Suwako Moriya

Gender: Female

Age: Unknown, but one of the oldest gods; she far predates the invasion by the Goddess Kanako and the Yamato in the Great Suwa War, approximately 2300 years ago.

Appearance: Suwako wears a short simple purplish-blue dress with a frog print design, large white sleeves stitched onto the torso, and a white collar. She has medium length blond hair, grey eyes, a light brown wide-brimmed hat with two frog eyes on the top, white kneehighs and black shoes. Originally unofficial, Suwako has been shown to wear Zettai Ryouiki in Touhou Hisoutensoku and Hopeless Masquerade.

Personality: In contrast to Kanako, Suwako is more laid back and mischievous. She enjoys competing against others, and loses gracefully. Though she feigns ignorance, Suwako is just as capable of scheming as Kanako. Combined with her rarely leaving the shrine, her intentions can be hard to read. Her ability is creating earthiness. She’s also the former goddess of Moriya Shrine.

Hobby/Occupation: Former goddess of Moriya Shrine

Additional Information: ● Suwako Moriya is the original god of the Moriya Shrine. Officially the shrine now belongs to Kanako Yasaka, but in Suwako's words she handles most of the divine services while Kanako handles the "sales".

● Suwako first appeared as the extra boss of Mountain of Faith. Unlike Kanako, who is technically a divine spirit who once had a human form, Suwako is one of the Yaoyorozu no Kami, and thus consists purely of faith. She also controls the Mishaguji, which is one of her main sources of faith from humans.

When a portion of her spirit is enshrined, she takes on the form of a frog. In this form, she can grant various blessings, such as safe travel, financial upturn, and transfiguration.

● Her main ability is to create earthiness. Suwako's ability specifically refers to the element of Kun (坤), one of the eight trigrams in Taoist philosophy that means creating Earth. Kun is exactly the pinnacle of the native god and is associated with acceptance, devotion, subtlety, flexibility, and reacting to others rather than acting first. Kanako Yasaka's ability to create the "sky" of Bagua, or Qian (乾), refers to the opposite element. Although Mountain of Faith offers little insight into the nature of Suwako's abilities, her attack animations in Touhou Hisoutensoku depict her "swimming" through the ground, summoning magma, geysers, various rocks and minerals, growing plants instantly, and bending rivers.

● Possibly because of her ability to manipulate minerals, Suwako uses large iron rings as weapons in various attacks. Aya Shameimaru mentions that weapon isn't a kanawa, Japanese Chakram-like weapon, because of the way she throws it. According to Hatate Himekaidou, they are scarily sharp.

● She has some major relationships with some characters, those being…

Kanako Yasaka While Suwako claims to still hold a grudge against Kanako for taking over her shrine, her own faith actually increased as a result. By now they've become good friends.

Sanae Kochiya Sanae acts as a wind priestess under Suwako and is able to summon her. Sanae is also Suwako's descendant, though Sanae was initially unaware of the fact.

Utsuho Reiuji She was presumably present when Kanako presented the Yatagarasu to Utsuho.

Mishaguji Suwako was the one who tamed the Mishaguji, and she's the only one who can control them.

Hisoutensoku It's implied that Suwako was involved in Hisoutensoku's construction.

● Kanako Yasaka and Suwako are described in Silent Sinner in Blue Chapter 6 as gods that have a body. Having a body is likely why they can move and act so independently as opposed to gods who need a vessel, although they are still capable of splitting their spirit when summoned and called upon like all Japanese gods.

● Chapter 19 of Silent Sinner in Blue implies that the Lunarians are using shimenawa to seal away a god at the Moriya Shrine. It's unknown if Suwako is aware of this. Her win quote to Reisen Udongein Inaba in Touhou Hisoutensoku merely has her commenting, "I heard that there are all kinds of gods where you come from."

● The frogs printed on Suwako's dress were taken from Chōjū-giga, the picture scrolls drawn in 12th century. Suwako's theme "Native Faith" is an homage to "Boss6", the BGM used in an STG released by Taito in 1989, Night Striker (ナイトストライカー).

● Suwako does not have any actual connection to frogs, but she likes frogs and her spirit is sometimes invoked in the form of a frog.

● Among the Touhou fandom, Suwako's hat has almost become an entity of its own (generally referred to as "Pyonta" (ぴょんたくん Pyonta-kun)), largely thanks to the imposing leer of the eyes on top. Sometimes the hat is depicted as a parasite or even Suwako's actual body.

● Suwako is heavily symbolized as a frog. While Cirno freezes frogs, this results in rivalry in the fanbase. The frog jokes include relationships with Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Hypnotoad. Because of that, Suwako is commonly called "Kero-chan" (ケロちゃん), which appears in the spell card "Kero-chan Braves the Wind and Rain." (「ケロちゃん風雨に負けず」). This nickname was mentioned, for example, in Tetla Pot's PV of Silver Forest's song, Kero⑨Destiny. In New Super Marisa Land, the Suwako Hat powerup works just like the Frog Suit in Super Mario Bros. 3. Marisa also takes on the stance Suwako has in the fighting games (being made by the same developers).

● The phrase, "aa— uu—", uttered in Reimu's route in the extra stage, has also become a popular saying attributed to her (as well as a way to refer to her), and is also mentioned by that same song.