Shiki Novel Translations 3.15.0

[sinnesspiel]

Links to Chapters

15 - 1
15 - 2
15 - 3
15 - 4
15 - 5
15 - 6
15 - 7

Cultural/Translation Notes

15 - 4

Divorce, Child Custody -
Yano Kanami having no access to her children at all in the divorce may require some explanation to Westerners. Judges do not have the discretion to elect for shared custody even if both parents wholly agree to the matter, due to Article 819 of the Japanese Civil Code.

A domineering mother-in-law may also make a marriage miserable enough to drive a wife to seek a unilateral divorce or to drive the husband to seek one he does not necessarily want in order to keep the peace in his household. These were common themes in fiction. The courts may turn over the child to another petitioning relative; thus, Kanami believes Motoko may fear her mother-in-law being able to take the children.

During a divorce, the matter of child custody is not handled by personal attorneys before a judge, but by the arbitrators of the family court who are alleged to be agents of the child. For this reason, Kanami could not seek an attorney who might take the case on her behalf and must convince the given family court arbitration panel directly. Private attorneys are used for other elements of divorce such as damages, property, etc., though this too becomes more complicated when custody is a consideration.

Kanami sought a divorce her husband didn't want. Article 770.1 only allows for a unilateral divorce in the following circumstances:

(1) Adultery by the other spouse;
(2) The other spouse has abandoned the petitioner and family;
(3) The other spouse's life/death status is unknown for 3+ years;
(4) The other spouse has an incurable, unmanageable mental illness not present or known at the time of marriage;
(5) Another grave reason one is unable to continue the marriage.

In cases of 5, in which the arbitrators determine whether something meets this criteria and on which there is precedent set for physical abuse to quality, the Courts are to award the divorce. However, still under Article 770, for all other options (1-4 above) the courts may deny the divorce if they deem it fit to continue for any reason, often the interest of the children. A two parent stable household is seen to be in the best interest of the children. Thus, Kanami's decision to overlook the infidelity for a time had proven that the marriage was not dysfunctional for infidelity alone.

Kanami had also been honest in her reason for the divorce, but the family court did not believe it qualified as either sociopathy for 4 or a grave reason under 5 ("At least he treated you, his wife, properly, so it's not something to get that upset about.").

The court did grant the divorce as they cannot force a person to remain within a home, and the expectation is that the custodial parent will remarry and form a traditional family for the children. For that, her husband would need to be divorced. Kanami was unable to exercise the usual female privileges due to the above legal circumstances.



15 - 7


Hamaya are wooden arrows meant to drive off demons and bad luck. Bow and arrows have long been considered a weapon of religious significance in Shintoism and Japanese Buddhism, used by holy figures in stories of felling demons or curses, and by Miko to protect the temple from literal, physical attacks and spiritual ones.

As they are now entirely spiritual items rather than practical weapons , they may be smaller than real arrows and have decorative elements such as plaques or ribbons tied onto them or symbolic tips and feathers.

Hamaya are typically given to newborn boys at their first New Years ceremony, or they are bought when a new building is being erected, or at new years to protect the house. It is traditional to place it somewhere high in the building, facing the northeast, believed in to be a direction from which evil flows.


Ofuda were described in the notes for Chapter 4.


Omamori are similar to ofuda in use and custom; they're typically kept for up to a year or so, and meant to be returned to the temple for replacement, or burned rather than thrown into the trash when finished. Typically they are slips of paper, cardboard, or wood, usually a little smaller than a common credit card, sometimes with a prayer or other inscription on them. The main difference between ofuda and omamori is that omamori are kept inside of a small silk sleeve which one is supposed to avoid opening, and that they're more likely to be carried around by people or worn on bags or the like than ofuda which are generally less portable. Omamori are common souvenirs from temples and are often made for special occasions such as study, travel, finding love, etc. They're also popular commercial items with cartoon characters such as Hello Kitty, Disney characters, anime characters and the like on the sleeve, and are popular enough to be sold even at retail stores not affiliated with any religious organization. Here is a picture of various omamori shapes and sizes from Wikimedia commons. The most common type are the ones along the bottom.