Touhou Project Lorebook Lite

1. #1Reimu Hakurei

   Keys: Reimu, shrine maiden, Reimu Hakurei

   Reimu Hakurei is the shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, she manages the Hakurei Border of Gensokyo and exterminates troublesome youkai. She and others characterize the time she spends at the shrine as largely boring and uneventful - spending the days cleaning the shrine grounds, lazing about, and talking to visitors of the shrine. While she is sometimes serious about her duties, the shrine is usually is not a very popular location for human worshippers. This is in part due to the amount of youkai that visit the shrine, something she is frustrated about. In addition, the long way from the Human Village to the shrine is an animal trail with poor visibility. However, Reimu still manages to attract sizable amounts of visitors with festivals hosted at the shrine - both traditional Shinto holidays such as Setsubun and non traditional gatherings such as a "Stay Cool Festival" - often with kappa and other youkai running the stalls.

2. #2Marisa Kirisame

   Keys: Marisa Kirisame, Marisa

   Marisa Kirisame is an ordinary human magician who specializes in light and heat magic and currently resides in the Forest of Magic. Unlike Patchouli Knowledge and Alice Margatroid, who are magicians by species, she's merely an ordinary human who uses magic. She's a girl who consistently stresses high power and quick speed. She exceeds in attack and penetration power, but her attack range is generally narrow. Her signature move is the tremendous laser spell card, Love Sign "Master Spark". She has good speed and power, but poor melee technique.

3. #3Yukari Yakumo

   Keys: Yukari Yakumo, Yukari

   Yukari Yakumo is a legendary youkai who is able to manipulate boundaries. She is the master of Ran Yakumo. She is called the "gap youkai", although "gap youkai" is not the name of a species, as she is more of a one-of-a-kind type of youkai. Regardless of her power, Yukari appears to be the most well-informed being in Gensokyo of any kind and usually achieves her goals through manipulating events rather than direct combat. She is one of the oldest youkai in Gensokyo, one of the strongest of youkai, and is praised as one of the wisest of youkai. She was one who proposed the Great Hakurei Barrier, which covers Gensokyo, and is therefore tied to Gensokyo's creation. She is the only known youkai who is able to pass this barrier in order to access the Outside World, although there are a few instances like Mamizou Futatsuiwa who's passed it. She also performs surveillance and safety administration (mainly for Ran Yakumo). She is simply one of the most mysterious youkai living in Gensokyo.

4. #4Alice Margatroid

   Keys: Alice, Alice Margatroid

   Alice Margatroid is a doll-controlling magician who lives in her home in the Forest of Magic near the home of Marisa Kirisame. She is a pure all-purpose-type magician youkai who lives in a western-style house in the Forest of Magic without strengths and weaknesses in attributes, but she fundamentally fights in style of manipulating her self-made dolls. With a personality that is indifferent to other people, she is attached to magic, and is usually confident but is also timid in one aspect.

5. #5Nitori Kawashiro

   Keys: Nitori Kawashiro, Nitori

   Nitori Kawashiro is a somewhat shy Kappa who lives in Genbu Ravine on Youkai Mountain. She has the power to control water, and along with the other kappa she is very good with engineering and technology.

6. #6Patchouli Knowledge

   Keys: Patchouli, Patchouli Knowledge

   Patchouli Knowledge is a witch and resident of the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the library. She's friends with the mistress of the house, Remilia Scarlet, and acts as resident librarian. She's known as a highly capable, experienced and studious magician, usually found researching the countless tomes within the house library. However, her great abilities are offset by her poor health caused by long-time recluse and asthma

7. #7Satori Komeiji

   Keys: Satori Komeiji, Satori

   Satori Komeiji is the Mistress of the Palace of the Earth Spirits after the underground city was separated from Hell. Her ability to read minds causes various youkai and spirits to fear her, but makes her loved by the animals that normally can't be understood. With these animals as pets, she manages the ruins of the Hell of Blazing Fires where her home stands.

8. #8Koishi Komeiji

   Keys: Koishi, Koishi Komeiji

   Koishi Komeiji is a satori, and Satori Komeiji's younger sister. To escape the fear and hatred which other beings feel towards the satori species, she attempted to destroy her mind-reading ability by closing her Third Eye. However, this had the side effect of sealing away her own conscious mind, causing her to lose all thoughts and motives; she could no longer be hated, but neither could she be loved, or even remembered by people who saw her.

9. #9Suwako Moriya

   Keys: Suwako Moriya, Suwako

   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". However, Kanako and the shrine maiden, Sanae Kochiya, carry out the duties of gathering faith. She doesn't come forth of her own volition often. Whether it is because she is bad at marketing faith by herself or some other reason is one of the mysteries of the Moriya Shrine.

10. #10Sanae Kochiya

    Keys: Sanae Kochiya, Sanae

    Sanae Kochiya is a human, but is also a distant descendant of the goddess Suwako Moriya. Her role at the Moriya Shrine is similar to a shrine maiden, but with her inherited power Sanae has also become a minor deity herself. Originally from the Outside World, Sanae migrated to Gensokyo with the shrine and its two resident goddesses, Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya. As a result, she is rather knowledgeable about the outside world and modern living, although her attempts to explain scientific concepts usually just confuse the locals. Her knowledge on things like the youkai of Gensokyo, on the other hand, seems a bit lacking for a shrine maiden.

11. #11Hell of Blazing Fires

    Keys: Hell, Hell of Blazing Fires

    The Remains of Blazing Hell was formerly a part of Former Hell where criminals were banished, it has recently been re-ignited because of the activation of the Nuclear Furnace directly below by Utsuho Reiuji. Rin Kaenbyou can be found here, carting corpses into the Furnace to keep it running. The place is very hot because it has a lot of magma, and it is invested with vengeful spirits. Since people stopped being condemned to the hellfires, the oni don't visit any more either, so this place has become the playground to such spirits and animals. It's said that if you die here, your corpse will be trapped here and you'll turn into a vengeful spirit, where you cannot make it to Heaven regardless of your innocence. The Blazing Fires were apparently not as hot as it is now, because when Hell moved to a new location that in itself created Former Hell, the Blazing Fires started to cool down, thus becoming dark, and Satori Komeiji sealed it off with the Palace of the Earth Spirits. Thus, this became space for Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya to start a Mountain Industrial Revolution project, and Utsuho burned it up again after she swallowed the god Yatagarasu.

12. #12Palace of the Earth Spirits

    Keys: Palace of the Earth Spirits

    The palace is a Western-style mansion with what appears to be many stained glass windows on a chequered floor. In the courtyard is a large hole that leads to the Hell of Blazing Fires below. It's said that the palace was constructed after the Underworld was separated from Hell.

    Satori Komeiji took control of the palace and managed it by herself with the help of her pets, keeping it relatively peaceful. Of her pets, Rin Kaenbyou's duty is to carry corpses to the Remains of Blazing Hell for the heating of Former Hell and Utsuho Reiuji is to maintain that heat. The other pets' duties were said to be tending the garden and playing with Satori's sister, Koishi Komeiji.

13. #13Hakurei Shrine

    Keys: Hakurei Shrine

    The home of Reimu Hakurei. The shrine has become a popular hangout for all sorts of youkai who Reimu and company defeat. However, because of this, very few (normal) humans come to the shrine, and even fewer (if any at all) leave donations, but because it is a place where human faith gathers, Aunn Komano tends to guard the place without being asked.

    The Hakurei Shrine was once the only shrine in Gensokyo, but the Moriya Shrine has since settled on the Youkai Mountain. Also adding to religious competition is the Myouren Temple and the Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum; the former is a Buddhist temple led by Byakuren Hijiri and the latter is held by Taoists run by Toyosatomimi no Miko‎.

14. #14Moriya Shrine

    Keys: Moriya Shrine

    The Moriya Shrine is a Shinto shrine, originally from the Outside World, that was transported to Gensokyo by the god Kanako Yasaka during the start of the events of Mountain of Faith. It is now located somewhere near the top of Youkai Mountain beside a neighboring Divine Lake that was brought with it.

    This shrine is home to the priestess Sanae Kochiya and its resident gods Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya. Both the kappa and tengu have come to accept Kanako as a resident god and now live in peace. As the shrine gets few visitors, its primary source of income comes from selling bits of outside-world technology to the kappa.

15. #15Human Village

    Keys: The Human Village, Human Village, village

    The Human Village is where most of Gensokyo's humans live. Even though some youkai also visit here to shop, this is the safest place in all of Gensokyo to live. Humans from the outside world that stumble into Gensokyo and decide to stay often have no choice but to live here as they would be unable to handle the youkai outside the village. The village itself has a powerful protector in Keine Kamishirasawa, who is capable of "hiding" the history of the village's existence for its protection. Among the people living at the village are Keine Kamishirasawa and Hieda no Akyuu. The village has an as of yet unnamed leader, a florist, a woodcutter, a teahouse, a tofu shop, youkai exterminators, and more. There's also the Kirisame-ya second-hand shop here which is owned by Marisa's father. Some stores stay open late into the night to cater exclusively to youkai. Most of the furniture in the Scarlet Devil Mansion was made by humans in this village, and Sakuya Izayoi comes to shop often. Yuuka Kazami has come to shop at the flower shop on at least one occasion. Ran Yakumo is a frequent customer of the village tofu shop, and also checks up on the village occasionally for her master Yukari Yakumo. Reisen Udongein Inaba travels to the village to sell medicine, though she is forced to do so in human disguise. It is said that Medicine Melancholy once tried to spread poison across the village. Kogasa Tatara is often sighted in the village, where she is disliked by adults but loved by children (to her dismay). Myouren Temple was constructed near the village after the events of Undefined Fantastic Object. According to Sanae Kochiya, the village has a relatively central geographical location in Gensokyo. Officially, youkai do not meddle in village affairs, and villagers tend to be uncomfortable with youkai walking the streets unless they have good reason to be there. Below the surface there are many youkai who visit the village in disguise, or compete to gain influence over it (Mamizou Futatsuiwa being a notable example), but anything which would actually cause the villagers trouble is out of bounds. Some disguised youkai, like Sekibanki, actually live in the village. Youkai seek to avoid anything which would cause Gensokyo's human population to rally around a strong leader and directly challenge their authority over Gensokyo. Humans from the village mostly avoid involving themselves in youkai actvities, although some humans have become uneasy with the dominance of youkai in Gensokyo. In the recent past, a secret society was rumored to have existed, intending to learn secrets from research into the beginnings of human and youkai residence in Gensokyo with a goal of asserting human control and expelling youkai from the land. A statue of the Dragon God serves as one of the village's more notable landmarks. Built by kappa, its eyes can predict the weather by changing colour, and are said to turn red before an incident.

    Hieda House Hieda no Akyuu lives here, recording everything that she has seen in her life. Her family appears to be one of the wealthiest in the village, with several house-servants and a sizable vegetable garden.

    Kappa Warehouse An abandoned building at the edge of the village was once used by the kappa for storage while their normal warehouse was frozen over.

    Kirisame-ya Second-Hand Shop Marisa's father is the owner of this shop. Rinnosuke Morichika was his former apprentice here, but nothing much is known here beyond that it does not deal in magic items.

    Roadside Shrines The village possesses a hokora dedicated to the Shinto god Inari, which an Unnamed Evil Dragon claims to have constructed long ago. The Moriya Shrine erects a number of its own hokora around the outskirts of the village, encouraging villagers to leave offerings in order to ward off a recent series of snake attacks.

    Hieda Temple School There is a Terakoya somewhere in the village, where Keine works as a history teacher. Planning for its construction began in the 117th Season. Known students include the village chief's son, the florist's daughter, and a disguised Kitsune.

16. #16Gensokyo

    Keys: Gensokyo

    This is a remote place, far from any human habitation. In ancient times, this place was densely populated by youkai and those humans who wandered too close would be eaten by them. Most people feared the youkai, but a brave warrior would occasionally rise to defeat them. Some of those brave humans settled in Gensokyo to keep close watch on the youkai. Scientific advancements among the human race further contributed to Gensokyo's growing human minority. Due to this, Yukari Yakumo implemented a plan roughly 500 years ago to restore the power of youkai in Gensokyo by creating a "Barrier that divides Reality and Fantasy" called the Youkai Expansion Project. With the plan's implementation, Gensokyo became a place where it brought in things that have become fantasy outside; in other words, things that were forgotten in the Outside World such as youkai, lost items, and such are paranormally transported into Gensokyo. In 1885 A.D., Gensokyo was again made isolated from the rest of Earth with the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier. Gensokyo has made next to no attempt at contact with the outside world since its creation. Gensokyo's language is modern Japanese. Gensokyo, the area encompassed by the Great Hakurei Barrier, is a landlocked territory comprised mainly of forested mountains. Notable geographic features include the Youkai Mountain with communities of kappa at its base, tengu at its peak, and the Moriya Shrine at a lake near the top; the Forest of Magic; the Bamboo Forest of the Lost where Eientei is located; the Misty Lake next to the Scarlet Devil Mansion; the Human Village and adjacent Myouren Temple, which are assumed to be in a fertile valley; the Sanzu River separating Gensokyo from Higan; and the Hakurei Shrine at the east of Gensokyo.

    Although passing through the Hakurei Barrier to the Outside World is normally impossible for weaker people, stronger entities are known to be able to pass through. It is also significantly easier for Gensokyo denizens to access domains of gods, demons, and spirits which are not strictly part of Gensokyo itself. These include Higan, the Netherworld, Makai, Heaven, Senkai and the Underworld.

    The Youkai Mountain retains the original appearance of Mount Yatsugatake before Konohana-Sakuyahime, the goddess of Mount Fuji, destroyed it. In the outside world today, the remnants of the mountain can be seen as the Yatsugatake mountain range in Yatsugatake-Chūshin Kōgen Quasi-National Park between Nagano and Yamanashi Prefectures, providing a possible indication of where Gensokyo would be located in Japan. Lake Suwa and Mount Moriya, which Suwako Moriya was named after, are located nearby. Youkai make up the majority of Gensokyo's population. Many youkai are sub-classified into other races, such as devils, magicians, vampires, fairies, kappa, oni, and many more. Many types of spirits also inhabit the world, such as Ghosts, Poltergeists, Evil spirits, Divine spirits, a number of Tsukumogami, and apparitions. Many unusual items exist in Gensokyo, of which quite a few are based in Japanese mythology in one way or another. However, given Gensokyo's nature as a "land of that which is forgotten", even more modern items that have fallen out of style for a long time (such as the Game Boy) have occasionally turned up. Many of these "new" items appear near Muenzuka, and both Rinnosuke Morichika and Nazrin are said to have picked up various objects there. In addition to the unusual items floating in, many goods are the same as those from old Japan. Goods like black tea and coffee are considered to be a luxury. There are two known sources of media in Gensokyo: the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, written and edited by Aya Shameimaru; and the Kakashi Spirit News, by Hatate Himekaidou. The former seems to be far more popular, however, with its sometimes loose depictions of reality. Gensokyo exists roughly parallel to the real world. As the inhabitants of Gensokyo, however, have developed their spiritual lives instead of following the trend of technological advancements in the real world, Gensokyo itself can look like Japan from hundreds of years ago.

17. #17Scarlet Manor

    Keys: Scarlet Devil Mansion, Scarlet Mansion, Scarlet Manor

    The Scarlet Devil Mansion, also referred to as the Scarlet Manor or Scarlet Mansion, is a European-style mansion owned by Remilia Scarlet. It is located on a ridge on the edge of the Misty Lake. From the outside, there are scarlet-colored windows, but there aren't many windows because of the nature of its vampire residents. There are plenty of rooms without windows at all, too. The entrance to the mansion is usually not fully closed. There is a clock tower on the roof, but the bell on it only rings at night. The inside of the mansion is much larger than is apparent from the outside. This is due to Sakuya Izayoi's ability to manipulate time and space. The mansion's owner is Remilia Scarlet. Patchouli Knowledge, a friend of hers, resides in the library, while Remilia's sister, Flandre Scarlet, is not allowed to leave the mansion. Hong Meiling acts as the gatekeeper, but is frequently overpowered by many characters. Some time after the events of Ten Desires, a number of hofgoblins were hired on as additional help. Many fairies are employed by Remilia Scarlet as Fairy Maids in order to clean the mansion, and they're overseen by the head maid, Sakuya Izayoi. The maids don't appear to be very useful, however, since they are just fairies. According to an advertisement in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red (Cirno's interview), maids are provided with three meals a day and uniforms, but no paid vacations, breaks, or afternoon naps. However, unofficially (in terms of the mansion's policies), the fairy maids are free to do as they please, and another employee gatekeeper Meiling is known to take afternoon "siestas" (which is either close enough to a nap, or an excuse to cover up that it is an actual nap). The advert shows the mansion is open to hiring other beings as maids, and Sakuya has indicated in the vampire team ending in Imperishable Night that if she were to train a successor, it would be human, but currently Sakuya is the only human maid at the mansion. The maids are free to leave and return to regain their posts, but despite the fickle nature of the mistress, their lives are comfortable and most end up staying. The magic library in the mansion's basement is said to be the largest in Gensokyo, but as it is not open to the general public, it's relatively unknown what kinds of books are in there. Hieda no Akyuu suggests that there are very rare magic books, and there are also many books from the Outside World. Certainly, unconfirmed to Akyuu, at least some books are in Esperanto, some were written by Patchouli, and some are dangerous to even touch. Remilia created a swimming pool in the library after the events of Silent Sinner in Blue, but this is not intended to be a permanent fixture. Koakuma resides here and serves Patchouli. It is unknown if she's the only little devil at the mansion, or if there are others. Events are quite commonly held at the mansion, but as there is usually no previous notice of them, the residents are the only ones that attend. Various events are depicted in Strange and Bright Nature Deity, and it seems that Marisa Kirisame is a frequent visitor. One exception was when the mansion held a publicity event during Silent Sinner in Blue to promote Remilia's plan to fly to the Moon in the Moon Rocket, inviting pretty much everyone from Gensokyo. The incident in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil in 2003 made the mansion well-known to humans.

18. #18The Great Hakurei Barrier

    Keys: Hakurei Barrier, barrier

    The Great Hakurei Barrier is the barrier that hides Gensokyo away from the Outside World, and which allows youkai to survive within even when outside humans no longer believe in them. It is known that the Hakurei Shrine is located on the border and believed that Yukari Yakumo lives somewhere along the border as well (though not near the shrine). The barrier is so important to Gensokyo that the year of its formation is now marked as the year 0 in the Gensokyo Calendar. The barrier is designed to affect only living things and their creations, while allowing natural forces to pass through (hence the barrier is permeable to sunlight, and Gensokyo's rivers are connected to those of the Outside World). The space on the edges of the barrier is non-Euclidean - humans who attempt to leave the barrier will find themselves encountering the same landmarks over and over, without ever getting any further from where they started. There are two ways of travelling through the Barrier. True, complete passage can be achieved by punching a hole in the barrier and walking through. However, beings may also enter or leave Gensokyo by being "spirited away", a method which is often only temporary and allows only certain items to be brought inside or outside Gensokyo. Some of these spirited away travellers have little physical presence (sometimes to the point of appearing only as a shadow) and will eventually be pulled back home, remembering their trip as if it were only a dream. In fact at least some of these trips have taken the form of literal dreams, with the traveller's mind returning to their body when they awake. However, it is still possible for a dreamer in the Outside World to bring some objects from Gensokyo to the Outside World and viceversa. Yukari is known for being the one who purposedly spirits away humans by causing fluctuations in the barrier.

19. #19The Outside World

    Keys: , Japan, The outside world, outsiders

    The Outside World, also called the Human World or Another World, is the sum of all that is outside of Gensokyo. Gensokyo and all its residents are aware of the outside world, whereas on the other hand almost all the creatures of the outside world are unaware of the existence of Gensokyo as the Great Hakurei Barrier keeps it all sealed away. Sumireko Usami‎ once tried to expose Gensokyo to the outside world in Urban Legend in Limbo by breaking the barrier, but it's presumed she failed. While it was thought that no youkai live in the outside world anymore, some may be left as with the case of Mamizou Futatsuiwa. The outside world has a modernised civilisation that Gensokyo lacks. Even though it's impossible to pass through the Great Hakurei Barrier, it's still very easy to enter by simply getting lost while wandering around, but humans are still unaware that they've entered another world. This leads them to great danger if they were eaten by youkai, should they fail to find the Human Village or the Hakurei Shrine. If they find the village, they'll be escorted safely to the shrine and be able to return to their world once again. If outsiders refuse to return back to their world, they're forced to take up residence in the Human Village, however, they rarely choose to stay.

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