Episode 09

**"After the Festival"** (祭りのあと, *Matsuri no Ato*) is the ninth episode of the *Toji no Miko* anime series, released on March 2, 2018. The episode was written by Karasumi Sunayama, with direction and storyboards by Tomoe Makino and animation direction by Yuuma Yokomatsu and Shou Menglong.

After being informed of the significance of enshrining the noro obtained by Akane Origami and Richard Friedman, Kanami and Hiyori finally decide to join Mokusa in defeating Yukari Origami. However, Mai is unable to answer Hiyori about her reason to fight. Then, Yume makes her move and attacks.

## Synopsis

The six girls continued their training with senior students of Osafune Girls' Academy, and they began showing improvements in their skills to the point where the typically strict Takako Yonemura had started to take notice of it. The girls then took a break at an open-air hot spring nearby. Kanami remained fired up at the idea of learning new things from their seniors, but Mai was still having second thoughts about her resolve to fight under Mokusa. Hiyori assured Mai that she and Sayaka do not need to join the battle and can stay within the safe hands of Mokusa while the others continue with the plan to defeat Yukari Origami.

After the hot spring bath, Kanami and the others caught wind of a commotion outside. Ellen and Kaoru revealed that the town is holding their biannual festival, and both Takako and companion Satomi Ogawa arrived to give them a set of yukata to wear for the event. Although Hiyori was hesitant in participating, Kanami managed to persuade her into coming. The six girls then spent the rest of the day at the festival grounds.

By nightfall, on Ellen's wishes, she and the girls visited the nearby shrine. After reuniting with Rui Onda, they proceeded to the shrine grounds, where Takako and Satomi, wearing traditional shrine maiden attire, performed rituals related to worshiping deposits of noro stored inside a *shintai*. Richard Friedman, who was also present to watch the ceremony, explained that before the Origami Family began stockpiling noro in their custody, noro was an object of worship in shrines across Japan until the Meiji era where the number of shrines were diminished for economic reasons and noro was turned into Spectrum Meters or transformed into Aradama. The fear of a wartime scenario would later urge a cooperation with the United States to develop military uses for noro. However, during this search for a way to use noro in the military, the massive stockpiles of noro became a threat in itself—one notable incident is the Great Disaster of Sagami Bay, which happened as a result of an attempt to bring a tanker filled with noro to the United States. Richard, who was part of the crew of the tanker that attempted to bring the noro payload overseas, considered the incident as a wake-up call to stop the current system and restore the role of Toji as shrine maidens tasked to enshrine noro, not to slay Aradama using the same tools that create their enemy.

With the festival still in progress outside, Rui and Richard discussed with Akane Origami about the response of the girls towards the explanation of the "true role" of Toji and the nature of noro. Akane herself had to come into terms with the clash of facts between Mokusa and the teachings of The Five Traditions, and decided to respect whatever decision the girls would make.

Kanami and Hiyori, who decided to change back to their uniforms, began talking about their okatana and their fateful meeting as the owners of Chidori and Kogarasumaru. Mai and Sayaka, who were aware about not being able to decide what to do, talk about their next move. Kaoru and Ellen, who voiced their enjoyment in the festival, wished to attend more festivals as soon as the practice of enshrining noro was restored.

Later that night, Kanami and Hiyori visited Akane to officially make their stand against Yukari Origami. Although the decision brought concern to Akane, she decided to respect their choice. Suddenly, Takako alerted them of the presence of the Special Ritual Riot Squad that had started a blockade within the festival grounds. The girls, Richard, Rui, Akane and students of Osafune prepared for a strategic retreat under Richard's direction, and Richard was planning to use the submarine in their possession (which remained affiliated with the United States Navy) to escape the town. Satomi organized a group of her schoolmates to stall the advance of any hostile forces while Takako brought the rest to the whereabouts of the submarine.

To the shock of Satomi's front, the Special Ritual Riot Squad also had Yume Tsubakuro in their presence, and Yume herself led a single-handed ambush of Satomi's forces. Meanwhile, Richard and the others discovered that the Spectrum Finders used by the STT forces were modified (similarly to how Yomi's Aradama do not register in Ellen's Spectrum Finders earlier) and they were, at the moment, confronted as if they were Aradama. Takako and her classmates rushed to diminish the STT forces, but they soon discovered that special crossbow bolts, designed to seal off a Toji's movements, were deployed alongside STT's conventional weapons.

With Satomi's forces completely put to sleep, Yume followed the nearby gunshots and eventually stumbled upon the hidden submarine base of Mokusa. Takako decided to stall Yume long enough for the submarine to leave safely, and she eventually fell in the hands of Yume.

Richard, Akane, Rui and the six girls managed to escape town, but almost all of the students of Osafune Girls' Academy present in the town were detained, and the *shintai* carrying the local temple's noro was confiscated by the Origami Family. Amidst all this, Yume returned to the temple grounds, only to notice that she was already coughing blood.

Elsewhere, although they were able to flee, everyone inside the submarine was upset at the sacrifices that made the escape possible.

## Characters

* Takako Yonemura (short blue haired girl)
* Hiyori Juujou
* Kanami Etou
* Kaoru Mashiko
* Ellen Kohagura
* Nene
* Mai Yanase
* Sayaka Itomi
* Satomi Ogawa
* Rui Onda
* Richard Friedman
* Akane Origami
* Maki Shidou
* Suzuka Konohana
* Yume Tsubakuro

## Trivia

* The average volume capacity of an oil tanker is **84 million gallons**.
* The closure of many Shinto shrines during the Meiji era mentioned in Friedman's retelling was based on a real historical event triggered by the Shrine Consolidation Policy. The real-life policy was designed mainly to weaken the political influence of Shinto, but its full implementation only lasted for the six years since the policy was implemented.

### Insights from Hisane Kannazuki

The beginning of Episode 09 continues from the previous, with the girls practicing in group combat. Kanami's comment on not having much experience in fighting as a group demonstrates how swordsmanship techniques in group combat, except from a certain few, do not rely on the strength of the individual, and Kanami and the others have to develop their strength as a group, which the girls from Osafune excel in.

On the contrary, I wrote last time that "*In kenjutsu, many-against-one and many-against-many techniques are far and few between, so lessons on one-against-many should suffice*", but there are certain one-against-many principles like "*Do not stay in one place at a time*" and "*Fight like it is one-on-one when clashing swords against an opponent* (while there are not more than 2 opponents)" that can still be applied.

This time, in the scenario where Yume, who is on the attack, confronted the senior Toji of Osafune, the two aforementioned concepts were practiced, and this was the basis of our current topic. Since the battle was one-sided, it is difficult to explain, but one-against-many combat has the same drawbacks to it, and the basis is to be on the defensive.

Moving on, the riot police shot an anti-Toji arrow, and dealing with projectile weapons through kenjutsu follows the idea of "projectile weapons cannot be opposed using a sword". Although there's no way to determine when an opponent would shoot, traditional schools of swordsmanship teach techniques known as "arrow-stopping" and "arrow-slicing" techniques.

**Sources:** Tweet 1, Tweet 2, Tweet 3, Tweet 4

## Trailers

未放送予告動画とじよこ！第9話「祭りのあと」（おもてVer.）"Omote" versionTVアニメ『刀使ノ巫女』未放送予告動画とじよこ！第9話「祭りのあと」(うらVer.)"Ura" version