Natsume is rescued from being unmasked as a human by Houzukikami's followers by Madara but thinks he senced where the real Fuzukikami is sealed while he was being swept down the river. He manages to capture the beast with Natori's help by sealing it in the bottle Natori had brought to seal Houzuki. When he returns the sealed beast to the shrine and is declared the winner Fuzuki unmasks him as a human and as he threatens Natsume upon discovery of the deception Madara steps between them despite his earlier warning that even if he is strong enough to take on a kami it will end poorly for him. Natori hands Natsume the stone in which Houzuki is sealed and Natsume frees him before Fuzuki can attack them.
Tropes associated with the episode:
- Ball of Light Transformation: When Fuzuki and Houzuki decide to move on from Mount Misumi they and their followers transform into balls of light to depart from the mountain.
- Cool Mask: Fuzuki and Houzuki have beautiful horned flower adorned masks and Hiiragi appears wearing her horned one-eyed mask.
- Festival Episode: While humans have stopped celebrating the Moon-Splitting Festival the youkai have not and the importance of having Houzuki win the competition at the festival is central to the episode’s plot.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: The reason Houzuki was trapped by such a weak seal is because the festival ended and with it worship of him and he says he no longer has the strength to protect the mountain.
- Humans Are Bastards: Fuzuki certainly seems to think so, and Houzuki was sealed and tossed away by an exorcist who wanted to test himself even though Houzuki spent his entire existence protecting the mountain and making it bountiful and healthy.
- Life/Death Juxtaposition: Fuzuki is god of the Absent Moon and will make Misumigahara barren for the next ten years should he win the competition in the Moon-Splitting Festival, Houzuki is the god of the Harvest Moon and should he win the competition Misumigahara will have another ten years as bountiful and healthy.
- The Magic Goes Away: Both kamis leave Mount Misumi and the festival is declared the final Moon-Splitting festival, if Houzuki had stayed he'd have lost the rest of his power and "rotted away".
- Paper Talisman: Natori and Natsume use some as part of sealing the beast.
- Running Gag: Hiiragi refers to Nyanko as Natsume’s “pig-cat”.
- Shrines and Temples: The festival starts and ends at a shrine and the winning kami is to take up residence in a solitary shrine in the mountains.
- Sinister Scythe: Fuzuki’s followers carry scythes which they brandish at Houzuki’s followers.
- Zigzag Paper Tassel: There is a shimenawa draped across the shrine in which the winning kami is to be enshrined for the next ten years.
