Timeline 1287 Left Sub 6

The timeline in which The Cross-Time Kamaitachi and The Tale of the Crane Princess take place.

A contemplated "next book" in this sub-timeline may be An American in Iya.

Timeline 1287 Left Sub 6 has a "glitch" in its behind-the-scenes code. It is one of an (estimated) tiny number of similar lines where things can happen that wouldn't be expected in the "normal", everyday world. For instance: Ghosts. Spirits. Gods. Demons. And so forth.

Very specifically, in the case of 1287 Left Sub 6, Japan potentially has its entire flock of 8 million kami [Japanese: 八百万の神, yao-yorozu no kami] and associated oni, yōkai, tengu, you name it. The heavenly realm of Takamagahara [高天原] exists, as does the underworld Yomi-no-kuni [黄泉の国] whose entrance is at Yomotsu Hirasaka [黄泉比良坂] in Shimane Prefecture. While in other timelines the existence of the gate to the underworld is...questionable, in 1287 Left Sub 6, it's the real thing. And Takamagahara is known to exist (see The Tale of the Crane Princess).

The argument over whether Amaterasu Omikami actually exists in 1287 Left Sub 6 is unresolved. Higashikuni Tsurue (aka Ōhori Tsuruhime, Tsuruhime-no-kami) is convinced she was a guest of Amaterasu in Takamagahara after Tsurue destroyed the Matsudaira Kazoku. Yamaguchi Yukiko, her mother in law, is more convinced that her friend from Timeline Zero, Ariela Rivers Wolff, was playing the part of Amaterasu and the version of Takamagahara Tsurue visited was actually a simulation created by the computer running the Great Simulation, aka Beam. It is probably closer to the truth to see both Takamagahara and Yomi-no-kuni as abstraction layers that have become exposed through some minor error to the main code of the timeline.

Tsurue also met the kami Ōyama-tsumi-mi'oya-no-Mikoto at around that time. Yukiko believes the God of Sea and War was being played by one of her former employers, either John Wolff or Chris von Barronov, in a shape-shifted body, but there is no indication of that elsewhere in the text.

It is also left unresolved that Tsurue "met" the afterworld spirits of both the former Empress Mayumi and her husband Akira's late first wife, Hina. And nothing is really said one way or the other about the oni which supposedly possessed Matsudaira Akira until Amaterasu "healed" her -- only that now her demons were banished to a place where she could "deal with them in a rational way."

This however leaves the timeline wide open for more interpretations of Japanese (and other) mythological denizens. A friend of the author is convinced that the next book in this series should be about Ōkuninushi and the kami of Izumonokuni. Perhaps.

Author's Point of View

I wrote The Tale of the Crane Princess from the standpoint that the manifestations of spirits and kami therein were "in the air." Hina and Mayumi I intended to be the real thing; spirits from the afterlife Tsurue could "see" because of her kami status. Initially, Amaterasu was in fact intended to be Ariela, from Timeline Zero. Later, I decided it was up in the air, despite Tsurue's glimpse of "Amaterasu's" round green eyes that quickly resolved into slanted brown eyes as soon as she noticed -- which of course is what made Yukiko certain it was Ariela in a shape-shifted body. I am no longer sure of this myself. I think Amaterasu in 1287 Left Sub 6 could be a kindred spirit to Ariela in Timeline Zero, which could mean in turn that Ariela is a manifestation/avatar of Timeline One's Amaterasu. (Also, see footnote 1, below.) The thing is...who knows? But in the light of further consideration, I think Yukiko is wrong.

I will admit that Ōyamatsumi was intended as a vehicle for Chris von Barronov to get some screen time :) But he may be the real deal, too. Probably is. Again, it's left in the air.

The point is that this timeline is messed up just enough to allow myth to become reality.