Taiyō No Tori
The Vestige of Renewal
The Taiyō no tori or Sun Bird as it is directly translated is the Vestige of Renewal. Being the Vestige of Renewal has put a huge burden onto Taiyō. Taiyō is supposed to encompass one of the biggest tasks and parts of Hibatan culture that any of the vestiges might have. Taiyō however is equivalent to a god of beginnings, endings, renewal, birth and death, very fittingly has a very serious and respectful demeanor but also a very energetic one. Often Taiyō will seem like a teenager at heart with a big task at hand since Taiyō is the vestige tasked with keeping the Elegant Gate itself open. The Elegant Gate as a pantheon is based upon a singular divine object that is to be held open and protected by the present gods. Hitotsu back when the being was alive, was tasked with keeping it open and now the Vestiges of Hitotsu are all tasked with exactly this. Taiyō in particular follows spirits back and forth between the Gate. The Gate itself works as a portal between the afterlife and life in the material realm. It transports spirits into life and also out of life and this is where Taiyō works as a guide. He makes sure that these spirits travel safely and to the correct spot. Spirits who does not travel to the Elegant Gate after death has been said to linger on the material realm, becoming ghasts, ghosts and other undead creatures.
With a task like the one that Taiyō carries, his incarnation is rather fitting. Each Vestige has embodied different creatures that represent what they are a vestige of and what their task is. Taiyō has chosen to take the form of a phoenix. The form of this immortal bird associated that cyclically regenerates is very fitting for that of someone who represents both life and death upon the material realm. Unlike cultures, that commonly would refer to Phoenix as an elder elemental possessed by a need to burn everything to ash, Hibatans associate phoenix with birth, creation and renewal. For Hibatan creation and destruction, life and death, youth and elder are all two sides of the same coin. Without death, life has no agency and need. Without destruction, creation has no space. Without elders, the youth has no guidance. All equally important to understand and to collaborate. Phoenix all embody this ideal understanding that Hibatan strives for. Other Phoenix than Taiyō are seen as the Children of Taiyō and often Phoenix are referred to as either the Children of Taiyō or Guardians of Life.
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