Characters / Touhou - Other Official Works

aka: Touhou ZU Ns Music Collection

Touhou Project characters index
Main characters: Main Characters
PC-98 Era: PC-98 Games (Highly Responsive to Prayers, Story of Eastern Wonderland, Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream, Lotus Land Story, Mystic Square)
Windows Era — Main Games: Touhou Koumakyou ~ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil | Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom | Touhou Eiyashou ~ Imperishable Night | Touhou Kaeidzuka ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View | Touhou Fuujinroku ~ Mountain of Faith | Touhou Chireiden ~ Subterranean Animism | Touhou Seirensen ~ Undefined Fantastic Object | Touhou Shinreibyou ~ Ten Desires | Touhou Kishinjou ~ Double Dealing Character | Touhou Kanjuden ~ Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom | Touhou Tenkuushou ~ Hidden Star in Four Seasons | Touhou Kikeijuu ~ Wily Beast and Weakest Creature | Touhou Kouryuudou ~ Unconnected Marketeers | Touhou Juuouen ~ Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost
Windows Era — Other: Side Games | Other Official Works

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Ever since the Touhou Project series was rebooted for Windows-based computers, a number of characters have been introduced solely though side stories in the form of manga, prose fiction, and music CDs with liner notes.

This page is for Touhou characters who debuted in these non-game spinoffs.

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Debuted in Ghostly Field Club

Maribel Hearn

Maribel Hearn

"Don't you get it yet? Dream and reality are the same thing. I said so all the time, didn't I? To me, talking to you now might be dream or reality, I don't quite know..."

A human from outside the border, she is one of the members of the Sealing Club. She has the power to sense and possibly cross boundaries, and has entered Gensokyo (among other places) in her dreams. Maribel and Renko apparently come from 20 Minutes into the Future, where some foods such as bamboo shoots and strawberries are only available as synthetics. Not only are many edible plants extinct, but it is a world where "children do not smile" and commercial Moon trips seem to be commonplace. Probably has some sort of connection to Yukari Yakumo, though when asked by fans about the relationship at a High School lecture, ZUN merely gave the cryptic response of "There was a man named Lafcadio Hearn."

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• Agent Scully: While she's normally more of a Mulder, in Dateless Bar Old Adam Maribel is the one that's the most skeptical of all the supernatural tales being told there, and even wonders why Renko believed her before her powers fully manifested in the first place.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Reading her name as "Maribel" is a fan interpretation; even ZUN himself has no clue what kind of name would be rendered into katakana as "maeriberii".
• Astral Projection: Mary can travel to other places in her dreams, though she doesn't have much control over the destination. It's unclear whether she actually teleports, or whether it's astral projection and Your Mind Makes It Real is in effect:
  • In Trojan Green Asteroid, she's able to bring Renko with her by bringing her to a shrine gate that matches one at her destination.
  • After her powers increase in Neo-traditionalism of Japan she can unambiguously teleport while awake; she can also see other worlds around her and show them to others.
• Captain Ersatz: That hat looks like Yukari's and they both wear a purple dress in the same fashion. Conveniently, Yukari is known for being a heavy sleeper during the day, a time when Maribel would most likely be awake. Renko believes that Maribel's ability to sense boundaries is somehow evolving into the ability to manipulate boundaries (the same ability as Yukari), while Yukari is often known for recognizing Outside World technology. She detests lycoris flowers (a plant that symbolizes death also known as "higan bana" in Japanese) and Yukari explicitly states that if she ever was in a fight against Eiki Shiki (the judge of death in Gensokyo whose stage was covered with these flowers), Yukari would lose. She's majoring in psychology, a field which Yukari has been shown to be a master of. In Symposium of Post-Mysticism, Yuyuko (Yukari's best friend) is depicted visiting the Outside World invisibly and teasing a confused Maribel. Finally, Maribel mentions wanting to visit the moon and thought of "another way to get there" while looking at its reflection; Yukari mentions that long ago she once travelled to the moon using its reflection, just to look around. Make of that what you will.
• Cassandra Truth: Between the events of Trojan Green Asteroid and Neo-traditionalism of Japan she's sent to hospital for her injuries. While she's there the doctors diagnose her with delirium.
• Curtains Match the Window: While the first time was in Magical Astronomy, since Trojan Green Asteroid she has been depicted with blonde hair and yellow eyes.
• Dream Walker:
  • While hard to definitely say since the series keeps the border between dream and reality intentionally blurry, what is clear is that Maribel has access to Gensokyou in her dreams. And she is not the first, with not only Sumireko doing the same but Wild and Horned Hermit implying that many others have entered Gensokyou this way as well.
  • In Changeability of Strange Dream, she visits the Scarlet Devil Mansion and the Bamboo Forest of the Lost.
  • In Dr. Latency's Freak Report she mentions seeing both Youkai Mountain and its surrounding forest, and the Shining Needle Castle.
• Leitmotif: "Mary, the Magician" and "Strange Bird of the Moon, Illusion of Mysterious Cat". In addition, fans sometimes associate the Sealing Club with "Kid's Festival ~ Innocent Treasures" (ZUN's personal theme).
• Meaningful Name: Lafcadio Hearn, a famous horror writer who translated tales of youkai into English, eventually became a Japanese citizen and took the name Koizumi Yakumo. As stated in the summary above, ZUN answered "Lafcadio Hearn" when asked about what the relationship was between Yukari Yakumo and Maribel Hearn. Hearn obviously corresponds to Maribel, while Yakumo could correspond to Yukari after her naturalization in Gensokyo (Of note, canonically "Yukari Yakumo" is a name Yukari chose for herself; her original name has not been given).
  • In addition, it's been suggested that Mary's first name is a corruption of "mulberry", a fruit that turns dark purple when it's ripe. Yukari means "violet".
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Downplayed. While her name is clearly inspired by Irish-Greek writer Lafcadio Hearn, who's best known for his English translations of Japanese legends and ghost stories, it isn't yet clear how much more of her is based on him.
• Non-Specifically Foreign: Maribel's not originally from Japan, but wherever she came from is never specifically defined.
• Number Two: Discussed, she's part of the Secret Sealing Club and has an active role like Renko's, but whether she's the second in command for Renko's leadership, she's actually the leader of the club while Renko just tags along, or if both are "Co-Leaders" is still very much up in the air.
• Ofuda: Sometimes depicted using these in fanart, presumably because of Yukari's mastery of Onmyōdō.
• Pen Name: In-Universe, Renko decides to give Maribel the nickname "Dr. Latency" for a book they are writing about her visions and experiences.
• Schrödinger's Butterfly:
  • Whether or not she's Yukari, Maribel does have a dual existence in Gensokyo in her dreams. She even uses the original Zhuangzi story to refer to herself.
  • ...which could mean Yukari is dreaming about Maribel dreaming about her experiences in Gensokyo (if one believes Akyuu's speculation that the outside world is Yukari's dream). Wrap your mind around that for a moment.
• Signature Headgear: A simple, white mobcap without any decorations whatsoever... but, you know, it would look quite good with a thin, red ribbon tied into a lemniscate... and sure enough, it gains one by the time of Taboo Japan Disentanglement.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Has yellow eyes and powers over barriers.
• Theme Naming:
  • To support the Lafcadio = Maribel theory, the wiki even gives this for the first four CDs (Lafcadio —> Maribel):
  • Ghostly Japan —> Ghostly Field Club (ZUN wanted the same feel as the source material);
  • Exotics and Retrospectives —> Retrospective 53 Minutes (egregious number of references to paintings, Mount Fuji, and "the beauty of memory");
  • Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things —> Changeability of Strange Dream (youkai horror stories; "kaidan"/"kwaidan" itself literally means "ghost stories"); finally,
  • The Romance of the Milky Way —> Magical Astronomy (a "mirror maiden" travels to the moon and has some fun; former is the last by Lafcadio, while the latter is the last one for almost six years).
• Time Travel: A message Maribel left behind on one of her trips to Gensokyo was discovered by the natives... hundreds of years ago. The running theory is that she will eventually become Trapped in the Past.
• True Sight: Maribel is capable of seeing things others can't as a result of her boundary powers, and can share it with others, most often Renko.
• The Unpronouncable: To Japanese speakers at least, leading Renko to just call her "Mary". Also extends out of universe somewhat, as even ZUN has no clue what kind of name would be rendered into katakana as "maeriberii", with Maribel being the most common fan interpretation of her full name.
• Vague Age: Her exact age isn't stated, but since she and Renko are depicted drinking alcohol, they'd have to be at least 20 years old by the time ''Dateless Bar "Old Adam" takes place.

Renko Usami

Renko Usami

"Let's wake up! Dreams are things to be made into reality. The world of dreams can be made into reality!"

Maribel's friend, who also lives outside of Gensokyo, and the other member of the Sealing Club. Renko initiates most of their activities. She has the ability to determine her exact position and the current time by looking at the moon and the stars respectively. Heavily implied to be the descendent of or other close relative of Sumireko Usami, due to their shared surname and Sumireko founding her own Sealing Club.

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• Ambiguously Related: It's implied that she's related to Sumireko Usami, but it's left ambiguous as to whether she's her direct descendant or descended from a relative.
• Agent Scully: A notable subversion. Renko is the scientific, logical, objective one of the pair and shoots down some of Maribel's odder notions, but she's also much more enthusiastic about their occult activities, driving their investigations and efforts to find another world.
• The Anti-Nihilist: She finds the idea of the human smallness comforting instead of distressing.
• The Chessmaster: As shown in Dateless Bar Old Adam, Renko is a competent schemer. While it's not outright stated, it's clear that she didn't set up the situation in Old Adam just to gain intel of a possible mystery spot to explore. She published the Sealing Club's fanzine to spread the belief in the supernatural to the cynical population, then reinforcing that belief through subconscious suggestion into the drunk patrons' minds while also rooting out any posers by having Maribel reflect the patrons' stories back to them.
• Floral Theme Naming: Renko means "lotus child". The name of her apparent ancestor Sumireko, introduced in Urban Legend in Limbo, means "violet child", so it also doubles as Family Theme Naming.
• Fatal Flaw: Curiosity. Despite the fact she knows a lot about the real world and how it functions, she has an overpassionate desire to learn what she does not know or cannot comprehend by theories. For example, while in TORIFUNE, she has no of learning about it despite the fact of a threat, and this gets her in trouble. In many fanworks that feature her, this ends up being her undoing and getting her in even more trouble.
• Genki Girl: Renko provides most of the energy behind the Sealing Club's activities, and can slide into this at her most enthusiastic. When brought to TORIFUNE's low gravity, she starts jumping around and pretending to shoot things. When helping Merry transcribe a record of their adventures, she suggests adding a climactic Final Battle.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Renko is implied to be jealous of Maribel's dream adventures and fully hopes to come along with her. Her jealousy is pretty much confirmed in Neo-Traditionalism of Japan.
  "While Renko felt a bit jealous, she hoped that somehow she too could see what Merry saw."
• Hidden Depths: Despite being a girl that enjoys the occult as much as her partner Merry and implied relative Sumireko, she's comparable to Stephen Hawking in intelligence when it comes to her main field, physics.
• Iconic Item: Typically seen with a book and always with her hat.
• Immortality Seeker: Downplayed. She isn't actively seeking out immortality, but when asked in Magical Astronomy if she'd take an immortality elixir if given the chance, she says yes without hesitation because she believes Living Forever Is Awesome.
• Info Dump: Unless she takes it easy, she likes to go nuts on anything she has learned.
• The Leader: Discussed; Just because she has a Secret Sealing Club just like her presumed ancestor Sumireko, it's not clear if she's the one leading the expeditions while Merry's the second in command, Merry being the one who leads the way while Renko's the second in command, or if both girls can be considered "co-leaders".
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Trojan Green Asteroid:
  Renko: "Right now I'm almost like the protagonist of a shooting game!"
• Legacy Character: Urban Legend in Limbo establishes that Renko is following in the footsteps of Sumireko Usami, the original founder of the Sealing Club.
• Leitmotif:
  • While she doesn't have an official one, "Kid's Festival ~ Innocent Treasures" (ZUN's personal theme) is associated with her and Maribel in fanworks.
  • "Greenwich in the Sky" would probably be the closest to one, given her ability to tell the time from the stars.^note The British Royal Observatory in Greenwich kept track of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the predecessor to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
• Living Forever Is Awesome: Though she isn't immortal herself, she firmly holds this opinion. She believes the reason so many stories make immortality out to be terrible is to discourage greed and rebellion against authority.
• Ludicrous Precision: Her power is to tell the current time and place down by ludicrous accuracy.
• Meaningful Name: The kanji in her family name mean "roof" or "heaven", "assistant" or "help", and "to see", respectively. This is an obvious reference to her ability to tell the time and her geographical location by looking at the stars and the moon, respectively.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Merry's powers have been getting stronger. Renko's? Not so much if at all. If they have changed we don't know about it.
• Required Secondary Powers: Played with. Renko claims her ability can only tell the time in Japanese Standard, but Maribel points out that she should only need basic math to get other timezones.
• Schedule Fanatic: She can be late, but she'll always tell Maribel down to the second how late she was.
• Signature Headgear: A black hat tied with a white ribbon that looks a lot like Sumireko's hat.
• Teen Genius: While her exact age is unknown, she's still a university student who boasted that she's smarter than Planck and from how she seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of almost anything, the boast is justified.
• Unusual Ears: As an Incredibly Lame Pun on her family name, Usami, Japanese fanartists sometimes draw her wearing bunny ears (usamimi).
• Vague Age: Her exact age isn't stated, but since she and Maribel are depicted drinking alcohol they'd have to be at least 20 years old by the time ''Dateless Bar "Old Adam" takes place.

Debuted in Curiosities of Lotus Asia

Rinnosuke Morichika

Store Owner of Kourindou

Rinnosuke Morichika

"Business or not, a terrible waste is a terrible waste."

The half-youkai, half-human owner of the shop Kourindou, he uses his power to identify strange objects with True Names and figure out their function. Thus, his shop deals with objects from outside of Gensokyo that won't be easily identified, like his own oil-burning heater, a Game Boy (which he mistook for an Artifact of Doom) and various knick-knacks that Marisa gathers from time to time.

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• Author Avatar: ZUN admitted in Rinnosuke's profile in Who's Who in Gensokyo to feeling a sense of "affinity" with him, and sure enough his self-portrait is a dead-ringer for Rinnosuke's design.
• Canon Immigrant: He makes has first appearance in the games as one of the background characters in Hopeless Masquerade.
• The Cameo: Is a background character in Hopeless Masquerade.
• Collector of the Strange: In addition to selling goods from the outside world, he also likes to collect them and is reluctant to part with his merchandise.
• First-Person Smartass: In Curiosities of Lotus Asia he has a rather sarcastic inner monologue.
• Genius Ditz: He's mostly known for being a Know-Nothing Know-It-All who will pull information out of his ass and justify it with Insane Troll Logic. But, he was able to create Marisa's Mini-Hakkero, so he's not completely clueless.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-human, half-youkai, though it's unknown what type of youkai his youkai parent was, or the genders of either parent.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Usually depicted as very tall, and associated with Marisa who is very short. In some pictures where they're shown together, he's taller while sitting down than Marisa is while standing up.
• Hybrid Power: Him being half-human half-youkai makes him really resistant to most diseases as there are very few diseases which can affect both humans and youkai.
• Idiot Hair: Has an ahoge, and happens to be a bit of a Know-Nothing Know-It-All.
• Insane Troll Logic:
  • Rinnosuke's thought processes frequently veer into this. Just take the first chapter, where he finds a set of 15 books on computers and decides this "proves" that computers are shikigami powered by the moon... because the moon is round and 13-14-15 is almost the same as the first few digits of pi.
  • In Chapter 15, he comes up with an insanely complicated explanation for the existence of a dinosaur vertebra fossil which Reimu found, which includes nonsense like bones continuing to grow after an animal dies so they can become vessels for gods, and ties it all in with Japanese wordplay (since the words for sea, rain, and Heaven can all be pronounced "ama"). He also completely refutes Reimu's surprisingly cogent suggestion that Gensokyo may have been underwater long ago since she found seashell fossils along with the vertebra.
• Intergenerational Friendship:
  • With Marisa. Rinnosuke used to work in her father's shop.
  • He's also developed one with Sumireko Usami, even referring to her as "Usami-kun".
• In-Series Nickname: As a result of the name of his shop, Marisa calls him Kourin.
• I Should Write a Book About This: Is currently writing his memoirs, and fantasizes about it becoming Gensokyo's first history textbook (to the point where the introductory passage is "The history of Gensokyo has been born.").
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All:
  • "By the way, Rinnosuke's supposed vast storage of knowledge comes almost entirely out of thin air. Indeed, he doesn't know nearly as much as he thinks he does."
  • When a localized rainstorm appears on his shop, Rinnosuke's first thought is that the Sword of Kusanagi (which he added to his collection recently) must be declaring him the rightful Emperor of Japan, claiming that there can't be many beings around who are powerful enough to manipulate the weather. Turns out the rain was created by a fairy.
  • He also seems convinced that once his memoirs are finished they'll become the official history textbook of Gensokyo, and make him rich and famous.
  • According to Marisa, he knows a lot but as a result of that it leads to him guessing a lot to fill in the blanks. She thinks one should only listen to half of what he says.
• Leitmotif: "Curious old Shanghai tile" from his appearance in Touhou Unreal Mahjong (a fangame, but his theme was composed by ZUN).
• Magitek: Despite his poor understanding of Outside World technology and not (apparently) being capable of magic, he was able to create Marisa's Mini-Hakkero by combining both.
• Meaningful Name: Morichika means "near the forest" (the location of his shop) and Rinnosuke means "helps the long rain" (he has relationships with the Kirisame family, Kirisame meaning "drizzle"). Chapter 26 of Curiosities of Lotus Asia also has him discussing the possible meanings of Yukari Yakumo's name.
• Mr. Exposition: Or so he seems to fancy himself. He spends an awful lot of time explaining how things in Gensokyo work to Reimu and Marisa or else just narrating about it at length. ZUN, however, has mentioned that most of Rinnosuke's wisdom is his own speculation. invoked
• Namedar: His ability is to recognize the name of an object and its purpose. This doesn't come with the instruction manual. For example, his ability tells him that an iPod is capable of "storing and playing a lot of music", but it doesn't tell him how to store or play anything, and he doesn't know how to use a computer correctly anyway.^note He thinks they're shikigami since they short out in water. And because it neglected to tell him that the people it controls and the worlds it can create or destroy are imaginary, he thought that a Game Boy was an Artifact of Doom.
• The Needless: Due to his mixed parentage, all Rinnosuke needs for sustenance is a cup of sake with some side vegetables, though he prefers full meals.
• Non-Action Guy: Despite his half-human, half-youkai nature, he doesn't seem to be any tougher than a regular human^note Though he is apparently resistant to both human and youkai diseases., and he admits that he's unable to do anything rough. Lampshaded by Marisa and Reimu, who wonder how he managed to live so long without knowing how to handle himself. (It's likely due to his status as a half-youkai, which means he neither gets attacked by other youkai, nor needs to attack humans, so he probably just hasn't really needed to fight in general).
• The One Guy: Was for a long time the only humanoid male character to actually show up in person, and is still the only one to be anything more than a One-Shot Character.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: He hardly ever actually sells any of the goods at his store.
• Pretty Boy: Both Wild and Horned Hermit and Forbidden Scrollery depict him as pretty in appearance.
• Really 700 Years Old: It's suggested that's he's at least more than a century in age, since when he notes the sudden increase of crested ibises in Gensokyo he recalls there being a lot in the Outside World back when he still lived there. (The crested ibis started its decline in Japan around the same time the Great Hakurei Barrier was erected.) This is despite that fact that he looks no older than a young adult at most. Part of the reason he keeps to himself is because his lack of aging tended to unnerve people in the Human Village.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: His reasoning for why computers are a type of shikigami is gibberish... but Yukari, who actually would know, uses the terms interchangeably; ZUN has commented on their similarity under Touhou metaphysics; and their similarities are actually a minor plot point in Foul Detective Satori.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Very shiny ones in HM.
• Smoking Is Cool: He thought so, partly due to how rare cigarettes are in Gensokyo. But this gets shattered when Sumireko informs him of the changing perceptions of smoking.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Is depicted with golden eyes and happens to be half-youkai.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Rinnosuke insists in Chapter 10 of Curiosities of Lotus Asia that he's visiting Muenzuka to pay his respects to the nameless dead slain by youkai and not to fish rare Outside World items from their corpses, before proceeding to do exactly that.
• Stoic Spectacles: He wears glasses and tends to remain calm and collected.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: According to some of his dialogue he used to live in the outside world, however when he visits the outside again in a dream it appears completely alien to him due to the time that has passed.

Book Reading Youkai

Book Reading Youkai

"I know the one in red is in there! She's the one that took my books!"

An unfortunate book-reading Youkai who was beaten up by Reimu, who mistakenly assumed she had stolen some books. When she tries to get them back, she gets beaten up by Marisa.

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• Bookworm: Her most clear characterization trait is a love of books, though unfortunately for her she's not the badass kind as she's basically curbstombed by Reimu and Marisa.
• Butt-Monkey: She basically shows up to try to get her books back, only to unceremoniously defeated by Marisa.
• The Cameo: Shows up with Lily White in a color panel of Chapter 6 of Forbidden Scrollery.
• Horned Humanoid: Has two tiny horns on her head.
• No Name Given: She has no canonical name beyond "Book-Reading Youkai"^note Which is what the sculpture of her is labeled. "Tokiko", her most common fan name, translates to "little crested ibis", and was given to her after fans noted her resemblance to the bird in question.
• One-Shot Character: Apart from her Forbidden Scrollery cameo she only appears once in Chapter 2 to get beaten by Marisa.
• Revenge by Proxy: Invoked by Reimu, who suggests that she fight Marisa in her stead since she can't do much fighting while wearing Rinnosuke's extra pair of clothing she's burrowing.
• Winged Humanoid: Similarly to Mystia Lorelei, her wings are reminiscent of a bat's.

Debuted in Eastern and Little Nature Deity

The Three Fairies of Light

The Three Fairies of Light

Three fairies who love playing pranks on others and go treasure hunting, and often get punished for their practical jokes. Each fairy possesses a different power and are able to combine their talents. Though, while they are known for their teamwork, it is often haphazard, and they are often unsuccessful at pulling off their pranks. In Eastern and Little Nature Deity and Strange and Bright Nature Deity they lived in the Forest of Magic like Alice and Marisa, but as of Oriental Sacred Place they've moved their home behind the Hakurei Shrine.

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Tropes associated with the Three Fairies of Light:

• The Alcoholic: There's been numerous cases where the trio drank liquor and a decent number of their hijinks go towards getting some to drink. This explains why their plots to cause major incidents never take off.
• Badass Boast: Parodied when the fairies introduce themselves to Cirno and brag about how their powers make them unbeatable... at hide-and-seek. Cirno is, of course, genuinely impressed.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Their ambition is to terrorise humankind and prove that fairies, like the other youkai, are not to be taken lightly. The most they manage is to mildly annoy people with their pranks.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Luna Child is blonde, Star Sapphire is a brunette, and Sunny Milk is a redhead.
• The Cameo: Show up in the background of some Wild and Horned Hermit panels.
• Canon Immigrant: With Fairy Wars, they're the first expanded material characters to be put into a game (not counting Aya, who first appeared in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, which came out only a few days before her official appearance in Phantasmagoria of Flower View).
• Chromatic Arrangement: Sunny is the leader and associated with the colour red, Star is blue and the most intelligent of the three, while Luna is yellow and the most laid-back.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Subjected to this twice - First in Great Fairy Wars where after being defeated by Cirno they either become subordinates or friends with her (depending on the route). In Oriental Sacred Place, they try to invoke this by challenging Reimu on reasoning that everyone that Reimu fights ends up becoming friends with her. It works, though Visionary Fairies in Shrine reveals that they have no issue continuing to attempt to prank her though.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: When they first meet Alice, Sunny keeps telling more and more lies about them and their situation to the point that she just happens to make up a story to tell Alice they're looking for a "multi-colored magician" in order to steal her powerful grimoire. Since Alice fits that description, she immediately declares them enemies and gets ready to attack. Subverted in the end when a bunch of birds show up and start pecking at the fairies for their lies, which Alice finds so funny she offers to befriend them instead.
• Final Boss: The last bosses of Yousei Daisensou ~ Touhou Sangetsusei. Yes, all three at once.
• Fisher King: By putting their home in a dead tree, they bring the tree back to life. This is more significant than it seems, as the tree was actually part of the Great Hakurei Barrier which had become connected to the Outside World due to the unusual circumstances of its death. Before anyone could take advantage of this, Yukari Yakumo encouraged the fairies to take up residence in the tree so that it would return to being part of Gensokyo.
• Friendly Rivalry: Are basically friends with Cirno even if they do come to blows at times.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The romanizations in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense are slightly different and don't contain spaces. "Starsaphire" was presumably just a misspelling, "Sunnymilk" isn't much of a difference, but "Lunarchild" is trickier, especially since all three fairies tend to call each other by the first part of their names.
• Light 'em Up: All three fairies are connected to the light shed by a particular celestial body.
• Nature Spirit: Aspects of nature linked with light to be precise.
• New Year's Resolution: Every new year they plot to cause a major incident that will get Reimu's attention. Then they get drunk and forget all about it the next day.
• No-Sell: Reisen Udongein Inaba's wave-manipulation abilities make her immune to all three of the fairies' powers.
• The Prankster: Mostly spend their days pranking people.
• Resurrective Immortality: As embodiments of nature, they can't stay dead.
• Stealth Expert: All of their abilities in some way relate to sneaking around.
• Stellar Name: All three are named after heavenly bodies: Sunny Milk, Luna child, and Star Sapphire.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Every so often, one of their pranks succeeds without them getting into trouble. Examples include Aya coaching them on hiding the sun (until Sunny got too tired to continue), Marisa falling into a pit trap they'd set up, and working with Clownpiece to drive Youmu insane via her torch during a party.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: In Eastern and Little Nature Deity, they tend to default to low-key bickering when they're not focused on a prank or other mischief. The later continuations tone this down greatly.
• Who's Laughing Now?: On the receiving end of this when Nitori catches them laughing at several kappa who they thought had died while testing their new canyoning course in the Genbu River. Nitori ties them up and turns them into her first non-kappa test subjects for the course as punishment.
• Winged Humanoid: All three of them have wings that do not appear to be directly attached to their bodies.
• Wolfpack Boss: Cirno has to fight all three of them at once at the end of Yousei Daisensou ~ Touhou Sangetsusei.

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Prank-loving Sunlight

Sunny Milk

"I'm the strongest of us three! I'm gonna go all out against you, so get ready!"

Self-proclaimed leader of the Three Fairies of Light. Sunny can manipulate light via refraction. She is at her strongest during the day when the sun is out, but is weakened if the weather is cloudy.

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• Cute Little Fangs: Has very pointy canine teeth.
• Field Power Effect: Strongest during the day.
• Genki Girl: The most cheerful and energetic of the three.
• Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair in pigtails.
• Heavy Sleeper: Out of the entire trio, she sleeps the most and the heaviest.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: It was her idea for The Three Fairies of Light (including herself) to wreck Cirno's house. It also resulted in Cirno kicking her (and her partners') rears.
• Invisibility: She uses her light-refracting powers to conceal herself and the other fairies.
• Leitmotif: "Sunny Rutile Flection"
• Meaningful Name: Her powers rely on the presence of her namesake.
• Mundane Utility: One of the potential uses of her power is to allow her to create an invisible periscope to make her able to see around corners and the like.
• No-Sell: Her manipulation of light also extends to danmaku made of light, which she can refract and deflect with ease. Even when it comes from powerhouses like Yukari, who admitted that she was genuinely impressed... before switching to non-light-based attacks and defeating Sunny effortlessly.
• The Power of the Sun: She's got a number of spells in Fairy Wars that suggest using sunlight or solar fire, like Sunlight: "Sunshine Blast". She can also absorb sunlight to heal her injuries (creating an inverted rainbow in the process).

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Silent Moonlight

Luna Child

"Sorry to say, but the night is my specialty. This is where your advance ends!"

Luna can manipulate sound, dampening it so she can sneak around. She is at her strongest when the moon is out, but is weakened if the weather is cloudy.

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• A Day in the Limelight: The short story Fairy of the Moon.
• Character Tic: Tends to hold her mouth open in a small teardrop shape when she's focused on something.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Constantly falls on her face.
• The Ditz: Perfect Memento in Strict Sense stated that she's the least smart of the three fairies. Yet one cannot ignore the fact that-
• Dumbass Has a Point: She's the one of the three fairies who most commonly doesn't just go along with any situation with the same carefree ignorance, but instead questions the goings-on around them and the wisdom of their choices.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: The outfit she is wearing on one of the chapter covers screams of this.
• Field Power Effect: She's strongest at night.
• Leitmotif: "Can't Sleep Because It's Nighttime", which uses a couple notes from the beginning of Mokou's theme, "Reach For the Moon, Immortal Smoke".
• Lunacy: Exposure to moonlight increases her powers and heals her injuries.
• Meaningful Name: Her powers rely on the presence of her namesake.
• Must Have Caffeine: She loves coffee to the extent that she steals coffee beans, to the annoyance of tea shops she steals them from. It's noted in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense that this is unusual, since most fairies prefer sweets. This doesn't mean that the other two don't like coffee, of course (they even played a prank on Cirno using coffee), but Luna especially loves them.
• Ojou Ringlets: Has the ringlets to go with her Elegant Gothic Lolita motif.
• Perpetual Frowner: She is almost always seen with a frown on her mouth or similar. Her portrait in Fairy Wars being one of the exceptions.
• Signature Headgear: Dons a white beret with black ribbons attached at the sides.
• Tsurime Eyes: Her eyes are drawn like this, though it usually just makes her look tired.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?:
  • Luna doesn't think her power is useful for anything other than pranking and theft, and believes herself to be the weakest of the three fairies.
  • As revealed by Fairy of the Moon, Yukari disagrees, as the moon is a potent source of energy for youkai. Indeed, she thinks Luna might be the strongest of the trio. Strange Creators of Outer World also describes her as the most "youkai-like" of the three fairies.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Akyuu writes, "When she is stealing stuff she erases sound, and that's it. She won't think of doing it any other way." Even if the sudden unnatural silence will easily give her away.

---

Pouring Starlight

Star Sapphire

"The way you act is pitifully easy to sense. You're quite a fool for not noticing you've been lured here."

The smartest member of the Three Fairies of Light. Star can sense any moving animate thing in a wide area, making her sort of a living radar. Unlike Sunny and Luna, she is unaffected by the time of day or the weather.

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• Freaky Is Cool: She's more enraptured than terrified of Clownpiece's fake hell, unlike Sunny and Luna.
• Forgot About Her Powers: Despite the fact that her power is supposed to always be on, Marisa manages to sneak up on the fairies multiple times.
• Hime Cut: More than a few fans have noted that her long haircut makes her look a lot like Kaguya.
• Jack of All Stats: Relative to the other two Fairies, Star's power and Healing Factor are static and fall in between Sunny's and Luna's depending on the weather they're in since stars are always present in the sky.
• Karma Houdini: She's smart enough to sometimes evade the punishments Sunny and Luna suffer.
• Leitmotif: "Like the Brilliance of Fairies"
• The Little Detecto: She can detect moving objects within a wide radius. According to her she can't do this if she's drunk, however.
• The Slacker: Enjoys pulling pranks but puts no effort in it, leaving all the work to Sunny and Luna.
• Star Power: She's powered by starlight.

Debuted in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

Aya Shameimaru

See our Touhou Kaeidzuka ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View page.

Debuted in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense

Hieda no Akyuu

Memory of Gensokyo

Hieda no Akyuu

"If there are any opinions you'd like to present, please visit the Hieda residence. If you come to help tidy the place up, then even youkai are most welcome."

The ninth Child of Miare, a reincarnation of the historical Hieda no Are who is born with a photographic memory and knowledge of their past lives. Akyuu is the current author of the Gensokyo Chronicle, an anthology of Gensokyo's history (published in Real Life as Touhou's Universe Compendia, Perfect Memento in Strict Sense and Symposium of Post-Mysticism), which has received a new edition with each of her incarnations.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: She has purple hair in most of her appearances, however, in her debut she had black hair.
• Author Appeal: Likes FM synthesis music - specifically the soundtracks of the PC-98 games, which apparently were produced in Gensokyo and distributed as vinyl records.
• Big Fancy House: Forbidden Scrollery shows that she lives in one of these, complete with a shishi-odoshi. Akyuu just thinks the whole place is old and outdated.
• Brutal Honesty: She's nothing if not blunt in her opinions of everyone.
• The Cameo:
  • In Chapter 5 of Oriental Sacred Place, she's seen planting a pinwheel on the ground for a festival, which Star Sapphire ends up taking for herself.
  • Shows up in Chapter 20 of Wild and Horned Hermit in a non-speaking role alongside Kosuzu from Forbidden Scrollery.
  • In Chapter 25 of Wild and Horned Hermit she's seen observing the kappa's astronomy show alongside Keine Kamishirasawa.
• Captain Obvious: Various statements of her tend to be tautologies or things that are obvious to anyone living in a supposedly-dangerous world (or anyone else for that matter).
• Cast from Lifespan: How she pays for her incarnation-spanning memory.
• Curtains Match the Window: Purple hair and eyes.
• Deadpan Snarker: Evident in her writing style and especially her footnotes. In her earlier appearances she was more of a Little Miss Snarker. (Touhou seems to be averting Not Allowed to Grow Up when it comes to her.)
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Downplayed, but she often wonders what role the Chronicles have to play in a Gensokyo where humans and youkai are becoming more and more friendly with one another.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Doesn't particularly like youkai in general, though she has no problem working with them professionally as exemplified by the quote above. To be more exact, like Keine she's a very firm believer that humans and youkai should stay separate, lest Gensokyo's social fabric become permanently altered, and the youkai all die from humans no longer fearing them.
  • On the other hand, the afterword (written by her) remarks that she might want to be friends with youkai in the future.
• Footnote Fever: Has at least three footnotes per area. In some odd cases, there's also footnotes for the footnotes.
• Goroawase Number: "Kyuu" can mean "nine" (it's written with a different kanji in her name though), referring to her being the ninth reincarnation of Hieda no Are ("re" can similarly mean "zero"). Continuing the theme, the past eight Children of Miare were named Aichi, Ani, Ami, Ayo, Ago, Amu, Anana and Aya. Presumably she'll take the name Ajuu ("ten") in her next life.
• Hime Cut: Not so much as a child, but when she shows up in Forbidden Scrollery in her late teens she has a shoulder-length one.
• Immortality Seeker: Downplayed example, she is searching for ways to fight her fate and live a little longer but despite that knows that she has maybe less than ten years left to live. She doesn't mind it too much since she will be reborn regardless.
• Leitmotif: "Child of Are".
• Meaningful Name: see above for the meaning of the "kyuu" part.
• Nerves of Steel: In Chapter 47 of Forbidden Scrollery during her meeting with Mamizou she appears calm, but afterwards admits she found the experience extremely nerve wracking because she knew that if Mamizou wanted to hurt her she'd stand no chance, which she notes is true with all the youkai she's interviewed.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Is the descendent and reincarnation of Kojiki author Hieda no Are.
• The Ojou: Gives off this vibe in Forbidden Scrollery thanks to her clothing, happening to be a wealthy landowner who's part of a large clan, and Big Fancy House.
• Pen Name: In Chapter 40 of Forbidden Scrollery Akyuu gets into writing dime store novels, but goes under the pseudonym of "Agatha Chris Q" because her high status makes writing such things unbecoming.
• Photographic Memory: Her ability of "Gumonji" means that she can't forget anything.
• Pungeon Master: Frequently makes puns in her books.
• Reincarnation: However, she usually only lives long enough to update her records, so she often only gets less than ten to twenty years per lifetime.
• Squee: Her reaction to Mamizou in disguise stating that she's a fan of her work as Agatha Chris Q. in Chapter 46 of Forbidden Scrollery is to gush over the fact that she has someone she can talk to regarding the books since it's done under a pen name.
• Unreliable Narrator:
  • All of her information comes from interviewing the other characters, who may be mistaken about events (such as Rinnosuke assuming that computers are "shikigami")^note Though this borders on being Right for the Wrong Reasons. Yukari, who seems to actually know the nature of both, uses the terms virtually interchangeably, and their similarities are not only mentioned in various official sources, but a minor plot point in Foul Detective Satori, where Ran and Chen are employed to perform Big Data analysis. or outright lie to her. She also notes that some asked her to exaggerate their powers. There's also half the profile on Sakuya, where she wonders about what exactly she was before she met Remilia.
  • She continues this trend in Symposium of Post-Mysticism, even though there aren't any interviews involved (that we know of).
  • Might go into being a Troll at times — upon getting a request from Marisa (in a ZUN-written comic that came with Perfect Memento in Strict Sense) to write her in a flattering way, she proceeds to do just the opposite.
  • In the aforementioned comic, it's also established that Yukari actively censors the Gensokyo Chronicle, saying that she is the reality of Gensokyo, and that its memory would have to match its reality.
• Vague Age: One of the few aversions for human characters. Her current incarnation was specifically said to be 10 years old when she was introduced in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, and in the same book a Bunbunmaru article from 1994 announces her birth. In Forbidden Scrollery, she's clearly several years older than she was when first introduced, indicating that she's the only Touhou character who visibly ages more or less in real time.
• Wise Beyond Her Years: Her body may be young, but she has probably hundreds of years of knowledge and experience to draw upon.
• World Half Full: Her books, in which she classifies youkai according to "threat level" and "human friendship level", are the best sources of evidence that Gensokyo is a dangerous place for humans to live. However, this may all be part of the image that the youkai want her to depict them as, since they asked her to write them in this fashion, as well as the fact that she wants to make the book more entertaining (she admits this in the foreword of Perfect Memento in Strict Sense) or works from second- and third-hand rumors of some of the more elusive youkai.

Debuted in Silent Sinner in Blue

Rei'sen

Rei'sen

"H-How rude! There's nothing wrong with me! I just hit a little space debris, that's all!"

An apparently ordinary Moon Rabbit who's gotten herself deeply involved in the events of Silent Sinner in Blue. Rei'sen is just a literal pet name given to her by the Watatsuki sisters, in honor of their previous pet Rei'sen (aka Reisen Udongein Inaba). Her original name is unknown.

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• Little Bit Beastly: Apart from the ears and tail she looks more or less human.
• Magical Eye: While it hasn't been confirmed, fanworks often depict her (and other moon rabbits) as possessing weaker versions of the other Reisen's Lunatic Red Eyes.
• Moon Rabbit: Much like the other Reisen, Seiran, and Ringo.
• New Meat: Recently recruited into the Lunar Defense Corps.
• One-Steve Limit: This Reisen's name is written phonetically in katakana (レイセン) as common for foreign names, whereas Reisen Udongein Inaba started writing her own name in kanji (鈴仙) after moving to Earth. Since they're "spelled" differently in Japanese, perhaps it might be appropriate to think of her as some homophone like "Rei'sen" or "Raysen".
• Replacement Goldfish: Literally the replacement for the old Reisen who ran away, though they get along decently well.
• Telepathic Spacemen: Moon rabbits have a limited form of telepathy allowing them to share rumours and gossip across long distances.
• Unwitting Pawn: She unknowingly draws the Watatsuki sisters into Yukari's plan when Eirin convinces her to go back to the Moon and warn the Watatsukis that Yukari was about to invade them. Though if Eirin hadn't warned them, then they would have been caught even further off-guard. The only difference is that because they were forewarned, both of Yukari's decoys were needed, whereas if they hadn't been, Yukari herself might have been able to successfully invade instead of ending up as decoy #2 (it's unclear whether Yukari had any way to evade the moon's impurity-detecting trees). Eirin was sending Rei'sen to offer support against a rumored invasion that Eirin herself had spread the rumors for.

Watatsuki no Yorihime

The Moon Princess Possessed by Divine Spirits

Watatsuki no Yorihime

"But, you know, if we're under suspicion I can't just do as I please like you, my sister... I can't live a carefree life like that."

The younger of the Watatsuki sisters, Lunarian princesses and leaders of the Lunar Defense Corps. Yorihime is the more serious of the two, and the one in charge of the Moon Rabbits' combat training (with Reisen Udongein Inaba having been one of her star pupils). She has the power to channel gods, shared by Reimu, but due to a better work ethic she can use it far more effectively.

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• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Her sword is sharp enough to cut Marisa's Master Spark in two!
• Achilles' Heel: When not channeling the gods, she's vulnerable to anything else a human is, and ends up getting knocked out by a pit trap in Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth Chapter 26
• All of the Other Reindeer: It's vaguely implied that the other Lunarians distrust her due to her power. Helping Yorihime solve this problem, by showing Lunarians that other people like Reimu can also summon gods, seems to be one objective of Eirin's plan. It doesn't help that the sisters' mentor betrayed Lunarian society, and they put only token efforts into tracking her down.
• All Your Powers Combined: Her fighting style relies on summoning gods into her body, letting her switch between powersets to fit the situation.
• Always Someone Better: She is this to Reimu, being what she could become should she train herself.
• Attack Reflector:
  • Channeling Kanayamakiho (god of metals) has her reduce Sakuya's knives to iron sand, recreate them, and fire them back while combined with Honoikazuchi's lightning abilities. Notably Reimu has also channeled this god in a chapter of Wild and Horned Hermit.
  • She channels the goddess Ishikoridome, who carries the legendary Yata Mirror, to reflect Marisa's laser attacks with its magical properties.
• Badass Bookworm: She's always seen carrying a computer in the shape of a book, and she's one of the most powerful beings in the series.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • While Reimu and Remilia in particular were able to put up a good fight, in the end Yorihime easily defeats the entire Gensokyo party.
  • The Reisens in Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth fail to even last one panel before getting destroyed during their training.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Has this sort of reputation among the Moon Rabbits, though she seems to be more of the "Sergeant Major" type - pushing her trainees very hard, but without actually flinging insults at them.
• Evil Counterpart: To Reimu, though the "evil" part is debatable. They both have the power to channel the gods, and despite being tasked to defend their race are oddly friendly towards their supposed enemies (earthlings and youkai respectively). Also like Reimu she has reputation issues among her own people.
• Field of Blades: Can generate an upside-down version to cage enemies by stabbing her sword into the ground and creating more katanas out of nowhere.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Yorihime is the responsible one, being extremely dedicated to her job and instilling strict discipline in her trainees. However, even when Yorihime chastises Toyohime she always speaks of her with respect, and would be far more anxious and high-strung without her big sister to calm her down.
• Hero Antagonist: Her motivation is simply to stop Remilia's "moon invasion" party from causing an incident, which Reimu even Lampshades is what she'd normally be doing herself. Even her fights resemble something from the Touhou videogames... but with the regular Touhou cast in the role of bosses and Yorihime in the role of a Player Character spamming bombs.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Nothing Reimu and company can do serves to really stop her for long, and the only thing stopping Yorihime from killing them all is Marisa's suggestion to use the Spell Card rules in the first place.
• Instant Expert: Despite having only just heard of the Spell Card rules, Yorihime easily gets the hang of them in no time at all.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Uses a katana, somewhat anachronistically given the history of the moon.
• Lady of War: A calm, collected female soldier.
• Leitmotif: Shares "Watatsuki's Spell Card ~ Lunatic Blue" with her sister.
• Master of All: Part of the reason for her combat prowess is the extreme versatility of her ability, allowing her to cover her weaknesses while exploiting the enemy's, as well as allowing her to have a tool ready for pretty much any situation she might find herself in. Add in the fact that she has trained herself in using it to the point of mastery and some good swordsmanship skills on top of it all, it all adds up to make her one of the strongest duelists in the series.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: No matter what kind of attack the Gensokyo team throw at her, Yorihime is always able to summon a god from the Shinto pantheon with exactly the right kind of power to counteract it.
• Not So Invincible After All: Although it isn't officially stated, it is implied that even she was forced to relocate (along with the rest of the Lunarians) to the Dream World during the attack by Junko in Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. But to be fair, they were losing because they would (for the first time) be capable of dying, due to the fairies terraforming the Moon with Lifeforce, and with Life comes Death.
• O.C. Stand-in: Izunome, the goddess Yorihime summoned to defeat Reimu, is a character whose name is only mentioned once in the Kojiki, so nobody knows what kind of goddess she actually is. In this story, conveniently enough, she's the patron goddess of miko.
• Our Gods Are Different: Based on Tamayori-hime, a dragon/shark/sea crocodile goddess said to be the mother of the first Emperor of Japan.
• Pet the Dog: During Reimu's captivity she and Toyohime teach her the proper way to summon gods, and she sticks to her word and puts everyone minus Reimu back in Gensokyo rather than slaughtering them all after winning.
• The Power of the Sun: She can call upon the power of the sun goddess Amaterasu, which she uses to instantly defeat the sun-weakened vampire Remilia.
• Proud Scholar Race Girl: Looks down on Earthlings for not being as enlightened as the Lunarians. ^note Though apparently, not as much as her sister does.
• Royal Inbreeding: As with their mythological inspirations, Yorihime is married to Toyohime's son. Whether she was also his foster mother in this version is unclear.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Serious and short-tempered, compared to her laid-back sister.
• Space Elf: Lunarians look down on Earthlings as uncultured and primitive, and she is no different.
• Surrounded by Idiots: The "soldiers" she is in charge of are clueless teenage-like bunnygirls who run from the first sign of danger if the Watatsuki sisters are not present.
• Training from Hell: She subjects Reisen and Rei'sen to harsh training during her visit to Eientei, including a detailed rundown of all their shortcomings.
• Tsundere: Loudly insists to Toyohime that she can't go to Earth to visit Eirin because she has to stay behind to defend the Moon, but ends up going anyway out of admiration for her former teacher.
• Unwitting Pawn: Despite her "winning" in combat against Reimu and company, she gets completely played by the parallel plans performed by Yukari and Eirin.
• Wrongly Accused: When Reimu starts improperly summoning lunar gods to Earth, the other Lunarians assume that Yorihime is responsible, and rumors spread that she's conspiring with her former mentor Eirin Yagokoro as part of a coup attempt. Eirin later sends Yorihime a letter telling her that Reimu will be part of the decoy invasion force, and how to use her to clear her name.

Watatsuki no Toyohime

The Moon Princess Connecting Mountain and Sea

Watatsuki no Toyohime

"It's quite impossible for the creatures here to live without sin. Simply living and dying on earth is sin enough."

The older of the two princesses, Toyohime has a more carefree personality than her sister, though she can get serious too. She is in charge of the routes between the Moon and Earth, acting both as a watchman and as leader of the capital's Moon Rabbit emissaries. She has "the power to connect sea and mountains", which allows her to move things between the true Moon, the false Moon and Earth.

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• Big Eater: When it comes to peaches, at least. In Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth she eats a whole bowl so fast that Rei'sen couldn't even see it!
• Born Lucky: Her good luck is such that Eirin says that she never had to face any trouble in her life.
• Curtains Match the Window: Blonde hair and yellow eyes.
• Enlightenment Superpowers: Got her boundary manipulation abilities just through listening to and being able to comprehend one of Eirin's lectures on the nature of spiriting away.
• Evil Counterpart: Could be considered this to Yukari, as Toyohime can also manipulate boundaries, although her ability may be restricted in scope to the Lunar Capital. The "evil" part is also debatable, as Yukari's morality is often hard to pin and Toyohime is mostly just protecting her home from an unprovoked invasion.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • As she narrates to Yukari, Lunarians look down on the people of Earth for being "impure" and tainted by sin. While true, this doesn't really excuse that many of the deaths and struggles on Earth were by their own hands, from trying to control humanity with Youkai in the past, to starting wars over prized treasure in the present.
  • To put this in context, in Shinto belief impurity is the product and source of all evil and misfortune, and the greatest source of impurity is death. Taking this to its logical conclusion, humans are only mortal because of the earth's impurity slowly poisoning them, and as the moon has never been touched by death it acts as a Heaven-like realm that turns its inhabitants into ageless superbeings. Allowing normal humans in would eventually taint the moon until it lost this property. As she says, the crime is living on Earth and the punishment is living on Earth.
  • On the other hand, Toyohime seems oddly okay with Earthlings on a personal level (at least, Earthlings who aren't Yukari), to the point where she once let a human live on the moon (the Urashima Tarou from the folk tale) for three years in secret, and attempts to bring an Earth rabbit home as a pet.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Much more whimsical and less serious about her job than Yorihime, though she's also better at keeping a level head and calming her little sister down when she gets too worked up.
  "Yorihime, would you look into that for me?"
  "I'm already quite busy attending to the rabbits' training. Don't you have quite a bit of free time yourself, my sister?"
  "Uh." And I do love my free time so.
  "You have no sense of urgency, my dear sister. You're always eating peaches and going to the ocean, and if you ever do show up to training sessions you're only engaging the rabbits in idle chatter..."
• Leitmotif: Shares "Watatsuki's Spell Card ~ Lunatic Blue" with her sister.
• Not So Invincible After All: Like her sister, it's implied that she was also forced to relocate to the Dream World during the events of Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, along with the rest of the Lunarians, due to the fairies terraforming the Moon with impurity.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The only time she even slightly drops her laidback demeanor, even while threatening an entire area with destruction, is when Yukari implies that she knows about the Lunarians used particularly large shimenawa to seal away Lord Daikoku and his son inside the Izumo Grand Shrine and the Moriya Shrine respectively in order to prevent them from taking revenge on the Lunarians for stealing their land. Her response is with a very dark expression, implying that Yukari managed to guess correctly. It also convinces her to leave Yukari on Earth instead of taking her back to the Lunar Capital for sentencing.
• Our Gods Are Different: Based on Toyotama-hime (better known as Otohime), mythical grandmother of the first Emperor of Japan.
• Paper Fan of Doom: One that can "instantly purify" things at the atomic level! ZUN says the reason it looks like a paper fan is "I didn't explain the weapons to Aki Eda, so the depiction was super sloppy (lol)." invoked
• Royal Inbreeding: As with their mythological inspirations, Yorihime is married to Toyohime's son.
• Semantic Superpower: Her main power is described as "the ability to connect sea and mountains." Since Gensokyo counts as a "mountain", and the Moon as the "sea", she can go anywhere she wants between them.
• Space Elf: Lunarians look down on Earthlings as uncultured and primitive, and she is no different.
• Supernormal Bindings: Carries around rope woven from "femtofiber" that can bind practically anything, up to and including gods.
• Teleportation: Thanks to her ability she is able to move wherever she pleases.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Peaches, which leads to her sometimes being paired with Tenshi. The logic behind this is that peaches are the cliche "heavenly" food in Far Eastern cultures, much like harps are associated with angels in the West.
• Unwitting Pawn: Also gets completely played by the parallel plans performed by Yukari and Eirin.
• Wrongly Accused: She's falsely accused of conspiring against the moon. While most of the "evidence" is associated with Yorihime, Toyohime is her sister, colleague, and a fellow disciple of Eirin, making it highly improbable that Yorihime could be up to something without Toyohime being involved.

Chang'e

Chang'e/Jouga

A Lunarian goddess and criminal who was imprisoned for drinking the Hourai Elixir, and the true master of the moon rabbits. She is also a source of hatred for Junko and Hecatia for the actions of her husband Houyi, who while shooting down nine suns managed to kill Junko's son indirectly and shot down Hecatia's cousin Apollo.

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• Alternate Character Reading: In the original text, her name is explicitly pronounced with the Japanese reading "Jouga" rather than the Chinese reading "Chang'e". This is usually ignored by English translations since the name "Jouga" is more obscure than "Chang'e" outside Japan, not less.
• Bewitched Amphibians: According to ZUN in an interview, the Lunarians turned her into a toad upon imprisoning her.
• Chekhov's Gunman: In Touhou Bougetsushou, it's mentioned in passing that she is imprisoned in the Lunar Capital. Cue Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom and Chang'e suddenly gets a much more important role.
• The Ghost: While an important background figure in the stories regarding the Lunarians and the inhabitants of Eientei, apart from her sole onscreen appearance in Silent Sinner in Blue that has her fully veiled behind a curtain, she's normally only spoken of.
• God of the Moon: She's based on the Chinese lunar goddess of the same name, and is considered the true master of the moon rabbits.
• Immortality: Like Eirin, Kaguya, and Mokou she drank the immortality-inducing Hourai Elixir, though unlike them the Lunarians managed to have her imprisoned for it.
• Our Gods Are Different: Is based on the Chinese lunar goddess Chang'e, who drank the elixir of life and went into exile on the Moon and was married to the archer Houyi, who shot down nine suns. However, in Touhou one of those suns happened to be Apollo, and Junko's son was killed by a fallen sun, leading to Hecatia and Junko's resentment towards her.
• Unknown Rival: Zigzagged, according to Junko's bio it's unclear if Chang'e knows exactly why Junko hates her so much, but she has some awareness of her regardless.

Moon Rabbit Mob

A group of moon rabbits appearing fairly frequently in Silent Sinner in Blue. As part of the Lunar Defense Corps, their job is to defend the moon. They're not very good at their jobs, however, and leave the actual job of defending the moon up to Yorihime when Reimu and company arrive.

Tropes associated with the Moon Rabbit Mob in general:

• Little Bit Beastly: They all look human, but have rabbit ears and a tail.
• No Name Given: None of them have names.
• Miles Gloriosus: A chapter of Cage in Lunatic Runagate from Rei'sen's perspective shows that they love to talk tough, despite their cowardly nature.
  Everyone seemed to want to stand on the front lines and show off when it was only a while before that they were all fleeing in fright of the vampire... The other rabbits were also talking tough, but they were probably thinking the same thing I was. They all thought they could do it if given the chance, but when the time came, they wouldn't be able to do a thing. They likely don't have the power to make their own chances.
• Moon Rabbit: Just like Rei'sen, they're rabbits from the moon.
• Surrounded by Idiots: How Yorihime feels about them. All of them refuse to fight and will flee at the first sign of danger. The only exception is when one of the rabbits defeats a group of fairy maids despite being outnumbered three-to-one. Even then, however, she refuses to fight Reimu and the others and goes back to cowering. Yorihime is forced to do the rest of the fighting herself.
  Yorihime: "It's amazing how inexperienced you all are..."

Debuted in Wild and Horned Hermit

Kasen Ibaraki

^{Click to see spoilers}

The Cunning and Treacherous Oni

The One-Armed, Horned Hermit

Ibaraka-Sen/Ka-Sen (real name Kasen Ibaraki)

"The only people who live on the surface are good men, saints... and True Villains."

A friendly but stern hermit who frequently visits Reimu at the Hakurei Shrine. She describes herself as "a guide to animals", and cares for a menagerie of rare and legendary creatures from her hidden dojo on Youkai Mountain. Her right arm is covered in bandages, and has strong magical power that can destroy evil spirits (though when squeezed, there appears to be nothing but smoke underneath). Kasen has some kind of connection to Former Hell, as well as to Suika and Yuugi, which are among the very unsubtle hints that she is actually an oni in human disguise. Her exact motives for this charade, however, are a lot harder to figure out.

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• The Alcoholic:
  • Despite whatever stereotypes one might have about Hermit Gurus, she loves her sake, and is often bragging about its strength ("enough to drink even an oni under the table"). In chapter 16, she surprises Marisa by using a 2 liter drinking cup, and tells Sanae that she can't stop drinking, although she has her reasons...
    Kasen: "I don't even consider [a liter] to be a unit of measurement."
  • Like Suika and Yuugi, she owns an alcohol-related magic item named after her. In her case, it's the Ibaraki Box of a Hundred Medicines, which turns any sake poured into it into an elixir that cures any illness and heals any wound. At the cost of turning the drinker into an oni, either mentally or physically depending on what it heals. Was anyone still doubting that she's an oni?
• Ambiguously Human: Allows people to assume that she's human, or at least formerly human, but as Wild and Horned Hermit goes on there are numerous hints that she's actually an oni. It becomes something of a running gag in later chapters, and at least one other character (Mamizou) simply assumes she's an oni and makes snarky comments to that effect. Comes to a head in Chapters 49 and 49.5, where it is revealed that Kasen is in fact an oni.
• An Arm and a Leg: Her title says "One-Armed" for a reason. Got her arm sliced off by an oni-killing blade, and gets it sliced off again by Reimu using a shard of that original blade in Chapter 50 of Wild and Horned Hermit.
• Artificial Limbs: While she claims that her bandaged right arm is just scarred, when Reimu squeezes it there's nothing but black smoke underneath. When she cosplays as Reimu in chapter 23, it's clearly visible that it goes all the way up to the shoulder. She seems to be looking for her real arm so she can reattach it. In Chapter 49.5, she temporarily gets her old arm back before returning back to having her bandaged arm.
• Assist Character: Her specials in Urban Legend in Limbo consist of summoning her pets to attack enemies, including Kanda (eagle), Houso (tiger) and Mukou (raijuu).
• Bad Liar: Tends to become visibly nervous or agitated when she's hiding the truth, though most of the time the other characters either don't notice or assume she's offended.
• The Beastmaster: Her stated power is the ability to guide animals. This includes speaking to birds, obscure zoological knowledge (including poison remedies, and how to alter or reverse the transformation of animals into youkai), and keeping things like baby dragons, giant rocs and guard tigers as pets.
• Big Eater: Despite possibly not needing to eat, she's frequently shown with food of some sort, especially sweet things.
• Bishie Sparkle: Not her, but she's certainly affected by others', particularly Miko and Reimu.
• Blank White Eyes: She gets these when she finds out that Reimu is setting up a Setsubun festival.
• Blow You Away: Her attacks in Urban Legend in Limbo that don't focus on her arm are mostly wind-based magic.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: It's a bit ambiguous where Kasen's morality falls for most of Wild and Horned Hermit:
  • Despite almost certainly being a disguised youkai herself, she generally takes the side of humans. In fact, she protests more for humans and animals than she does for youkai throughout Wild and Horned Hermit. Both tropes are hinted by Yukari in Chapter 14.
  • In Chapter 3, Kasen appears to taunt an evil spirit from Hell about how she is more evil than it is.
  • In Chapter 12, Kasen and the others show up at the Kappa Hideout to investigate a huge pillar of water that suddenly started crashing down on it with enough force to instantly disintegrate solid rock. Kasen is quick to declare that it's the work of a powerful Kishin that is targeting a different hermit, so it is out of the Kappa's control, but it isn't going to harm anyone but the intended target (even though it is also preventing the Kappa from entering their home). Reimu agrees, Marisa follows, and they all leave. Nitori and the other Kappa can then be seen gaping at them, shouting, "It doesn't matter what happens to us!?"
  • In Chapter 35 she reveals that she has the view that Gensokyo can coexist with the Outside World. Naturally this viewpoint puts her at odds with Yukari's, who supports a more isolationist view of Gensokyo.
  • While the last 5 or so chapters seem to signal her Face–Heel Turn as she schemes to reunite with her unambiguously evil and powerful arm, the final chapter reveals this to be a scheme to have Reimu re-sever the arm and renew its seal. She still uses morally gray methods to get there like using Reimu as a pawn and more or less blackmailing Reimu and Tenshi to keep her secret, but in the end, she really is honestly trying to follow the path of a hermit.
• Canon Immigrant: She's a playable character in Urban Legend in Limbo. At one point ZUN had considered making her the Extra Stage boss of Ten Desires, but that position went to Mamizou instead.
• Chained by Fashion:
  • Has a manacle on her left wrist with a small chain attached, leading to speculation that she's a secret oni, because the other oni in the series both also have manacles on their arms. Obviously, she's missing the manacle on her right arm because she's missing her right arm.
  • Her missing arm not only has the manacle, the body it forms adds a ball and chain to each of her ankles. This carries over to her original form when she gets her arm back.
• Compassionate Critic: Like Eiki, Kasen criticizes others out of a desire to see them improve. Unfortunately, this means that she's often thought of as overly preachy if not outright Holier Than Thou.
• Cool Big Sis: She tries to be one for Reimu, though the latter seems hardly receptive to Kasen's attempts to act in moral guidance. The epilogue shows that she in a way really does reciprocate, however.
• The Corruption: Chapter 16 introduces us to Kasen's Ibaraki Medicine Box. Any sake drank from it will grant you Super-Strength and cure your ailments, but it will also change your personality into that of an oni's. In addition, if you drink it while injured and it heals you, you will literally become an oni.
• Cosplay: In Chapter 23, Reimu starts neglecting the shrine after becoming a successful fortune-teller in the human village. Kasen takes it upon herself to take care of the shrine in her absence, and in taking the job, dresses herself up in a Reimu costume.
• Cover Identity Anomaly:
  • Constantly, enough that the plot of half her manga chapters is seeing how she bluffs her way out of it. Though she is known for attempting to guide others as a Taoist Hermit, and her cover is currently intact, Reimu constantly retorts her lectures by citing religious doctrine that Kasen should definitely know, as she is supposed to be a holy woman with a higher rank in her own religion than Reimu does in Shinto, to which Kasen often has no answer except stammer nervously and make an excuse to leave. It is quickly made quite clear that Kasen took on her secret identity with no idea what a Taoist Hermit is even supposed to be. She even admits to Komachi that she didn't realize a Taoist Hermit had ANYTHING to do with religion at all! She figured it could explain her longevity, and stopped there.
  • This makes for a very awkward situation when she arrives at Miko's Mausoleum to ask her what a Taoist Hermit is supposed to do, and Miko and her followers greet her as a revered mentor, with Miko and dozens of her followers bowing to Kasen in awestruck reverence. Miko then asks her for guidance.
• Curtains Match the Window: Pink hair and pink eyes.
• Dark Secret: Heavily implied to be a youkai (most likely an oni, and one of the four Devas alongside Suika and Yuugi at that) masquerading as a human. Although the "secret" is pretty obvious even In-Universe.
  • For example, when Reimu encounters Kasen's antagonistic arm in oni form, Reimu doesn't even bat an eye at the fact that Kasen's an oni and instead just grumbles that Kasen's arm being so troublesome is why she hates oni. Reimu did express shock at seeing Kasen there in general though, probably because she just discovered Kasen's true dark secret. Kasen's arm is sentient, independent, super powerful, and super evil.
  • When Kasen merges with her arm and reveals her original form, she admits to being one of the four Devas, and the text reveals her original title: "The Cunning and Treacherous Oni".
  • It's implied she used to be extremely evil, but all her malevolence was moved into her arm before it was cut off. Now the rest of Kasen wishes to remain good.
• Deader than Dead: Her smoky right arm doesn't just kill spirits, it removes them from the cycle of reincarnation entirely, which is referred to as Nirvana-esque Enlightenment. Komachi is not happy about this because those evil souls don't deserve the short-cut off the Reincarnation Cycle. Specifically, she says that evil souls need to suffer in hell before they can reincarnate and eventually exit the cycle naturally.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Notably averted. She is the only character who's friends with Reimu before fighting her. Her status as a hermit seems to have given Reimu an unusual amount of trust in her. She actually always intended to eventually fight Reimu, but she needed to find her arm first.
• Detachment Combat:
  • She can detach her bandaged prosthetic arm of possibly smoke and use it to grab things when it's separated. In addition, it's implied that her original arm is still alive somewhere and can move around on its own (as it turns out, it can do so to the point it can be an entire separate Kasen).
  • In Urban Legend in Limbo, her gameplay focuses heavily on the use of her bandaged arm, with it often being detached from her as a result.
• Dragon Tamer: Amongst her numerous pets is Koutei, her baby dragon.
• Energy Ball: In Urban Legend in Limbo she can fire energy blasts from her palms, kung-fu-style.
• Enlightenment Superpowers: A more accurate description of what's meant by "hermit" in this setting.
• Flower Motifs: Strongly associated with roses, as evidenced by her clothing and the meaning of her name. Her fully combined form even has petals around her when first revealed.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In one of the tankoban afterwords, Aya Azuma talks about how her fighting style in Urban Legend in Limbo involves summoning her animal friends. Since this includes the Manzairaku, who was last seen in the ownership of the Kappas, Azuma wonders if Kasen took him off their hands (drawing a panel where Nitori says "He's in better hands with that hermit") or if she simply summons him whenever she uses that attack.
• Giant Flyer: Kanda the Steller's sea eagle is at least five feet tall when compared to Kasen standing up.
• Handicapped Badass: It's all but outright stated that she lost her arm. And being a hermit, she has to fight shinigami on a regular basis. This is temporarily averted once she gets her arm back only for it to be cut off again.
• Hand Blast: One of her attacks in Urban Legend in Limbo.
• Hermit Guru:
  • She's classified as a hermit, which means that she's supernaturally strong, long-lived and youthful, but is also often secluded and must do things like recite proper sutras each day and perform acts of piety, or instantly lose her abilities and her immortality.
  • In practice, this involves Komachi the shinigami repeatedly popping in to tell her what she has to do. Although you might expect Komachi to hold a grudge against her for the improperly destroyed spirits and choose not to tell her, that hasn't happened and they maintain a mostly-friendly relationship, snarking aside.
  • In Chapter 16, Suika claims that she's not actually a hermit and is only pretending to be one, and Komachi does the same in Kasen's presence in chapter 18. Kasen doesn't deny it. In Chapter 20, Suika tells Kasen directly that nobody has found out her true identity yet, and then tries to pin Kasen for using the festival as a way to weaken the Hakurei Border. However, when Kasen finds out the festival could start a fire and destroy the Hakurei Shrine, she puts a stop to it and saves the shrine.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": Her pseudonym is very close to her real name, and both can be shortened to "Kasen" (though spelled with different characters).
• Holy Burns Evil: When she tried to grab one of the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs with her bandaged arm, it outright exploded into tatters and black mist.
• Horned Humanoid: Referred to as a "horned" hermit in both her character title and the name of her manga, encouraging readers to suspect that her odango hair covers are hiding something. She used to have large horns similar to Suika's, but after her power was sealed they shrank into stubs.
• I Hate Past Me: The true reason she's seeking out her severed arm is not to re-attach it, but to seal it away, since even on its own the arm is a dangerous oni.
• Invocation: "In the name of the sage XXXX, I command: Release the ban of 130 years!" Her line from Urban Legend in Limbo as she activates the Occult Balls to bust a hole in the great barrier. The XXXX appears to refer to an as-of-yet unnamed sage, while the ban of 130 years of course refers to the creation of the great barrier. Chapter 35 of Wild and Horned Hermit implies that the sage is herself.
• Kansas City Shuffle: When Kasen and Mamizou get into a drinking contest in Chapter 32 of Wild and Horned Hermit, the latter believes that Kasen likely plans on poisoning her (which she's planned for), but ends up getting lulled into a false sense of security when Kasen acts unaware, causing her to believe that Kasen was merely planning to drink her under the table. In fact, Kasen's real plan was to get Mamizou to drink from the Douju's Jar so that its oil would leave her and the other tanuki unable to move for a couple days from drunkeness, which she gloats about when she finally tracks them down.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In her first appearance she recites Miyako no Yoshika's work, as her base character, Ibaraki-douji, was deeply impressed by said author's work. Yes, this is the same person who is the base for Yoshika Miyako in Ten Desires.
• Leitmotif: "Battlefield of the Flower Threshold"
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: After Kasen reveals her true identity to Reimu she immediately requests a proper duel. As Reimu is both hungry and exhausted, however, she lets her have some food and allows her some rest so that they can fight while both are at full power. Said food also contains a fragment of the sword that cut off Kasen's arm for Reimu to use against her.
• Light 'em Up: Kasen has shown the ability to create balls of light that last for long periods of time.
• Meaningful Name: Apparently drawn from Ibaraki-douji, an oni who was either the lieutenant or wife of Shuten-douji (on whom Suika is based). Chapter 49 of Wild and Horned Hermit more or less confirms that she went by Ibaraki-douji back in olden times.
• Meaningful Rename: Her real name (in Eastern order) is Ibaraki Kasen^note Ibaraki = "Wild rose bush", Kasen = "Flower fan", but nowadays she goes by "Ibarakasen". Given that she's a hermit who dresses in a rose theme, Ibarakasen ("Wild Roseflower Hermit") straddles the line between Meaningful Name and Red Baron.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
  • She dislikes the status quo of "youkai attack humans and cause , humans exterminate youkai" (even if it's mostly non-lethal nowadays) and believes that youkai should be able to deny their original purpose and choose their own. This may sound good, but Eiki Shiki's concerns about the characters' sins in Phantasmagoria of Flower View seemed to be mostly about the minor ways in which they had drifted from their purposes...
  • If she's an oni then Kasen's case is even stronger, given how much oni prize honesty. She's also a lot more passive and peaceful than an oni should be. Her arm and her original personality though... not so much.
• Not Quite Dead: Played for Laughs in chapter 50. After Reimu cuts off Kasen's arm, her main body Disappears into Light... then abruptly reappears at the shrine to yell at Reimu for taking so long to seal the arm away.
• Oni: It's heavily implied that this is what she really is, rather than a hermit like she claims. Her alcoholic tendencies and her bun covers covering up where her horns might be hint at this, as well as how she seems to be strongly based on Ibaraki-douji, a prominent oni in Japanese legend. Outright confirmed in Chapters 49 and 49.5.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Casually takes getting her right arm sliced off again as if it was a mosquito bite, saying it would take far more than that to kill an oni, though she admits getting it cut off hurt like hell.
• Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: Her abilities of The Beastmaster lead her to deal heavily with rare animals and cryptids, which are distinguished from animal-based Youkai.
• Paint It Black: When she regains her original form as Ibaraki-douji, her normally red-purple tabard turns black while her green skirt turns white. The whole outfit also grows longer and loses its sleeves.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Prefers to destroy vengeful spirits rather than wait for them to repent. Possibly a case of Eviler than Thou as well.
• Pocket Dimension: Her home can only be reached by following a highly-specific path, and has its own climate. She can even change the path if someone discovers it. Word of God says this is the same technique the Lunarians use to hide the Lunar Capital.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When she fuses with her long-lost arm and regains her full power, her hair, horns, and even skirt all grow much longer.
• Pre-Final Boss:
  • In Urban Legend in Limbo she serves as the penultimate boss for many scenarios, including Reimu's second right before she faces Sumireko.
  • In Antinomy of Common Flowers her dream self serves as the penultimate boss of the Yorigami Sister's scenario, effectively making her the penultimate boss of the game before the two face off against Tenshi's dream self.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: She very firmly declares herself to be on the side of humanity despite having become a hermit. Even though she's actually an oni, she still counts since Ibaraki-douji (upon whom she is based) was born a human but became an oni later in life.
• Psycho Serum: The sake drunk from her Box of a Hundred Medicines (temporarily), depending on what it heals. Hilarity Ensues when it gets passed around in a flower-viewing party and pretty much everyone drinks from it for the Super-Strength it imparts, from Shrinking Violet Youmu to Ax-Crazy Yuuka.
• Public Domain Character: It's very strongly implied that she's based on Ibaraki-douji, a famous oni who disguised themselves as a human as part of an attempt to reclaim their severed arm. Chapter 49 of Wild and Horned Hermit reveals that she was in fact Ibaraki-douji centuries ago.
• Remember the New Girl?: She's introduced as someone Reimu and Marisa once knew, but mostly forgot about. Considering that Reimu managed to forget about Alice until the seventh game, this is plausible.
• The Reveal:
  • Chapter 35 of Wild and Horned Hermit heavily implies if not outright states that she was one of the Sages who helped erect the Great Hakurei Barrier in the first place, but appears to have drifted from Yukari's ideology over the 131 years since, claiming that she now follows the "Laws of Heaven".
  • Considering how obvious it was even in-universe, her reveal as an oni would probably be anti-climactic. Not so much when it's finally revealed by showing that Kasen's arm is apparently an entire oni by itself. And incredibly powerful with the personality of an oni to boot. And then they fuse.
• Rocket Punch: Shown to be able to do this in one of the omake comics in the collected volumes. Used as her Occult attack in Urban Legend in Limbo, using the Monkey's Paw.
• Secret Path: The path to her home is non-Euclidean - it cannot be reached without following a very specific route, which may include going back the way you came or deliberately walking in circles. Changing the path is considered equivalent to changing your password, and should be done regularly. Notably, Komachi never has any trouble finding her way through.
• Shout-Out: Her occult theme in Urban Legend in Limbo is the Monkey's Paw, which is of course a reference to the famous short story.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: She is sleeveless in her original form.
• Slipknot Ponytail: A variant: when she regains her full power, her odango hair covers dramatically explode as her horns grow back to full size.
• Something about a Rose: Has a very prominent rose motif.
• Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious: Hermits are the favorite food of youkai. Eating one can cause a youkai to ascend to a completely new level of power. And if an ordinary animal were to eat her, they'd become a youkai on the spot. Of course, that's not exactly easy to do, since she's extremely powerful due to being a Hermit, to say nothing about her also being an oni.
• Sweet Tooth: Often seen snacking on sweets, puts an excessive amount of sugar in her tea, and pulls out some sweets for her win pose in Urban Legend in Limbo. The artist noted that she tried to include at least one scene of her eating sweet per volume.
• Talking through Technique: She tries to use this to convince Reimu and Marisa to investigate the weather fluctuations in the prelude to Hidden Star in Four Seasons, but neither of the two of them picks on this, cheerfully gorging on bamboo shoots.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In Urban Legend in Limbo Kasen and Mamizou don't exactly get along, but still work together in order to teach Sumireko a lesson regarding messing with Gensokyo.
• Theme Naming: Her pets are all named after famous Taoist figures.
• The Unfought: One of the few beings who hang around the Hakurei Shrine and consider themselves friends to Reimu without getting in a fight with her first. However, Reimu finally gets to fight her in Urban Legend in Limbo. Late in the manga proper, Reimu fights her arm, and fights Kasen's original self in the final chapter. This was Kasen's plan all along.
• Weaksauce Weakness:
  • Beans, though Kasen mentions that it's mostly a psychological effect. When she mentions to Komachi how Reimu roped her in to participate in the Setsubun festival^note Where people use beans to drive away oni by throwing these around, Komachi laughed at the irony.
  • Chapter 32 reveals another, holly branches stuck in sardine heads, another method of driving oni away.
• Weather Manipulation: Not directly, but she has a pet dragon that can cause thunderstorms at will.
• Willfully Weak: Her dialogue in Urban Legend in Limbo makes it clear that she is holding back while fighting, apparently because she thinks using her full power presents several risks.
• Wound That Will Not Heal:
  • According to Kasen, the miracle oni healing sake doesn't heal her arm; however, if she were to stop drinking it, her arm would "completely rot away."
  • Which takes on a somewhat different meaning when you realize that her arm isn't even attached to her anymore. She's got a perfectly preserved arm sitting around somewhere. Turns out, that arm was in Hell, and drags Reimu there. Kasen follows, and then fuses with her missing arm, removing the effects of this trope for a short time.

Kappa Mob

A group of unnamed Kappa who show up frequently in Wild and Horned Hermit. Most of them seem rather shy around humans, and will leave the talking to Nitori if she's around.

Tropes associated with these kappa:

• Gadgeteer Genius: Like most kappa they're good with tech.
• Mauve Shirt: Have some characterization and are reoccurring characters, but none have actually been named yet.
• No Name Given: They go unnamed.
• Planet of Copyhats: They're all loosely based on Nitori.

Glasses Kappa

A nervous kappa with glasses and a ponytail.

Tropes associated with Glasses Kappa:

• Bespectacled Cutie: Wears glasses and is on the shier side.
• Laser Blade: Is shown clutching what appears to be a lightsaber in chapter 22.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Falls right into the shy, blue-haired archetype.

Dark-Haired Kappa

A cheerful kappa with short black(ish) hair. Probably the most popular of the group in fanart.

Tropes associated with Dark-Haired Kappa:

• Chekhov's Gunman: Possible example. A kappa who looks like her appears in Unshou's Flash Back in chapter 11, implying that she may have possessed Kasen's missing arm at some point.
• Hime Cut: The short version.
• Ninja: During the yamawaro war games she hides in a tree and throws shuriken.

X Hairclip Kappa

A kappa with spiky hair held back with an X-shaped hairclip. Seems more serious and level-headed than the others.

Tropes associated with X Hairclip Kappa:

• Iconic Item: Fanart often shows her holding what looks like a pair of giant barbecue forks, based on her appearance in chapter 4.
• Katanas Are Just Better: During the yamawaro war games she fights with a katana.
• Tsurime Eyes: Has sharper-shaped eyes compared to the rest of the kappa.

Merchant Kappa

An unusually talkative kappa with messy hair and freckles, who likes dealing with money. Referred to as "merchant kappa" in the artist's notes.

Tropes associated with Merchant Kappa:

• Greed: Quick to leap on any opportunity to make a profit, even moreso than Nitori. In chapter 18, set during the events of Hopeless Masquerade, she was taking bets on the playable characters' duels. In chapter 22, the moment Nitori starts talking about money she already has an abacus in her hands.
• Youthful Freckles: Falls closest to the Bratty Half-Pint pattern.

The Oni in Hell (Unmarked Spoilers!)

The Inhuman Talent Embracing Wickedness

Ibaraki-Douji's Arm

"It was awfully rude to borrow your power only to trap you here for eternity. As I thought, I should be a proper oni and devour you, flesh and all!"

The living incarnation of Kasen Ibaraki's right arm, who traps Reimu in hell and ambushes her.

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• Achey Scars: When Reimu discovers the metal shard which Kasen snuck to her, the (now-reattached) arm twitches, instantly recognising it as a fragment of the sword Onikirimaru^note "Oni Cutter" which originally severed her from Kasen's body.
• Blood Knight: She takes great relish in combat, and very quickly puts Reimu on the ropes.
• The Brute: In Reimu's words, she has no beauty in the way she fights, instead focusing mainly on turning her opponents into paste.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Makes no pretensions about being anything other than a ruthless, human-eating youkai, and her title can even be translated as "The Inhuman Arm That Abandoned Virtue and Embraced Vice".
• Chained by Fashion: Like Kasen and all other oni, she has a manacle attached to her arm, but she also has a ball and chain attached to each of her ankles.
• Clothing Damage: Her skirt appears torn in a few places, fitting her more brutish image.
• Cognizant Limbs: She's an arm that has a mind of its own and is able to act completely independently of Kasen herself.
• Dragged Off to Hell: Sends Reimu to Avici, the lowest level of Buddhist hell.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: Subverted for once, if we can consider the arm a different character, which we probably can considering she was fighting even Kasen herself from the inside by the end of things. After Reimu defeats her, she's sealed away and kept in a box as an arm despite still being able to move a little.
• Double-Meaning Title: That "inhuman talent" in her character title can be read more literally as monstrous arm.
• Emerging from the Shadows: Initially shown as a silhouette that looks like the normal Kasen (complete with covered horns), but with her right arm both present and conspicuously not in shadow.
• Enemy Within: A while after the two recombine, she forcefully takes control of Kasen's entire body when she realizes Kasen's true intentions to seal her away.
• Enemy Without: She looks exactly like Kasen and seems to represent who she was back before becoming a hermit. This is because Kasen's malevolence was moved into her arm before it was cut off.
• Femme Fatalons: She has long fingernails that don't seem to suffer much damage while she punches the ground hard enough to send Reimu flying just from the shockwaves.
• Hellish Pupils: She has slitted pupils and is far more savage than her normal counterpart.
• Horned Humanoid: Her horns are larger than could be hidden by Kasen's odango hair covers, though a little smaller than those of her original form.
• Improvised Weapon: Fights at range not with light blasts like her normal self, but by picking up and throwing pillars.
• Keeping the Enemy Close: Even after sealing the arm away for being too dangerous, Kasen continues to keep her shrivelled limb close, even sharing a toast with it and addressing it as "partner". She seems to consider this part of her ascetic training, comparing it to being able to see your own death.
• Knight of Cerebus: The first 46 chapters of Wild and Horned Hermit are mostly silly Slice of Life stories. Then Ibaraki-Douji's Arm sends Reimu to Hell, and things take a turn for the serious as Kasen, Tenshi, and Komachi try to track Reimu down and stop her.
• Literal Split Personality: When separated from Kasen, the arm took part of her personality with it. In this case, her evil and malevolent side.
• Made of Evil: Made of Kasen's former malice.
• Made of Indestructium: Even after its power is sealed and it returns to being just an arm, Reimu is unable to destroy it by any means she can think of; Kasen claims it's useless to even try.
• Necromancy: In the second part of chapter 49 of Wild and Horned Hermit she has the skeletons of her past victims rise up to attack Reimu.
• Obviously Evil: Femme Fatalons, Hellish Pupils, constantly drawn with a Slasher Smile and her clothes are folded to resembles Spikes of Villainy... yeah safe to say that she didn't end up with any of Kasen's positive traits.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: She was sealed away and needed to be fused to Kasen again in order to break the seal because it applied to Kasen and not her arm. After the arm is cut off again, a new seal is placed.
• Slasher Smile: Wears an evil smile as she battles Reimu.
• Spikes of Villainy: While she wears the same outfit as Kasen, the folds in the cloth are drawn to look more angular and spiky.
• Split-Personality Merge: At the end of the second half of chapter 49, she merges back with Kasen allowing her to become whole again. The merger was not as complete as it seemed, and the new Kasen soon finds herself becoming confused by her own plans. When she realises that her main body was plotting against her, she suppresses it and allows the arm's personality to become dominant.
• Super-Strength: She's so strong that a punch that cleanly misses Reimu still sends her flying from the shockwave alone.
• To Serve Man: Soon after meeting Reimu, she decides to "be a proper oni" and eat her.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: As an unambiguously evil villain in a setting that runs on White-and-Grey Morality who is outright confirmed to have killed many humans in the past and plans on adding Reimu to her kill count, she seems like a pretty nice gal, huh?
• Walking Spoiler: While Kasen's true identity is made obvious both in and out of universe, the fact that her arm is Obviously Evil and an independent Literal Split Personality is not revealed until the final stretch of the manga.
• With My Hands Tied: Figuratively, as since she's just Kasen's right arm given form, she fights and defends only with her right arm. This proves to be enough of a problem for Reimu to deal with, as despite it being just the right arm, it's still the right arm of an oni acting without any sort of self restraint.

Debuted in Forbidden Scrollery

Kosuzu Motoori

Bibliophile with Deciphering Eyes

Kosuzu Motoori

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. When we get to that bridge, I'll count on you to handle it, Reimu-san!"

Daughter of the human village's local book renter and friend of Reimu and Akyuu, she has the ability to read books in any language, though she only gained this ability shortly before Forbidden Scrollery begins. She's a enthusiastic bookworm who loves to collect books for herself as well as lend them out, even though the books she collects are supernatural and potentially dangerous in nature. This makes her a liability in Reimu's eyes, but Kosuzu has faith that Reimu will always come and rescue her. She looks up to Mamizou without realizing that she's not human.

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• Addictive Magic:
  • She is getting more and more attracted to her books, summoning a low-level version of the Night Parade and creating tsukumogami. She's keeping it to one day per month to avoid summoning something too big or attracting unwanted attention, but she still is quite excited to do so because she can "feel the youkai energy."
  • Why is this a bad idea? The Night Parade is the Japanese equivalent of The Wild Hunt. It's also Mamizou's Last Spell in Hopeless Masquerade, and an annoying one at that.
  • Even after Mamizou disguised as Reimu points out in Chapter 38 of Forbidden Scrollery that if people ever found out about the Night Parade Scroll Suzunaan might get run out of the village, while trying to trick Kosuzu into giving it up, despite her fears she still says she won't destroy it.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite the number of strange things in Gensokyo, and her own poor knowledge of the Outside World, Kosuzu still finds the contents of an issue of "Fourteen Times" too hard to believe.
• Berserk Button: DON'T BE SO ROUGH WITH MY BOOKS!
• Bespectacled Cutie: She wears glasses for reading, which only serves to make her even more cute. Oddly enough, even though she is shown using reading glasses in the very first chapter of Forbidden Scrollery, Remiu and Marisa are both surprised to see her with glasses a few chapters later, implying that this is a recent development (or they've just never seen her using them before).
• Broken Masquerade:
  • Kosuzu's dealings with youkai have led her to wonder if all youkai should be ed, which goes against Gensokyo's main rule of youkai being in conflict with humans and vice-versa in order to keep the former in existence. However, she's still not privy to Gensokyo's true purpose until Chapter 46 of Forbidden Scrollery, where Akyuu casually explains it to Kosuzu before giving her a copy of the Gensokyo Chronicles to print and read. And then she gets told flat out what Mamizou is in chapter 47.
  • In the final chapter of Forbidden Scrollery, Kosuzu gets welcomed into Gensokyo's masquerade by Reimu, Marisa, Sanae, and the youkai, Reimu having decided that all the series troubles had happened due to her choosing not to tell Kosuzu anything, and the story ends with Kosuzu having opened a side business renting out books for both humans and youkai.
• The Cameo:
  • Can be seen amongst the crowd in Hopeless Masquerade.
  • She also makes a non-speaking appearance in Chapter 20 of Wild and Horned Hermit alongside Akyuu, having been roped into Reimu's latest moneymaking Zany Scheme, and at the end of Chapter 34 when Reimu returns her borrowed books back to Suzunaan.
  • In Chapter 1 of Visionary Fairies in Shrine she appears as part of the crowd as the Three Fairies of Light make their way through the Human Village.
• Character Development: Goes from being about as frightened of youkai as most of the inhabitants of the Human Village, to some extent being able to distinguish between mostly friendly and belligerent ones, and is likely on her way to becoming a "youkai-like human" like Reimu or Marisa. She still remains understandably distrustful of youkai in general, however.
  • And now she's part of Reimu's gang, being capable of judging Youkai on their own merits.
• Collector of the Strange: She collects youma books.
• Comically Missing the Point: Kosuzu tends to misinterpret what she hears about real world events, like how the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall must mean that the outside world has a lot of construction defects.
  About a magazine cover with "Historical wave", "1989", and "East Berlin" clearly legible: Since it's got an article about a collapsing wall, maybe it's for architects.
  "The Fall of the Soviet Union"? More collapsing... The outside world sure has a lot of construction defects.
• Cute Bookworm: She's very passionate about books, is pretty much a librarian due to book renting being the family business, and thanks to Moe Harukawa's art style she's quite cute as well.
• Curtains Match the Window: Red hair and red eyes, albeit in different shades.
• Demonic Possession:
  • In chapters 16 and 17 of Forbidden Scrollery, Kosuzu reads a set of letters which were sealing a ghost and accidentally gets possessed by it, causing it to take over her body at night.
  • Something like this has happened to her in Chapter 50, and she has succumbed to the full power of the Night Parade Scroll. She's quickly fixed, though.
• Face Fault: Causes an entire Face Fault Pile-up at the end of chapter 25. Marisa is surprised that Kosuzu is so willing to give up the evil book of the week, because she normally cries and objects because it's merchandise. Everyone thinks Kosuzu must have learned her lesson by now, but then Kosuzu remarks that since it's not a Youma Book, she couldn't care less. Cue Reimu, Marisa, and Akyuu all simultaneously falling on top of each other, complete with Instant Bandages on their heads.
• Fangirl:
  • Of Mamizou, though she's unaware of her being a youkai.
  • She also becomes one of Kokoro after watching her noh play, fully aware of her youkai nature.
• Fearless Fool: Has no concern that she might accidentally summon an antagonistic youkai or Eldritch Abomination because she's sure Reimu will save her.
• Freak Out: Has one in Chapter 47 when she finds out about Mamizou's true identity and how she's been used by her for years, the chapter ending with her wondering just how deep the youkai's involvement in the Human Village goes.
• Freaky Is Cool: Loves youma books, which Reimu notes most people find creepy.
• Friend to All Children: Reads stories to village children who are too poor to own books. Also a friend to a fox youkai disguising itself as a human child by giving it an empty book so it can take notes on that instead of on the walls of the school. Though she may be doing it so she can get a steady source of youkai written books, too.
• Girlish Pigtails: One of, if not the youngest human characters in the series (notably younger than Reimu and Marisa), and has pigtails.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Despite her interest in youkai books, she is very oblivious when it comes to meeting disguised Youkai and usually doesn't catch on until they reveal themselves. Of note is Mamizou, who Kosuzu views as a Cool Big Sis without realizing that she's really a tanuki until Akyuu tells her.
• Leitmotif: While she hasn't made any appearances in-game apart from a cameo in Hopeless Masquerade, she is heavily associated with the theme "Bibliophile with a Deciphering Eye".
• Meaningful Name: Kosuzu means "little bell", and she wears bells in her hair to fasten her pigtails. Norinaga Motoori, the the historical figure she's based on, also collected bells as a hobby.
• Mook Maker: Her Night Parade book creates tsukumogami, and Mamizou encourages this because the Tanuki can recruit them.
• Morality Pet: While Reimu isn't evil, she can be a bit of a jerk, but she consistently treats Kosuzu well despite the disrespect she tends to show almost everyone else.
• Nice Girl: While perhaps a bit too obsessed with youma books for her own good, she's a genuinely nice person.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: She's based on Norinaga Motoori, a prominent 18th-century scholar who is most notable for deciphering the Kojiki, the oldest extant chronicle in Japan. Kosuzu's given name means "little bell", which is probably a reference to Norinaga's hobby of collecting bells.
• Omniglot: She has the magical ability to read any written language, including dead languages spoken by no one. However it doesn't work as well when it comes to actually writing in them, as shown in a bonus strip where she tries writing back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion following the return of Tupai the Chupacabra.
• Pro-Human Transhuman:
  • Not yet, but Akyuu warns her that her habits will likely turn her into a youkai. She laughs it off and says that would be even better for Akyuu, because then she would still be Akyuu's friend and tell her all about being a youkai.
  • Mamizou, somewhat unexpectedly, gives her a warning about this as well in chapter 24. Kosuzu takes that one rather a bit more seriously. Not seriously enough to stop doing the thing Mamizou warned her she should stop doing, but still, she looked genuinely worried this time.
  • This gets into a bit more Nightmare Fuel territory once we see Reimu actually kill the Jinyou in the next chapter, because in her words "A human villager becoming a youkai is the greatest sin there is." Might Reimu be willing to murder Kosuzu if she ends up turning?
    • Outright stated by Yukari in chapter 49: Reimu has her eye on Kosuzu, and if Kosuzu is judged to have become a youkai, Reimu will eliminate her. Of course, it is Yukari who tells her this, so one may want to take it with a grain of salt.
    • Subverted in the end. Yukari's incident was designed specifically to nip this in the bud.
• Oblivious to Hints: Many, many ruling powers in Gensokyo try to tell Kosuzu to back off trying to figure out the exact nature of The Masquerade; because by its very nature, explaining it is dangerous. In the end, it took less effort to just have everyone tell her more or less everything. The logistics of setting this up had to be incredible considering the various factions.
• Psychometry: In Chapter 16 she develops the ability to read the auras of books, giving her information about them beyond what's in the text. Akyuu theorizes that this may have happened due to her exposure to youma books.
• Slipknot Ponytail: In the final arc of Forbidden Scrollery, when Kosuzu reappears after being possessed by a powerful youkai, her usual Girlish Pigtails have come loose, giving her something of a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl look.
• Sprouting Ears: Does this in a chapter of Forbidden Scrollery when she gets angry, invoking the image of a hissing cat.
• Squee: Reacts like this to Mamizou playing Mysterious Stranger.
• Summon Bigger Fish: In order to get rid of a youkai bookworm, Kosuzu summoned a smoke youkai to get rid of it, then got Reimu and Marisa to get rid of the smoke youkai (blaming its appearance on the bookworm).
• Summoning Artifact: She is capable of releasing at least some of the youkai in her books, but not controlling them (other than tsukumogami, more or less). She can, however, direct Reimu and Marisa at them if things get out of hand.
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: "Youma Books". She collects them; some are merely books written by youkai or magicians (either to themselves or others of their kind), while others are reminders that they existed in hopes that Clap Your Hands If You Believe will apply when someone reads them, while others still are youkai or have youkai sealed inside them. She even has one of the original copies of the Necronomicon. Her ability allows her to read them regardless of what ancient forgotten language they may have been written in, but if she accidentally summons something unfriendly, she's sure Reimu can handle it.
• Unwitting Pawn:
  • Mamizou manipulates her love of youma books and interest in youkai for her own mysterious ends.
  • The fortune teller turned jinyou used his jealousy from Kosuzu claiming his techniques as her own in order to revive, though in that case Kosuzu was more of a lucky dupe rather than a direct pawn.
  • Chapter 51 reveals that Yukari appears to be using Kosuzu's possession for her own unknown purposes.
    • It turns out Yukari's plan was to subvert this, by forcing people to tell her everything.
• Vague Age: Like Reimu and Marisa, it's unclear exactly how old she is, but she seems to be a few years younger than both of them. According to Chapter 48 she's at least a few years younger than Akyuu, who's in her early 20s at the time, but not by much. She also apparently lives with her unseen parents.
• Whole Costume Reference: Her "incognito" outfit in chapters 10-11 of Forbidden Scrollery is the same one worn by Kosuke Kindaichi.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Literally. The beginning of Chapter 22 of Forbidden Scrollery has her develop a fear of snakes after reading a story about a snake that ate an entire human. The end of the following chapter sees her offer a giant stuffed slug doll to a Moriya branch shrine to ward off snakes.

The Kutsutsura

The Kutsutsura

"Who are you?"

A shoe tsukumogami who was born from one of Kosuzu Motoori's shoes, taking the form of a smoke-like animal.

It has the dubious honour of being the first character to die onscreen in the Touhou Project's current era.

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• Ambiguous Gender: Despite being in a world with an Improbably Female Cast, its gender is a mystery.
• Animalistic Abomination: It's a shoe Yōkai that vaguely looks like a four-legged animal. This is implied to be because it hasn't fully manifested yet.
• Animate Inanimate Object: While it looks vaguely like a bear or badger, it's a shoe tsukumogami, which makes it an ambulatory object-based youkai.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Shortly after appearing, it's attacked by being stomped on multiple times by Marisa Kirisame with little-to-no resistance.
• Filching Food for Fun: The first thing it does is to steal melons to try to become a complete youkai.
• Goomba Stomp: It's killed by getting stomped on repeatedly by Marisa.
• Killed Off for Real: Killed by Marisa only a few pages after its introduction, and she subsequently stomps on the shoe several more times to prevent it from coming back.
• No Name Given: It's only referred to as "Kutsutsura", its youkai type.
• 13 Is Unlucky: Debuts in chapter 13 of Forbidden Scrollery, and also dies in said chapter.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies in the same chapter it appears in.

The Fortune Teller

The Fortune Teller

"Ridiculous! Aren't you on peaceful terms with a number of youkai?! So why...?!"

A fortune teller who killed himself six months prior to the events of Forbidden Scrollery, after being forced to leave his fortune telling school for practicing magic, who used a loophole using the fortune telling book he created in order to come back to life as a youkai.

He has the dubious honor of being the only fully sapient youkai to have actually died onscreen in the Touhou series.

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• All-Encompassing Mantle: Wears a very long and thick cloak.
• Came Back Strong: Thanks to Kosuzu he comes back from killing himself turned into a youkai.
• Doublethink: Is able to hold a grudge against the desecrators of his work strong enough to pull his dead spirit back into the world, while fully aware that they only desecrated it because he tricked them into doing that himself. As a result, instead of a mindless vengeful spirit he materialises as a fully sentient, humanoid youkai who is free to ignore his own Ghostly Goals completely.
• Ghostly Gape: His mouth's a giant black void.
• Ghostly Goals: Exploited. His resurrection plan revolves around killing himself in a way that will leave his spirit with Ghostly Goals, then Doublethinking his way around them.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: A very subtle and subdued example. He realized the humans in Gensokyo are nothing but glorified cattle and tried to escape his circumstances, only to get cut down by Reimu because she is a tool of the establishment whose real job is to maintain the status quo.
  • Though, in another sense, he was very wrong: the human villagers are kept to harvest their fear, not as food or subjects. They’re actually under very strict protection, with any intimations to the contrary being posturing to keep them afraid. One of the purposes of Gensokyo seems to be, according to hints in various canon works, to eventually free youkai of this requirement, along with the need for some to eat human flesh. Granted, after the events of Wily Beast and Weakest Creature, where Reimu is the only heroine who seems to not care about the Beast Spirits' tyranny, he's at least right when it comes to Reimu's surprising willingness to uphold brutal social customs.
• Finger Wag: Does the motion when Reimu is about to engage him, thinking he is safe.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Reimu kills him by splitting his head in two with her gohei.
• Killed Off for Real: Got killed by Reimu only a few pages after his introduction, and then she made sure that he could never come back by burning the fortune telling book.
• Looks Like Orlok: Looks a lot like the Nosferatu type of vampire, complete with Pointed Ears, a High Collar of Doom, and a hooked nose.
• Made of Evil: Implied to be this without actually being evil, due to Loophole Abuse.
• No Name Given: Is only known by his title, and after becoming a youkai, as a jinyou.
• One-Scene Wonder: One of the mangas' more memorable One Shot Characters, to the point where a popularity poll placed him higher than the Aki sisters from Mountain of Faith.invoked
• Our Spirits Are Different: Due to the methods involved in his revival (jealousy towards Kosuzu for claiming to be the inventor of his fortune-telling methods, which was All According to Plan on his part as it allowed him to come back), he's comparable to a more stable vengeful spirit.
• The Quisling: A human villager who decided to become a youkai because he was tired of living in of them. Believing the rumors that Reimu sides with youkai over humans, he leads her out of the village and states that she doesn't need to "pretend to exterminate" him now that they're out of sight. Unfortunately, he soon learns that Reimu is an actual youkai exterminator, just one who avoids killing her enemies unless absolutely necessary... and that she considers jinyou like the fortune teller to be in the "absolutely necessary" category.
• Slasher Smile: His face appears to be locked in this position most of the time.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite only appearing in the flesh for one chapter (in which he was killed), he served to illustrate a major unspoken taboo on villagers turning themselves into youkai, and also that Reimu is not always a Technical Pacifist and is willing to Shoot the Dog if she has to. There's a reason why his story is considered a Wham Episode for not just the manga, but the entire franchise up to this point.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies in the same chapter he is introduced in.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Points out that Reimu has no issue letting youkai hang around her shrine while she's trying to actually kill him, not that it saves him. This reaction was mirrored by a good portion of the fandom.

Debuted in Foul Detective Satori

The Eternal Criminal (Unmarked Spoilers)

The Jailbreak King

Mizuchi Miyadeguchi

"...How long has it been? Since Gensokyo lost its chaos. Unnatural order is bound to break somewhere."

A vengeful spirit who escaped from Former Hell who is trying to go around and possess people in order to drain their magical energy.

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• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Mizuchi is an escapee from Hell whose title is "The Jailbreak King". She also wears shackles on her wrists plus handcuffs around her neck, as well as a dress based on a striped prison uniform.
• Big Bad: She is the true culprit of the strange comas happening in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. And then she becomes an even bigger one when she escapes the investigators, going around possessing even more people for some strange goal centered around Reimu.
• Body Surf: Once she is done with a particular host, she hops into a different one using liquids as a medium.
• Boring, but Practical: Her possession ability is fairly basic all things considered, especially when compared to some of the other powers in the series. Mizuchi however is able to get a lot of mileage out of it as it makes her incredibly slippery and difficult to pin down. The distinct way it interacts with youkai is also a nice bonus.
• Chained by Fashion: Has shackles around her wrists and carries around a large pair of handcuffs around her neck which she uses to possess others.
• Collector of the Strange: Her concept art reveals that she likes collecting items associated with curses for aesthetic purposes, as they have no real power of their own.
• Curtains Match the Window: Has blue hair and eyes.
• Cute Little Fangs: Has noticeably pointy canine teeth.
• Demonic Possession: She sneakily possesses people in order to drain their magical energy.
• Evil Laugh: Frequently does evil cackling after she's revealed onscreen, especially when she successfully drains the energy of all her targets and gets away.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Her eyes are slightly slitted like a snake's.
• Fallen Hero: Her family used to serve at the Hakurei Shrine prior to the creation of Gensokyo itself and presumably was involved in youkai extermination with the Hakureis. By the time of present day, she's been reduced to a mischievous vengeful spirit with a bone to pick with the current Hakurei Shrine maiden, Reimu, and major displeasure at the current state of efforts in Gensokyo.
• Fantastic Racism: Despises all of the youkai of Gensokyo, believes the humans of Gensokyo "lost" to them, and thinks Reimu isn't doing a proper job exterminating them.
• Fog Feet: Her legs cut off below her knees, disappearing into mist.
• Hero's Evil Predecessor: She served at the Hakurei Shrine alongside the Hakureis themselves long before Reimu herself was born but any benevolence she may've had then has long since withered away.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: Mizuchi doesn't seem to have access to the memories of whomever she is possessing, meaning that she runs into problems when trying to impersonate people with particular sets of skills, such as Nitori, as she has no idea how kappa technology works. Byakuren uses this to determine who Mizuchi's currently possessing at that moment by faking unconsciousness and observing her followers' reactions.^note At that point in the story, her currently possessed body is Kyouko.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: From what has been seen of her, she does not appear to have all that much raw power at her disposal. As a result, she tends to cut her losses and flee when things don't go her way in order to return and cause havoc later.
• Man of Kryptonite: Being a vengeful spirit, she isn't much of a hassle when she possesses humans. However youkai are a different story, as possessing them can be lethal to the youkai, which is why they were sealed in the first place. This is amplified by the fact that youkai cannot resist her possession. In her words, all youkai are the same on the inside. In practice, this applies to anyone short of a complete mortal human; other ghosts like Yuyuko, immortals like Kaguya and Mokou, top-class youkai like Yukari, and even gods. This is why Kanako and Suwako choose to avoid her and ban visitors to the Moriya Shrine.
• Mysterious Past: Who she is and why she wants to exact revenge on the Hakurei Shrine is one of the Driving Questions of the manga. Her family apparently once served at the Hakurei Shrine prior to the founding of Gensokyo but have vanished in the present day with the exception of Mizuchi herself posthumously as a vengeful spirit. Mizuchi herself has alluded to "something" that occurred during Gensokyo's founding that appears to be at the source of her one-sided grudge, but what it is remains currently unknown, though Yuugi considers it reason enough to side with Mizuchi.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Unlike so many other villains in the series, she doesn't give a rat's ass about things such as the Spell Card rules. She is out to make Reimu's life miserable and will use whatever dirty trick she can to make that happen.
• She Is the King: She's female, but her title is "The Jailbreak King".
• Sins of the Father: She has some kind of grudge against the Hakurei bloodline, with Reimu becoming the target of her revenge over something that happened before she was even born.
• Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Her ponytail band has miniature skulls on it.
• Walking Spoiler: The culprit of the first story arc of Foul Detective Satori is not a member of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Debuted in Touhou Suichouka

Miyoi Okunoda

The Poster Girl of Geidontei, The Fantasy Pub

Miyoi Okunoda

The main server of Geidontei, a pub in the Human Village frequented mainly by old men, who happens to be a zashiki-warashi temporarily taking residence inside Suika's Ibuki Gourd.

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• Animal Motifs: Whales, as shown by her whale shaped hat and the whale on her dress. Her dress tie also resembles a whale's tail flukes.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Miyoi gets her revenge on Kanako for insulting Geidontei's sake by tricking her into drinking sake that gives her nightmares about being eaten by Suika's sake bug in the form of a giant salamander.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Has a tendency to have her eyes concealed in shadow, which depending on context can imply that she has darker intentions or that she's hiding her emotions, perhaps showcasing her possible elusive, if also two-faced, nature.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: After interacting with her, people forget her whole existence and the content of whatever kind of discussion they held with her.
• Mascot: Part of her in-universe role as Geidontei's poster girl.
• Remember the New Girl?: Invoked. Upon meeting her, characters at first display confusion about who she is, only to, with minimal prompting, recognize her as an old friend. It's not entirely clear, at least initially, whether this is more of her memory manipulation, or just the Laser-Guided Amnesia temporarily wearing off.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Pink-haired and generally good-natured.
• Signature Headgear: Wears a hat in the shape of a whale, giving the impression it's biting her head.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Despite being a brand new character no one has interacted with before, she shows up and blends right into the crowd without anyone raising an eyebrow.
• Zashiki-warashi:
  • Suika initially identifies her as a suima in Chapter 2 of Touhou Suichouka, which is a generic term for any supernatural being that puts people to sleep, but in Chapter 3 Miyoi clarifies that she's actually the zashiki-warashi of Geidontei, there to protect it from other youkai. She just entered Suika's Ibuki Gourd in order to see more of the world outside the pub. Chapter 6 has Suika note Miyoi doesn't feel like she's any sort of spiritual being like a suima or ghost, and Miyoi herself doesn't identify as a suima.
  • Miyoi also goes a little into the nature of zashiki-warashi in Chapter 6; they can't exist without a container to call "home", but they can move between homes, which is how she hopped into Suika's gourd.

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