Minamitsu Murasa

General Information Minamitsu is a ghost who died long ago in a shipwreck. She first appeared as the Fourth stage boss of Undefined Fantastic Object, and as a playable character in Touhou Gouyoku Ibun.

Personality While Minamitsu is a rather fearsome phantom, she is still kind-hearted with a bright personality. Mainly due to her ties with the Myouren Temple, she could empathize with humans and her victims, and thus chooses them more carefully. She also chats with the victims she capsizes.

Abilities Causing water-related accidents Minamitsu possesses the ability to cause water-related accidents. Her ability appears to be odd compared to a regular ghost, which is because she drowned at sea a long time ago. Due to a certain attachment to the ocean she kept capsizing passing ships. She can also drown anyone near water, which goes as far as drowning someone who is bathing in hot spring water, or sitting peacefully near a river's edge. This is also why she is seen around places with a lot of water. However, Gensokyo does not have any seas, so this ability seldom plays a major role.

Occupation She is the Palanquin Ship's captain, having accepted the job from Byakuren Hijiri during their first meeting, though she claims there's little for her to actually do in recent days. Currently she is a follower of the Myouren Temple.

Possessions She carries her own ladle, which she uses to flood the ships of her victims with water. In her early ghost years she used to ask for a ladle. She also carries an anchor which she uses in battle.

Backstory After her death, Minamitsu became a spirit, bound to the ocean due to her lingering attachment to the world. Because of her spite, she eventually became renowned for capsizing ships. Many feared her, and tried to think of ways to somehow restrict her actions, but it wasn't until the monk Byakuren Hijiri was asked to do something about it that the situation changed. Minamitsu, knowing how famous the monk was at the time, believed she would be able to extend her influence even farther by sinking her, as well, and perhaps even escape her connection to the ocean and attack humans on land.

However, when Byakuren appeared before her on the seas completely defenseless, Minamitsu sunk her ship easily, prompting the spirit to wonder why. Byakuren then reappeared on the surface atop a shining ship, which she had constructed using the ship Minamitsu had died on as a design. Moved by the monk's insight and her own sense of nostalgia, she accepted Byakuren's offer to captain the shining ship.

After Byakuren was sealed away, Minamitsu was "buried" into the ground along with her ship. Having been long forgotten, Minamitsu and the rest of the youkai were pushed above ground in Gensokyo by a geyser - likely due to the events in Subterranean Animism – along with the palanquin ship and the fragments of the Flying Storehouse.

Character Design

Murasa, as illustrated in Symposium of Post-mysticism Origin Minamitsu is a ship phantom (船幽霊 funa yuurei), the ghost of a girl who drowned at sea. These types of ghosts are famous in Japanese folklore for capsizing and sinking ships, which inspired her character background and spell cards. Her ladle corresponds with the folklore; the ghost would approach a victim and demand a ladle, who could avoid death by giving them a ladle with a hole in the bottom.

Name Her full name is Minamitsu Murasa (村紗　水蜜 Murasa Minamitsu) Her given name "Minamitsu" (水蜜) is a word that usually refers to the type of peach suimitsu tou (水蜜桃) or the peach itself (literally, it means "water honey"). Her surname "Murasa" (村紗) is taken from the type of ship phantom called murasa (ムラサ) known in the Oki District, Shimane. Similar to Satori Komeiji and Nue Houjuu whose names are also taken from their species' name, it's assumed that when she's referred by the name written in kanji, it's referring her by her own name, while using the name in katakana, she is referred by her species.[3] She is also known as "Captain Murasa".

Design Minamitsu has short black hair and a teal eye color. Her clothes are designed after a regular sailor's outfit, with a white shirt and skirt with blue lines. Around her neck she has a neckerchief. In some of her spell cards, she is seen with a green aura. ZUN stated in an interview[citation needed] that the design for Minamitsu was the hardest to finish; he had far more sketches of Minamitsu with different hairstyles and colors in comparison to the other characters from Undefined Fantastic Object. He also couldn't decide whether a long or short skirt was better for Minamitsu. Fans got confused whether she wore a skirt or short pants due to ZUN's drawing of her portrait in Undefined Fantastic Object, however, this varies from her appearances across different works.

In Touhou Gouyoku Ibun she wears short pants with a belt, and is also seen with a black coat with gold trims and white gloves. Her red tie also has an anchor on it.