The New New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium

I meant Soku.

About the multiple-object-tsukumogami thing, I think it can help to think of them as a composite object. Sort of like how the handle and the head are both part of a hammer despite being completely different materials, she's not the tsukumogami of 66 masks, but rather of one set of masks.

In a weird coincidence, I recently caught parts of a video about the human brain and what happens to folks who have their two hemispheres cut off from each other. The results are kind of creepy, with people not being aware they have something in their hand because the wrong eye is viewing it, stuff like that. So that's what's influencing some of my views on Kokoro.

No, I don't remember who did the video, sorry.

Kokoro does seem more vulnerable than other characters, but I don't think it's due to her tsukumogami-ness. Yeah, folks like the Tsukumo sisters are "actually" musical instruments or whatever, but I think that's like saying we're all actually meat and fluid in a sack of skin. Tsukumogami just have an additional form they use to interact with the world, in a way similar to how we construct avatars to interact in cyberspace. And I guess Miko is technically a sword being carried around by an artificial human body as well.

Anyway, the reason I think Kokoro got possessed by her legend is because she exists, as Ernie said, as a set of masks. Tsukumogami like the Tsukumos or Kogasa are pretty straightforward, in that their "real" selves are singular objects. If that object gets scratched or scuffed, I guess they've taken some damage. But Kokoro's "body" is an array of masks representing distinct emotions - her "self" is divided among all those possibilities for self-expression. When one of those masks gets damaged or stolen, she effectively takes brain damage and becomes unable to properly express the corresponding emotion. If she were a single mask that could shift from a smile to a frown as needed, she probably wouldn't have this issue.

Kokoro continues to be missing the mask of hope after the events of HM, and while Mamizou is optimistic that she can eventually learn to compensate, she still basically has brain damage.

I guess that's like how the brain will eventually adapt and compensate if certain parts of it are destroyed, though maybe not as well and maybe not the same way. And how if someone creates a replacement chunk of gray matter, like Miko's new Mask of Hope, it might work too well and cause you to become braindead? Way to ruin the neuroscience metaphor, Crown Prince. Though I guess it's a decent Proto Man metaphor.

Wonder how exactly Kokoro is compensating for her lost mask? Is she just getting by without feeling any hope, generating it by synergizing her other emotions/masks the right way? "Looking forward to the next fight fills me with positive anticipation?, that sort of thing? Or has she unconsciously fallen back into siphoning her lost emotion from other people?

This is a theory that I've had for a long time and only applied inconsistently, but I think that when a youkai of any type happens to create a human body, they also gain more human characteristics. In Kokoro's case, even without the mask, she still has hope; if she didn't have hope, she wouldn't seek the mask, since she would have no hope of finding it.

[wild speculation]The human body that serves as the nexus of the masks was something they made as an expedient. Individually they were weak and vulnerable, so they made one thing to act as a spokesman and agent for the gestalt. The thing that they made was, functionally, a human, but one with its life and its soul bound to the masks. Losing one of the masks means it no longer feels that emotion from the gestalt, but I think she would still feel whatever was lost. Without hope there is no ambition, no motivation, no drive. Since Kokoro tried to get the mask of hope back, she must have had some hope of success, independent of the mask that carved the feeling into her psyche.[/wild speculation]

edited 5th Jun '16 6:33:12 PM by Ernie

Interesting theory, though you could also argue that Kokoro was driven by resolve or determination. (Insert Undertale joke here.)

I was reading about Hata no Kawakatsu, Kokoro's creator, and I found out that he was later considered an incarnation of Bishamonten, so I wonder what that means for her?

Maybe Kokoro is similar to Shou?

Let's see, Shou's a youkai formed from what the Japanese think tigers are like who became ordained as an avatar of Bishamonten by one of the god's nuns who was secretly helping youkai in exchange for learning their dark magic, until that nun got sealed underground, so later Shou helped rescue her, and the resulting turmoil may have been what led to Kokoro's Mask of Hope getting stolen by a wandering, blind satori.

Meanwhile Kokoro's component masks were created by Miko and used by a guy who sailed off into the ocean only to return transformed into a monster (or maybe he stopped pretending to be human), and people started worshiping the guy to placate him, and eventually they decided that he was an incarnation of Bishamonten, and Miko prayed to him for victory before marching against Mononobe no Moriya? Are they involved too?

This is like the total opposite of those Stage One characters who have nothing to do with the plot or anyone else in the story.

So to answer the question, Kokoro and Shou are only similar in that they're both youkai and Byakuren has tried to give them spiritual advice, but they both have a connection to Bishamonten, if not to the same degree. Though I guess if a not-tiger can become an avatar of the god of war/treasure, why not a set of masks?

Ah, clever. We might also assume that, if her human body was created from her masks, then it has a bit of energy from those masks, so even without her official Mask of Hope, Kokoro would have had a smidgen of residual hope left over.

I looked, but there isn't a crossover pic with Kokoro yet. So have a random meeting of two psychotic flowers.

That makes some sense I suppose. I wonder if Kokoro was able to get her Mask of Hope back or even create a new Mask of Hope?

If I remember correctly, Koishi still has the original Mask of Hope, but it's very unlikely that she's willing to give it up considering how the two have already fought over it back in HM. Plus, it's been stated that the Mask of Hope's effect on Koishi is fading, so it might be losing its connection to Kokoro (and thus, its ability to stabilize her emotions).

As for using other masks, she's tried. Several times. Even got Miko to make a possible replacement mask. As far as I know, though, this didn't work, as ordinary masks didn't do much and Miko's mask was so powerful that using it might cause her to lose her youkai identity and return to being little more than a mask collection.

I could see it working out if Kokoro made her own Mask of Hope, but for whatever reason, it seems that Kokoro is unwilling to learn how to make masks of her own. Maybe she thinks making masks is like making kids or something.

That would be an interesting hook for a fanfiction...

Huh, so if Kokoro's Mask of Hope was separate from her long enough to lose its connection to her, and then spent a hundred years or so unattended? Would it spawn a tsukumogami of its own? It'd probably be a youkai of hope or something like that. And if you split up and let all the other masks ferment, you'd get a bunch of youkai based on those aspects of Kokoro's personality. And now this scenario is starting to sound like recent seasons of Red Vs Blue.

And what having tsukumogami "children" do to Kokoro, could it threaten her existence as the tsukumogami of that complete set of masks? Wait, why can't she do what Raiko did and switch her power source? Become a youkai incarnation of Noh theater or something instead of a complete set of specific masks.

I'm not sure if this is quite how it happened, but it's how I choose to remember it happening.

Hata no Kokoro:

An unique tsukomokami, composed of a set of masks. Quite skilled in theatrics. Very stoic.

Now, please enjoy her splendid performance.

Remnants of Hope
JacK the EmotioN ~Lost Desire~
Fragmented Emotions
Last Hope
Resurrected Emotions
Spring's Emotion
Feeling of Purpose
On the Road of Hope

What, no NO SIGNAL? How dare you

edited 10th Jun '16 6:54:11 PM by TheMageofFire

Kokoro is a set of masks that transformed into a youkai after a certain of time, amirite? I wonder what what Kokoro wa sup after the incident? She is a really good at Noh theater and she would be very successful in Gensokyo. Didn't Reimu keep her around so that she could attract people to her shrine? I wonder if that bite back Reimu considering that Kokoro is a youkai and the human villagers aren't known to be 'kind' to youkai.

Considering Kogasa was allowed to babysit humans, I think the villagers are fine with Tsukumogami so long as they don't cause any major trouble.

That makes sense. Kokoro is an entertainer and she could attract customers.

@Kokoro: I wonder where Kokoro lives, I think it was at Reimu's shrine one time. But she may have moved?

Sorry about the super delayed response. But I was under the impression that no one solved it. Yukari mentions that she was having a bad string of events recently near the end of S Si B, I assume that is a reference to Imperishable Night. My assumption is Reimu/Yukari team is involved in Imperishable Night, but neither of them solved it, per Reimu's profile and Yukari's frustration in S Si B. IN most likely just ended, because Kaguya lifted her spell.

There is also this interview, where they talk about Lunarians and Imperishable Night: http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Strange_Creators_of_Outer_World/Legacy_of_Lunatic_Kingdom_interview_with_ZUN

Partial quote from the interview: If I had to say it, "Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom" follows along the same lines as "Imperishable Night" and "Silent Sinner in Blue", so it ends up being like that. It can't be helped.

edited 12th Jun '16 4:30:02 PM by Starx

Could it be that, even though they can be classified as youkai, they're also basically very minor deities, so they're a bit more prestigious than some two-tailed, corpse-jumping cat or a turtle-monkey ass-burglar? Or is it ignorance, and there are so many weirdos in the Village that some blue-haired girl who always carries a goofy umbrella even when the weather's nice doesn't stand out as clearly non-human?

From this we can be all but certain that Kokoro is no longer at the Hakurei Shrine, because a Reimu with a respectable income is no Reimu at all.

Now, on the subject of a Kokoro picdump - man is it hard to tell some of these pics apart. Anime sameface syndrome is only exasperated by the character in question being poker-faced, so it's not just that there's lots of stuff showing the character in the same few poses, it's that the character tends to be drawn the same way too.

Official art of her at her best
One artist's guide
Flower power
Swirls of mystic energy
One or two less-featured masks
I want the Warhammer 40k version with a chainglaive and a servo-skull New Mask of Hope
Manual smile
Manual not-smile
We all do it, she's just more literal about it
Plug n' play
I just imagine all the masks roosting in the tree above her
Wonder if someday people will stop getting this reference?
Not quite as poker-faced
A certain light in her eyes
Does not want
Really does not want
Little brat stealing the show
Fun times with the Myouren Temple Crew
So basically, if you ever need to calm her down, you just take away the relevant mask?
The challenger appears
Confrontation
Expression training with your former foe
And back to normal
Imitating your mommy/daddy
(scare chord - shrubbery)
Just a babby youkai
Screw you, she's a dragon
It's okay Chen, she's just playing
Gentlemen?
The true purpose of the poofy skirt
Unsurprisingly, most pics with that character also involve that Touhou character
I want to see all the tsukumogami musicians playing along in the background
Somersault achieved
Still a classic
Diabetes warning

edited 12th Jun '16 6:02:08 PM by Tacitus

Welp, any last thoughts on Kokoro before we move on to Momiji tomorrow?

I wonder if Kokoro interacts with the other villagers and other youkai like Kogasa and Medicine?

Well, she can't perform without an audience. I also think a tsukumogami support group could be cute - they can try to help each other with their abandonment issues and all that.

As the curtain falls, let's give Kokoro a standing ovation. Coming up will be Sariel, Shinmyoumaru Sukuna, and a pair of siblings who had nothing to do with the plot of the game they appeared in... or did they? But first,

Momiji Inubashiri

Stage: The Mountain Fortress ~ The Waterfall of Nine Heavens
BGM: "Fall of Fall ~ Autumnal Waterfall""^note This is the fourth stage theme. When you think of waterfalls, there are two images: the powerful, vast waterfall and the meek, trickling one. But this time, I opted for the image of the former. Touhou has always, always had a dark feel to it, so I tried to express a somewhat refreshing feel. Why is that? An autumn waterfall. I think the thing waterfalls convey the most is autumn.

Spellcard Motif: Biting
Spellcards: DS, ISC
Dog Sign "Rabies Bite," Mountain Nomad "Expellee's Canaan," Fang Sign "Chewing Satisfaction"

Write-up:

Our representative for the white wolf tengu. Like her kin, Momiji is tasked with patrolling Youkai Mountain and protecting the tengu's borders from any intruders, a duty she takes seriously and performs well. It helps that her special ability lets her see things over two thousand mils away, something that's probably overkill for a place like Gensokyo. Other than that and the fact that she likes to play homebrewed shogi variants with the neighboring kappa, we don't know a whole lot about Momiji.

But we can also say she's representative of ZUN's quirky relationship with fans. Since a lot about Momiji was initially undefined, it was common for her to be cast as Aya Shameimaru's faithful subordinate, but then DS went and revealed that the two actually have a terrible work relationship and often get into fights. Some fans embraced this idea, others decided it meant Aya and Momiji had one of those relationships, and still others more or less ignored the new lore and continued using their old interpretation of Momiji. It just goes to show that in Touhou, as with many works, canon is what you make of it.

Relations

• Lord Tenma (chief)
• Aya Shameimaru (antagonist)
• Hatate Himekaidou (neighbor)
• Kappa (dai-shogi opponents)

See also the previous two compendiums.

Momiji would be the serious in her 'friendship' with Aya?