Matsue, Shimane Pref. ¨C The skies over Shimane are always dramatic, almost supernaturally so. It¡¯s befitting an area that¡¯s known as ¡°Land of the Gods,¡± the setting of many Shinto myths and home to the Izumo Taisha Grand Shrine where all kami are believed to congregate once a year in October.
On this particular day in December, I¡¯m in front of Matsue Castle, when a starling murmuration swirls over my head and thunder sounds once. I¡¯m in the middle of listening to a ghost story about a girl buried in the castle walls (a semi-legendary practice of human sacrifice known as hitobashira) from 19th-century writer and Japan transplant Lafcadio Hearn. Then, a second interruption comes not from the sky but in the form of two cats running and meowing straight at Naoko Fuji, my guide and storyteller.
I can hear distant meows as I follow Fuji, paper ³¦³ó¨³¦³ó¾±²Ô lantern in hand, to a nearby Inari Shrine populated by fox statues. As she tells us another story about a mother coming back from the grave to feed her child that¡¯s been buried alive, the feral felines sound almost babylike.
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