Enma

The name Enma, in fact, was a title, a crown—many had worn it.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

The name Enma, in fact, was a title, a crown—many had worn it.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

The name Enma, in fact, was a title, a crown—many had worn it.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

Familiar shame rose hotly in him, as he thought of these dead ninjas waking up in whatever new plane they found themselves in, their reborn bodies a jumble of different parts, as if Enma had assigned them new heads and feet and hands as a final, humiliating prank.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

On the other side of the river, he passed by a great throne made of bones, and on it sat a man with long horns who could only be Enma.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

Taro wondered if this was still the same Enma that he had just passed—if it was still the abbot who had been forced to bring death to his own monk.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

He walked to his old disciple, his countenance appalling to behold, and he reached down and touched Enma, the gatekeeper of death, and Enma looked up and realized that his own death had come for him.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

It only meant that she had not yet entered the Pure Land, that her soul had remained in limbo, perhaps still being judged by Enma.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

Enma was the judge, the one who decided which realm of Samsara each deceased person would be consigned to.

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010

But if I am in hell, he thought, then why has Enma not greeted me?

Blood Ninja II Nick Lake 2010