Cultural Notes
The Divine Comedy
Mythology & Folklore
Women who exhibit extreme jealousy have the potential to become demons and depending on how long or how strongly they allow their feelings to fester they can become more powerful, irredeemable creatures. Namanari are women venturing down the path towards demonhood yet they still hold the potential to be saved. As they grow more powerful they become chuunari and finally honnari.
Honnari are serpentine women who's anger and jealousy have made their hearts black and their spiritual powers immense. They can breath fire and possess immense strength despite beginning their lives as normal humans.
Relevance to Kyokai no Rinne
In chapter 367 a comparision is made between Ayame's disembodied spirit that continues to pursue Tsubasa and a priest and honnari that are simply abbreviated as "A-san" and "K-hime". These two figures are references to "Anchin" and "Kiyohime" from Japanese mythology. In the story Anchin was a priest who briefly fell in love with Kiyohime and forsook his vows. After coming to his senses he abandons her and flees in the night. Kiyohime pursues him and when Anchin takes a boat across the river to escape her Kiyohime slips into the water and turns into a serpent to give chase. Eventually Anchin hides inside of a temple bell at Dojoji but Kiyohime smells him and melts the bells with her firey breath, killing Anchin in the process.