Afterword

Truth be told, this isn’t the first time I’ve written a story with the same title.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this work was 10 years in the making because there was a past work, some old, low-quality writings that were left on my computer, that served as a precursor to this work.

Back when I was a young writer who neglected his studies, I had no idea that there was a literary great whose work had the same title as mine. It was something I happened to find out later, and the coincidence presented an excuse for me to look into the world of Hesiod. Needless to say, the story I was writing back then was very different from this one. That story was a full-on chuunibyou tale of world conquest with a young elf as the protagonist.

What’s that you say? The story hasn’t changed much? You’ll have to forgive me. I am only human, and humans seldom change.

Moving on, the approach used in this work is different from Hesiod’s attempt to summarize the births of the gods and their genealogies (it’s different at its very core); this work takes the literal meaning of the kanji used to spell the Theogony (神流記) and is a record of another world controlled by gods. I ask that you forgive me for this.

Many gods appear in this work. But up to now it hasn’t been the gods themselves, but those chosen to receive their blessings and act as a god’s host vessel.

The idea to use “kumadori” as the name for the markings that appear when gods provide power to the host vessel was, of course, inspired by the stage makeup of the same name worn by kabuki actors. It’s a form of makeup used to establish the characters that emphasizes things like blood vessels and muscles. Red generally means “virtuous” while blue generally means “evil.” The concept also includes the difference between the dead and the living, which likely comes from differences in complexion. Chinese theater also features a type of kumadori known as renpu. These methods of expressing things through appearance are very easy for the audience to understand, so they must have easily become aspects of theater production know-how. Likewise, in this work, some way of visually representing changes in the host vessels was needed so that the work could deal with the unseen gods.

To give some history to the many formless gods, “gravesites of land gods” became a mainstay when writing. These also symbolize the “true form” of the gods.

The “godstone” was conceived as a way to link the gods with the lower-ranking living creatures. The divinity residing in the body of the host vessel is sealed inside this special part of the bone structure, thus turning a metaphysical concept into a physical one.

With these three concepts relating to the gods, I was able to start writing this work.

As an author who was lost and unsure where to go, I decided to return to my starting point by reading through my past works, and this caused me to discover a treasured work written when the world was still alive and shining to me — this became the basis of Teogonia. It felt like I was reading through my childhood diaries. A lot of the content made me cringe. But that’s a good thing in some ways. It makes things interesting. Even as people grow older, their deep-rooted sensibilities are probably not something that changes easily.

I can’t give you any evidence to support this statement, but I think this work is going to get more interesting as it goes. That’s my feeling. That’s what the God of the Valley is telling me.

I’d like to thank Kawano-sensei from the bottom of my heart for the beautiful illustrations. Those illustrations represented things accurately in a way that really touched my heartstrings, and they stimulated me in a good way that made me half-jealous.

I’d also like to thank my editor for being there to support a naive author like myself. Their guidance was invaluable because it allowed me to look back on my own writings with a clear head.

And to the readers who have decided to pick up this work, I’m deeply grateful to you for spending your precious time on it, and I bow my head and ask that you stay with me until this printed edition of Teogonia reaches the end of its run.

-Tsukasa Tanimai, March 2018