Nagamonogatari 10: LS - Ginko Hogaraka

Name: Ginko Hogaraka

Species: Guardian Spirit

Abilities: Repel Attacks and Dark Magic

Age: 3000 years old

Occupation: Protecting the People and the Shrine 

Location: Isasagawa Shrine

Title: “The Silver-Haired Protector of the Sanctuary”

Likes: Heroes, Bravery, Samurai Stories

Hates: Monsters, Demons

Stage 2 Theme: Plowland of Forgotten Battlefields ~ Golden Wheatfield

Stage 2 Boss Theme: Silver-Gleaming Spell ~ Protective Barrier

Fortunately there weren’t any turbulences or troubles during their travel and they finally arrive the province Isasagawa. It’s a small and rural island with many farms and fields. But where can they find the Kadoguchi temple Chizome was talking about? The only way is to search for this place but suddenly they get stopped by a silver-haired spirit girl who mistakes them for enemies.

Before the era of the modern guardians, spirits and angels used to protect the people and especially children from monsters and man-eating youkais. Guardian spirits and angels usually lived in heaven and were summoned by priests and shrine maidens in order to protect a certain group of people or even an entire village or town. Their own strength always depended on how weak their protégés were. The stronger they got, the weaker the guardian spirit became. And when the protégés became able to defend themselves or were finally save, the spirit left and returned to heaven until they were called for a new job. People often confused the guardian spirits for being guardian angels which isn’t exactly true. While guardian angels usually were the souls of fallen heroes who died with the wish to protect people even after their death, the guardian spirits were created by gods in order to protect their worshippers from enemies. So in the beginning the spirits only protected the members of their god’s cult while the guardian angels protected all sorts of people. The role of the guardian spirits changed after humans started to rebel against gods. People who didn’t belong to any religion or cult, couldn’t ask guardian spirits for help and were often ignored by them when they were attacked. The people accused the gods for ignoring people’s misery just because they were too obsessed with their own worshippers. It became a great scandal and people started to leave religious groups. The gods realized they had to change something and became more liberal and stopped focusing just on their own people but also protected other groups, regardless if they were worshippers or not.

Ginko is one of the oldest guardian spirits and was created by the goddess of primal light who was asked for help by the people of Kunihara.Since there were no deities in Kunihara, they couldn’t ask anyone for help when they were attacked by monsters who were stronger than them. The goddess promised them that a human god will be born but unfortunately the pregnancy lasted for 20 years. So the goddess created guardian spirits who should take care of the people until the human god was born. One of these spirits was Ginko Hogaraka. It was her job to protect the citizens of Kunihara who weren’t able to defend themselves against bandits, wild animals or man-eaters. Like most guardian spirits she was a rather calm and very friendly person who befriended her protégés and enjoyed her life with the humans. Though she often appeared to be a bit shy, she always did her job and even helped the farmers if they needed support for the harvest. Her most unique feature was her silver hair. She was the only spirit with silver hair and that’s why the people started to call her Ginko.

After the human god had been killed before becoming a real god, the Sumeragi family started to rule over Kunihara, the guardian spirits left the capital and moved to the small provinces which weren’t protected by the imperial soldiers. Ginko moved to Isasagawa and protected the children of the families. She enjoyed this peaceful life and often watched over the children while their parents were working at the paddy fields and wheat fields. Even though the first emperor was dead and the only human god was killed by his own people, Ginko’s own life never got affected by this incident. She still did her job like she was supposed to do and was happy with her life in Isasagawa. But everything changed when the Great God War started and Kunihara also got affected by the aftermaths. Enemies invaded the human continent and the people had no chance against the warriors who possessed incredible magic skills. Ginko and the other guardian spirits tried their best to protect the people, but even they were unable to withstand their attacks for long. Almost all spirits died on the battlefield and Ginko was willing to sacrifice her life as well. But then one man managed to fight off the enemies with a group of normal people. They all were farmers, artisans, mercenaries or samurais. Some of them were nobles and the others were devas. Most of them were supposed to be rivals or even enemies in the past. But they were all working together in order to protect their homes. Ginko was also saved by them and she couldn’t believe her eyes when a group of people, who never fought on a battlefield before, managed to kill over 5000 soldiers. It was a miracle and it seemed like this small group of people was invincible. But they still had their limits and all died during the Great God War in order to protect their home.

Ginko witnessed their battles and was highly impressed by their bravery and their strong will to fight and even give up old feuds in order to protect what’s important to them. This group became a legend in Nakatsukuni and many stories were told about these few people. Ginko herself buried the fallen heroes and built a small shrine for them. The Isasagawa shrine became a sanctuary of the province and people believed that the souls of the fallen heroes were still protecting Kunihara from evil forces. Ginko protected the shrine and kept telling people about the old stories from the Great God War and the legendary heroes. But one day when she came to the shrine, she saw a group of people who told her that they would stay in the province to protect Nakatsukuni from a dangerous enemy. Ginko, who was a bit naïve and superstitious, believed that the fallen heroes from the Great God War did raise from the grave once again in order to protect their people from another danger.

PERSONALITY:

Ginko is a little bit shy, calm and kindhearted spirit who loves to be together with people and hates loneliness. She lives for heroic stories end enjoys listening to stories about brave warriors and samurais and also often tells about her experiences during the Great God War. It’s her dream to become the guardian of a true hero and support them. Though she is very diligent, she is also a daydreamer and often gets lost in her own fantasies about becoming a great hero someday.

Kizuato: “So that’s the island province Isasagawa? It looks very rural. I like this place!”

Hina: “Hm… it doesn’t look like something dangerous is going on. Let’s hope we’ll find this temple before it’s too late. The solar eclipse will begin within a few hours so we don’t have that much time.”

Kizuato: “Don’t you think you are worrying too much?”

Ginko: “Stop! Don’t go any further, you strangers!”

Hina: “A silver-haired spirit brat? Okay, can things become even weirder today?”

Kizuato: “Hello! We are guardians and have some very important business to do. So would you please let us pass?”

Ginko: “Don’t dare to fool me. I already know that a great danger is coming. The fallen heroes already returned and I will do everything to protect the people from enemies like you!”

Hina: *Sigh* “Why do I always have to be mistaken for an enemy?!”

AFTER FIGHT:

Ginko: “Ouch… you are too strong for me.”

Kizuato: “We didn’t want to cause any troubles. We want to protect everyone by taking care of a dangerous being.”

Ginko: “So you aren’t the enemies?”

Hina: “No. Like I said before: we are guardians and it’s our job to protect people.”

Ginko: “Oh… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

Hina: “Forget about that. Can you tell us where we can find the Kadoguchi temple?”

Ginko: “Kadoguchi temple? Never heard of that before. We only have the Isasagawa shrine where the souls of the fallen heroes rest. A few weeks ago the fallen heroes suddenly came back to life and said they want to have to do some business.”

Hina: “Hm… that sounds suspicious. We should definitely check that.”

GINKO’S SPELLCARDS:

Samurai Era [Silver Soul Generation]

Protection Spell [Insurmountable Spirit Barrier]

Repel Sign [Full Counter Attack]

Lucky Charm [Blessed Spiritual Talisman]