Due to busy-ness, wasn't able to make my comment at the usual time, but thanks for another chapter
@Kredim !
For future visitors,
Otataneko (大田田根子) was a figure mentioned in the Kojiki, the older of the two oldest historical literary texts of Japan that also function as chronicles of Shinto mythology, and was supposedly a half-kami son of Omonomushi, who himself is a Kami believed to be an aspect/"Mitama" of Okuninushi (head of the Kunitsugami/"Gods of the Earthly Realm").
According to the Kojiki's account, in the 5th Year of the reign of
Emperor Sujin (the first emperor whose existence historians widely accept, believed to have reigned from 97 BC to 30 BC), a pestilence struck and killed half the Japanese population and chaos ensued across the land in its wake.
After beseeching the divine, Omononushi claimed responsibility for the plague, announcing that it would not stop until he was venerated, and eventually Sujin was given guidance in the form of a dream to seek out a man named Ōtataneko and appoint him as head priest. When he was found and installed, the pestilence eventually subsided, allowing the five cereal crops to ripen. The
Miwa sect of the Kamo clan supposedly descended from Otataneko and the
Miwa Shrine can be claimed to be Japan's first shrine.
To spell it out, the second-in-command of the Replaced is over 2000 years old and among the oldest (if not THE oldest) head priests of Japan who directly served an Emperor, and half a deity to boot. He's even older than Abe no Seimei, and since this is Dark Gathering, it wouldn't be surprising if he has control over pestilence to a country-wide scale, and rightfully has enough power to delve into Taisui Xingjun's personal realm.
(The text in this chapter used 太 instead of 大 in 大田田根子, but most likely just a mistake as they're both pronounced "Oo")
Which in itself brings this question: who is this human host with enough capacity to house a half-deity's spirit? And what could possibly drive said spirit who once saved Japan to align with the schemes of the Replaced and Kuubou?
