Religion in Ryukishi's works

[U4ea]

It seems I’ve created some chatter about this topic in the “If you could ask Ryukishi07 anything” thread with my post about wanting to ask Ryukishi about the role of religion in his writing.

So do you think he’s a religious man? There are an abundance of religious themes in Umineko, Higurashi and as @Pandora mentioned, Rewrite. The religion in these texts (especially the latter portions of Umineko, specifically EP7 and EP8) felt largely Christian influenced to me. I’d also like to mention there is an abundance of yokai mythos in Higanbana. I’m pretty sure yokai come from Shintoism, Buddhism, and/or Taoism, if not a mix of the three (or some other religion that I may be forgetting). It seems to me religion as influenced his writing to some degree. But I’m not sure if he supports these religions and their teachings, or if he’s criticising them.

However as @Antra pointed out, not all of these religious themes are exactly positive ones. In fact, there are points where the man seems to criticize religion (or at least, his characters are). For all we know, he could easily be agnostic/atheist, and be using his characters to point out flaws in religion.

Either way, I think this topic is interesting. And I agree with @Isae that it should be a topic of its own, so that it can be further elaborated on. So… What do you think, everyone?

[Karifean]

I think he kind of just gets, fundamentally, what religion is, what it means to people and how it comes to be. And in that sense also why it’s important. For that reason I doubt he’s a particularly religious person himself.

He is quite knowledgeable about many a faith though.

[Isae]

I don’t know whether Ryukishi is religious or not, but he certainly is familiar with a lot of religious ideas.

As far as religion goes in Higurashi, (Higurashi spoilers) [spoiler] Hanyuu is obviously worshiped as a Shinto god, and there’s Takano’s god complex, but perhaps the most interesting part is that Hanyuu’s whole ‘dying for everyone’s sins’ thing is very unsubtly Christ-like. (Although Jesus certainly isn’t the only scapegoat god in mythology.) But that also my be seen as an inversion of that idea, because sacrificing yourself for everyone, even if you are a god, is ultimately presented as the “wrong” answer.

Overall, I found Matsuribayashi to be the Higurashi arc with easily the strongest religious themes in general. It’s very preoccupied with the idea of sins and whether they can be atoned for. [/spoiler]

(spoilers for Higurashi and Umineko (?)) Interestingly, it seems there’s a pattern of both 'When They Cry’s getting more religious in nature towards the end. I wonder if we’ll also see this in WTC5?

There’s also the ever-present concept of miracles, which was originally tied to religion (I’m not super knowledgeable about the etymology of the Japanese word, but I’m guessing its origins are similar.)

[Pandora]

Aah, now that you’ve made this thread, my little grey cells are tingling!
So yesterday on Tumblr, I was pretty much musing about this topic in regards to a certain person:
(SPOILERS FOR ALL OF UMINEKO)

Alright, so Sayo is a pretty religious gal. Probably moreso than me, and while I’ve read comments on how that also caused even more self-hatred, I feel like Sayo and religion goes deeper than that.
For instance, anyone who read Genesis knows that originally humans were immortal as they were sinless. The minute sin was introduced, the concept of death became known and Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden.
So where does this fit in with Umineko? Well, from Kinzo’s backstory we learn that the the Ushiromiya’s were a mighty family that even after their first tragedy still managed to wield toms of political and social influence. They were immortal, a mighty clan that would stand against time itself.
However, like Adam and Eve, Kinzo made a grave and costly mistake that would spread to every generation of his family-one that would lead to their downfall and stagnation. Sayo, a quite religious person, rightfully despised her own family for its innumerable sins and likely thought that it was up to her to cleanse them.
Though the Bible does say that the wages of sin are death (likely the part Sayo took to heart)-God does mention in Isaiah and Ezekiel (I think) that He would much prefer His children to repent and turn from their ways, though it appears that Sayo did not think the Ushiromiya’s were worthy of any sort of earthly redemption…Or maybe she just thought in her own fucked up she was saving them.
Tldr, Sayo has a twisted Messianic-complex and feels that she’s purifying the Ushiromiya’s by killing them or whatever. And despite her crippling inferiority, I wouldn’t be surprised if she felt some amount of contempt for her family. I fucking forgot all my previously organized ideas.
I apologize in advance for this horrible and rambling post.

[Antra]

I don’t really have much to add to the topic, but I do have this quote from a Staff Room segment. And unlike in my previous example, this one came straight out of Ryukishi’s mouth (or keyboard) so it may be worth discussing.

(Higurashi Matsuribayashi-hen Spoiler warning.)

[Isae]

Still, I think it’s a good sign that even though there are religious themes in his work, you can’t really tell whether he’s religious or not from his stories on their own. With a lot of authors it’s blindingly obvious what their own beliefs are.

[Bernkastelle]

I feel he is probably like most Japanese people. religion in Japan and religion in Western societies are actually two different kinds of nuances. What we would call religion in the West is more spirituality or faith in Japan. Religion in itself is a more negative term, more like alluding to people bound to dogma. Kind of like overzealous people image.

Because of this, people dont generally like to say they are religious; but definitely most are spiritual or have some sort of faith in a higher power or the divinity of the natural world. That being said it is also entirely possible Ryukishi is atheist or agnostic. It’s unclear but also Im not going to make assumptions.

That being said, Ryukishi has a lot of Shinto themes in WTC, but especially Higurashi. (Higurashi full spoilers) Hanyuus sacrifice seems Christian but it is actually very Shinto. There are numerous once-human kamis (divine spirits) that had sacrificed themselves, whether in war or to keep peace, or even to clear away tsumi (which is translated as sin but is very different than sin) and are now enshrined as deities.

Tsumi is not sin in the Western sense but it is basically an “offense against the order of things” than specficially a sin which is considered something inherently evil or bad. Tsumi is very much the nuance of doing something wrong or offensive to nature or kami, or society (defined as amatsu/heavenly tsumi, kunitsu/earthly tsumi, and so on) but not evil or bad - if that makes sense. Even kami can commit tsumi.

The kanji for tsumi (罪) actually denoted a crime of some sort - but not that the action was inherently sinful, bad, evil, or malignant. Just that the tsumi was an offense or broke the order of things, or broke a social taboo. Generally we can understand most tsumi as bad or evil actions, but some tsumi is not, for example, knocking over a sacred item by accident. Or building a washroom without asking a kami’s permission.

When Hanyuu said they would clear the tsumi via sacrifice, this was kind of like a ritualized form of seppuku. And indeed even in seppuku, it became very connected to Shinto. The tray their innards are let out into is called sanbo, and this tray are only used for offering things to kami. It is said blood and so on is kegare (negative energy things) but since the whole ceremony was ritualized and purified with oharae (positive/cleansing energy) it negated the kegare.

In a sense that action was like Hanyuu clearing the tsumi / dishonor of their people through the ritual similar to seppuku. Of course there was no real ritual specifically like the one shown, but it takes from that same inspiration.

Now, about the screencap, in Shinto kami are not seen as otherworldly or only spiritual beings. Kami are humans, but also animals, and all of nature. There is simply the physical body (our bodies, animals bodies, the tree itself, the sun itself, the moon, etc.) And the spirit/soul of these “bodies”. Together, particularly awe inspiring or impressive existence, it is called as kami, the physical and spiritual together. Ryukishi may be saying that we make up monsters or spirits to blame our human faults, but not outright denying kami to me. After all, (Higurashi full spoilers) Oyashiro sama as an evil or torture curse kami was fake, but Hanyuu was portrayed as a very real existence, and indeed was a human once herself . Shinto is very in the present/this world, so it can seem less religious or spiritual to other faith paths like Christianity or Buddhism.

I noticed there is a lot of not so much religion but spiritual paths such as Alchemy very strong in Umineko as well. Also of the Golden Dawn and Hermetic paths inspirations, and of course Solomonic magic. Christianity is also a big overtone in Umineko I feel moreso than the Shinto presence. As fits the story it is definitely a more Western spiritual practices feel.

Higanbana is more local folklore of youkai and urban legends but not so much Shinto , Buddhism, or Onmyoudou. There are some references here and there but it is heavily more folklorish than religion. Im not sure about RGD but Trianthology didnt have much religious themes compared to Higu or Umi.