Kusabi

"The time has come to see the Hellish Abyss... to become a Kusabi."

- Seijiro Makabe during the final day of his imprisonment.

The Kusabi is a vengeful ghost fought in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, its Wii remake, and Fatal Frame III: The Tormented. Formerly a folklorist named Seijiro Makabe, he was captured by All God's Village and forced to become a sacrifice in the Hidden Ceremony to appease the Hellish Abyss, only to return and kill everyone in the area. He was voiced by Michael Bell.

Arrival and Sacrifice
Seijiro Makabe was a travelling folklorist and researcher who was led into All God's Village, upon recommendation of his student, Ryozo Munakata, who had visited the area in his youth. Having Dr. Kunihiko Asou's equipment with him, he was received into the Kurosawa household and welcomed by the village leader Ryokan Kurosawa, and his twin daughters Yae and Sae.

At the time of his arrival, the twins were being prepared to become a part of the Crimson Sacrifice ritual in order to appease the Hellish Abyss and prevent the Repentance. To buy time, Makabe was selected by Ryokan to become the new Kusabi in the Hidden Ceremony, and serve as a temporary sacrifice, as it can only be done with an outsider to the village. Yae and Sae, knowing of their father's intention, warned the folklorist, and Seijiro had Ryozo leave ahead of time to spare him of the same fate. Imprisoned within a small library, Seijiro had time to read and learn about the rituals and customs of All God's Villlage, eventually learning about the Cutting Ritual and the Hellish Abyss, accepting his fate happily as he'd see the forbidden place with his own eyes before dying.

Seijiro was sacrificed to the Abyss and served to appease it for enough time, but due to the Crimson Sacrifice using only Sae in its performance, the darkness erupted from the ground and the Repentance began, Sae's crazed spirit emerging from within it followed closely by Makabe, in his Kusabi form. Both of them swept the village and killed anyone in sight, plunging the entire area in darkness and causing it to vanish. For the years to come, wanderers who got lost in the woods and found themselves within the deserted All God's Village would endure the suffering of all the lost souls trapped within it, and face their demise in the form of the Kusabi, who would fiercely attack and slash their bodies apart.

Crimson Butterfly
Some time later, Mayu and Mio Amakura get themselves trapped in the village, with Mayu slowly being influenced and possessed by Sae and the other spirits, As Mio tries to find a way out, she comes across many of the notes Seijiro left behind, explaining about the customs of the area as well as the rituals and his final days under vigilance. Her first proper encounter with the Kusabi happens during her pursuit of Mayu inside the Kurosawa manor, where Sae sics it on Mio at the house's great hall. Fighting it then proves to be useless, as it cannot be harmed by the Camera Obscura.

As the game goes on, Sae's influence finally manages to have both sisters follow her into the Hellish Abyss. At the Sacrificial Altar, the Kusabi once again appears for a final battle, and Mio successfully manages to defeat it. With the consequential appeasing/defeat of Sae, it can be assumed that Seijiro's spirit was finally put to rest, along with the other villagers.

Fatal Frame III
A Kusabi spirit also appears in the sequel, Fatal Frame III: The Tormented, during the sessions concerning Kei Amakura, Mio and Mayu's uncle, as he chases the former throughout her Manor of Sleep dreams, which take the form of a few select areas of All God's Village. Like the original Kusabi, this incarnation is unbeatable during its first encounter, but unlike Makabe, it becomes a common enemy for the area once its role in the story is fulfilled.

Personality
Seijiro was a calm, focused man, who sought to learn as much as he could and enjoyed his time researching what he could. As his notes show, he was a rather good teacher to Munakata and caring towards his friend Itsuki, as well as the twins for their hospitality. Even before his death and suffering, he faced it proudly, knowing that he'd be able to gaze into the Hellish Abyss and learn, for himself, about the village's secret and what it truly was.

As the Kusabi, Seijiro is a blank entity that simply follows Sae's bidding and kills anything and anyone that stays in their path. The evil of the Abyss serves as a constant veil around him, protecting from any harm that might actually stop him, until the very end when he's still powerful enough to kill Mio in one move, but can now be attacked by the Camera Obscura.

Trivia

 * While there is a Kusabi in Fatal Frame III, it is currently unknown if this is the same as the one in II, or a previous, unnamed Kusabi sacrifice, due to similar, but different designs and attacks.
 * The term "Kusabi" comes from the romanization of the Japanese kanji " 楔 ", which roughly translates to "wedge" or "link pin".