Rika Furude

Rika Furude's History

Furude Rika is one of the main characters of Higurashi When They Cry. She is a member of the Hinamizawa after-school games club and a shrine maiden who works at the Furude Shrine. The Furude Family has long served as priests and shrine maidens for Hinamizawa's god Oyashiro-sama. Female family members were subject to much honor by villagers. It was believed that if firstborn daughters were born to the Furude Family for eight generations in a row, then that eighth generation would be Oyashiro-sama's reincarnation. Rika Furude was that eighth generation, becoming greatly beloved by the villagers as Oyashiro-sama's reincarnation and messenger. The villagers' praise of Rika was to a point where at a young age, she was allowed to take candy from a store without paying for it.

1981 marked the third year of Oyashiro-sama's curse. Rika's parents were the victims, with her father dying of an unknown illness and her mother drowning herself in the Onigafuchi Swamp to placate Oyashiro-sama. Rika became the only known living member of the Furude Family. The mayor of Hinamizawa legally adopted Rika and serves as her guardian, however Rika lives alone in a disaster relief shelter near the shrine. After the fourth year of the curse in 1982, where Satoko's aunt died and brother disappeared, Satoko began living with Rika.