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Shimamori · 03-12-2022, 06:33 AM,

All Honshu Network:
News and Entertainment from the Eastern Jewel of Kusari

Konnichiwa! Ishikawa Ayumi desu. You are watching "Ikiru michi" (//"Way of life") on All Honshu Network. Today we offer you to embark on a journey to a remote quiet shrine that has a special place in the hearts of the people of Kusari, Ushinawareta Tamarashii Shrine.

For the most time of Kusari's history peace reigned in our space. But like in any society there have been sad pages of warfare and strife. At the time of conflict, the people of Kusari longed for peace and prayed for it to return to all of our systems. Many shrines across our beautiful House have been erected to reflect this longing for eternal peace. The most famous, arguably, is the Eien Heiwa Jinja (//shrine of Eternal Peace) on the planet New Tokyo. Today we would like to draw your attention to a less prominent Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja (//shrine of the lost souls) on Honshu.

History of Ushinawareta Tamarashii Shrine

Temple in the middle of the Shrine

Ushinawareta Tamarashii Shrine is located on a small island of Heiwajima (//the island of peace) in the southern hemisphere of Honshu. Its location makes it a difficult to visit spot: there are no nearby settlements and from the city of Minamimito where our HQ is located it would take approximately two and a half hours of flight to get there. The shrine is one of the oldest in Kusari and traces its roots to the fall of the Hideyoshi Shogunate and the people who lost their lives during the first major strife in Kusari. It was created in 322, a year after the fall of the Shogunate. The guards of the Hideyoshi and he himself are enshrined and revered as the first martyrs of Kusari at Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja. At that time there still were a lot of people who saw the actions of the Samura-led operation as illegitimate and unnecessary and saw paying tribute to the Shogun who honourably preferred death to disgrace as a right thing to do. With the growing frequency of clashes between the forces of the new Empire and the Shogunate (who would, later on, become the Blood Dragons) more and more people were enshrined as victims of human imperfection and resulting lust for power. With time the perception of the Dragons and their methods changed but the tradition to revere the first martyrs remained. The shrine was of little significance for the imperial authorities to interfere.

As Kusari kept exploring adjacent space and with the rise of the GMG following the Honshu ecological crisis of 250es the Shrine assumed an additional role. A lot of people from Honshu embarking on a quest of exploration either as a part of the imperial explorers, GMG surveyors, or independent adventurers never returned home, losing their lives to the hazards of space. The courage and duty to the society of such lost souls were recognised by the people and the names of the brave Kusarian explorers were added to the list of kami revered at the shrine. It was exactly at that time, in 391 A.S., when the Shrine got its current name - the Shrine of the Lost Souls. This renaming was welcomed by the authorities who felt uneasy because of the previous name, the Shrine of the Martyrs, which commemorated Hideyoshi and his followers and the righteous victims to unneeded strife. The new name served the state discourse of the time - to serve fervently to the Emperor even in the face of death and the risk of getting lost in space.

Most of the people commemorated at the Shrine were from Honshu and so it was only logical that gradually the Shrine got associated with the planet and its populace. Although this unspoken rule is never mentioned in any clerical document since around the middle of the 5th century A.S. only those of Honshu origin could be added to the list of kami. Later on, the rule extended to those whose last destination or departure point was the planet of Honshu. This symbolism made the Shrine especially dear to the citizens of Honshu and made it a prominent pilgrimage site among the locals, although rumours say the original intent behind such a limitation was to reduce the number of pleas to enshrine relatives at Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja.

The second life of the Shrine began in 589 with the start of the Eighty Years War. With many GMG pilots and volunteers coming from Honshu, those who lost their lives to Rheinland's offensive were accepted as the righteous martyrs and celebrated at Ushinawareta Tamarashii. After the war finished in 668 with the defeat of Rheinland, the pilots who perished during the conflict were praised as a sacrifice to the sovereignty and pride of the people of Kusari although the House never officially participated in the war. The war stories of the GMG pilots visiting Honshu and the surge of patriotism made Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja the most recognisable shrines at that time. Many state officials and the GMG top managers visited the shrine at the time whether to sincerely celebrate the heroes or to improve their popular image.

The recent resurgence of the Shrine's popularity befalls on the recent conflicts: the Rheinland incursions in 800-801 and 825, the war against Bretonia of 813-17, the civil war of 823-25, and the two wars against Gallia in 817 and 828 A.S. The wars of aggression against the Kingdom of Bretonia and the Gallic Confederacy were considered as unjust by some circles and the aggressors could not be commemorated at the shrine. Their opponents recalled the roots of the shrine and that even those who died deposing the Hideyoshi Shogunate were commemorated and it would be hypocritical to reject the right of the fallen soldiers of Kusari who bled for the Empire to be commemorated. Regardless of the views, many sons and daughters of Honshu who died in all of these conflicts were added to the list of kami worshipped at Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja.

Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja Today

Torii of the Shrine

The shrine itself is located on an unremarkable island that hosts only the priests taking care of the shrine and but a few pilgrims paying their respect to the spirits. Do not let this description fool you, however. The shrine is huge. Over the centuries it has accumulated so many names to be commemorated that the very stone pillars with the names of the people enshrined became a tourist spot of itself. According to official records, 83,744 souls were enshrined at Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja as of today. Every name is carved on stone tables placed concentrically around the founding stone where Shogun Hideyoshi and his sworn guard are commemorated. In the centre of the shrine, there is also a three-floored building that serves as a temple for the ceremonies and where the few priests live.

Like in any other shinto shrine, at the entrance to Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja there is torii - the traditional gates, marking the gateway from the mundane to the sacred. Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja' torii is not particularly famous or unique but is quite picturesque, located at the harbour of the island effectively making the whole island a sacred space. On the opposite side of the island, a monument to the lost souls is located. It is a large stone statue depicting a spaceship lifting up to the sky, its frontal part chipped with a chisel to look as if it was fading away. The statue is meant to show that any lift-off can result in being lost in space. Quite often such a message is misunderstood by foreigners as pessimistic yet it is traditional to Kusari culture and shows acceptance of the natural order of things and inevitability of fate. It compels us to enjoy our every day as if it was our last for we are not in control of the greater cosmic order of things and cannot know what awaits us tomorrow. It is our duty, however, to make the most out of the time we have.

Because of the recent wars that the Empire has found itself in, the shrine has drawn more attention from the pilgrims and travellers. However, they are still not as many as the visitors of the famous Eien Heiwa Jinja of New Tokyo which is located much closer to the busy districts of New Tokyo and conveys a more optimistic message of eternal peace. Nevertheless, those who appreciate the traditional culture and philosophy of Kusari say that at least a single visit to Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja is a must. The shrine is also popular among the traditionalists or those who look sympathetically at the Blood Dragons' cause. It is unlikely that any visitor will openly admit supporting the Dragons and surely not everyone visiting the shrine belongs to the sympathisers of the latter yet you can often hear people romanticising about Kusari's Shogunate past and praising the spirit of Hideyoshi. Do not worry if you agree with these sentiments - the authorities do not interfere with the shrine, and some people even say the local authorities are the supporters of the Blood Dragons themselves. Rumours be rumours, but as long as you do not incite violence or call upon toppling down the existing government of Kusari you can enjoy the freedom of speech and appreciation of all Kusari historical figures regardless of their affiliation.

A few notable names

Stones with the names of the lost

Nevertheless, the Shrine's primary purpose is not to glorify the fallen but to remember the sacrifice of those who did not return at all and got lost somewhere in the dark void of space. Among the people commemorated at the shrine such lost souls are the majority. Some of those are common workers of companies or wanderlust travellers who never found their way back home, the others were famous explorers of Kusari and are known to most kids from history textbooks. Here are a few notable examples.

Onaga Tadao, an explorer from Honshu who ventured into deep Sigmas in 401 A.S. and was never seen again. He was responsible for finding many gas clouds in the Crow Nebula. His last voyage happened soon after his 38th birthday and was supposed to be just a routine flight to mark new gas clouds. He was last seen leaving Sigma 13 system deeper into the Crow Nebula towards unexplored Sigma systems. Presumably, his ship could not withstand the volatile gases. It was never found.

Seta Kimi, a pathfinder from Honshu and one of the first Kusari pilots to visit the Omicron Gamma system. She was renowned as a fearless woman who preferred space to family and defied many social norms and expectations in doing so. Nevertheless, she earned public respect by succeeding to get to deep Omicrons alone while an organised by Samura expedition of multiple ships could not. Her last voyage was supposed to venture even further into the unknown parts of the Omicrons. In 588 A.S. she departed from Honshu in the direction of the Sigmas and was never seen again. Rumours are she actually managed to get to planet Crete and followed the steps of the famous freelancer Jim Brown. It is unknown, however, whether the Corsairs were responsible for her disappearance. The Hogosha who are known to visit Crete say that there are no records of a Kusarian woman killed or captured at that time but there are records of a Kusari freelancer asking about deeper Omicrons around 589 A.S. Presumably, Seta managed to safely get to Crete and change food for information. Despite the warning from the locals, she departed into the upper quadrants of the Omicron Gamma system not to be seen again. Her ship "Sakura" was never found.

Samura Akihiko, a duke of Kyushu, and Nagasawa Satoru, lord-governor of Kyushu. It is, arguably, the most famous case of disappearance in the history of Kusari. On the 16th of April, 588 A.S., Duke Akihiko of Kyushu together with the planetary governor Nagasawa Satoru departed from Kyushu to Honshu to visit Duchess Misako of Honshu. They travelled aboard "Hirane", a magnificent imperial yacht designed for transporting VIPs and imperial family members and was armed to the teeth no worse than the best imperial destroyers. They were accompanied by two gunboats, "Tsuchi" and "Sora" and veteran crew. The ships could easily withstand a sudden raid of the Blood Dragons. Additionally, the logs of tradelanes they travelled through did not indicate any attempt to attack. On the 2nd of May, 588 the ship after technical maintenance departed from Shinagawa station in New Tokyo in the direction of Chiba cloud because of the desire of the Duke to observe the jumphole leading to Honshu that had been previously discovered by the researchers. Despite the pleas of the researchers aboard, the Duke decided to travel through the jumphole to show his fearlessness to the Emperor. At that time, the jumphole was considered stable and researchers had already undertaken multiple voyages through it without any complications. "Tsuchi" went first and appeared on the other side. Then went "Hirane" with "Sora" closing the formation. To everyone's surprise, on the other side of the jumphole only "Tsuchi" and "Sora" came out. The attempts to locate possibly displaced "Hirane" did not yield any results. A subsequent thorough investigation of what might have happened to "Hirane" suggested that a sudden fluctuation in the space-time continuum could have led "Hirane" to a different point in space or even time. Nevertheless, this hypothesis did not explain why "Sora" and "Tsuchi" that came in the jumphole at around the same time did not disappear. The vanishing of two political figures of such importance caused a crisis on Kyushu and the 2nd of May is now celebrated as "Oto-oto no hi" - the Day of younger brother on which older brothers take care of their younger siblings and treat them with sweets to commemorate the disappearance of the Emperor's younger brother Duke Akihiko. The captain of "Sora" committed seppuku to remedy his shame of "having survived after the Duke" while the captain of "Tsuchi" disappeared under suspicious circumstances, likely killed by the ultra-right patriots blaming the death of the Duke on a Blood Dragons' scheme. Up to this day the mystery of "Hirane's" disappearance remains unsolved and is often appearing both on serious scientific works on jumpholes, and on the pages of yellow press blaming the event on the Dragons, aliens, ghosts, and the like. Ageira has been using the case of Duke Akihiko and Lord Nagasawa to discourage its clients from using jumpholes and sticking to the tested jumpgate technology.

We hope that today's programme was of interest to you and has motivated our viewers to learn more about the history of Kusari. Nowadays, many people visit Ushinawareta Tamarashii no Jinja in an attempt to find their ancestors and pay hefty sums of money to genealogists to establish a relation with the people enshrined at the shrine. Who knows, maybe some of your ancestors are enshrined here too? Come and check it out for yourself!

This programme was sponsored by the Haneda Department of Tourism of Honshu and Clan Shimamori. Brought you by

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