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Touhou Gumon Kuju ~ Symposium of Post-mysticism
(aka: Touhou Gumon Kuju)

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Touhou Gumon Kuju ~ Symposium of Post-mysticism (Literature)

Touhou Gumon Kuju ~ Symposium of Post-mysticism is a Touhou Project book written by ZUN and released on 27 April 2012, with illustrations by Masakichi, TOKIAME, Aya Azuma, Asakura Masatoki and Kitsuneiro. It is a sequel to Touhou Gumon Shiki ~ Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, with Hieda no Akyuu continuing her Gensokyo Chronicle by writing new articles for most of the characters that debuted between Touhou Fuujinroku ~ Mountain of Faith and Touhou Shinreibyou ~ Ten Desires.

Interspersed between the character profiles is the eponymous symposium, divided into six parts. It is hosted by Marisa Kirisame and features Kanako Yasaka, Byakuren Hijiri and Toyosatomimi no Miko. They discuss various topics concerning their arrival and Gensokyo's future, while Marisa moderates and Akyuu records their discussion.

During the final chapter of the symposium, as well as after the conclusion thereof, the book contains several newspaper articles written by rival journalists Aya Shameimaru and Hatate Himekaidou. At the end of the book is the transcript of an interview where ZUN discusses many of the characters who debuted between Mountain of Faith and Ten Desires but were left out of the book.


This book contains examples of:

  • Becoming the Mask: An extreme example is described in Mamizou's profile; while bake-danuki in Gensokyo mostly just use their disguises to prank people, their counterparts in the Outside World sometimes forget they are tanuki and wind up spending their entire lives as humans; this may also result in them losing their tails, at which point they would be unable to return to their original forms even if they wanted to.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Kanako explains that people in the Outside World have started making up loosely defined youkai to rationalize everyday inconveniences such as items getting lost and found. She then refers to them as "youkai of childish pranks" before listing down a "youkai of making dropped toast land butter-side down", a "youkai of always hiding missing things in places hardest to find them"... and a "youkai of always killing whoever mentions that they are getting married after the war".
  • Failed a Spot Check: Reimu interrupts the symposium and shows everyone several news articles as evidence of youkai continuing to cause trouble; however, two of the articles aren't about youkai, but about a hermit (Seiga) and a god (Hina) respectively, and thus don't really support Reimu's point.
  • Irony: During a discussion on the Komeiji sisters, Byakuren notes that while Koishi may have closed her third eye (which suppresses her consciousness and her mind-reading abilities), it's actually Satori who closes her mind by isolating herself, while Koishi, who now wanders Gensokyo freely, is behaving true to herself and has effectively opened up.
  • Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Throughout the symposium, its participants (especially Byakuren and Miko) take a number of opportunities to make barbed comments about each other and their allies and followers, all while managing to keep the conversation civil and on topic.
  • Pun:
    • In Orin's profile, the section describing her wheelbarrow is titled 猫車 (neko guruma), which is a Japanese term for a one-wheeler, but the kanji translate literally as "cat vehicle".
    • After Byakuren explains that Koishi's sealing of her third eye allows her to reach a state close to enlightenment despite her lack of training, Miko jokingly remarks "Well, she is a satori"; this is a wordplay, as the Japanese word for enlightenment, 悟り, is also pronounced "satori".
  • Required Secondary Powers: Discussed by Akyuu in Miko's profile, while describing the latter's ability to listen to ten people at once. Akyuu compares this to her own ability to remember everything she hears, saying that since she can only focus on one person at a time, if she hears more than one person at the same time, she won't be able to remember the words of all of them.
  • Shout-Out: Aya writes a news article about Kogasa apparently believing that babysitters in the Outside World fly around with an umbrella.
  • Weapon Chooses the Wielder: In Byakuren's profile, Akyuu notes that her scroll has a will of its own and that because of this, no one else can use it.

Alternative Title(s): Symposium Of Post Mysticism, Touhou Gumon Kuju

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