2006 Dream Buyer and Baku

Title: Dream Buyer and Baku¶

Folklore Type: legend, folkloresque ¶

Contents:¶

"[Stuart] What exactly is the 'Manor Of Sleep' and how does it tie in with the mysterious tattoo on Rei's body?

[Shibata] (Spoiler alert!) In ancient Japan, people believed that dreams had special meanings. There was a custom concerning a character called the Dream Buyer, who was said to buy and sell good dreams. There was also an imaginary creature called Baku, and people believed that Baku ate nightmares. Baku is enshrined in some temples in Japan.

In the context of PZ3 [Project Zero 3], the Manor of Sleep used to be a shrine that people used in ceremonies relating to a particular nightmare. This nightmare had a specific form. People who had lost someone close to them were beckoned by the departed through their dreams. If they followed the deceased, they would not wake up anymore.

To combat the nightmare, it received a 'dedication' at the shrine. In other words, people dedicated the pain that they felt at the loss of their loved one to the shrine. However, the way they ritualised this nightmare was very special. They mixed the blood of surviving people and their dead relatives, and they put a tattoo on a Priestess's skin using the blood as paint.

I won't go into too much detail, but there was an accident in the shrine. The people extended the Manor with a complicated structure to hide the accident. One day, all the people living in the region of the shrine did not wake up from their sleep. And the shrine was abandoned.

In the present day, Rei visits the shrine in her job and from this moment on, she is called to the Manor in her dreams. The Manor is ruled by a priestess who is tattooed all over her body. People who are touched by her will wake up to find a tattoo on their body that expands every time they wake up. Suffering causes the tattoo to expand on the skin. This is the curse, and once the tattoo covers their eyes, they don't come back. At the same time, the tattoo is also a message. The 'victim' receives a vision when the tattoo reaches their eyes. Ironically, the vision is the key to solve the curse, but it's a revelation that arrives far too late."

Context:¶

In this interview excerpt, Shibata discusses Japanese legends that tie to one of the major plot points and locations in Fatal Frame: The Tormented. The game takes place primarily in dreams, and the legends Shibata draws on are related to the topic of dreams.

This excerpt is taken from a Q&A originally released by Take Two from which Stuart then edited and copied into an article he posted for The Guardian. This article was published ahead of the release of Fatal Frame: The Tormented to North America on the PlayStation 2 platform.

Source Information¶

Original Source Citation: Stuart, Keith. "'I call it, 'Subtracting horror.'' Project Zero Creator Speaks..." The Guardian. February 7, 2006. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2006/feb/07/post13.


Source Type:	interview
Source URL:	https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2006/feb/07/post13
Date Published:	2006-02-07
Date Collected:	2023-07-28
Associated File Name:	Stuart-2006-I Call It subtracting Horror.pdf