The living-god lineage

A 15th-century Suwa text tells of an eight-year-old boy named Arihira who led Suwa Daimyōjin's spirit-troops to subdue "Moriya" — and then became the deity's living vessel (yorishiro). He is remembered as the first Ōhōri of the upper shrine, founder of its priestly line. The Ōhōri was the shrine's highest priest — and its most extraordinary feature: the Ōhōri himself WAS the goshintai. Until Meiji, the shrine's official sacred object was registered as "the successive Ōhōri" — a living god.

Sanae's profile calls her "a human who became a god while remaining human — an ara-hitogami," a distant descendant of Suwako, and a wind priestess. Each clause maps onto this institution: the Ōhōri = a living goshintai; the Moriya = the priests who made the god manifest. ZUN wasn't exaggerating; he was doing a high-fidelity historical reproduction.

The Ōhōri's enthronement rite (o-tari) sealed the new god in seclusion for a month at the Maemiya, receiving the Mishaguji possession. The rite ran until the 74th generation; the 75th Jinchōkan, Moriya Saneari (1825–1903), was the last to actually serve — and the calligrapher of the "seat of the great god Moreya" stone.