Toshiki Miyamizu

Toshiki Miyamizu (宮水 俊樹) is the estranged father of Mitsuha and Yotsuha, who, following his wife's, Futaba's death, rejected the Miyamizu Shrine and its traditions to pursue a career in politics. He is shown to be a very busy man and have been the mayor of Itomori for 4 years as of 2013.

He was, under his daughter's suggestion, responsible for the evacuation of Itomori during the Comet Tiamat incident. As all residents survived, he was scrutinized by the media for some supposed "hidden agenda". It is unknown what happened to him at the end of the film, as no mention is made of him in the film past the Comet Tiamat incident.

Appearance
Toshiki is a tall, middle-aged man with a few age marks and a stern face. He has neatly-combed dark grey hair which ends just above his ears. He has slightly sharp, brown eyes and quite thick eyebrows. He is seen wearing his brown business suit and a yellow tie, with a white shirt underneath.

Background
Born as Toshiki Mizoguchi (溝口 俊樹), he is the oldest son of the Mizoguchi family, an old family from Nara. During his youth, while Toshiki's parents were landowners, Toshiki lived alone in his apartment in Kyoto to study cultural history, which is very close to folklore studies. Although he was absorbed in his work, his family was sure he come back home someday and settle down, which is why they had arranged a fiancée for him. He had no particular interest in marriage nor his fiancée, who was the granddaughter of a work colleague and former professor of his, so he left the matter alone.

Approximately 20 years prior to the story, Toshiki came to Itomori town for research. He was studying the ancient beliefs and rituals that persisted in rural areas, which is why he was gathering stories from the elderly residents of Itomori. Hitoha Miyamizu deemed that her daughter, Futaba, was suited for the job. During their interviews, they bonded and a mutual attraction formed between them. Despite having no interest in people around him, Toshiki opened up his heart to Futaba. They eventually fell in love. Although Hitoha initially opposed to their marriage and was against "introducing the blood of someone she didn’t really know into the Miyamizu family", she agreed on some conditions: Toshiki would be formally adopted into the Miyamizu family and he would quit his current job and work for Miyamizu Shrine. Despite Futaba's uncertainty, Toshiki had no problem with this, since he loved Futaba and could continue his research without much difficulty. His parents were furious when Toshiki announced his intentions to marry Futaba instead of the fiance they had in mind for him and disowned him. He then left his University job and left Kyoto to start a new life in Itomori.

Soon after, they married in a shinto ceremony and Toshiki took on the Miyamizu surname and became Toshiki Miyamizu. Their daughters, Mitsuha and Yotsuha, were born soon after. Toshiki entered Shinto priesthood and began performing traditions for the Miyamizu shrine with his family.

The four lived a very happy life as a close-knit family, but two years after Yotsuha's birth, Futaba passed away from an illness. Following Futaba's death, Toshiki was devastated because he couldn't do anything to save Futaba. He then rejected the Miyamizu Shrine and its traditions to pursue a career in politics, confessing that he only loved Futaba and not the Miyamizu shrine. Hitoha then ordered him to get out of the house, and although he tried taking his daughters with him, they favored living with their grandmother.

Following this event, he developed a strained relationship with his mother-in-law and eldest daughter. Two years after Futaba's death, he became the mayor of Itomori.

Epilogue (2021)
Although he survived the Comet Tiamant disaster, it is unknown what happened to him. Since Yotsuha lives with her grandmother, and Mitsuha lives alone in her apartment by the time of 2021, it is also unknown where he lives and if his ties with his family still are strained.

Mitsuha Miyamizu
His relationship with Mitsuha was once very close. But after Futaba passed away and he left the shrine, his relationship with Mitsuha became strained. He even embrassed her when he scolded her using his megaphone during his reelection campaign. It's unknown what became of their relationship after the Comet Tiamant disaster. Wether they are still estranged or reconciled afterwards is unknown.

Futaba Miyamizu
He loved his wife Futaba very much. Even giving up his job and family name just to be with her. He was devastated when she passed away as he couldn't do anything to help her, which promoted him to leave Miyamizu shrine to go into politics and eventually became the mayor two years later.

His Parents, The Mizoguchis

Toshiki found no common ground with his parents. As he was their oldest son they expected him to come back home to Nara and settle down dispite their son living in an apartment in Kyoto for his cultural studies. They even chose a fiance for him who was the granddaughter of his college professor. When Toshiki explained his plans to marry Futaba, they attempted to persuade him to reconsider. When he refused, they disowned him and told him to never darken their door again. To this day they have no relationship with their son or ever met their granddaughters.

Trivia

 * Toshiki was the one who named Mitsuha, since he thought it was fitting in regards to Hitoha's and Futaba's names