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VIDEO: Watanagashi-hen | TIP 15: From the Scrapbook VII
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The Three Families' refers to the three old families who effectively came to rule Onigafuchi Village.
To break it down, there was the Kimiyoshi family, the Furude family, and the Sonozaki family, and each of them still exists today.
(Though they don't have as much control as they did in the remote past, they still hold considerable influence today.)
The Three Families are considered by legend to be those in whom the blood of the swamp demons runs the thickest.
The Kimiyoshi family appears to have held great power as the head of the Three Families, but it doesn't have that kind of leadership today.
The current mayor of the village (Yoshiichirou Kimiyoshi) is from this family.
The fact that members of the Kimiyoshi family are elected as mayor every generation is thought to be a remnant of the old system.
Of course, as no rival candidates appear, it doesn't change the fact that the Kimiyoshi family holds the mayoral office even through popular elections in the post-war era.
The center of the village's faith since ancient times, the Furude clan has guarded the sole shrine dedicated to Oyashiro-sama.
They were worshipped as the only people to represent the voice of Oyashiro-sama for a long time, but the family branched off after the war and lost most of its power. It now consists of only the main house.
The main house, as well, presently consists of only one daughter (Rika Furude), so the lineage may end in this generation.
There is apparently an old tradition of honoring females of the Furude family, so the only daughter, Rika, is the subject of much respect among the elderly of the village.
It's said that this family had a certain police-like role of protecting the religious precepts of Onigafuchi Village.
Of the three families, their relatively weak position can be seen from me putting them here last.
Of course, today, the Sonozaki family is flourishing, and the state of affairs among the Three Families has completely reversed.
Even now, one could say that they are in control of Hinamizawa.
The three families conferring with each other is similar to the old way—the current head of the Sonozaki family, Oryou, essentially decides all of the goings-on in the village by herself.