Miyako finds a book that has a strong psychological impact on her at a used bookstore. (It is a record of weather in a specific region?) She buys the book and asks about the former owner of the book.
Tominaga is traveling on a local train in Hiroshima area. He travels for work a lot (something about not having children?) and enjoys it. On the train he notices a really ugly woman who keeps taking out, gazing at, and then putting away again a book from a paper bag with the name of the store Miyako was at. The book seems to be the same as the one Miyako bought. Lots of people including Tominaga get off at a station, and Tominaga spots the same woman again in the station.
I kind of skipped past exactly what the book was, beyond “some kind of local lore thing, given it has something about the 伝説 from the novel’s title”, but looking a bit closer, Wikipedia says the 風土記 are “ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and folklore. Fudoki manuscripts also document local myths, rituals, and poems that are not mentioned in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki chronicles, which are the most important literature of the ancient national mythology and history”.
The book in the novel is …の研究, so presumably some later scholarship on the topic of the original historical document. I would guess that we will be focusing on the “mythology and folklore” part, since that’s the entry 美也子 immediately looks at in the table of contents.
Finished this week’s reading and I already have theories swirling in my head:
She didn’t lose her memories, she swapped identities with someone. Hence convenient memory loss, no witnesses (her friend died), and ‘maybe I’ll meet myself’. I considered that 美也子 may have killed her doppleganger to get at the book, but given the killer’s supposed amazing martial arts moves and the brother acting weird as hell (and also that bit at the end about their family being descended from nobility/aristocracy? Which I sort of understand but not perfectly) I kind of wonder if the brother did it.
Also what the hell, everyone just calling out this girl for being ugly Brutal. I’m going to assume that has to tie into the plot somewhere too, otherwise why keep bringing it up.
I started to read as well. Thanks for that interesting information about 風土記.
One thing I can already tell will annoy me to no end is the missing furigana on names in my edition. I will forever wonder if read the names correctly . I don’t need it all the time but please give me furigana the first time a name is dropped. Is that really so hard japanese people?
I’m just a few pages in chapter 1 and we already have like 6 or 7 names…
Whoa! Wild theories! I just finished (yay!) and I felt like because of the way they were talking about it that her amnesia was more akin to a disability, like maybe she didn’t remember at first how to use basic everyday items? I’m not sure what I expect to happen, but maybe she was involved in something that she then forgot about from the amnesia, and when she wandered back into the same area that ended up getting her killed.
Oh wow that thought crossed my mind for a second as well! Does that mean the family covers it? Why? Or were they tricked into believing that it’s her, with injuries in her face to make her unrecognizable?
(Also, did Nogami ask whether she was trans, or did I misunderstand? If he did: Was that a reaction to the ugliness everybody refers to? )
The brother was the most sus person we encountered so far. Which means it probably wasn’t him
Oh, that’s interesting! So when reading the book she remembered that thing, and then all of a sudden … [but what?!?]
Also, what role does Tominaga play in this? And how could he sit across from her on the train? All we know is that she got off and died, and he jumped on in the last minute. Did I misread that, or is something weird going on there as well?
Actually, with how big a deal they’re making about her looks this feels plausible…
I didn’t get that from the conversation… I think he asked if she had an odd personality at some point and possibly the word he used had a kanji that’s also used for gender and maybe that’s what made you think that? But I could be wrong of course. Would help to reread the passage you’re referring to.
Ohh, I actually hadn’t considered the possibility that Tominaga and the blue t-shirt man were the same person! I might have to go back to that part, cause it’s possible that they learned his name but I just glossed over it and forgot.
Oh yes, you are right of course. The word in question is 性格的 (and it was about the only word I didn’t look up
Haha I never thought they could not be the same person
But, hmmm, so in the train scene we learn the name Tominaga, I think? And the dude who is caught by the police, didn’t he also give his name as Tominaga? (I didn‘t reread, this is just from memory though)
I think I found where they name the blue t-shirt man! Page 25 in my edition (a couple pages before section 2), before the back and forth where they interrogate him.
男は広島市内在住の北村義夫といい、年齢は三十三、自由業、だという。
I didn’t figure out that 北村 was a person’s name rather than a place name until way later though.
Just finished today during the readathon. I’m looking forward to the next week which I’ll probably finish relatively shortly since I have a few days off.
Uhh, that is a nice theory. I didn’t think of that.
But it would also be a big coincidence. The 土砂崩れ certainly happened and people certainly died through it. Would be a big coincidence to find someone that resembles you enough just when a tragedy happens to be able to swap places.
Even if we assume she was a little deformed after it.
I can’t think of a reason the family being involved in something like that.
Another great theory, you guys are on fire.
The book has a surprisingly big cast already. I hope I’ll be able to keep all the people and their positions in my head for the next few weeks
Something I just noticed flipping back through the prologue that I didn’t notice the significance of until I’d read chapter one:
The book in the prologue is stamped 正法寺家蔵書. At this point in the novel 美也子 is referred to in the narration by first name only; it’s not until chapter one that we learn that her full name is 正法寺美也子. So there is clearly a family connection of some kind to the book.
Wow, yeah. Didn’t realize that. Reading the prologue and chapter one too far apart to notice it, I think.
That makes the brother, or rather the whole family, more suspicious again for me.
While reading for the second week (not related), it also popped into my mind that we know (or at least I suspect to know) why she deviated from her originally planned route, right? She was told by the shopkeeper where he got the book from and probably wanted to investigate further. That is one of the missing information that the police doesn’t have. They only wonder why she switched her itinerary without informing anyone.
Brutal. I’m going to assume that has to tie into the plot somewhere too, otherwise why keep bringing it up.
. I don’t need it all the time but please give me furigana the first time a name is dropped. Is that really so hard japanese people?
Does that mean the family covers it? Why? Or were they tricked into believing that it’s her, with injuries in her face to make her unrecognizable?
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