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The Womb Cave is a location in Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. It is located under the Shrine of Dolls, sealed with a locked lattice.
Description[]
The Womb Cave refers to the large entry cave of an extensive, lava-rock aquafer system in the heart of Mt. Hikami. The cave system is mostly flooded, needing special equipment to explore fully, and filled with Eternal Flower pillars and black water, which is caustic to the touch. Water from caldera lake at the peak of the mountain flows down the mountain in streams, rivers, and waterfalls, until it eventually pools and gathers in the complex and winding cave tunnels under the mountain.
The Womb Cave is an important feature for preventing the pollution of the mountain with yomi, almost acting like a containment and filtration system for the high concentration of death on the mountain. The Womb Cave traps and holds the excess black water flowing from the Shadow Spring, rather than allowing it to flow and spread to other locations, or seep into the soil. The dead and dying who are properly "returned to the water" likewise gather in the Womb Cave until ready to pass on, keeping the mountain surface clean of spirits. If the Womb Cave fills with too much black water, the mountain rumbles, signaling a new miko sacrifice is necessary.
Entry into the Womb Cave and aquafer system is located under the Shrine of Dolls. According to the in-game material, the Womb Cave was considered a very sacred place, with access restricted to all but a select few, other entrances sealed off with sacred rope.
The Shadow-Touched are a common spirit encounter. Unable to travel under the sun, the Shadow-Touched rely on the cave systems during the day, while also tending to the many Eternal Flower reliquaries and being among the only able to withstand the high concentration of black water.
Evolution through time[]
Mikomori Shrine Maiden Era: Human Sacrifices[]
During the era of the Mikomori Shrine Maidens, the dying who were drawn to visit the mountain would be escorted by a miko and "returned to the water", their bodies and spirits floating down the mountain's rivers and into the Womb Cave to rest, contained there until ready to move on. Later, modern, explorations uncovered numerous bones and human remains pooled in the caves from these sacrifices. Many of the Eternal Flower sacrifices are planted in the cave system, to purify the water and act as a bridge for those entering death.
Unless a miko was particularly powerful, and warranted being sunk into the Shadow Spring itself, the majority of the Eternal Flowers were planted in the Womb Cave and surrounding system.
Pre-modern revival: rise of child cult[]
After the massacre of the Mikomori Shrine Maidens by Kyozo Kururugi, nearby settlements began a tradition of throwing hitogatami dolls (dolls made in the likeness of a deceased child, containing teeth, bones, and/or hair from the deceased) into the mountain rivers as a replacement for the original sacrifices, and as a way for the spirits of the children to pass easily into death. These dolls would pool in the Womb Cave, where, presumably, the remaining Eternal Flowers pillars would assist the children in moving on. Modern cave exploration discovered many of these dolls, along with the earlier human remains, in the Womb Cave.
Eventually, the Shrine of Dolls was constructed over the entrance to the cave system, and visitors began to inter the dolls there, instead of throwing them into the river to wind up in the Womb Cave.
This era also saw the rise of the Ghost Bridegrooms. Bodies of the failed grooms would be "returned to the water" and sent down the rivers to the Womb Cave.
Tunnel disaster[]
When Mt. Hikami was being renovated into a tourist destination, a tunnel was being built under the mountain. Named the Hikami Tunnel, this was supposed to be a route through the mountain- however, the workers hit a large body of water in the Womb Cave, which prompted a massive flood that killed all the workers on the job. This disaster lead to a great deal of the black water escaping the contained system of the Womb Cave, contaminating and polluting the surrounding mountain areas. Rescue workers who came in contact with the black water in the Womb Cave reported their skin necrotizing, and the effort was quickly abandoned.
Modern Times[]
After the commercial and religious abandonment of the mountain, Mt. Hikami still attracted those ready to die. However, without any guides to return these people to the water, people began to die on the mountain without being sent to the Womb Cave for proper purification and containment. With the Womb Cave system ignored, disgruntled spirits began to linger and pollute the mountain surface, drawing in other visitors to likewise follow them into death and become trapped on the mountain, leading to more and more death contamination.
Shadow-Touched servants and the Funeral Celebrant Old Granny continue to lure mountain visitors with strong spiritual powers into reliquary boxes and plant them as new Eternal Flowers in the Womb Cave, hoping to prevent further pollution.