Kikoutei

The Yuriban deity of the sun and daylight is known as Kikoutei. Aside from the daytime itself, her associations include light, warmth in both a physical and spiritual sense and the concepts of truth, pride and the ego.

Mythology

Kikoutei is believed to be one of the oldest goddesses in the Yuriban pantheon. As the story goes, when Yuriba was first created, The Lady realized nobody could see any of the world's beauty. The animals and the people milled about in confusion, fearful of what the darkness might hide. The Lady searched for a way to cover the world in light and reveal there was nothing to fear. Finally she turned to Kikoutei, who at that time wandered the sky quietly, curious as to what lay below. The Lady asked Kikoutei if she could help. In response Kikoutei took a fold of her robe and wrapped it around her walking stick, asking the Lady to set it ablaze with her light. When the Lady set fire to Kikoutei's stick it became a long torch, and when Kikoutei held it aloft the Lady's light radiated across the island, chasing away the shadows and revealing the truth of the world for all to see. To this day Kikoutei walks the heavens with her torch until it's time to rest, only to light the torch again the next morning and resume her walk, curiously watching the world beneath her.

Kikoutei is seen as one of the creator figures for the fire goddess, Kaika, since it was her light that helped give warmth to the fire "to help banish doubt." As such, and given their similar spheres, the two deities are often believed to be close. She is most often romantically linked with Zansho, who reigns over the sunniest season of the year. Racier myths often joke that the reason Kikoutei's light is seen less often in the fall and winter is because Zansho has tired her out with loveplay.

As a sun goddess she is naturally associated with Tsuki, and they're often conceived of as polar opposites: Kikoutei's teachings promote positive self-image and confidence, while Tsuki's promote embracing misery and not letting go. In the past Tsuki and Engetsu followed Kikoutei in her walks across the sky, and when Kikoutei tired the twin moons shone their own light over Yuriba. But after Engetsu fell to earth, Tsuki plunged into the sorrow of her loss and refused to shine, instead only reflecting the last of the sun's light. Kikoutei tried to console the mourning sister and urged her to share her beautiful light with the world, but Tsuki rebuffed her and fled in tears. Today Tsuki follows Kikoutei's daily walk only at a distance, showing herself only at night to fulfill her duties and to cry for Engetsu. When the moon is glimpsed in the daytime, natives believe she's simply waiting for Kikoutei to go away so she can continue crying. Their relationship is not adversarial, but one where Kikoutei continually tries to encourage Tsuki to shine her light again.

Although Kikoutei's presence is necessary and respected, as a reflection of the oft inclement weather patterns on an island she is often referred to as being capricious in granting her light. Perhaps because of this, she is a deity less commonly appealed to than those that have a more day to day impact.

Associations

The Henyanniichuan spring is believed associated with Kikoutei, because of the sun-like mark on the head of the crane. In addition to Red-Crowned cranes, she is often connected to animals that need the sun's light for warmth, most notably snakes and lizards. Stones that still retain warmth after sunset because they've soaked in the sunshine's heat are often referred to as having been "kissed by Kikoutei".

Kikoutei's colors are gold, red, and bronze. The most commonly seen symbol of her worship is a sun disk, unsuprisingly. More rarely seen is an emblem that resembles a gold and bronze snake with red eyes, curled up into a spiral with its tail in the center and the head pointing down or to the south. Due to this symbol, she is also considered the patron of the Shenyanniichuan spring.

Kikoutei's followers are all trained in the martial art of Higashiryu and take a blessing based on which school they are trained in. Those with the snake blessing are often more focused on grapples and holds while crane blessed followers are focused on fluid movement and strikes. The two schools are said to be rivals but both dedicated to serving their lady.

Lore

Stemming from her role as the goddess in charge of illumination and warmth, Kikoutei's teachings focus on self-conception and the notion of seeing things as they are. Just as Kikoutei's light reveals the true beauty of the world, her followers are encouraged to let their own beauty shine through with confidence and pride. But just as Kikoutei rests sometimes, her followers are urged to moderate their pride and settle now and then, because shining all the time leads to arrogance and narcissism. Her purview of light and warmth is connected often with a positive conception of the self. She's also associated with truth, overlapping somewhat with Kaika, though Kikoutei governs more over truth as a function of seeing things as they really are, just as her light penetrated the darkness and revealed to the people below there was nothing to fear. Essentially her teachings promote honesty, awareness and self-confidence.

Sungazing

While not exactly exclusive to followers of Kikoutei, many who partake in this dangerous practice do associate themselves with the goddess. The practice is pretty simple and straightforward, a person will look up at the sun for a period of time. They believe this allows them to absorb the beautiful and cleansing light of the goddess to rejuvenate their body and soul. Of course in reality staring into the sun causes damage to the eyes, potentially causing permanent blindness. Generally the damage done can be treated by the island healers as long as it isn't too serious. Those suffering from the blindness caused by sungazing are sometimes referred to as 'sunglazed' due to the pale discoloration of the eyes. Despite the dangers and warnings people still chose to partake in this practice seeing the damage done as merely a sign of their devotion. A more extreme version of this happens when looking at a solar eclipse.

Solar Eclipse

While generally rare, there is some lore pertaining to such events. One of the longest held beliefs by the natives is that a solar eclipse comes from Kikoutei's radiance shining too brightly, and as such the goddess Engetsu took it upon herself to block the light from potentially harming the mortals. Eclipses are also considered a symbol of light and darkness and so many associate them with Engetsu. This is also believed as an explanation for eye damage people can receiving during a solar eclipse. That one stared into the strong, divine radiance of the goddess. Sadly some of the more...devout(some say fanatical) followers of Kikoutei are known to purposely look into an eclipse believing that the damage done to their eyes is worth it to gaze into the divine light. This is seen as an extreme version of the practice known as sungazing.

Another rare piece of lore is the superstition that a solar eclipse is the sign of the goddess Kigaki attempting to devour the sun and thus Kikoutei in her eternal hunger. Not too much is known about this superstition as lore pertaining to Kigaki is fairly scarce. Of course, given that the sun clearly doesn't get devoured it could cast some doubt on this superstition. Then again many would say it's a sure sign that Kikoutei fended off the hungry goddess once again. While the details are scarce some natives carry a lingering misgiving about seeing a solar eclipse that some historians attribute to this superstition even if the people don't necessarily remember the cause of the ill feelings.