit the graves of her ancestors, the Umezawake clan. She was wearing the red oni mask.

The Medicine Seller comments that Ochou became her mother’s tool. Ochou disagreed. During the wedding, someone called out to Ochou and part of her left to meet it. The Medicine Seller tells her that she lost her soul for her mother’s wish and became a tool for her mother’s selfish needs. Then, she fell in love. The Medicine Seller asks her who the object of her affections is.

The sake-and-broken-container scene plays again. So the guests at that time were the wedding guests: Ochou’s husband’s mother, brother and sister. The Mononoke came to Ochou and offered her a knife.

The Medicine Seller asks her again who did she really kill. Ochou remembers the murder scene. She screams for it to stop. The Medicine Seller tells her that the mask is not a Mononoke but a Mononoke controlled the masked man, it deceived and imprisoned her. He says that it is the Mononoke’s Truth.

Ochou would not believe it. The Medicine Seller tells her that in trying to accept her mother’s twisted love, her heart wavered and a Mononoke latched into it. He says that it is the Mononoke’s Regret.

Ochou says she loved her mother. She did her best but her mother didn’t listen to what she wanted to say. Ochou says she was so stupid.

The Medicine Seller shows her a memory and continues to ask who did she really kill. She remembers the murder scene but she finds her face on the corpses instead. she realizes that all of those she killed were herself.

The paper that bound the mask unravels. The Medicine Seller tells her that she lost herself in other’s greed. The Medicine Seller commands the Mononoke to show its Form. The mask’s face turns out to be Ochou’s.

Ochou asks why the Nopperabou or the Faceless One saved her. She is asked if she believes she was saved. The Medicine Seller told her that if she really wanted to know, perhaps he fell in love with her but his love could never be. The Mononoke despaired. Ochou thanks the Nopperabou and tells him that she will be fine.

Ochou’s husband demands that she bring more sake but Ochou is picking up the broken pieces of a container that fell on the floor. She apologizes. The guests continue to demand for sake and speak ill things of her. Ochou looks up at the window. It made her feel better. Her husband asks again for sake but only the Medicine Seller is there. The door has been left open.

Anyway, this was a somehow confusing arc but I think I finally understood it. At first, we are led to believe that Ochou did a heinous crime and was imprisoned, but in reality, it seems as if that never happened. There are two things that point to this. First, the Medicine Seller asked Ochou who did she really kill and she realized that it was herself that she kiled, figuratively. Second is that the Medicine Seller told Ochou that if she thinks that her place bound her, then it would be her prison: Ochou’s home became her prison.

Everything that happened was all in Ochou’s heart. The first lines from the episode that I quoted above seems to be a clue to this. As Ochou said, “Feelings… memories… they exist only within my heart.” Even the Mononoke existed only within her heart.

In Japanese folklore, the Nopperabou are faceless ghosts. Though they can assume other forms, they usually look human. They are harmless despite the fact that people are frightened of them.

In this arc, the Nopperabou wears a mask and he could change it at will. It seems as if the mask he wears is suited to the occasion. The Nopperabou wore a mask to hide his face (since he had none) but he isn’t the only one who wore a mask. Both Ochou and her mother wore masks. Ochou’s mother wore the white mask and the red oni mask. Ochou wore the happy mask. She wore this to please her mother but she lost herself to her mother’s greed in the end. When you think about it, Ochou lost her identity (her face) and became something like a Nopperabou. This is perhaps the reason why the mask in the end had Ochou’s face. Also, as the Medicine Seller said, the masked man (the Nopperabou) isn’t the Mononoke but the one who controlled him (Ochou’s lost identity).

Seen from a different angle, this arc is also about a love that cannot be. The painting of a man embracing a mermaid (from the Umibouzu arc) was also shown in this episode.

I think think this arc was beautiful though the Zashikiwarashi arc is still my favorite so far.

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