The Story of Manimal the Decieved

Long ago, after the God Susanoo had been banished by deities in retaliation for his acts against his sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu, he met a Zenko fox named Manimal. They travelled the earth together until Susanoo stumbled upon a beautiful woman. This woman was to be a tribute to the dragon “Yamata no orochi”. Susanoo was able to defeat the dragon using his cunning, inside the dragon was a sword known as “Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi”.

 

The sword was given to the messager fox Manimal to take up into the heavens to Amaterasu as a sorry for his deeds that lead to the destruction of life in heaven. When Manimal approached Amaterasu, she seemed forgiving, as a gesture of good will she offered the fox a gift. She would take his ability to speak and in return give him the ability to create beautiful music, Manimal graciously accepted in the hope his master Susanoo would be pleased to hear this music.

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Manimal returned to earth, pleased with his journey. He headed straight back to Susanoo to play this wonderful music he had been given for him and his family. Susanoo and his family sat around Manimal as he began to use his ability to create music. At first it went well, the melody was slow and peaceful. However, as the music went on it got faster and harsher. Susanoo’s wife and children began bleeding from the ears, cupping them with their hands. Susanoo rushed to their side, unclear as to why this was happening. Within minutes his family lay dead, the only sound was the music coming from Manimal himself.

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Unbeknownst to Manimal, Amaterasu had turned him into a Yako and embedded a charm within his music to kill Susanoo and his family. She had not forgiven Susanoo and saw Manimal as a way to get rid of him for good. Unfortunately for Amaterasu and now also for Manimal the music was not powerful enough to kill him, instead it only harmed him. Realising this Manimal fled from the scene, unable to speak meant he was unable to communicate what was going on to his master.

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Susanoo mourned his family for years until finally his sorrow turned into rage. In the coming centuries Susanoo hunted Manimal to the ends of the earth and back. Each time they engaged in battle Manimal’s music would keep his raging master at bay. Unable to enact his revenge on Manimal, Susanoo turned to attacking the humans by creating massive storms and producing enormous floods. Manimal, seeing this began to fight back against his rage to protect the humans on earth. As time went on, Manimal gained the ability to use any music he heard as a defence, combining music together as a way of keeping Susanoo’s rage at bay.

To this day, this eternal struggle between once great friends continues.