Higurashi Poems by Frederica Bernkastel

It’s been awhile since the last anime release of Higurashi: When They Cry (and I doubt there will be any soon), so to keep fans like myself from going crazy over such withdrawal symptoms, here are some rare Higurashi stuff I’ve found online- specifically the English translations of the poems presented at the beginning of each chapter in the original visual novel. I was never able to play the VN, but the anime really stuck to me.

I bet these poems would take those who know the series to a nostalgic high. But if you don’t know Higurashi yet, maybe these works of literature might interest you in watching as they are the precursors that describe every arc’s situation via the point of view of Frederica Bernkastel– a neutral secret character in the series.

So who is she? If anything, she looks like an older Furude Rika and is only briefly seen at the last episode of season 2. You may also have seen her in Umineko No Naku Koro Ni (Umineko: When They  Cry) as the Witch of Miracles, but her existence begins in Higurashi’s Atonement Chapter when Rika loses herself to despair, hopelessness and lost of interest in overcoming her and her friends’ tragic fate.

Wikia states: “It has been suggested she and Rika are either the same person, or she is a compilation of all the past Rikas who died. In the sound novels, Frederica said “Eventually, she (Rika) started giving up, and lost interest in those worlds. That’s how I was born…” If this is true, it also relates to Bernkastel of Umineko.

This would directly explain her declaration of being a separate person from Rika, Bernkastel’s empty eyes (a.k.a. loss of humanity, she has no glint or life in her eyes), and her ironic title as the “Witch of Miracles”. Bernkastel says that she is named the “Witch of Miracles” because she is the only one who knows that miracles cannot occur out of the blue by mere praying (this concept is proven by Maebara Keiichi in Minagoroshi-hen), while Rika used to immaturely keep praying for miracles to come her way without taking action.”

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy these brilliant poems as much as I did!

Onikakushi-hen (Demoned-Away Chapter)

Please do not deplore yourself.
Even if the world does not forgive, I will forgive you.
Please do not deplore yourself.
Even if you do not forgive the world, I will forgive you.
So please tell me.
What will it take for you, to forgive me?

Onikakushi-hen 2 (Demoned-Away Chapter)

Do you know what your sin is?
It isn’t because you ate the forbidden fruit.
Do you know what your sin is?
It isn’t because you listened to the serpent.
Do you know what your sin is?
Then, that itself, is your sin.

Watanagashi-hen (Cotton Drifting Chapter)

I cannot quench your thirst.
Because even if you yearn for the truth, you refuse to believe in it.
I cannot quench your thirst.
Because no such truth exists that you are in anticipation for.
But I still want to quench your thirst.
Because I am the one the who put you into the desert.

Watanagashi-hen 2 (Cotton Drifting Chapter)

What is most intricate thing to find in this world?
Is it a needle that you lost in the desert?
What is most intricate thing to find in this world?
Is it a crow’s feather that you lost in the darkness of the night?
The most intricate thing to find in this world is,
Realizing your own erroneous contemplation.

Tatarigoroshi-hen (Curse-Killing Chapter)

The frog in the well was happy.
It wasn’t interested what was outside the well.
The frog in the well was happy.
It was recluse to anything that happened outside the well.
And you were happy.
Because you didn’t know what occurred outside the well.

Tatarigoroshi-hen 2 (Curse-Killing Chapter)

I was the most unfortunate.
I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.
Then, he was the next most unfortunate.
He did not know that there was no exit out of this maze.
But all the rest weren’t so unfortunate.
They didn’t know that they were in the maze in the first place.

Himatsubishi-hen (Time-Killing Chapter)

So who is the culprit, you ask?
Finding that out is part of the story, right?
So who is the culprit, you ask?
Do you even know what the culprit is in the first place?
So who is the culprit?
Who is the culprit that’s gonna kill me?!

Himatsubushi-hen 2 (Time-Killing Chapter)

What is it that I seek?
Perhaps it is a knight from a far away land.
What is it that I seek?
Perhaps it is a shore that will save me from this eternal swamp.
There is only one thing that I seek.
What I would obtain will either be the kishi (shore), or shiki (my death).

Message from Frederica Bernkastel

I am who I am; Frederica Bernkastel. Furude Rika and Frederica are different. Shame on you if you thought so. My age? I’ve gotten bored with it, so I’ve quit counting.

Huh? Are you speculating that the real identity of the Oyashiro-sama is me? Giggle giggle. You are so insolent. The Oyashiro-sama is the Oyashiro-sama. You want me to introduce it to you? It’s rather shy. It gets frightened easily so don’t scare it, okay? However, it seems that you are the one that’s scared.

Giggle giggle giggle…

Meakashi-hen (Eye-Opening Chapter)

The little girl cried when she lost her marbles in the desert.
She searched the desert for one hundred years.
The little girl cried when she thought she might’ve lost them in the sea rather than the desert.
She searched the depths of the sea for one hundred years.
The little girl cried when she thought she might’ve lost them in the mountains than the sea.
How long will it take till she begins to doubt whether or not she actually lost them to begin with?

Tsumihoroboshi-hen (Atonement Chapter)

In the first time,
I do my best to try again against the inevitable tragedy.
In the second time,
I become disgusted towards the inevitable tragedy.
The third time,
disgust is overwhelmed into painfulness.
But by the seventh time,
this all becomes a farce comedy.

Tsumihoroboshi-hen 2 (Atonement Chapter)

She wasn’t discouraged nor did she cry at her fate.
She was beautiful.
She didn’t fawn anyone and fought them all by herself.
She was noble.
She shined brightly, like a divine figure.
I needed someone like her.

Minagoroshi-hen (Massacre Chapter)

I wanted to know the world that was outside of the well.
So I tried hard to get out from the bottom of the well.
I wanted to know the world that was outside of the well.
So I climbed up numerous of times despite falling down over and over again.
But then I realized it. The higher and higher I climb, the pain increases when I fall down again.
When my interest in the world outside of the well began to equal the amount of pain,
That was when I finally realized the meaning of the story to Der Froschkönig.

Minagoroshi-hen 2 (Massacre Chapter)

Please tell me what happened in this night.
It’s like the cat inside the box.
Please tell me what happened in this night.
You don’t know if the cat in the box is dead or alive.
Please tell me what happened in this night.
The cat in the box was dead.

Minagoroshi-hen 3 (Massacre Chapter)

What kind of world lies outside of the well?
Is it something that is worth struggling for?
What kind of world lies outside of the well?
Is it something so attractive enough to fall and try over and over again?
What kind of world lies outside of the well?
Let’s enjoy taking the pains of finding that out.
If I reach the world that yearn for, it must be a spectacular world.
Even if that world was another pit inside a well.
The key to the new world is the resolve to get out of the well.
Being able to get out or not, A new world awaits…

Matsuribayashi-hen (Festival Accompanying Chapter)

Everyone has a right to pursue a happy life.
The difficult part is to be given that right.
Everyone has a right to pursue a happy life.
The difficult part is to fulfill that right.
I too have a right to pursue a happy life.
The difficult part is to work out a compromise for that right.

Matsuribayashi-hen 2 (Festival Accompanying Chapter)

That’s because I’m gonna become much much more happy from now on.
I’m not gonna compromise with just this.
We are gonna take back all of our happiness that we lost.
For me, that’s about a hundred year’s worth.
For you, a thousand year’s worth.