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Strangling Ritual
Strangling Ritual
Japanese name 裂き縄の儀式
Romaji name saki nawa no gi shiki
Other names Gates of the Underworld Ceremony
Location(s) Himuro Mansion
Participants Rope Shrine Maiden
Frequency Every 10 years on December 13
Purpose Bind the Hell Gate
Game Fatal Frame
On the 13th day of the 12th month, a maiden, cut off from the outside world for 3,669 long days, shall be torn apart to provide power to the rope.


The Strangling Ritual is a ritual in Fatal Frame used to keep the Hell Gate closed, preventing the Malice and evil spirits from passing through the gate and bringing disaster. It is always performed on December 13th, approximately 10 years after the prior sacrifice. The ritual involves the Rope Shrine Maiden being sacrificed and the ropes, saturated with her blood, are then used to bind the Hell Gate shut until the next ritual must be performed.

Description[]

Preparation[]

Once per decade, during late November, early December of the year of the ritual, the entire Himuro family, including branch families and honored guests, would travel to the mansion and gather for the various rituals, bringing their children.

During this time, on November 26th, the girl child of the Himuro family with the highest degree of Holy Power would be chosen during the Demon Tag ritual. This child would become the next Rope Shrine Maiden intended for the next round of rituals, taking place in 10 years.

After selection, the chosen child would be sequestered in the Himuro Mansion as for 3,669 days to prepare in her role as Rope Shrine Maiden. The Maiden would be attended to by four masked priests and cut all earthly ties in preparation for her role in the Strangling Ritual.

With the next Rope Shrine Maiden secured, the Strangling Ritual for the current maiden, chosen during the previous ritual cycle and having just completed her isolation, would proceed. The Blinding Ritual would also be performed on an unnamed day shortly before the Strangling Ritual to prepare the Blinding Mask, which acted as a key to the sacrificial room where the Strangling Ritual took place.

The Ritual[]

December 12th, the night before the Strangling Ritual, the Rope Shrine Maiden is taken from her cell to the Tsukuyomi Shrine. where the four family priests and the Himuro family head would perform a small ritual to activate a hidden mechanism, revealing the Moon Well underneath the shrine. The maiden would climb down into the moon well to purify herself in the moonlight. On the day of sacrifice, the full moon would align to shine directly into the moon well.

On December 13th, the day of the Strangling Ritual, those living in the nearby villages would lock all windows and doors and refuse to go outside, considering it extremely bad luck, though they were unaware of the events happening beneath the manor.

To begin the ritual, the Himuro family would place the Blinding Mask, newly anointed with the blood of the Blinded Maiden in the Blinding Ritual, in the door of the Demon Mouth, acting as the key to open the doors. The mask and the Blinded Maiden's blood were thought to act as a blindfold for the demons beyond the Hell Gate, making it safe for the doors to be opened and for the entire party (consisting of most of the Himuro family, wearing sacred shide around their necks) to travel down towards the land of the dead.

From the Demon Mouth, the Himuro Family would travel along the Banned Path.

The masked Himuro family priests and the family head, wearing the Mask of Reflection, would be permitted to cross the Hell Bridge, where they met with the Rope Shrine Maiden, who enters the underground Banned Path alone, through a door in the Moon Well accessible only to her.

Only the 4 priests, family head, and Rope Shrine Maiden would enter the doors to the Rope Altar, which lays directly underneath the Buddha Room, to complete the Strangling Ritual while the rest of the Himuro clan would remain outside on the Banned Path.

Within the octagonal, domed room of the Rope Altar is a round, raised altar platform, surrounded by rack-like wheels, representing the five gods, five limbs, and five sacred mirrors in the surrounding shrines. The Rope Shrine Maiden would willingly lay on this pedestal, and Laceration Rope tied to each limb and around her neck. The priests would turn the wheels at her limbs, and the family head at the Maiden's head, tightening the ropes until the maiden died and her limbs were torn from her body.

The Maiden must be willing and eager to die, and have no earthly attachments or pollution in order for the Strangling Ritual to be considered a success.

The five ropes would be soaked in the Maiden's blood to give them strength and held in the air to bless them to complete the Strangling Ritual.

Result[]

After the completion of the Strangling Ritual, the remains of the Rope Shrine Maiden would be covered, and the doors to the Rope Altar opened, allowing the waiting Himuro clan through. The family would follow the priests and family head as they carried the five ropes soaked in the Maiden's blood and the True Sacred Mirror along the Baptism Path to the Hell Gate. The Baptism Path is lined with torii gates and ropes, marking the transition from the normal world to the underworld.

In front of the gate to hell, the True Holy Mirror is placed facing the door, offering additional protection so close to the land of the dead. The priests then perform the Ceremony of Ropes, tying the Strangling Ritual ropes across the gates to seal them shut for another decade. The sacred blood of the maiden stains the rope, thus strengthening the power used to seal off the Hell Gate.

According to Research Scrap 8, the remains of the Rope Shrine Maiden are gathered and enshrined in the Moon Shrine. The Five Buddha Document mentions the Rope Shrine Maiden's remains being buried with five Buddha statues.

The next maiden is already chosen by the time the Strangling Ritual is completed (she is chosen November 26th, 17 days before the Strangling Ritual occurs on December 13th). The new maiden's location and role during her predecessor's Strangling Ritual is unknown.

Disaster[]

The last Strangling Ritual, performed on December 13th, 1837, with Kirie acting as Rope Shrine Maiden, failed and caused The Calamity. As a result, the Malice escaped and 1,347 souls were lost.

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