Higurashi and Divinity

     Higurashi is the first work in the long series called When They Cry by Japanese doujinshi company 07th Expansion written by Ryukishi07. There are 8 chapters in total beginning with Onikakushi-hen and ending with Matsuribayash-hen and though all provide an amazing experience from start to finish, with separate themes which it focuses on, I'd like to begin with the end and talk about what Matsuribayashi has to say about man and his relation to divinity.

[SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT]

     Higurashi Matsuribayashi expands on the characters of Hanyuu and Rika Furude as well as Miyo Takano and seeks to reconcile the diametrically oppose relationship between the three characters. Miyo Takano of course the ambitious and callous woman who throughout the stories only seeks to immortalize the legend of Oyashiro to cope with the loss of funding of her life project. Takano is in every sense of the word, a woman who has left herself to evil and abandoned her will to life, only leaving hatred for the world that wouldn't let her achieve her dream. Through this development in her character she comes to opposed Hanyuu, the true incarnation of Oyashiro. Takano in the introductory section declares she would overcome the "God" which had abandoned her so long ago, and Hanyuu declared war on Takano who had sinned against her descendant (Rika Furude) so many times before, marking the beginning of the end of the "gameboard" in Higurashi (which is expanded upon in Umineko later). From this declaration it is clear that Takano represents man, who has come to reject the divine in favor of imposing his own will, and Hanyuu representative of divinity (a God of sorts) and Rika Furude being the child in a literal and allegorical sense of God. Rika Furude has long sought to overcome her fate which has been imposed by Takano, who has become the master in the dialectical battle between the two. Takano exist in a state of "certainty" she from the very start has all the pieces cornering Rika and she is being in-and-for-itself who has objectivized herself as a constant force that moves the very world of Hinamizawa. Rika is the slave who exist in a state of "miracles" who has the capacity to try and overcome "certainty" as far as her will allows her to. To quote Bernkastels character description "In theory, she holds the strongest power of any Witch, but in practice, that is no more realistic than saying a piece of paper can reach the moon if you fold it a hundred times. And fold it a hundred times she did." She is the one who can overcome all things through her own will alone and does not exist tied to the world in both a literal and metaphorical sense. In the literal view she can traverse and view the sea of fragments infinitely and only seek her "happy ending". Hanyuu of course acts to help Rika in her game, acting as both slave and master, throughout the story her identity as Oyashiro has objectivized itself in the world and its history,  and she has become being in-and-for-itself. At the same time she acts as the slave forever subservient to her descendant and acts to aid in her game against certainty. 

The chapter of course ends with Rika's overcoming of Takano's reality, a "dialectical" overcoming of certainty with a miracle. Interestingly this miracle is not something which Rika had achieved alone. Her miracle itself could only have been achieved through not only comradery with her friends who she had long been unable to trust, but more importantly, she could not have achieved this overcoming without Hanyuu. In the final moment of Matsuribayashi, Takano chooses to use her last bullet to shoot the kids rather than herself (much to Okonogi's dismay) and in this moment of certainty in which no miracle could occur to stop it, Hanyuu steps in and through this Rika is able to overcome certainty. "Now shoot me, child of man, with that sin you foist onto another. I will accept it." There is a common theme throughout the story of humanity being unable to cleanse itself of its own sins. Hinamizawa syndrome itself is indicative of this, as no resident of Hinamizawa could ever really rid themselves of the disease. But the Watanagashi itself is the biggest metaphor for the idea, the foisting of ones sins into the river and through Oyashiro men are forgiven. In these final moments Hanyuu is able to take on the sins of Takano and all other characters who throughout the story commit evil time and time again through their inclinations as people infected with Hinamizawa syndrome and inclinations as humans. And in this moment because through the divine man was cleansed, Rika was able to make a miracle beyond everything that had happened prior in the story. Certainty was overcome through God in the end of Higurashi, and in that it becomes clear the Christian influence of the story. Hanyuu as both the slave and master was the only one who could ever give Rika the power to overcome certainty and end the endless June, much like man is unable to overcome the certainty of sin without the redemption and sacrifice of the Lamb of God (interestingly Hanyuu could be viewed as the Ram of God with her horns ;). 

To end, I think whether intentional or none intentional the Christian themes and iconography used in Higurashi with a mix of its traditional rural Japanese and Shinto aestheticism and theming give the story a unique perspective on the very purpose of divinity in the struggle of man. It should not be neglected as Ryukish07 clearly takes much inspiration from western literature and values in his stories and this can only be seen in Umineko and Ciconia to even higher degrees. I plan on making more unprofessional analysis style blogs about stories I enjoy in the future so thank you for reading (^◡^ ).