Attempting to Solve Umineko Witch’s Epitaph « {Words of Songs} ~ for the translation of anime & game lyrics

Attempting to Solve Umineko Witch’s Epitaph

September 22, 2009 at 2:40 pm | In Game, Umineko no Naku Koro ni | 18 Comments

The following is my attempt at solving the Witch’s Epitaph from Umineko no Naku Koro ni. I have not completely solved it yet, so this post will be updated irregularly when something new comes across my mind.

懐かしき、故郷を貫く鮎の川。
黄金郷を目指す者よ、これを下りて鍵を探せ。

川を下れば、やがて里あり。
その里にて二人が口にし岸を探れ。
そこに黄金郷への鍵が眠る。

鍵を手にせし者は、以下に従いて黄金郷へ旅立つべし。

第一の晩に、鍵の選びし六人を生贄に捧げよ。
第二の晩に、残されし者は寄り添う二人を引き裂け。
第三の晩に、残されし者は誉れ高き我が名を讃えよ。
第四の晩に、頭を抉りて殺せ。
第五の晩に、胸を抉りて殺せ。
第六の晩に、腹を抉りて殺せ。
第七の晩に、膝を抉りて殺せ。
第八の晩に、足を抉りて殺せ。
第九の晩に、魔女は蘇り、誰も生き残れはしない。
第十の晩に、旅は終わり、黄金の郷に至るだろう。

魔女は賢者を讃え、四つの宝を授けるだろう。
一つは、黄金郷の全ての黄金。
一つは、全ての死者の魂を蘇らせ。
一つは、失った愛すらも蘇らせる。
一つは、魔女を永遠に眠りにつかせよう。

安らかに眠れ、我が最愛の魔女ベアトリーチェ。

Natsukashiki, kokyou o tsuranuku ayu no kawa.
Ougonkyou o mezasu mono yo, kore o orite kagi o sagase.

Kawa o kudareba, yagate sato ari.
Sono sato nite futari ga kuchi ni shi kishi o sagure.
Soko ni Ougonkyou e no kagi ga nemuru.

Kagi o te ni seshi mono wa, ika o shitagaite Ougonkyou e tabidatsu beshi.

Daiichi no ban ni, kagi no erabishi rokunin o ikenie ni sasage yo.
Daini no ban ni, nokosareshi mono wa yorisou futari o hikisake.
Daisan no ban ni, nokosareshi mono wa homaretakaki waga na o tatae yo.
Daishi no ban ni, atama o egurite korose.
Daigo no ban ni, mune o egurite korose.
Dairoku no ban ni, hara o egurite korose.
Dainana no ban ni, hiza o egurite korose.
Daihachi no ban ni, ashi o egurite korose.
Daikyuu no ban ni, majo wa yomigaeri, dare mo ikinokore wa shinai.
Daijuu no ban ni, tabi wa owari, Ougon no Sato ni itaru darou.

Majo wa kenja o tatae, yottsu no takara o sazukeru darou.
Hitotsu wa, Ougonkyou no subete no ougon.
Hitotsu wa, subete no shisha no tamashii o yomigaerase.
Hitotsu wa, ushinatta ai sura mo yomigaeraseru.
Hitotsu wa, majo o eien ni nemuri ni tsukaseyou.

Yasuraka ni nemure, waga saiai no majo Beatoriiche.

The river of sweetfish, running through my nostalgic hometown.
Oh, those who aim for the Golden Land, descend this and search for the key.

When you go down the river, there shall be a village before long.
In that village, search for the shore the two people speak of.
There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.

For those who gain the key, you shall obey the following and set off for the Golden Land.

On the first night, sacrifice the six people chosen by the key as tributes.
On the second night, the remaining ones shall tear apart the two people close together.
On the third night, the remaining ones shall praise my highly honorable name.
On the fourth night, gouge the head and kill.
On the fifth night, gouge the chest and kill.
On the sixth night, gouge the abdomen and kill.
On the seventh night, gouge the knee and kill.
On the eighth night, gouge the foot and kill.
On the ninth night, the witch revives, and no one survives.
On the tenth night, the journey ends, and you would reach the Land of Gold.

The witch praises the wise, and would bestow four treasures.
One, all of the gold in the Golden Land.
One, the souls of all of the dead are revived.
One, even lost love is revived.
One, let us make the witch sleep for eternity.

Rest in peace, my dearest witch, Beatrice.

懐かしき、故郷を貫く鮎の川。
The river of sweetfish, running through my nostalgic hometown.
River of sweetfish (鮎の川) carries the double meaning of bountifulness.
So the bountiful family of Ushiromiya, coming from Kinzo.

黄金郷を目指す者よ、これを下りて鍵を探せ。
Oh, those who aim for the Golden Land, descend this and search for the key.
Follow down the family tree to look for the key.

川を下れば、やがて里あり。
When you go down the river, there shall be a village before long.
Going down the family, the character for village (里) appears in Maria’s name (真里亞).

その里にて二人が口にし岸を探れ。
In that village, search for the shore the two people speak of.
The Japanese for in (にて) can also be translated as by or with.
The phrase for speak of (口にし) can also mean eat.
In Japanese, shore (岸) is pronounced as ‘kishi’, which is a homonym for knight (騎士).
The rewritten line becomes,
By the village, the two people eat, search for the knight.
Moving away from the family tree chart and looking at everyone’s designated seat at the dinner table now. The two people who sit and eat next to Maria are George (穣治) and Hideyoshi (秀吉), who are the only people with the character for mouth (口) as in speak of (口にし) in their names.
Redrawing the dining table as a chessboard, with Maria as the Black King since she has a crown, her knight would be located at Eva and Nanjo’s seats.

そこに黄金郷への鍵が眠る。
There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.
…And this is where I’m stuck. I can’t see how ‘Eva’ and ‘Nanjo’ jump right to ‘the key’, so I think I might have gone terribly wrong at some point. Of course the theory falls apart if the Epitaph is written long before Maria’s anticipated birth, never amended for her, and refers to someone or something completely different.

Scratch that, new theory.

懐かしき、故郷を貫く鮎の川。
The river of sweetfish, running through my nostalgic hometown.
Some railway is the river.

黄金郷を目指す者よ、これを下りて鍵を探せ。
Oh, those who aim for the Golden Land, descend this and search for the key.
Go with the outbound direction of the railway.
此是之惟限鈎

川を下れば、やがて里あり。
When you go down the river, there shall be a village before long.
Why あり not ある?
Possibilities for ‘里’:
- An actual village
- Train station name
- Interstate highways
- The very end (last stop) for a train
- Distance
悟郷聡諭

その里にて二人が口にし岸を探れ。
In that village, search for the shore the two people speak of.
Why 探れ instead of 探せ?
Could be by the village. Maybe wordplay involving people radicals or mouths in characters.
Or, the two people are actually train compartments.
Possibilities for ‘岸’
- An actual shore
- Some structure near the 里
- Dissecting it into 山, 厂, 干
- Bank
“Two people’s mouths can eat what one person’s mouth can’t.”
園苑其両人二口

そこに黄金郷への鍵が眠る。
There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.
Reading the shore in romaji or hiragana.

第一の晩に、鍵の選びし六人を生贄に捧げよ。
On the first night, sacrifice the six people chosen by the key as tributes.
第二の晩に、残されし者は寄り添う二人を引き裂け。
On the second night, the remaining ones shall tear apart the two people close together.
第三の晩に、残されし者は誉れ高き我が名を讃えよ。
On the third night, the remaining ones shall praise my highly honorable name.
第四の晩に、頭を抉りて殺せ。
On the fourth night, gouge the head and kill.
第五の晩に、胸を抉りて殺せ。
On the fifth night, gouge the chest and kill.
第六の晩に、腹を抉りて殺せ。
On the sixth night, gouge the abdomen and kill.
第七の晩に、膝を抉りて殺せ。
On the seventh night, gouge the knee and kill.
第八の晩に、足を抉りて殺せ。
On the eighth night, gouge the foot and kill.
第九の晩に、魔女は蘇り、誰も生き残れはしない。
On the ninth night, the witch revives, and no one survives.

第十の晩に、旅は終わり、黄金の郷に至るだろう。
On the tenth night, the journey ends, and you would reach the Land of Gold.
The tenth and final stop. Written as 黄金の郷 instead of 黄金郷.

Other pieces of information that I’ve gotten from playing episode 5 of the game are:
- It is not wrong to follow Eva’s reasoning from episode 3.
- The epitaph will definitely require an atlas for most people to solve.
- The answer to the first part of the epitaph contains less than 6 letters or characters.
- However, when that answer is reread with 6 letters or characters, it becomes the Key to the Golden Land.
- The second part of the epitaph may have to do with removing from text that contains 11 or 13 letters or characters.
- Each of the nights is a step of removing letters or characters from that series of at least 11 or 13.
- Ten nights, ten stops, going to the Land of Gold. This is important.
- The epitaph is solved once the eighth night/step in the process is reached.
- The gold is located on Rokkenjima, in a lavish room at the end of a long, long tunnel.

18 Comments »

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Oh, so they don’t show you how Eva solved the epitaph? And you have to figure it out for yourself? I thought they would at least show you how they solved it when Battler and Erika was hacking away at it…

Anyways, that’s a really tricky epitaph. Uuu >.>

Comment by SakuraSong — September 22, 2009 #

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aren’t there 2 knights in chess? so is there another person besides rosa?

Comment by s0shite — September 23, 2009 #

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- Yeah, I thought about that. The other knight would be located at the seat to the left side of Nanjo, but the table ends at him, so there is no second knight.
  
  Comment by Atashi — September 23, 2009 #
  
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maybe it’s not the seats but the character chart in the game? lol nvm I’m totally clueless about this

Comment by s0shite — September 25, 2009 #

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ok, so I followed you up until you said Rosa was Maria’s knight. When I drew up the chessboard I got Nanjo as Maria’s knight. I think you have your “chessboard turned around” (pun intended). here’s my board:
```
      Eva     Rosa    George   Maria    Hideyoshi  Nanjo (top row)
Kinzo (head)
      Krauss  Rudolf  Jessica  Battler  Natsuhi    Kyrie (bottom row)
```
it says in the game looking at Kinzo’s chair on the left is Krauss. Please correct me if this is wrong. With this board there are 4 knights.

Comment by Dan — September 27, 2009 #

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- I’m definitely looking at the board the other way around because the king starts in the back row. The other six people on the other side of the table are the pawns.
  
  Hmm, maybe you’re right. I don’t remember who sits on what side. If it’s the reverse then Maria would have both Eva and Nanjo as her knights…
  
  I’m going to look into this. Thanks for the heads-up.
  
  Comment by Atashi — September 27, 2009 #
  
  Reply
  - hmmm I see, I didn’t see the other row as pawns, i saw Battler as the other king because him believing in witches is the condition for checkmate as I understand.
    
    After thinking about “search for the knight” I realized Nanjo is actually sitting where Rosa’s husband would sit (were he present/alive). I dont know where he is, I just started reading Episode 4 so i dont know if he’s mentioned there or not.
    
    Comment by Dan — September 28, 2009 #
Japan was once called LAND OF GOLD for the GOLD WAS PLENTIFUL INSIDE ITS RIVERS

Comment by random — November 28, 2009 #

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- American once had ROADS OF GOLD and a CHICKEN IN EVERY POT
  
  Comment by Atashi — November 28, 2009 #
  
  Reply
This may be important not sure but

KEY (鍵) can be also written as かぎ

Comment by random — November 29, 2009 #

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You are amazing!

You are solving the way I solved.

until 川を下れば、やがて里あり。part, you are totally correct.

and now u need actual map and u are done!!

First line will take you to the place!!!

and some error fixing for you
———————————————————–

第二の晩に、残されし者は寄り添う二人を引き裂け。
On the second night, the remaining ones shall tear apart the two people close together.

has to be changed to

第二の晩に、残されし者は寄り添う二人を引き裂け。
On the second night, the remaining ones shall rive the two people close together.

———————————–

我が最愛の魔女ベアトリーチェ。

shouldnt be translated as ‘my dearest witch, Beatrice’ to solve.

It should be “My beloved witch, Beatrice”

————————————

Comment by dogical — December 16, 2009 #

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Isn’t the answer clear already? I failed to figure it out, but still. I’ve tried solving the epitaph for a while now, but right now all I can think of is that it’s already solved and explained. Where does Eva find the hidden gold? And Rosa too. Where? Under the hidden mansion of Kuwadorian. In the fourth game, we are told through Ange’s flashbacks that the only survivor is Eva, who hided in the secret mansion which she didn’t know the location of. In the third game, she solves the epitaph, or should I say, confirms the answer to the epitaph by looking at a map in the library. We could speculate that she goes there and finds the gold under the hidden mansion, since, the gold was with the witch, so the gold is where the witch used to live. And you can’t move so much gold without nobody noticing, so the gold stayed under the hidden mansion.

What do you think?

Comment by Sacchi — December 23, 2009 #

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- That’s not ’solving’ it, per se. That’s just skipping ahead to the assumed answer. By ’solving’, I mean understanding what each line of the epitaph means exactly. It’s like sending a computer to a repair shop and saying “There, I fixed it”… You’ll have a fixed computer in the end but you still don’t know how it was fixed.
  
  Comment by Atashi — December 23, 2009 #
  
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  - Ah, I see. That makes sense. Just wanted you to keep that in mind.
    
    Comment by Sacchi — December 23, 2009 #
  - One last thing though. The twillights are supposed to take place after you’ve found the “key”. My theory is that the “He who lays upon the key shall travel under the rules below”. That he in my opinion refers to Kinzo. They key is something connected to his family, or something like that.
    
    In the games, we see the twillights happening. Wouldn’t that mean that the key is already in the possession of somebody? Or perhaps everybody? They key to the golden light could be having 13 sacrifices, or something like that. Just a thought.
    
    Comment by Sacchi — December 23, 2009 #
since u know japanese and chinese characters

http://momofukki.egloos.com/5152605

visit here and there’s solved answer.

its in korean but u will be able to understand easily

Comment by dogical — December 24, 2009 #

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- >since u know japanese and chinese characters
  >its in korean but u will be able to understand easily
  I suppose you should understand German and Italian easily, since you already know English?
  
  That 'Taiwan' explanation seems too awkward for Ryukishi to use. Knowing the nature of the characters, why would they want to have anything to do with Taiwan? And surely those stations weren't the same before the 1970's.
  
  Comment by Atashi — December 24, 2009 #
  
  Reply
Mmmm… I kinda think it’d be impossible to solve for anyone who doesn’t know Japanese. Even if we translated it to English, I think that we’d be utterly wrong no matter what if we don’t pick it apart from a japanese perspective…

Comment by Jubbz — December 27, 2009 #

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