More on the Persona (Elements, Folklore, and Transformation) - Konohana Sakura the Priestess

PERSONAS: The Dungeon

In Yukiko's Castle, the higher up the Protagonist and others go, slowly gets more and more dark, covered more in red fog over the white fog that covered the lower four floors. From floor 5 up, the shade is a dark red, and Yukiko's inner thoughts play more and more when you reach each floor, as does some of what she says when greeting people who come to the Inn. The voice soon turns into her real thoughts, yelling at the reporter and demanding he leave her alone. The monsters here are stronger, often mixing with the theme of castles (Knights and Kings are included). Floor 5 turns into a maze of sorts - while it's circular, getting close to a door will mean being sent to another part of the floor, and having to figure out how to get to where you need to go before you face the Avenging Knight.

Yukiko's Castle - Floor 8

Reaching the top, we find a large open area leading to a throne, behind which is a red flag with two wings that spread out behind the Shadow, making it look like a bird ready to take off or in flight. Much of the idea of escaping, of 'getting away' from the 'cage', is played on at this level, as is her need for a Prince to protect her. The Charming Prince, who is summoned to aid Shadow Yukiko, is a bit of a pain to fight against, and will heal Shadow Yukiko as much as he attacks or incapacitates the group.
It's here that Yukiko's Shadow announces that the group are her 'princes', including Chie in the statement and when she begins to complain about her own inability to leave, as well as the fact that she's trapped at the Inn and no one has been able to help her. Like the other Shadows, her dialogue shows not only her darker feelings, but also shows Yukiko's shyness to be partly due to her own self-doubt and fears, as well as her dislike of the Inn and the time it takes up in her life, not to mention the idea of having her 'destiny' planned for her.

The Priestess: Konohana Sakura

The third massive Shadow you face, this is the first one to have 'underlings' or to summon other Shadows to attack you before or during the main attack. The Shadow itself is a large, red bird that often spreads it's larger-than-the-cage wings out while casting spells or summoning her Prince. The continued motif of a caged bird, who has outgrown her cage and needs to escape, is still played here, as is the fear of leaving the cage as well - for all that Shadow Yukiko does her best to escape the cage, she never fully leaves it. If anything, she simply uses it as part of her attack and reason to continually fight, never leaving despite the fact that the door is open and she has the means to escape. The Prince, summoned often after a bit, will do his best to attack the three there to save Yukiko, but once he is defeated, he cannot be summoned back. If anything, he only serves to show the possible toxic thinking that added to Yukiko's suppressed self. The Prince comes when she summons, and does help, but he is not eternal and will not remain by Yukiko's side when 'defeated'.

After Yukiko accepts her dark self and what she felt about her family's Inn, as well as her own position, the Shadow transforms into Konohana Sakura. One of the few Personas who's called by her full name, Konohana Sakura is based on a Japanese Goddess, the wife of the god Ninigi and a symbol of delicate earthly life, especially that of the cherry blossom. After her marriage, when she became pregnant, the god believed she'd been unfaithful. Angry, Konohana entered a door-less hut and set it on fire, declaring any child that survived to be the son of her husband. Considering her triplets survived, the god was showed to be the father.

While Shadow Yukiko is all red, with only her head showing any human part to herself, keeping the black hair and features of Yukiko despite being red and almost unrecognizable. It also lives in a golden cage, one atop a chandelier. All of these things show that the prestige and privilege of living in a 'historic inn' has only served to trap Yukiko, and her red color, the heart-shape on the breast of both Shadow Yukiko and Konohana Sakura also adding to her search for love of some sort, or someone to help her as well. I believe as Konohana, though, this represents various types of love, such as friendly or even familial love, instead of just the idealized love of a 'prince'. 

Once transformed to a Persona, Konohana looks more like a female hero than Chie's own Persona - with flowers and the pink and white color that often are connected to sakura blossoms or with feminine things. Konohana Sakura, unlike Chie's ability to cause massive damage, also ends up with powerful healing and offensive powers. As with the Protagonist and Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko end up with powers that can defeat the others - Chie's Ice against Yukiko's Fire.

The Priestess Card is one of hidden knowledge, of intuition and mystical, hidden knowledge. The ability to heal (as in REALLY heal) has always been put to mystical knowledge. Fire itself could also be part of a mystical or important journey into hidden knowledge - in the Western World, the Virgins of Hestia were said to keep a sacred flame alive for centuries, protecting Rome. Though not the strongest physically, Yukiko and Konohana Sakura are a great one who protects and heals the group, as well as showing her ability to also defend or help in a fight with a great deal of power.

ELEMENT

Element: Agi (Fire)

             Weakness: Bufu (Ice)

Fire is an element that has had a huge impact on humanity and on what humans can do or where humans can survive. It's associated in the classical Greek and Roman traditions with passion and energy. One philosopher, Heraclitius, believed Fire gave rise to all other elements, Fire is often split into various types - Hindu belief splits Fire into that of actual fire, lightning, and the sun. {source: Wikipedia}

In many cases, fire is also considered both a creative and destructive force - like water, it can take any form, but unlike water or many other elements, it's not one that exists on it's own. Fire can only come about if it's created and given something to transform.{Source: The White Goddess}

Yukiko, for her work and being able to deal with school and helping out at the Inn, shows a great deal of energy and ability to work anywhere. Her facing her self results in her beginning her transformation and change, and her work at a hot springs and Inn also ties her to the element of Fire, more in the Hearth sense. The fires that associated with family and home seem to be what helps out Yukiko the most, and what she associates with the most, though her anger and how she channels it to fighting or standing up for herself as she goes from shy to bolder also begins to show. She is passionate about what she wants to do, and after the events in the castle, she begins to show that even more. The association with hot springs, another thing that connects to fire, also adds to her control over fire as her element.

Though Yukiko's element is not as strong against water, there is still that chance of coming into a harmony - once again, hot springs - and as she grows closer to the Protagonist, she begins to show more of her passion and determination, as well as her transformation from someone who is too timid to speak for what she wants to someone who is ready to learn more about herself and to use her intuition to push for what she really wants and what she believes she needs in her life. Though she is still feminine and appears delicate, she is also ready to ignite a firestorm as needed.

One more story to mention...well, also a link.

At one point on Mythbusters, they created a Sawdust Cannon, in order to see about proving something in a viral video. A family member, who worked in a sawmill once during his life, mentioned that it would work, before it did. The reason being that while sawdust and wood chips are small and, compared to bigger pieces, fragile, they have the scary ability of catching fire and spreading among all of them, really quickly. As such, when there was a fire near the sawmill, the fire department was on-call to that area nearly every day for months afterwards, because a small spark had the chance to set fire to more of the sawdust that the mill produced. With Yukiko's focus on fire and cherry blossoms, I believe you have the same idea - the small things that can, with the right spark, turn very dangerous.

Next: Social Links In Inaba (April-May)

"Abound with So Much Information" - Yukiko's Castle Analysis Finale

Returning to Yukiko's Castle, there are 8 Floors, during which you face one major Shadow before the final boss. In this case, Yukiko's Shadow continues the theme of the Locked Away Princess, as someone who needs to be rescued. Many of the Shadows at this point are harder to really analyze - some appear in many other locations or in different forms, but some are more in-tune with the Castle's theme. This is also the first dungeon in which you face a sub-boss, the Avenging Knight, who works to protect the "Princess" and test her "Princes".

Reaching the top of the Castle, the group finds Yukiko and her "Princess"/Shadow self. The Shadow calls Chie and the others her "Princes", and is quick to push for one of them to 'take her away' from the Inn and Inaba itself, feeling herself trapped but needing someone else to let her free, to 'save' her.

[I am a Shadow, the true self...]

Yukiko Amagi: The High Priestess Konohana Sakura

Met on the first day of school but not really spoken to by the Protagonist or others due to a high demand at the Inn, Yukiko is soft-spoken and is asked out by a male student from another school (more on him later). The gossip overheard is about the "Amagi Challenge", possibly on asking her out and Yukiko failing to understand or simply outright rejecting people. She is often seen with Chie, who seems to dominate the conversation or try to bring Yukiko out a bit by talking about the Inn her family runs or by praising her looks, which Yukiko isn't always comfortable with.
Yukiko starts to open up after this, and show off a side of her that before, only Chie had seen, especially when it comes to her odd sense of humor and overall ability to help and support others. She still remains shy but also begins to realize and do things she wants, over what has been expected of her. Though soft-spoken, she works her best to help out, both as support but also as a counter to Chie. Like the Protagonist and Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko are strong in their attacks against each other, but also most vulnerable. Yukiko also begins to stop trying to hold in all of her emotions, especially towards her perceived 'destiny' of running the Amagi Inn. It's her old attempt to hold in her feelings, of being 'trapped' in a situation she cannot (or will not) get out of herself that results in her attempting to get the idea of being 'saved' by a 'prince'. Her calling Chie her 'prince' means she views Chie in a status as someone who 'saves' her and that, perhaps, she feels obliged to return a 'favor' towards for that.
One noted thing about the Shadows after this is how they begin to appear after this. Yosuke and Chie's Shadows looked like themselves, save with the yellow eyes. Princess Yukiko, the Shadow, ends up dressed up and powerful enough to control at least two sub-bosses during a battle. It's also interesting to notice the motif of Yukiko's ideal and how it manifests. Her clothing and the castle itself is Western in design, very different from the traditional Eastern that Yukiko possibly views as more of her own trappings. The dress, as opposed to the kimono that Yukiko is wearing when kidnapped, is also Western in design, and though revealing in some cases (showing shoulders), it's not too revealing either. A Princess to be rescued from the place that trapped her, though, fits well into Yukiko's wish to escape her life, but her fear of how to do it without help.

TAROT ANALYSIS

The High Priestess (II), Reversed

Also called the Popess, the High Priestess, or Priestess, often holds wisdom or is in a place where wisdom, especially about the feminine side, can be found. She has and shows knowledge as well as intuition, and will often sit before the entrance to a sacred temple. The Priestess is often dressed in Pagan or Christian symbols of a high authority - the Popess has the Papal Crown, the Priestess has a curved moon or horns that often represent the Goddess or the Moon. She is often seated and waits with esoteric knowledge in the area. The card is often representing the person asking for information, a person they will meet, or a secret or mystery of the feminine, including intuition, wisdom, or even sexuality.

Reversed, the High Priestess becomes associated with an inability to hear or listen to your own intuition or power. The message is not getting across, or something is missing from the information given to you, and while others might even find you appealing, either you cannot hear them, or don't understand what they want{Source: Psychic Revelation}. In the Fool's Journey, the High Priestess represents the mysterious unconscious and unrealized potential, and paired with the Magician, represents the unconscious, inactive power while the Magician represents the more active drawing of energy {Source: Learn Tarot}.

Yukiko's inability to see herself as powerful in her own right, as well as able to do what she wants, over what is told to her, has resulted in her being uncertain of her own power and beauty. She feels the need for someone else to pull her out of the situation, and doesn't realize how powerful she can be on her own, or how much she can do to start on her own before she might need that help. 

THEME: Escape and Inner Strength

Yukiko's Shadow tends to point out the lack of strength Yukiko feels towards escaping what she believes as her 'trap' on her own, and her inability to ask for help. Yukiko's focus on her own problems and Chie's own focus on her own problems as well also tie them together. They both lack the inner strength to really move forward and understand themselves, but after the two hard lessons in who they might really be, and how important the other is to them, it's obvious the two have become closer and wish to continue growing. The two connected cards of the dungeon - the Chariot and the Priestess - show their growth and what they will both focus on. Chie's movement-driven card and one that focuses on controlling the elements within yourself, as well as being able to know when and how to move forward, compliments Yukiko's intuition-driven card. The two need to focus on who they are and how they can grow, as well as realize what they need to move forward. Instinctively, both knew that something had to change and that they needed to be the ones to do so on their own, as well as be the ones who initiated their own transformations. In Chie's case, she had to admit that she did have the darker feelings about Yukiko as a friend, and for Yukiko, she had to admit that she hated working at the Inn and having her life dictated, but also that she can't just wait for someone to swoop in and save her. Both needed to escape their darker self and realize their own power, as well as realize how they worked off each other and how they could better improve their friendship. 

Rescuing Yukiko, sadly, only gives us little to nothing to go on for finding the culprit. She doesn't know who attacked her or how she got into the Midnight Channel. However, upon returning to school after her ordeal, Yukiko shows herself willing to become part of the investigation team and to help find whoever it is that wanted to kill her.

Information about the Killer - April to May 2011

- The Killer is targeting people in Inaba
   - Up to this point, the Killer has only targeted women
   - Each female was connected to the first victim, Mayumi Yamano
     - Saki Konishi found Yamano's body after her death
     - Yukiko Amagi possibly had interactions with Yamano at the Amagi Inn
       - Yukiko's mother collapsed due to stress, possibly while dealing with Yamano
- Yukiko remembers a doorbell and someone calling to her
- Each victim appeared on TV and on the Midnight Channel shortly afterwards
   - Mayumi Yamano reported her affair with a council member and was later suspended due to the attention the story had gotten, as well as pressure from the council member's wife, a famous enki ballad singer
      - A classmate was overheard saying that his 'soulmate' was Yamano shortly before her death, meaning she appeared on the Midnight Channel
   - Saki Konishi was interviewed due to her finding the body, though her face was obscured and her voice changed, the Protagonist vaguely recognizes her after meeting her once
      - The Protagonist first sees Konishi when he watches the Midnight Channel and his ability to go into TVs, showing his ability to call on a Persona. She is confirmed by Yosuke and Chie as having been on the Channel, then again by Yosuke as on a second time before her death
    - Yukiko was interviewed after the news learns that Yamano stayed at their Inn, but the interview changed quickly from about Yamano to about Yukiko
       - The day before, Yukiko is shown in her kimono on the Midnight Channel. The next day, her Shadow begins the 'show', changing the way the Midnight Channel operates

Questions:
    - Why change the format?
    - Why focus on women?
       - Why Yamano?
    - Who else has the ability to enter the TV and do they enter with their victims?


Next Up: More on the Persona - Konohana Sakura