Spirits and Faith

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Faith of the Shinrin

 

 

The Shinrin are a very spiritual people, living their lives based on a code of honor in reverence to a variety of spirits they view as responsible for everything in their lives. In some cases, it has become the practice to acknowledge certain spirits as those of great ancestors who were the personification of something while they were alive and so must be responsible for it in death. An example of this might be a woman who dedicated all her time to keeping her garden pristine and productive. In death, this spirit may be prayed to for growth and prosperity of gardens.

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Nakama

[Major Spirit]

 

The elders of the Shinrin tell of a great ancestor known only as Nakama who was once a simple Shinrin himself. Known to be relatively tall and dark of hair, Nakama bore a fair yet weathered countenance with piercing forest green eyes. During the Time of Wandering, Nakama traveled the lands with a smaller caravan of shinrin which included his family and a number of clans who, at the time, were understandably minor in the greater Shinrin society. As the story goes, they wandered one day into a great valley penned in on three sides by vast, towering mountain ranges. Coming to rest on a hill overlooking a lake, later dubbed Heiwa, surrounded by lush trees and sprawling fields of flowers, Nakama said only that it would be a fine place to die. With that he and the caravan settled down in their camp and slowly but surely began to build huts, homes, and finally that which would come to be known as Nakama’s Rest, the seat of the Daimyo.

 

Remarkably gifted in a number of arts and styles, Nakama would begin to instruct the Shinrin of the province in the ways of farming, fishing, and care of the earth itself. Under his tutelage, the bare fields would fill with numerous crops and the gardens of the Shinrin would bud and bloom with every color imaginable. Through his instruction a deep love and understanding of the earth and its nature became the cultural normality for the people of the forest.

 

In his seemingly infinite wisdom, Nakama foresaw that peace and love of nature was only half of a fulfilled way of life, he began to educate those who desired to learn in the way of the blade and the path of the Samurai. Entrusting his lieutenants with a strict code of honor, the society of the Shinrin began to take on dual aspects. The samurai grew warlike, yet peace-loving, and culturally and artistically profound, yet still mindful of fighting. By observing Nakama’s code of honor, the Shinrin would further enter into their age of newfound prosperity in a blooming of art and culture alongside the perfection of swordplay and a direction of honorable action.

 

The epitome of faith and honor, Nakama led the Shinrin into an age of settled tranquility, art, and growth. The Shinrin were both peaceful and warlike, naturally inclined and commanding of that nature, artistically and culturally advanced yet rooted to their origins. Looking on all he had helped to build, he saw that it was good and that he could rest. Naming a successor to carry on the leadership of the Shinrin through the title of Daimyo, he departed the village in a simple wooden canoe bound for the island in the center of the lake. At his final destination he would simply lay down in the grass and die without struggle or pain, and over the course of the next week the sapling of a great tree would sprout from his chest, growing into a mighty and powerful force of nature.

 

It is to this awesome and legendary figure that the Shinrin primarily dedicate their meditation and prayer in the hopes that the powerful spirit may grant them long life, prosperous growth, and eternal peace.

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 Oba Takeo

[Minor Spirit]

 

Long ago the Shinrin were known to be a traveling, nomadic people. Traveling from forest to forest and grotto to grotto, they enjoyed peaceful communion with nature. It was in one of these overgrown grottos that they set up camp one day, building fires in the middle of the clearing and roasting bits of game they had caught on their travels. The thick black smoke of their fires traveled upward through the trees where a long, green-scaled dragon lay perched asleep. Awaking with a start, its roar shook the trees as it sprung from the branches and down to the ground. With the sudden quake of the earth, a slide of earth buried the entrance to the grotto and sealed the Shinrin inside it.

 

When the sudden surprise of the dragon’s arrival had passed, and the creature itself realized it was in no immediate harm, the Shinrin and the creature stood off on either side of the clearing. With a deep, intelligent voice the dragon would speak to them, condemning their entrance to his grotto and saying it was only just that they were now sealed within. It was then that a lone figure stepped forward from the group, his hand on his blade. Oba Takeo, a samurai in service to the group’s elder, spoke words of challenge to the beast which the dragon gladly accepted.

 

Drawing his blade, the two rushed forward at one another. Ducking blows and sending his blade streaking across the scales of the dragon, the samurai fought for what seemed like hours against the dragon before finally his blade met the beast’s throat. With the blade hovering a mere inch above the creature’s exposed, scaleless neck, the dragon ceased fighting, accepting defeat and waiting for Oba to end his life. Drawing back his blade, the great warrior spoke words of mercy whereupon the dragon echoed his words and pledged his loyalty to the honorable samurai. Shifting the earth from the exit of the grotto, the dragon would free the Shinrin and allow them to leave in peace.

 

It is said that at his passing many years later, the faint echo of roars could be heard from the furthest reaches of the land as if the green dragon, still loyal to the one who bested him, were reverently mourning the passing of Oba.

 

The warriors of the Shinrin will often make offerings and pray to the spirit of Oba Takeo, asking for strength in arms and honor in combat. Every decade on the supposed anniversary of the great battle, a large celebration is often held in settlements of the Shinrin, memorializing his skill, his honor, and his mercy.

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Kurata Mari

[Minor Spirit]

 

One of the first Shinrin who settled in Nakamachi, Kurata began as a simple metal worker as the necessity for a supplier of farm tools grew. When the samurai of the village began making requests to him for weapons and armor, he would be seen working day and night seemingly without stopping, sometimes for days at a time, before unveiling some of the finest craftsmanship the Shinrin had ever seen. His crowning achievement, and what would make him the primary spirit to pray to for smiths, is the nameless set of blades and armor he gifted to Nakama before his passing. Though the pieces haven’t seen use in centuries, they are still said to be kept in pristine condition beneath Nakama’s Rest.