![]() ![]() In a rage, Namima stings her lover between the eyes, sending him to the land of the dead. Burning with desire to know what has happened in the land of the living since her death, Namima returns as a wasp, only to find that Mahito has married Kamikuu. In fact, he murders her and sends her to the underworld, where she assists Izanami, goddess of the Realm of the Dead. ![]() Shortly after giving birth to a daughter, Namima is startled to find Mahito choking her. ![]() He also impregnates Namima and convinces her to leave the island. As time passes, a handsome young man named Mahito becomes enamored of Namima and persuades her to eat some of the sacred food. Although Kamikuu never finishes each day’s meal, Namima is forbidden to touch the food, an irony in that many of the islanders are in want. On her 6th birthday, Kamikuu finds out she is destined to become an Oracle, and from that moment, the fates of the two sisters diverge, for Namima begins to wait upon her sister daily, carrying a basket of food in honor of Kamikuu’s sacred and privileged life. Kirino introduces us to Namima and her older sister Kamikuu, the latter of whom is particularly beautiful. The opening of the narrative is both realistic and dreamlike. Kirino recounts the beauty and terror of a traditional Japanese myth, one reminiscent of Demeter and Persephone. ![]()
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