In order to bind one to yourself, you must defeat the being in a game of Tobanjan - Battle Mahjong - and bind them with a contract. Humans who can control and interact with Shikigami are called 'Shikigami Masters.'īut it is a very difficult thing to catch a Shikigami. The Shikigami are tamed, domesticated Hitokata, who are bound by a contract to stay near a human, and love him and serve him - called Fairies of old. However, within the large group of the Hitokata, there are the ones known as the Shikigami. They are not interested in the affairs of the human world, and avoid all contact with us. They are spirits, mostly wild and unnoticed by humans. In the past, they have been called ghosts, goblins, and the souls of the dead. Silently they move among us, though they take little part on the goings-on of humans.
It is in the shadows between the world of the spirits and the world of the flesh that the Hitokata live. It was through this ancient game that spirit and body became one and the two worlds - the spirit world, and the world of the living flesh - were joined. For centuries, men used Mahjong as both a form of entertainment and a tool for sharpening their psychic skills. Thousands of years ago, it is said that the Gods bestowed this grand tradition on men.
