<- Back to Chapter 17 | [Back to the Table of Contents] | Forward to Chapter 19 -> Chapter 18 The Universe the Youkai Saw "Ah! There go two in a row!" "Yeah, just one more to make it ten." The excited voices of the two rang out inside the darkened shop. Soon it'll be midnight, a time when crying children had long quieted down, but neither Reimu nor Marisa had done so. The two of them had taken up occupancy in my store and turned off all the lights, so I, unable to read a book or write in my journal, moved over to where they were, relying on the little bit of moonlight coming in through the window. "Really, I don't know what to do with you two. Haven't you had enough? These so-called 'meteor showers' aren't exactly rare, you know..." "What are you talking about? You said it yourself, didn't you? 'Tonight the shooting stars will be amazing, I'm sure more than a hundred will fall.'" "I really do think about a hundred will fall, but you don't intend to watch all of them, do you?" "You bet. I even got over a hundred wishes ready to go." -Noon inside Kourindou the day Reimu and Marisa came to see the meteor shower.- I had placed a mysterious, newly-acquired item on top of my desk, gazing at it. I say it was a newly-acquired item, but the item itself was old and a bit dirty. The parts made of metal had spots of rust here and there as well. The item was made up of a ball the size of a large, round watermelon and four legs supporting it. The ball was made of metal, but it had a very odd form. There were a number of thin rings fashioned from metal connected together that looked like they were used for measurement; they formed a sphere that air could easily pass through, like a throwing ball made out of bamboo. Furthermore, each of the metal rings could rotate freely while the legs kept everything else in place. Unfortunately, a few of the metal rings had rusted, so they didn't turn very smoothly. It wouldn't make for suitable merchandise in this condition, so I had thought I'd somehow try to fix it myself. "What's with this weird hollow globe?" "This isn't a globe, Marisa - and when did you come in?" "I thought maybe a hole had opened up in the Earth." Marisa had asked if it was a globe, and it wasn't, so just what was it? A globe is a model of the Earth. The humans living in Gensokyo don't know much about the planet they live on; that is because Gensokyo is in a small area of the mountains in a small part of Japan, which is itself a small part of the world, and it's not a place one can easily leave. That said, it's not like outside information or tools aren't able to find their way in. A globe is one of the various tools that have washed in from the outside world, and so we've been able to learn about the planet we live on. Strictly speaking, while they understand "knowledge" down to the smallest places here, the human residents of Gensokyo and the land they live in isn't quite connected with the knowledge of the Earth. For example, if you were to say here that a hole had opened up in the Earth, they would easily believe you. Still, though this tool looks like a globe, it is certainly not. It is a tool used to measure objects that, though they are always close to Gensokyo, we still don't know much about - the same as the Earth. "This is a tool called an 'armillary sphere.' If a globe is a tool used to provide information about the Earth, then an armillary sphere is used to provide information about space." While an armillary sphere is an unusually complicated tool, all it is used for is to measure the position of the stars. However, there's a reason for its complexity. Though it appears that the stars are just floating in the sky, correctly measuring their position is difficult. It's not something you can measure absolutely, like how the ground you see from far away has mountains and forests giving varying degrees of height. While lines can be drawn between stars, and there are many fundamental stars that don't move and are simpler to calculate, that is still mere speculation. Their positions are unreachable, and observing stars that exist apart from fundamental ones has long troubled many astronomers. In order to resolve that problem, the armillary sphere couldn't have been made without being complicated. "So...how d'ya use the thing...?" "Well...that's what I'm investigating now." "Ah. So you don't know either. Well yeah, that's how it always is." I felt she was making a fool of me, but it was true, so I couldn't deny it. "Well, I imagine this is how you'd use it: While looking at a star through this tube in the middle, you match up the rotating sphere with the star, and take a reading from the scale or something written here...hmm?" I'd just realized that there were strange characters written on this object. What I thought was 'a scale or something' wasn't a simple numbered system. There's a possibility that these strange characters broaden the usefulness of the armillary sphere. "What? Is somethin' on that ring?" "Indeed, there certainly is. I'd thought for sure that this was a tool from the outside world, but the characters written here could overturn that theory." "Where, where? Can I see? ...Hmm...can't read it." "Well, that was fast." The strange characters written on the armillary sphere were the names of the constellations. "Written here is...Yuki-Nyuudou constellation, Kaenba constellation, Bashou-no-Sei constellation...they appear to be the names of constellations to me." "What's with that? They must be some crazy constellations, yeah?" "There's more to the problem than that; I haven't heard of these constellations either. Well, it might just be nothing more than a list of ridiculous constellation names. That would be strange in and of itself, but even if that were the case, these constellation names..." Te-no-Me constellation, Tsurube-Otoshi constellation, Great Tengu constellation... "...But aren't these all the names of youkai?" The constellations we know - and this probably applies not only to the humans of Gensokyo, but the humans from the outside world, too - mostly came from the continent. They have a long history, being made before Gensokyo became separated from the outside world. Furthermore, there are still some constellations originally from ancient Japan, but few remain now. The Japanese ones were simply stars themselves rather than the interconnecting lines between them, and were given names and worshipped. Well, at least, that's what I've always thought, but after looking at this amillary sphere, I'll probably have to rethink my assessment. It's hard to think that constellations with the names of youkai would have come over from the continent. If Japan named this many constellations, it wouldn't be strange to think that Japanese astronomy has advanced considerably... "...However, all of them are indeed youkai names. If this was the work of Japanese astronomy, they should have used more names from gods or heroes. If you think of it that way, rather than Japanese astronomy, it is possible that this armillary sphere is not a tool of the outside world, but instead..." This is probably a youkai armillary sphere. Youkai have been living for thousands of years, so it wouldn't be strange if they had their own astronomical knowledge. The youkai have many things that can put human technology to shame. They must have created their own system of astronomy as well instead of using the humans'. It's possible to think that the astronomy used by humans is in fact a field of study thought up by youkai. Additionally, it is said that over a thousand years in the past, youkai had travelled to the moon. At that time, humans wouldn't have yet known the meaning of the moon or the stars. For that reason alone, youkai astronomy must be excellent. The moon is an important heavenly body for youkai, holding festivals on days when the moon is full and calming down during the new moon. It's easy to imagine that youkai study of the moon has greatly advanced. However, the youkai names of constellations on this armillary sphere suggest that not only is their study of the moon very extensive, but of the stars as well. For example, the Milky Way is called the Sake Way, and there the sake of oni flows to earth. Close to that, the extremely bright Orion's Belt the youkai call the Ibuki-Douji constellation and indicates the Ibuki-Douji's three powers of harmony, finite, and infinite. Because of the planets' brightness and inconsistent movement, they are called "tengu stars." They move here and there, and can be read as an existence that disrupts the orbits of other youkai. Comments are also recorded within the youkai constellations. Even the comets' cycles have been researched. Since youkai can live for a long time, you can say it's easier for them to observe than humans. Comets are called "detested" or "condemned stars" because they are apparently bad omens that threaten youkai society. The one written with the largest characters is the Celestial Dragon constellation; this is the so-called Big Dipper. The celestial dragon always stares at one point, and looks as if it might take flight at any time. The star at the point is Polaris, the north star. Even in youkai constellations, Polaris is the unmoving star. Basically, it is the face of the unmoving lord of night, Acala, an embodiment of Mahavairocana. Though it goes without saying, Mahavairocana is an avatar of the sun that renders youkai powers ineffective. In the night world, he is said to become Polaris and consume youkai power in order to prevent their festivals from getting out of hand. It is said that the celestial dragon is plotting to eat Acala in order to control the sky both day and night. According to the records, it is prophesized that after a few thousand years the celestial dragon will move, and then youkai society will also undergo a great metamorphosis. Though it's said not to happen for thousands of years, youkai foresight is incomparable to humans', so this may be troubling. "...Anyway, givin' me a complete rundown of how it works is just gonna be a waste of time, but I got somethin' I wanna ask ya. I know ya can find the position of the stars and the youkai constellations with this thing, but what's that? Says 'Master of the Night Sky'?" "The Master of the Night Sky? Isn't that the moon? I guess it lets you measure the position of the moon, too." The moon is a very important heavenly body to the youkai, so the Master of the Night Sky would have to be the moon. "Nah, it's not the moon..." "Is there some other heavenly body worthy of being called 'Master'?" "Those, the stars that stand out the most, the ones that fall down and disappear in a flash." "In a flash...do you mean shooting stars?" "Yeah, that's it. They're my favorite out of all the stars. They grant your wishes, too." Ah, I see. Shooting stars...liking flashy things is very Marisa-like. But that is different; those aren't celestial bodies. "Shooting stars aren't actually stars, you know." "It's a shooting star, right? So ain't it a star?" "Shooting stars are...scales from the celestial dragon who flies through the heavens, that sparkle when they fall off. So this tool can't find their position." "Hm...well, I guess it's 'cause they move, huh? I didn't think it'd be able to measure that, but it's still a shame." "Why is it a shame?" "If ya knew what time they fell, ya could have as many wishes granted as ya wanted. If ya got enough free time to study other kinds of stars, you should study shootin' stars instead." "It's not like they were studying them because they had free time...but it's true you can't tell when shooting stars will fall. However, I know a way to see them for sure." "What was that? Really?! If ya know, tell me!" "A few times a year on certain days, a large amount of shooting stars pour from the sky. If you look then, during a single night you can probably see ten...no, a hundred shooting stars." So, I had told Marisa of one of the days that one could see a meteor shower, and on that day, Marisa had shown up early, brought along Reimu, and we had a sort of meteor shower viewing party. I wonder how much time had passed. They counted the fifteenth shooting star. "This is amazin'! I think we really will see a hundred of 'em tonight!" "I'm starting to feel a bit tired." After saying Reimu shouldn't be, Marisa leaned further outside the window to take in the astronomical show. "Ah, the sixteenth one. Um...can-can-can," Reimu whispered. "What's with that?" "Saying a wish three times while a shooting star is visible is almost impossible, isn't it? So I tried shortening my wish as much as possible." "Ya cut off too much. What kinda wish was that, anyway?" "A wish about my incantation skill. What are you wishing for?" "Ah. I wanna use stronger magic." Both of them were excited about seeing a hundred shooting stars, but as the time between them continued to increase, they ended up losing count, becoming tired, and falling asleep, and thus the curtain had closed on the first shooting star wishing party. -Present day, four or five years later.- I stared at the memorable armillary sphere. From then on, the shooting star wishing party became a yearly tradition, and we've already had quite a few of them. When I think about it, I get the feeling that it was since the first shooting star wishing party that Marisa started to use star-related magic. Now when it comes to magic shooting stars, it's Marisa's number-one specialty. Plus, every year, she comes asking for the dates of the meteor showers, and I hear she'll watch them by herself. I wonder if Marisa was enchanted by the celestial dragon, and I wonder if her wishes were granted. The polar opposite of the static movements of the stars, shining brightly and immediately disappearing. Every now and then they'll become meteorites that reach the earth, and hold a power capable of dealing incredible damage. I wonder what people see in those kind of shooting stars. "Oh, the youkai armillary sphere? That sure brings back memories. You're still holdin' on to it?" "Yeah, I took it out for the first time in a while and was looking at it. But when did you come in?" "You were just daydreamin', and didn't notice me." "I was just reminiscing a bit about the past for...huh?!" "Whazzup?" I was reading the names of the youkai constellations written on the armillary sphere. There are various youkai written down, but I'd found one that particularly caught my attention. It wasn't the name of a constellation, but it stood out the most. "...Nevermind, it's nothing." "Sure looked like it was something." And it was. The legend about youkai going to the moon over a thousand years ago isn't really a legend; I'd heard about it from the mouth of one of the youkai herself. In other words, that youkai is still living in Gensokyo. Still in Gensokyo, and still controlling things from behind the scenes. On this armillary sphere that youkai's name was written. Furthermore, it was written as the creator's name. "Let me see, let me see. Oh, I think I should be able to read this. 'Author, Yukari Yakumo'? ...Ugh, really? She made this...?" Marisa was clearly annoyed, and strangely I agreed with her. The reason is that the place where those characters were written was in a place where a constellation name should be. Furthermore, it was labelled not as "maker," but as "author." "So that's it. This was made by that annoyin' youkai. Lame." "At any rate, she's smart and has a wealth of knowledge. If you were honest about it, you probably would do well to learn from her." "I don't wanna. Anyway, just because she made this doesn't really mean she's smart." "You don't have nearly enough humility nor the ability to conjecture." This doesn't mean that Yukari Yakumo is the youkai that made this armillary sphere; more likely, she's the one who came up with the names of the constellations written on the armillary sphere. In other words, I think she's the one who made the constellations. Gensokyo, a place where these sorts of characters are still active. Until now, I've understimated the power youkai have to live very long lives, but thinking about how that relates to the sphere, I feel a slight chill. <- Back to Chapter 17 | [Back to the Table of Contents] | Forward to Chapter 19 ->