#mino dissects zestiria like it's the truth

[mistbow]

I have now backtagged everything and added the link to the tag on my pinned post (for the convenience of mobile users), but you can check out #mino talks zesty for all my TOZ meta posts (not including the pure translations, which I put on #mino translates instead, though lumped with non-TOZ stuff too). Enjoy.

[mistbow]

The Storyteller of Time in Zestiria is a person who watches over the history of the world and also passes on the truth. (I also believe Sorey became one in the ending.)

But do you know that the Japanese term for it (刻遺の語り部) has a deeper meaning than just mere storyteller, dissecting from a Shinto perspective?

First off, let's get the first part (刻遺, which got translated as mere Time in English). I've explained this before, but the word "time" being written as "刻" has a specific connotation related to divisions of time and carries a sense of carving or engraving (for example, 刻む can also be used metaphorically to mean to engrave something deeply in one's memory or emotions), and as for 刻遺 in its entirety, it implies "abandoned in time" ("刻に遺される") or generally not affected by time = their long lifespan. They're also not allowed to directly interfere with history (time itself) and their existence is akin to a taboo, therefore basically making them forgotten by history itself despite the one being preserving it.

The Storyteller (語り部) part is actually more interesting that you might have thought, since Zestiria is very much inspired by Japanese history (I've talked a lot about this too), there actually exists a concept of kataribe (語り部) in ancient Japanese too.

In ancient Japan, kataribe serves as shokugyoubu (職業部), which were government-owned civilians belonging to the Wa royal authority (倭王権, Yamato kingship), engaging in social specialization with the special skills and techniques necessary for maintaining the kingship, however, they typically lead everyday lives as commoners, contributing periodically through labor or offering specialty products, in support of the royal authority; within the Shinabe (品部), a caste within the kingship. Kataribe's responsibility is to recite ancient traditions and present them during court ceremonies, during a time when written records, possibly using characters predating kanji (Chinese characters, which obviously were imported from China), were not well-developed too. They recite eulogies called yogoto (寿詞) during ceremonies that were associated with imperial rituals such as miare (御阿礼, advent of noblemen/kami) and minie (御贄, sacred offerings presented to kami).

One such kataribe member was Hieda-no-Are as mentioned in Kojiki (古事記, the oldest record text in Japan, I talked about it here). Interestingly, Hieda-no-Are is one of the instrumental figures of Kojiki, being that they were one of the compilers themself, yet very little was known about them, not even their exact gender, with their ancestry possibly tracing back to Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, the kami of dawn and arts. Hieda-no-Are was a Shinto priest who served the Imperial House (this kind of priest is also known as 舎人, toneri/shajin), and at the age of 28, they were entrusted with the recitation and study of texts such as the Teiki (帝紀) and Kyuuji (旧辞) due to his exceptional memory. During the reign of Emperor Genmei (元明天皇), by imperial decree, Tai-An Maro (太安万侶) recorded Hieda-no-Are's recitations, leading to the compilation of the Kojiki.

The presentation of specific kataribe activities is also found in the Engishiki (延喜式), which notes that during the Senso-Daijousai (践祚大嘗祭, the largest festival ever held in an Emperor's life, as it is the first time after ascending to the throne that the Emperor dedicates new grains to the Tenjin, including Amaterasu, and partakes in the festival by consuming the harvest, a significant ceremony occuring only once in the reign of each Emperor), the Sukune (宿禰) of Tomo-no-miyatsuko (伴造) and Saeki-no-atai (佐伯) clans led eight members from Mino (美濃), two from Tanba (丹波), two from Tango (丹後), seven from Tajima (但馬), three from Inaba (因幡), four from Izumo (出雲), and two from Awaji (淡路) (btw these are all places in old Japan) to recite ancient verses (古詞, furugoto). The content is not explicitly detailed, but it likely involved traditions and legends spanning the origin and inheritance of spirits of the past Emperors.

With the introduction of foreign religions, the traditional kataribe evolved as well, and terms such as shukugo (祝詞, liturgical prayers) were used for traditional rituals in Shinto, while those that reached the common people transformed into saibun (祭文, festival documents), shichou (詞章, poems), and katarimono (語りもの, storytelling), each with different purposes. Nowadays, in the modern Japan, kataribe basically refers to people who carry out activities to pass down the lessons of history, particularly of disasters and incidents, and I feel all this is in line with how kataribe is also like in Zestiria, and another reason why Sorey ending as a kataribe is a fitting conclusion for him--the game is about turning legends and traditions into hope (伝承はいつしか「希望」になる is the tagline after all) and that history is more than just a record of a past, but something to learn from too.