Shinmyoumaru Sukuna - Touhou

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna (少名 針妙丸 Sukuna Shinmyoumaru) is a young Inchling who usually resides in the Shining Needle Castle. Seija Kijin gave Shinmyoumaru the Miracle Mallet which allows Shinmyoumaru to make herself bigger, enlarging her size to that of a small human child. Shinmyoumaru first appeared as the Stage 6 boss of Double Dealing Character then first appeared as a playable character, and possible opponent, in Urban Legend in Limbo and later Antinomy of Common Flowers.

General Information Personality Shinmyoumaru acts and speaks as if she was a young child. Along the same lines, she appears easily persuaded, as she readily accepted the fabricated history of the inchlings that Seija Kijin fed to her. Also, she has a height complex and will always seek ways to become taller, like with the Miracle Mallet or the Occult Balls.

Abilities and Possessions Ability to use the Miracle Mallet The Miracle Mallet is an ancient inchling artifact, passed down through the generations, said to be able to grant any wish the user wishes. However, only inchlings are able to use it. In addition, the utilization of the Mallet to grant wishes comes with a price, and for wishes that are too large, it extracts this price before it even grants the wish.

In Double Dealing Character, Shinmyoumaru tried alongside with Seija to overturn society with the power of the Miracle Mallet, but the price she had to pay appears to have been the leakage of a lot of magical energy into Gensokyo. This magical energy was responsible for turning normally peaceful youkai into aggressive monsters, and creating tsukumogami such as Benben, Yatsuhashi, and Raiko. It caused Reimu's purification rod, Marisa's Mini-Hakkero, and a few knives belonging to Sakuya to start "acting" strangely. However, in Sakuya A's route, Shinmyoumaru says that the maid's knife is something she made into a tsukumogami as an experiment, so it's unknown whether or not all the heroines' weapons were the same, or if all of the tsukumogami were her experiments, or if Sakuya's knife was an exception.

Shining Needle Sword Whilst appearing as more of an accessory in Double Dealing Character, in Urban Legend in Limbo, Shinmyoumaru makes heavy use of the Shining Needle Sword in combat. Although appearing to be just an oversized needle, it seems to function very well as a weapon on its own. It seems to be able to produce beams and fishhooks made of energy, and she even uses it in a similar manner to a fishing rod in some moves and spellcards.

Occupation She was a co-conspirator to Seija, and plotted to overturn the hierarchy of society with her. After exhausting the power of the Miracle Mallet in Double Dealing Character, she began living in a cage-like doll house at the Hakurei Shrine whilst her body remained tiny and she was waiting for the Miracle Mallet to recover all of its power. She planned to return to being "tall" afterwards. As of Urban Legend in Limbo, she is once again normal-sized (albeit very short) and presumably living at the Shining Needle Castle once more.

Backstory Shinmyoumaru is a descendant of Issun-Boushi, a legendary oni-slayer who managed to obtain from them a treasure called the Miracle Mallet. At first, he only used its wish-granting power to make himself bigger and to get himself a princess. He thought that since the Miracle Mallet was an oni's tool, using it recklessly would cause his own ruin.

Several generations later, this particular mindset was all but gone in the minds of most inchlings. One of his descendants decided to use it again in order to live in luxury, thus breaking the taboo. However, the descendant wished for a grand castle and to rule over the inchling people. In that moment, the Shining Needle Castle appeared, and the Mallet's power ran out. Shortly after, the price of using the Mallet's power manifested itself: the entire castle turned upside-down, and they presumably descended into Gensokyo afterwards and joined the oni, also leading to the eventual forgetting of the inchlings by those living in the outside world. Afterwards, the Mallet was never spoken of again.

Before the main events of Double Dealing Character, Shinmyoumaru was a normal inchling living in the Shining Needle Palace, unaware as to the history of the inchling race, as well as to the Miracle Mallet. However, Seija Kijin eventually approached her with the Mallet she had found, and asked her to use it. By falsifying the history of the inchlings and placing the blame for the race's destruction on powerful youkai, Seija was able to convince her to rally to her side, and to use the Mallet for what is ultimately Seija's own ambition.

Shinmyoumaru has short lavender hair, and eyes that appear to be lavender with brown flecks. She wears a pink Kimono with a pinstripe pattern, some flowers, and a black Obi. She has a black bowl covering her head with a flower-patterned border. In her left hand she carries the Miracle Mallet, and in her right hand, a sewing needle that shines, hence the name "Shining Needle Sword". The bowl, mallet and needle are the iconic possessions of Issun-boushi, and her design is largely based on him. The Miracle Mallet's power forms a circle around her, representing how the mallet takes payment equivalent to the wishes it grants. She doesn't wear any kind of footwear. She appears to be the size of a small child in-game. This is due to the Miracle Mallet's power, however. In several endings, she is shown to be only a few inches tall once its power wears off.

Relationships Seija Kijin Seija Kijin initially comes to Shinmyoumaru to give her the Miracle Mallet and convince her to overturn society with her. They were allies during Double Dealing Character, but while Shinmyoumaru gave up in overturning society after her defeat, Seija kept following her plans and "stole" some of the Miracle Mallet's power, using it during Impossible Spell Card. Since Shinmyoumaru wanted her power back, she went out hunting the amanojaku together with many others humans and youkai.

Despite what happened during the amanojaku incident, it turned out that the two are still on good terms with one another, as shown when Shinmyoumaru relied on Seija to hijack the Hakurei Fireworks Contest.

Reimu Hakurei After Shinmyoumaru was defeated, she reverted to her original one-inch size. Reimu realized that Shinmyoumaru could face harm in this state, and provided her with a small cage for her to lodge in whilst the mallet was recharging. She eventually returned to her castle, but it seems she is a regular lodger at the shrine, and the two get along well.

Minor Relationships Benben Tsukumo and Yatsuhashi Tsukumo The two tsukumogami are also in on the conspiracy, but it's unknown if they know each other at all.

Okina Matara Okina helped Shinmyoumaru with her plans to hijack the fireworks festival in The Grimoire of Usami.