Himiko (卑弥呼)

A HYOGENSHA-ATG COPRODUCTION

Himiko

What do you want'?

Get off me! Let go of me!

Stop it! Please stop!

Let me go! Why are you doing this to me?

Takehiko is coming back.

Help me!

They killed him just for finding a sacred bronze vessel.

No one makes the vessels now.

They must be afraid of the curse of the mountain god.

They are not believers. They don't worship the mountain god.

They kill does and fawns carelessly.

The mountain god allows us to hunt and kill only stags.

Killed for finding a sacred bronze! We won't stand for it!

They have no understanding of the mountain god.

Or what happens when we band together.

I can weave beautiful cloth with this loom from Wei.

As befits an offering to the sun god. Our god shall be pleased.

Is it dark outside already?

I heard a rumor that Takehiko has returned.

Has he?

It's only a rumor.

He disappeared when he was still a boy.

They say he traveled to many lands.

If the rumor of his return is true, the king will be pleased.

I wonder what countries Takehiko has seen.

They say he even traveled to the lands beyond the sea.

You seem well-informed.

I only know

what people say about Takehiko.

You are always late, Mimaki.

Mimaki excels as a warrior.

But I hear you took another girl of the mountain-god people.

How peculiar you are to chase after a girl of those tattooed people.

It doesn't matter to me to what people a comely girl belongs.

Still, in this kingdom, we don't worship the mountain god.

Besides, whether it is yourself or lkume who succeeds me as king,

we must always think about governing this kingdom.

King, Mimaki has the strength that is essential to govern.

Ikume, you possess the wisdom needed of a ruler.

However, we cannot do without Mimaki's courage in politics.

It's strength that matters!

We must kill those who refuse to worship our god.

Brother, that will be difficult.

The mountain-god people will never renounce their god.

They have worshipped their god from time immemorial.

Himiko.

I have heard enough.

Only you can call upon the sun god through the mirror.

And only you can hear the words of the sun god.

Nothing, including the rites for the god and the ruling of the kingdom,

can be conducted without the words you hear from the god.

You live in the divine light,

but also in darkness where the sun god doesn't reach.

Himiko.

At least in the darkness, I entreat you to find comfort.

Say no more, Nashime.

Leave me.

Are you Takehiko?

I am Takehiko.

I am Adahime.

This is the sacred forest.

Don't you know that men are forbidden to enter?

There's a man!

Nashime! Are you here?

You must know that Takehiko has returned.

I do.

You know everything.

I do.

Bring Takehiko here immediately.

Here? Immediately?

You don't know where Takehiko is?

Yes, but...

You will bring Takehiko to me immediately!

Takehiko is with Adahime, daughter of a chief of the land-gods people.

I am aware of that.

I repeat. Bring Takehiko here this instant!

Very well, I shall do as you wish.

Is that you, Takehiko?

The cock crows, and darkness will fall.

You are the brother of the king.

Therefore, you are my sister,

from a different mother.

Why have you returned to this kingdom?

You need not answer. That is not why I summoned you.

I wanted to meet you.

From the time I saw you in the forest, I've wanted to meet you.

You are known as the shaman queen of the sun god

even in distant countries.

That is only until darkness falls.

Takehiko, you have traveled long in faraway lands.

Yet your strength betrays no sign of fatigue.

Takehiko, let me have a better look at your face.

I saw you last as a little boy.

What a fine man you have become.

I longed to see you, Himiko.

Where is your excellent mother who raised you?

She died.

Women of the land-gods people die young after giving birth.

Oh, Takehiko.

Himiko.

You are my sister.

What do you think of Himiko's last prophecy, Mimaki?

You heard it too.

Her prophecy says

that we sun-god people must also worship the land gods.

That's What I heard.

The people of the land gods worship their gods in the fields.

Their gods bless them with rice that grows in the fields.

We worship the sun. Why must we worship the land gods?

Even if that is the prophecy Himiko received from the sun god,

we ourselves are not able to hear it.

Did Himiko really receive those words?

I cannot think that Himiko has suddenly lost her abilities as a shaman.

But I have to doubt her with this prophecy.

We cannot have doubts about the sun god.

If Himiko is in love with a man,

then it is not surprising that she's lost her prophetic powers.

Is that true?

I've also heard such rumors.

If it is true

that a powerful shaman like Himiko is in love with a man,

then our doubts are not unfounded.

We are the people of the sun god.

We cannot worship the land gods.

The rule of this kingdom rests on the cult of the sun.

We conquered other kingdoms by defending our cult.

We must find another oracle to replace Himiko

before our people begin to doubt her.

Mimaki, how well do you understand the rule of this kingdom?

The oracle hears the god's words.

Those words are then applied skillfully to rule the kingdom.

People must be shown the powers of the sun god.

Those are the important points.

Mimaki is right.

But I don't know what should be done to carry out what Mimaki said.

Stand, Nashime! What are you doing?

Nashime must have procured a young slave for Himiko.

Her lover isn't a young slave.

Himiko is in love with a young man.

Who is this man'?

Takeh I k0 .

Takehiko?

The king.

The king.

Only Himiko can hear the god's words.

Without Himiko, the rule of this kingdom isn't possible.

Without Himiko,

the king cannot rule the country.

No one must doubt Himiko.

Anyone who doubts must leave.

I have grown too old.

The ruler of the kingdom shall be Himiko when the king passes on.

Or will it be Mimaki?

The emblem of the kingdom of the sun god.

The god speaks.

The kingdom of the land gods is very near.

Climb the hill and look to the west.

The kingdom shall be conquered

by none other than me, Himiko.

In that kingdom, people worship the mountain god

and the god of the land of prosperity.

To conquer the kingdom, their gods must be absorbed.

To do that, the people of the sun god must also worship the land gods.

One can only see the shimmering sea from the hill.

There is no land to the west!

That kingdom

shimmers more brightly than the sea.

These are not the god's words!

King.

I beg you to listen to the god's words.

Play the zither to call forth the god.

The zither!

I beg you to play the zither...

to call forth the god.

The god speaks.

Only Himiko can subdue the kingdom of the land gods.

The king cannot rule the land of the sun god.

The king must go to a faraway land.

Himiko doesn't hear the god's words!

Those who doubt the god's words are banished to the land of the dead!

Stop!

Don't do this!

Please stop!

Help me!

Save me!

At the bottom of the profound darkness

filled with the deep green shadow,

the king has become the ruler of the dark kingdom.

The living welcome the sunlight.

Cast earth into the darkness.

Kick the door of the light.

Shut the door of the darkness.

Oh, the king has become the ruler of the dark kingdom.

The wind blowing from the depth of the darkness

shakes the doors of light and gloom.

Oh, the king has become the ruler of the dark kingdom.

The living welcome the sunlight.

Cast earth into the darkness...