Gensokyo Mystery Zone

[CountVonNumenor]

I was thinking to start this inspired by the recent Twilight Zone parody that has been circulating on this forum (very good videos btw).

This thread in itself is the place to post anything you might find mysterious or unclear about our common fictional land of interest, Gensokyo, and its inhabitants. Vague bits of lore, misunderstood quotes, questionable canon or fanon interpretations without a clear source ("Nice argument Senator. Why don't you back it up with a source?" / "My source is that I made it the fuck up!") or just thing it took you (too) long to notice, anything is welcome in the Gensokyo Mystery Zone. Anyway, what do you fid to be mysterious in this wonderful land?
My first contributions:

In the "it took me way too long to notice this" - the fact Orin has sets of ears (the cat ones and a set of human ears). How does that even work? A funny fan interpretation I have heard is that the cat ears are detachable, basically like in a cosplay of sorts. 

And for the "Nice argument Senator. Why don't you back it up with a source?"  category, there's this text I have found in a personal dump from over a year ago, but whose source I can no longer trace:
 

Prepare for a revelation I uncovered but Reimu Hakurei is an outside human that was born in 1992, she was 4 or 3 years old during the Pc98 when she got spirited to Gensokyo and 10 years old around EOSD, considering the games timeline follows exactly with the year in which the games were released it's either 2019 or already 2020 in cannon which makes Reimu Hakurei as of the latest games around 27 or 28 years old, here's a fun trivia Marisa Kirisame is actually older than Reimu as she was born around 1986, and would be 10 years in the second game that takes in 1996,as such in 2020 she would be around 34 years old, now you probably wonder how I know this, well this is where all kinds of subtle hints ZUN leaves in his works come to play like for example the fact that Marisa remembered that there used to be a Hermit living at the Hakurei shrine even though Reimu herself did not, which implies that one possibility is that Reimu might had been too young to remember Kasen at the time as her presence there at the time would be only short lived, but would actually remember Yukari who most likely took care of her. ANOTHER HINT IS Marisa's more mature attitude especially visible in print works when compared to Reimu, and their sibling like relationship where Marisa is purposely placed in the position of the older sibling. So how do I know she was spirited, the event is actually hinted out in several works like for example in Aya's interview with Sumireko in which Sumireko claimed her she got spirited away to Gensokyo as few year old child for three days and when she got back, she found out that there was a huge commotion because of the incident which she thought was funny , which possibly implies she disappeared in a place that was somehow famous for awkward disappearances,

meaning there was at least one tragic disappearance before Sumireko's own to get the local population in such a panic , another hint comes from Kasen Ibaraki herself, who claimed that her arm was being hold at an old abandoned shrine in the outside world, but when she came to check on it, she discovered that not only did the arm undo the seal it also had feed on someone at the shrine and it most likely seems that the victim that was never named was actually young Reimu, who as a result lost a lot of existence and was therefore spirited to Gensokyou either by Kasen herself or Yukari to save her but because of her weak existence was eventually pulled to Makai and Hell , to compensate the existence she lost to the oni arm, Sariel the angel of death shared some of its own at the end of the first game, when it realized what has transpired, however instead of returning Reimu to our world Reimu was returned to Gensokyo as her existence was still too weak to be able to properly function in the outside world, naturally Reimu is completely unaware of this and as a result feels her parents died to an Youkai attack, which explains her originally openly hostile attitude, not realizing that her parents most likely live in the outside world, either forgetting about her existence or believing she was killed by an unknown assailant, in this complex situation actually explains some of the Youkai Sages actions towards Reimu,

*since that's the actual mystery of her shrine, the true blessing of the Hakurei shrine isn't Youkai extermination but Reimu's own existence which unknowingly to her became divine and miraculous (which is a reason she understands the language of Gods) this is actual cannon information but it's not written or stated openly instead you really need to closely analyze the print works and the cannon events as ZUN enjoys trolling with people and obscuring information, so in his style even the most little events which might be portrayed as errors, or claimed by ZUN to be just random stuff, have an actual meaning.*

 

[Gou the frog]

My age guessing for Marisa and Reimu was correct after all. (Yeah, I'm going to touch those two games shortly but steadily)

Reimu Hakurei as of the latest games around 27 or 28 years old

 Let's get back to the point -> Who is the Hakurei God anyways? We haven't seem him or at least heard of him "yet". I want to know more about the guy. According to my home made source: We will not know until Zun has reached the sake dragon rank or if Pc-98 is revived.

Also, The Forth Diva is a well-known brother of Hakurei God, meaning if every game got remastered and Zun made his 40th game, we might know their backstories. (I don't know if this's enough but pardon me if I got the topic wrong)

 

[CountVonNumenor]

(I don't know if this's enough but pardon me if I got the topic wrong)

Do not worry. You got the point. These are very good questions. In this thread, you can mention anything that seems like a mystery to you, anything you consider too vague or puzzles you, thing you have did not noticed at a first glance and stuff like that. Anything is welcome.

 

[Gou the frog]

What about Reimu's hair color? Transitioning from purple to black. (Are they the same Reimu?) The Pc-98 version of her is not so nice to yokais and possibly evil. She might as well be an antagonist of her time. The Legendary Lamb Sauce is stated that: Old Reimu just attack them just because they're yokais and she was killing time. 

Right, the nameless characters? Ex- Diayosei, Ayana, Koakuma (The mirror looking things and orbs from the old 98) etc. I'm guessing most of the nameless characters from Pc-98 are from Makai, so, shinki might forgot to name these folks. (Or rather our Tipsy Zun was half-drunk at that time) 

 

[Darksymphony777]

What I find mysterious is the more of a "what if" than anything else

What if Junko gets over her grudge and stops going after change'e. Does she vanish, does she go hand out with reisen, is she reincarnated or given a role

Like a Tootsie pop, the world may never know

 

[CountVonNumenor]

I might have yet another question. Where did many (or most) of the characters spend their time before their first game appearance? Were they just chilling somewhere, still doing their regular activities somewhere far in the background, or simply did not exist/were "born" just before their featuring game/manga?

 

[Gou the frog]

I might have yet another question. Where did many (or most) of the characters spend their time before their first game appearance? Were they just chilling somewhere, still doing their regular activities somewhere far in the background, or simply did not exist/were "born" just before their featuring game/manga?

These're very good points, if we use the origins, (Assuming it's them) they're doing the typical youkai stuff: eating flesh, terrorizing lords and having a rowdy time dealing with humans. Fairies, most likely making and using stuff they don't understand, be it some nature drink, powerful curse items and flowers.

Ah yes, they could also be "born" when Zun said so. Beginning with the instruments and to youkais, gods and what not. Probably, most off 'em are just chilling doing their regular youkai stuff or getting screen time for the first time in the franchise.

 

[CountVonNumenor]

I mean, take for example the girls from Touhou 18 (took it as an example because 1) most recent game and 2) completely new cast for the boss fights). Where have they been before the game? Where did Mike come from? I can imagine Takane and Megumu were living somewhere on the Tengu Mountain off-screen, with Sannyo, Misumaru and Momoyo doing the same in that big cave of theirs. But what about Tsukasa? And what about Tenkyuu? I have heard that the latter was inspired by the events of 2020 and the lack of a proper Comiket (and probably Reitasai too) that year, as well as in 2021. After all, "where is that bustling marketplace?". But yeah, I am quite curious where they were up to that point. It is interesting we are getting a bit of backstory of how we ended up with the events of the game, but I think that could only count a matter of days, weeks at most before the incident from Unconnected Marketeers started. 

 

[CountVonNumenor]

New question

We know youkai have the custom of attending the Hakurei Shrine every so often (with some even living there). However, if I remember correctly, Reimu is also organising various kinds of celebrations and festivities like any shrine, where the villagers attend. How does this work? Do the youkai keep stating there? How do people even come, knowing the reputation of the Hakurei Shrine and the general lack of believers attending that gave Reimu meme status? And if the youkai attend, how do they behave? Do they know how to behave around people and use their disguise to interact with them? Or Reimu basically has to babysit them all the time this happens to avoid any kind of incident? Does she actively try to mask the youkai in order not to cause any panic? 

I mean after all, at the Shrine we have 4 fairies (one of which is a Hell Fairy living beneath the shrine and 3 more pranksters in a tree nearby), an oni that keeps hanging around and a Komainu just to count the permanent residents. 

(edit: I forgot to mention Shinmyoumaru) 

 

[Gou the frog]

I'll answer your points later but I've a follow up question:

Mike and Rin, they both have human ears and animals one. Does that mean they can hear twice as much or is just for show and why are most of the character in Touhou project wear SKIRT?

 

[Gou the frog]

I'll answer your points later but I've a follow up question:

Well, look at that it took a while isn't? 

After digging quite a time. I've got this:


Spoiler






Well, in many fanarts they just don't hide their yokai forms and human can just come and enjoy the party but I do think it would get ugly if said human actively look for trouble. (Sake would not dull a good man sense but how long can you hold it when you're surrounded by beautiful yokais) In any case, I wonder what would happen if the opposite should occur? Would Reimu simply knocks some sense to the trouble maker or the tengu and oni would do the work as it is disturbing old time sake? Let's think for a moment, drunkenness = trouble in Gensokyo? That might be qualified as an answer but I highly doubt it. 

In my headcannon, Suika the one behind the Hakurei partying and she ain't the type to hide her form especially when there's always sake in the donation box. 

 

[Gou the frog]

Also my turn has come. 

This article from the Perfect Memento in Strict Sense: Perfect Memento in Strict Sense/Fujiwara no Mokou - Touhou Wiki - Characters, games, locations, and more

It's said that a group of specialized youkai exterminators with the ability to move quickly yet silently lived hidden there, separated from the villagers. They used various kinds of sorcery like youkai and exterminated particularly strong and dangerous youkai; though, their existence has been questioned recently (*1).

However, with the recent discovery of Eientei in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, the possibility they actually existed seems more plausible.

So you mean like a ninja/shinobi? (Actually ninja fits after all, it's a mystical figure, based on a truth and blown up out of all proportion and is popular in western culture which fits in with Gensokyo logic) 

About that time, I encountered a person who may be one of their descendants.

Taking all this information, Mokou is a descendent of a group of anti-yokai ninjas? That sounds wacky but it is logical for Gensokyo standard.

 

[buskerdog]

Here's something I have often wondered:

If the spell card rules forbid danmaku being any more harmful than lightly tearing clothes, how come Sakuya gets away with all that knife throwing?

 

[CountVonNumenor]

Taking all this information, Mokou is a descendent of a group of anti-yokai ninjas? That sounds wacky but it is logical for Gensokyo standard.

I thought that one was already confirmed, maybe even in-universe, to be a misconception. I want to see if I find the wiki explanation:

Examples of Dubious or erroneous statements

• Sakuya Izayoi's past before serving Remilia Scarlet is complete speculation (Akyuu states this in her article).
  
• Eirin Yagokoro and Kaguya Houraisan have been categorized as human (while it is arguable whether Lunarians are human or not, the way their articles are written seems to indicate that Akyuu is completely unaware of their Lunarian descent).
  
• Fujiwara no Mokou is the descendant of a group of anti-youkai ninjas who live in the bamboo forest (she is not a ninja and there is a high possibility that she is not a descendant, but instead is the actual person that caused the legend of ninjas in the first place).
  
• The reason why ascending into Heaven nirvana is restricted is because Heaven is filled to capacity (in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, Yukari Yakumo and Suika Ibuki eventually discovered that it was a big lie. There's plenty of room in Heaven, though it implies the Celestials are hogging more than their fair share.)
  

Despite what is stated above, it is still the best source for official and canonical information on the series, so one should not think everything in it cannot be trusted.

I was going to talk a bit more about Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, but it seems like you already covered it. Based on these facts, I would not say the relevant question is whether Mokou is the descendant of ninja or not, but how did Akyuu end up associating Mokou with the warriors. Even though the explanation above seems to be implying she had a contribution in the creation of the shinobi no mono (I think this might be the full name for "ninja" if I am not wrong). Besides that fragment you have quoted. I was thinking about connections between Mokou and the classic Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and how the whole traditional tale was adapted and fits into the setting of Touhou, but I might be too tired right now (late in the night) to think of them. 

 

[Paracausality]

Why the hell does Yuukarin have 4 wings in Seihou?