What's wrong?
Hmm... I wonder what this is...
Say, dear...
Do you think this is a tooth?
"Mushi-shi"
Oh seedling that sprouts from our ancestor's flesh and blood...
Grow green, green leaves.
Bear heavy, heavy seed.
"The Heavy Seed"
Excuse me...
Can you sell me something to eat?
Take a look at these rice paddies! This summer has been too cold.
We have our hands full trying to gather enough stock for ourselves.
Just give it up.
Go to the village past the next mountain.
Hm?
I heard that they are the only ones with a bountiful harvest this year.
Hey, don't give him bad advice.
You'd better not go there. The rice there is not normal.
Every time a natural disaster occurs, they always have a bountiful harvest.
I hear it's a curse by their ancestors.
It's a "parting harvest".
It's a "parting harvest."
Meaning, someone will be taken by our ancestors again.
Who will it be this year?
The ancestors choose from the weakest among us.
Wow. What impressive rice paddies!
Who are you? What do you want?
Well, I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind selling me something to eat.
We don't have anything to give to strangers.
We don't harvest enough every year.
We have to store our harvest when we can.
I see, then you're saying that this year's bountiful harvest is a miracle?
That's right.
Our ancestors watch over us since we always worship them.
And in exchange, they take a life, right?
That's a pretty harsh thing for your ancestors to do.
We don't have... a choice.
You don't look like you really believe that...
Will you tell me what's going on?
Every time a natural disaster occurs,
the fields of this village produce a bountiful harvest.
I've heard it's been happening from very long ago.
And, in such years, without fail, in the autumn,
someone sprouts an auspicious tooth in their mouth.
That tooth falls out at the end of autumn and that person... dies.
It's been told through the generations
that the life is an offering to the ancestors for the bountiful harvest.
Still, we all have been thankful for it.
Without these miracles,
none of us would have been able to continue living on this unfertile land.
Did those who lose their lives have anything in common?
It is said... the weakest go first.
Are the bodies buried?
Yeah.
What about the tooth that falls out?
The tooth is kept in the shrine by the head priest.
Head priest?
He's the person who takes care of all the religious services in this village.
I'll eventually take his place, so he's teaching me various things.
It's said that soon after the tooth falls out,
it is only visible to the head priest.
That's why the head priest is the one who keeps it.
Why were you chosen to be his successor?
Because, like the head priest, I sometimes am able to see things that others can't.
I'd like to meet your head priest.
Head priest!
I wonder if he's in the back fields.
Agricultural literature, and a journal...
It's not often that I have a visitor.
Hm?
Just who are you, anyway?
My name is Ginko. I am a mushi-shi.
I'm looking for something called the Narazu seed.
Well...
Sane, aren't you in the middle of your fieldwork?
Come back when you're done.
This year, we have a bountiful harvest.
We won't be able to catch up unless we're well-prepared.
Okay.
What? Are you still worried about your mother?
It'll be okay. She'll be fine.
Don't worry.
Here, let her eat this.
Okay...
I've heard that some mushi-shis came to these parts
during the previous head priest's time, as well.
But you're wasting your time. There is no such seed here.
So you're saying this good harvest is because of your ancestors' grace?
Our ancestors' grace?
Of course, that is a factor, too.
Because of everyone's faith, we are able to work without abandoning this village.
But that's not all.
For many years, we've all been studying ways to enrich the soil.
The result can be seen at times with harvests like this one.
Every year, our crops increase, too.
Then what about the auspicious tooth?
Adults can sprout a tooth on rare occasions.
It has nothing to do with the harvest.
Please be on your way now.
May I ask just one more question?
What is it?
You seem to know about the Narazu seed.
Yes, I've heard about it from the previous head priest.
It's a seed that a mushi-shi sealed a "light vein",
or something like that, into, I think...
That's right.
You probably can even intuitively understand what a "light vein" is,
because you seem to have the ability to see mushi...
The feebler the mushi is, the more light it takes on.
That's because it's so similar to the Kouki, the sake of light,
which is the basis of mushi.
The light vein is the path that the Kouki runs.
It is life itself, so to speak.
If you can manipulate it, you can use it for immortality or resuscitation...
There are various usages to it.
Of course, doing so is the biggest taboo among mushi-shi.
However, there have been many cases of it happening.
That seed is one of them.
If you plant it in the ground,
it will bring a good harvest for that year for the area surrounding it,
but in return, it will take one life from among those that benefited from it.
That is what we know of it.
And? What do you plan to do with that seed once you find it?
Would you destroy it or would you use it?
I was going to ask you that very question.
What would you do?
What if you obtained a seed that could save many lives at the cost of one life?
I'd probably use it.
If such a seed really does exist, it would be a sin not to use it and let people suffer.
But, if that person planted the seed
knowing full well that it will cost one person's life,
it's the same as murder.
No matter how many lives can be saved,
the person who dies is forced to be a sacrifice regardless of his or her will.
If that is the cost of the sin,
then anyone would soil their hands...
if it means saving two lives at the cost of one.
Indeed, when you look at it from the short span of one year,
it'd be senseless not to use it.
But once you use it, you will keep using it.
And, that seed is alive.
Every time you use it, the more powerful the effect becomes.
Eventually, it could become something that destroys the balance.
So you're saying you wouldn't use it?
Could you afford... not to?
I don't know. I've never lived in a village.
And I would leave that place before it even came to that point.
Here... this land...
Our ancestor's flesh and blood sleep here!
They pioneered the land and made it what it is today.
That is our only pride!
Doesn't planting something abnormal in that very ground
mean you're violating the soil?
What am I saying? This is all supposition.
I know what you're saying.
If there really is such a seed...
...I would think about it more carefully.
That's right...
Such a seed is too much for one man to handle.
Just like an overabundant rice stalk hangs its head,
that seed will certainly fall from that man's hands, onto the soil below...
unaware of the suffering it will cause the people in its aftermath.
Oh! Are you done chatting already?
Well, pretty much.
And... will you save us all?
Yeah. But I first need to get the consent of the entire village...
after I explain how the "parting harvest" works.
Can you have everyone gather somewhere?
S- sure. But... just what are you planning to...
Are you suggesting we burn down the rice paddies...
...because we have no choice but to destroy the seed
before someone sprouts an auspicious tooth?
Yeah, that's right. So you're finally admitting the truth.
You've got it wrong.
Even if we do that, no one will be saved.
Are you trying to make everyone starve to death?
All you have to do is live somewhere else for a year.
Once everyone lives separately,
they can probably survive one way or other for a year.
By spring, the ashes should have fertilized the soil.
How many do you think will return once they leave this land?
They are able to tolerate it because none of them know...
what a real bountiful harvest is!
This is how it should be...
I won't allow you to tell everyone such strange tales!
Head priest!
Does he have some kind of illness?
I'm not sure, but he didn't seem well of late,
and I saw him taking medicine sometimes.
Medicine?
I'm pretty sure this contains it.
I'm not sure for what reason you've been taking this poison,
but isn't it irresponsible to die leaving things the way they are?
Say, mushi-shi...
Since you're suggesting we burn the rice paddies,
it doesn't seem like you came hoping to use that seed.
Please... I've made the decision to be the last sacrifice for the seed.
The one who is said to have brought the seed here in the first place,
is the head priest before the previous one.
Thereafter, every time a natural disaster occurred,
the seed was used,
but in order to prevent panic, only the head priests knew the truth.
It was 20 years ago when the first natural disaster occurred
after I became the head priest, and I had to consider using the seed.
I have to use it! If I don't...
I'm stepping out.
Okay. Be careful.
It's for the best.
I was only thinking of the best interest of the entire village.
It's... for the best.
So I was unaware that my wife was hiding her illness from me.
In autumn, the one who sprouted the auspicious tooth was... my wife.
Please, dear.
Have some rice,
or you will die, too...
What are you doing?
Even if it's difficult for you, please eat it.
If you eat my life, I don't feel afraid of dying.
Despite it being the rice that it was,
my body greedily accepted it.
I was going to throw out the seed which had eventually fallen out of my wife.
But... I started to think about the next natural disaster,
which was sure to come sooner or later.
Then I realized I could use the seed one more time
without having to sacrifice someone's life.
Finally, this year, the time had come to use it.
I plan to have Sane destroy the seed that falls out of my mouth.
I hear it will be destroyed if it is buried in the place
you mushi-shi call the path of the light vein.
But I don't plan to tell him about the seed.
Are you really okay with that?
More than anyone, you want to live here and see the future of this land, right?
I can see it; if we don't give up, this land will slowly become fertile.
Surely, the day should come someday where we can live comfortably.
I don't know how many generations it will take...
But either way, I won't be able to witness it with my own eyes anyway.
All right. I will let it play out as you wish.
But let me ask you one more thing.
Head priest!
My mom... She's gonna be okay now.
She's eating and slowly getting better.
Really? That's good to hear.
I told you so.
Yeah.
Say, Sane. We need to talk.
It's really important. I want you to listen carefully.
Hey, Sane, the ritual prayer sounds different from last year's.
Say, no one has sprouted an auspicious tooth yet?
Yeah, I haven't heard any news of it yet.
Maybe this year's bountiful harvest wasn't a "parting harvest."
Then that means that it is truly due to all our hard work...
Hey.
The festival... is carrying on fine.
Everyone is having fun.
Don't worry.
I'll do exactly what you asked.
Head priest...
Why does it have to be this way?
This isn't how it should be!
Don't tell anyone what I am about to do.
Let me ask you one more thing.
I told you that the light vein is like life itself,
but it can't revive a living being even if it was taken in.
But the one thing that can resuscitate life is that seed.
It's a gamble but, if that seed is ingested,
even animals should be able to come back to life.
Only, unlike vegetation, the light vein will probably continue to live within you.
If that happens, you will become an immortal being...
Can you handle that?
I thought doing that is the biggest taboo among mushi-shi.
Can you... get away with doing that?
If you don't say anything, no one will find out.
I don't even know if it will work.
I'm not even sure if it'll spell happiness for you.
But if you're willing to take a chance...
This is my way of apologizing for trying to confirm the existence of the seed
by reopening your old wound.
I don't mind dirtying my hands a little.
Give it a lot of thought.
I don't have to think too hard to give you my answer.
I want to see it through after all...
how this land will develop...
...and whether what I've done up till now... was right or not.
Thereafter, it is said that the story of that year's bountiful harvest
was forever talked about in that village.
At the same time,
a strange legend had also begun.
The rice harvested by that year's bountiful harvest,
the first not to be a "parting harvest", was said to have resurrected a man.
The man became ageless and immortal, traveling around the country,
and at times returning to convey new farming methods to enrich the land.
"The Heavy Seed"
The White Which Dwells Within The Inkstone
"The White Which Dwells Within The Inkstone" The White Which Dwells Within The Inkstone
"The White Which Dwells Within The Inkstone"