Japanese · No. 118

Rite of the Forgotten Battlefield

Inspired by: Buddhist and folk rites for the forgotten dead, such as segaki, and the belief that the dead left without burial or memory become dangerous spirits.

Rite of the Forgotten Battlefield
The bones of those no one buried rise together.
Rarity
Uncommon
Category
Ritual
Effect
Sacrifice 3 monsters with the right materials to summon a ritual monster.

The myth

This rite is a MYTHENOR creation and, unlike real rites, it wakes the dead instead of soothing them. In Japan tradition insists on caring for the dead: those with no family to remember them, the muenbotoke, receive offerings at segaki, and battlefields and famine sites gained monuments and memorials to appease their spirits. Belief in goryō shows the fear of what happens when that care is missing: forgotten or wronged spirits bring calamity. The card imagines what would arise if all those bones stood up together.

Why it has this power

An Uncommon ritual: sacrifice the Hungry Gaki, the Yūrei of the Abandoned Bridge and the Hone-onna to summon the Gashadokuro. Hunger, waiting and unresolved love join into a single giant of bones. It is the most direct path to the archipelago's greatest Undead, with 2900 attack.

Did you know

Many Japanese temples have gathered small graves for the dead without family, who receive flowers and incense from strangers.

Connections

Where to get it

  • Daily Offering: 0.45% per pack (Uncommon 33% per card)
  • Welcome Pack: 1.1% per pack (Uncommon 30% per card)
  • Traveler's Pack: 0.96% per pack · 5.6% in the themed pack (Uncommon 29% per card)
  • Bronze Reliquary: 0.94% per pack · 5.5% in the themed pack (Uncommon 29% per card)
  • Silver Reliquary: 0.96% per pack · 5.6% in the themed pack (Uncommon 33% per card)
  • Golden Reliquary: 0.94% per pack · 5.5% in the themed pack (Uncommon 35% per card)
  • Daily Showcase: Shows up on about 0.98% of days · 400 gold
  • Craft with card dust: 100 dust

Sources

  1. Kotto: Being Japanese Curios, with Sundry Cobwebs (Project Gutenberg) — Lafcadio Hearn
  2. Goryō shinkō — Encyclopedia of Shinto — Kokugakuin University
  3. Ghosts in Ancient Japan — World History Encyclopedia — Mark Cartwright