Hen na Ie - Vol. 7 Ch. 29

[MangaDex]

 

[Tsama0]

If you're wondering about the statue in the shrine, I believe she's supposed to be a deity called Kishimojin. If that's correct, then one version of her story says that she ate babies to nourish her own children, and after Buddha got her to change her ways, she ate pomegranates (apparently what the statue's holding in her hand) instead. She became a protector of children, and in some version of the tale, her demonic self serves as a warning to bad parents and children.

 

[nellyyyy]

kyo ayano did incredible with the illustrations for this specific story omg...,that single panel of the female egret is hauntingly gorgeous

 

[Darroth]

Why the artifice of getting her sandal stuck in the mud? Why wouldn't the woman try to turn the wheel out of curiosity?

If you're wondering about the statue in the shrine, I believe she's supposed to be a deity called Kishimojin. If that's correct, then one version of her story says that she ate babies to nourish her own children, and after Buddha got her to change her ways, she ate pomegranates (apparently what the statue's holding in her hand) instead. She became a protector of children, and in some version of the tale, her demonic self serves as a warning to bad parents and children.

She's called Hariti in Sanskrit. Her worship is the most popular in Japan iirc.

 

[aaaaa8]

Thanks for the chapter!
This really does seem to be leading up to a cult, the detail about the baby's arm "festering" makes me think it soon after got amputated, which would be similar to the one armed statue, right?

now that I think about it, the first arc also involved a severed hand as a central plot thread... I wonder if it's connected, or does the author just really like using that as a plot point?

I'm pretty excited to see the next house, the "mousetrap house" sounds foreboding. I like the reference to Ranpo here, I had thought for a while that this manga feels vaguely similar to his grotesque short stories, so I guess this confirms that there's some inspiration going on?

If anyone's interested in a novel with some crazy house architecture, check out the Decagon House Murders by Ayatsuji, it's an easy read and pretty cool!

Why the artifice of getting her sandal stuck in the mud? Why wouldn't the woman try to turn the wheel out of curiosity?

I mean she's clearly a "good girl" type, feeling bad about investigating the rooms and not being willing to entertain macabre thoughts about a house that's so creepy that it would be more absurd to imagine that there's anything wholesome about it, and it's HER diary. She wrote it. So maybe she DID turn the wheel just for the heck of it, but it's in her interest to invent an excuse for the "record".

Or she was just that airheaded, idk lol

Also Kurihara and the MC are cute as usual!

 

[friendly]

Hm. So, maybe a room that would automatically move one way then the other if it rains enough, or someone diverts water from a distance. Her sandal sinking makes me think someone could have done that recently, and made the ground there especially deep. A mechanism that hides the leaving of the egret, somehow...?

 

[coyote_vdb]

Thanks for the translation.

 

[7goat]

The egret's missing wing tip and the baby's wound is definitely connected, since one doesn't normally write these normally trivial details in a diary (or maybe they do? I dunno, never kept a diary myself). In the place where I live, there is an old belief that if you ever come across a corpse of a human or an animal, the spirit will latch onto you and curse you with a whole slew of symptoms, even when you have nothing to do with their death. Babies are especially vulnerable to this, since they are believed to have less spiritual power to protect themselves.

Though I hope that's not the case. Uketsu's work might lean heavily on the occult, but nothing outright supernatural as far as I know, and I'd like it to stay that way. Of course, now that I've said that, I wonder if it's actually the other way around. As in, her relatives were the ones who sacrificed placed the egret in there as an offering to heal the baby's injury. She does seem to have lead a relatively normal life after the incident with the watermill, so my theory of a vengeful egret ghost haunting her is definitely out of the question!

 

[Akatori2st]

thanks for the chapter!

yeah I prefer this manga than Hen na E, analyzing someone psychology from their drawing is just pushing it. Analyzing how environment affecting someone psyche is waay better.

 

[Wildbow]

Why the artifice of getting her sandal stuck in the mud? Why wouldn't the woman try to turn the wheel out of curiosity?

It does serve to show that the area might have had enough water to end up that muddy. I could see a scenario where someone is contained in the room and it's the rain that turns the wheel (maybe they amend it to imagine a cover over half the wheel).

I'm unsure how much the architecture in the drawings is meant to be inferred -- could the water wheel have a cover? Is the ceiling open? Could someone trapped escape by climbing up and over the wall?

 

[shelliana]

I'm loving the frequent updates, thank you so much!
Also love how happy Kurihara is to just go along with MC's determined storytelling order rather than just asking for all the details right then lol.

thanks for the chapter!

yeah I prefer this manga than Hen na E, analyzing someone psychology from their drawing is just pushing it. Analyzing how environment affecting someone psyche is waay better.

Gotta say I was a little flummoxed to find out the person-house-tree thing is an actual test that's used. I can understand it as a conversation starter and a way to get inklings, especially from children but come on....

Hm. So, maybe a room that would automatically move one way then the other if it rains enough, or someone diverts water from a distance. Her sandal sinking makes me think someone could have done that recently, and made the ground there especially deep. A mechanism that hides the leaving of the egret, somehow...?

Maybe a way to hide the practice of animal/human sacrifice and prevent interference? Especially if the sacrifices are left there alive...

 

[BalrogDeMorgoth]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[taesu]

I wonder if this is reference to Crypto Christian.

 

[fight2live]

poor white egret tho

 

[Hikineet]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[PMA16]

There is something I wonder: How she know that that is a female white erget ? I mean is hard to know who is male and who is female. And she viewing in poor lighting conditions