Sonozaki House

The Sonozaki Family are one of the three "Great Houses" of Hinamizawa are, along with the Furude and Kimiyoshi, the most influential in the secluded mountain village. Of the three "Great Houses", the Sonozaki were most powerful as of June 1983, when the events of Higurashi take place. According to ancient legend, all three of the "Great Houses" have demonic blood, and the Sonozaki are said to have it in the greatest quantity. However, it is suggested by Miyo Takano in her research on the village that this is a newer legend, and the Sonozaki were originally the least powerful of the three houses. While they have gained influence over the years, what has not changed is the fact that the Sonozaki were considered the enforcers of the traditional laws of Hinamizawa, often through brutal torture and murder.

As of 1983, the Sonozaki family was highly involved with the Yakuza, and are known are suspected of a number of crimes, including the kidnapping of the son of the Japanese Minister of Public Works after a dam project threatened to inundate Hinamizawa. The dam project was canceled after a construction worker was brutally murdered. This murder, along with a series of murders and disappearances that occur on the date of the Watanagashi festival. In June 1983, one of the twin daughters of the Sonozaki family, Shion committed a number of brutal murders, driven by a local, insanity virus known as the Hinamizawa Syndrome, as well as the delusion that several of her friends and relatives were responsible for the death of her friend and possible love interest, Satoshi Houjou.