What do you guys and gals think? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Chances are, if you've ever been around on the 'net, you'd have heard of something called Touhou. Touhou is a series of bullet-hell shoot em ups developed by a guy named ZUN, who is the sole member of Team Shanghai Alice. While the games are well-liked for their absolute batshit insane combat and visual spectacle, Touhou's popularity lies very much with it's fans. Fans produce much of Touhou's works, fan games (ranging from platformers, fighters to RPGs), music, and Doujins. The fan community is still active to this day, still producing various sorts of works. Here, I'll be taking a look at the various uses of symbolism in Touhou. While it partly draws from eastern religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, and Shinto primarily), it does occasionally draw on western imagery and theology, such as Christianity. Without further ado, let's begin! First, is the name Touhou (東方). In Japanese, the Kanji (much like Chinese characters) often contains various different meanings, with each character potentially representing multiple items. In this case, the term "Touhou" roughly translates out too as "The Orient" or "Eastern Direction." While the term "Orient" and "Oriental" refers to mostly East Asian regions, it also refers to Iran . The term "Orient" was derived from the Latin word Oriens, meaning "the rising sun." And considering how Japan is known as the "Land of the Rising Sun," it doubles an effective linguistic allusion. Touhou's world is primarily characterized between the human world, and a foreign realm known as Gensokyo (The Land of Fantasy). Only accessible through a Shinto shrine known as the Hakurei Shrine, Gensokyo is mostly populated by Youkai, who up until the late 19th century have been at periodic war with humans, until they were sealed off by the Great Hakurei Barrier. Within Gensokyo, there are multiple realms, such as the Underworld, Makai, Senkai, and Heaven. The name "Gensokyo" itself is surprisingly indicative of the nature of Touhou: Not only is it a fantasy realm populated with a variety of fantastical denizens, ranging from Japanese spirits, humans, and vampires, it is also make-believe. An ultimately fictional concept, that nonetheless provides a escapist angle from the stresses and turmoils of human life. A fantasy realm off in the east, evoking old images of East Asia a la John Milton's Lost Horizon as something mystical, mysterious, and ultimately alluring.A place full of hidden secrets, mysticism, and knowledge. Values all summarized by the occult. Occultism, the usage and study of hidden supernatural deities and magics, is sought to be something generally secret and spooky. While occultism isn't the primary aspect of Touhou, it does play on the theme of the unknown and hidden. The Hakurei Shrine is headed by one Reimu Hakurei (博麗 霊夢). Reimu Hakurei's name in Japanese means multiple things right off the bat. The first character "Rei" means both means "zero" and "beautiful." The second, "Mu" means "spirit." As such, her first name can be read as "Beautiful Spirit" or "Zero spirit." Her last name and familial namesake, Hakurei offers an alternative meaning. The last character "Rei" means the same as above. I later found out that the in Hebrew, Rei means "my friend," or "good friend." The final character "Haku" roughly translates out in Hawaiian and Japanese as "lord" or "foil" respectively. So in conclusion, her name roughly is "Beautiful Spirit, Lordly Friend" or "Lazy Spirit, Foil Friend." While she isn't nobility by any means, she is the dominant occupier and manager of the Hakurei Shrine, which serves as a boundary between the human and demonic realms. While having a name that means "Beautiful Spirit," Reimu is anything but. She's quite lazy, and generally self-centered. She isn't exactly malicious however. She mostly does what she wants, without a care in the world all the while being optimistic. This generally egoist attitude can prove to be sometimes catastrophic, as she rarely takes into consideration what her actions can do to others. Despite this, she gets along quite well with most people, even if the humans look at her with scorn. Her determination to do what she wants may seem familiar. At first, it resembles the opposite concept of Nietzsche's Ubermensch. In his famous novel Thus Spoke Zarathrusta, author Friedrich Nietzsche described the Ubermensch, someone who acts based on his own free will, caring not for the whims of good and evil. As such, the Ubermensch can be considered someone who is "above good and evil." The Ubermensch does not think whether something is moral or not. He merely just does what he wants. Reimu is not an Ubermensch. If anything, she resembles the "Last man." The Last Man is someone who is subject to desires and vices. Instead of ascension, the Last man is concerned with comfort first and foremost. Reimu herself is very lazy, despite her incredible skill as an Youkai exterminator. When she's devoted to her job, she'll be fanatically devoted to it. However, given the chance between extermination and relaxation, she'll mostly take the latter. Her generally hedonistic attitude is more in line with egoism and self-interest. Some philosophers such as Max Stirner argued that even altruistic actions are inherently egoistical, and that we should all act in voluntary self-egoism. Reimu herself is a generally self-minded person, who usually places her own interest over the interests of others, with the possible exception of her good friend Marisa. While there are egoist and nihilistic influences in her character, she is ultimately represented by a different concept altogether.  This is contrasted with her character design. For the most part, it is based off of a Miko. In Shintoism, Mikos are best described as "Shrine Maidens." Their purpose in Shintoism were magical shamans who had acted to drive out evil and perform magic. Constrast the generally revered nature of the Miko with the very egoist, lazy nature of Reimu's character. What is somewhat odd is that while her design is based off of a Shinto Miko, one of her primary weapons is a Ying-Yang orb. Now, anyone with a passing mention of Asian philosophy is at least familiar with what they look like. The Ying-Yang, or the Taijitu is primarily a Taoist concept. In Taoism, the basic mantra is "go with the flow." Being passive is valued much more than being active, with a belief that nature with sort things out. This undercurrent of Taoism represents Reimu's character fairly well. For the most part, she just lets things play out normally, with few intervention. The only time she would intervene would be if something posed a truly significant threat. The Taijitu also represents the concept of duality. Duality teaches that every opposing element, despite their differences, exist peacefully with one another, and end up complimenting one another. For every lazy desire Reimu cultivates, there are equal moments where she acts in a altruistic manner, acting not on her behalf, but on the behalf of her fellow humans, youkai, and the like. For every moment of indifference, there is a moment of genuine compassion. This duality is the core essence of Reimu's character. Serving as a contrast to Reimu, we have her friend Marisa Kirisame. Marisa's last name "Kirisame" means "Drizzle" in Japanese. Her name Marisia is derived from a few words. The first is "Marisa," which means "Magical Theory." Considering her occupation is a human witch living in a world amongst vampires, gods, and youkai, this designation is befitting. Her name in conclusion, means "The Pouring of Magical Theory," benefitting her nature as a witch. Marisa is different to Reimu in many ways. Reimu was a slave to laziness, and the inner conflict between action and inaction. However, despite this conflict the two co-exist with each other in a perfect harmony. Unlike Reimu, who has no solidly defined goal, Marisa has one goal in particular: Immortality. She maintains an incredible obsession with obtaining things, whether they be grimoires or books from the Scarlet Devil Mansion's library (more on that later). This seems to be more of an inherent kleptomania rather than a link to her desire for eternal life. She is more of an egoist than Reimu is. Reimu acts in her own self interest by not acting at all. Marisa on the other hand, is active in her interests. Her motivation for immortality seems to boil down to the most basic form: She wants to live forever to experience everything the world has to offer. However, the alternate methods to becoming an immortal (either becoming a religious hermit, or turning into a youkai) do not interest her. She is burdened by desire, but she does not appear to be troubled by this burden regardless. Underneath the egoism is a friendly person, who shares a good relationship with Reimu. She doesn't really care about "morality" for the most part, making her a pseudo-ubermensch. She is ultimately on the side of good, but it is hard to tell underneath the wants and desires for knowledge, and perhaps the act of searching for knowledge. At the end of the day however, she is a hedonist plain and simple. One of the books in her possession is a Grimoire named "The Grimoire of Marisa." To be honest, if I were go over all of them, we'd be here all day. However, Marisa's does stand out: Sigil of Marisa. The basic design resembles the Hexagram, along with the Jewish Star of David. In Judaism, the symbol was originally known as the Magen David, or the "Shield of David (מָגֵן דָּוִד)". In Kabbalism (Jewish Occultism), the Magen David is a symbol for the six directions of space, the four elements, and the divine union of male and female energy. Alternatively, the basis for the Magen David, the hexagram is sometimes known as the Seal of Solomon, which was used to control demons. In Hinduism, the hexagram is known as the Shatkona. The Shatkona represents the Hindu God Shiva, who is sometimes known as the Mahadeva (Great God). Shiva is known as the Hindu God of Destruction, as described by the Shiva Samhita, a nature benefitting one of the more powerful humans to ever set foot in Gensokyo. Then there is the matter of the Youkai. What are Youkai? Good question. In Shintoism, Youkai (妖怪: Mysterious Calamity) are miscellaneous spirits who live in this world. They can be either good, evil, neutral, or other labels to describe their nature. Shinto is a very animist religion, in which it associates these spirits with natural phenomena. Some of these Youkai in Shintoism are the Onryou, Orochi, and the Tengu. Meanwhile, in Touhou the Youkai operate similarly. However, whereas the Youkai in Shintoism represent a variety of concepts in nature, in Touhou they are connected to the moon ultimately. Because of the moon's alluring light, it sparks fear in humans, which in turn creates Youkai. The closest thing the moon has to do with Youkai in Shintoism is the Katsura-otoko, or Moonman who inspires beauty rather than fear. In Touhou, some of the Youkai live on their own. Others have more open allegiances such as the Oni. Oni are the closest analogue that Shintoism has to demons; Malevolent, brutish creatures who are hedonistic. Touhou's Onis were once the leaders of a society run by Kappas, Japanese water demons. However, they were driven out and they migrated to the Underworld. This is a refernce to how for many unfamiliar with Japanese Shintoism, confuse Oni with demons. While Onis are demonic, they are Youkai which are not demons. On the subject of demons, let's talk about Shinki. Shinki is most likely the biggest source of Judeo-Christian influence in Touhou, and for a number of reasons. Firstly Shinki's name. The character Shin means "God" while "Ki" means "beautiful." So, "beautiful god." Of course, beauty is a subjective thing. However, it is quite apparent that Shinki is an analogue for Lucifer. In the Bible, Lucifer is written (in Hebrew) as הֵילֵל, or Heylel. The term Heylel translates in English as "Light-bearer." From Hebrew to Greek, we have ἑωσφόρος or Heosphoros. Heosphoros translates as "The Morning Star" in English. In many cultures, light is associated with beauty. In popular culture, Lucifer is portrayed as the most beautiful and charismatic angel out of them all no doubt thanks to later depictions of Lucifer. According to the Bible (Ezekial 28 14-15), "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." In these passages, Lucifer is described as the most beautiful angel, who's fall from grace is made all the more ironic, at least from a Christian perspective. This motif was brought up again, most famously in John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, in which Lucifer's fall from heaven is portrayed sympathetically, accompanied with wonderful prose and inspired illustrations by Gustave Dore. Some people, such as Luciferians view Lucifer in a sympathetic light, viewing him as a bringer of knowledge a la Prometheus from Hellenic mythology, befitting Lucifer as a "Bringer of Light." In Paradise Lost, Lucifer reigns over a realm within Hell known as Pandemonium, or in Greek Pan-Daimonio (Παν-δαιμον-ειον) or "All-Demon Realm." In English, the term later meant chaos. In Touhou, Shinki is the literal creator of Makai, or "Demon Realm." This title is very similar to Pandemonium. In regards to her character design, she is described as having six demonic wings. William Blake once again is the primary inspiration, as in his paintings he depicted Lucifer with multiple wings. Finally, there is the matter of Remilia Scarlet. Remilia draws from many inspirations, primarily Vampires. The head ruler of the aptly-named Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia is a peculiar figure. Her first name "Remilia" is derived from the name Emilia, which is the feminine form of "Emil." The term Emil is derived from the Roman family name Aemilius which in Latin means "Rival" or "Adversary." The name Scarlet should be self-explanatory, meaning "Red." So in other words, her name means "Red Rival." Remilia is a vampire in Touhou. According to Touhou's lore, she is approximately 500 years old and judging by her attire is European in origin. If Remilia is to be believed, she is a descendant of Count Vlad Tepes. Here is where we get into the history of vampires and Vlad Tepes (A Romanian ruler infamous for his tyrannical rule and gruesome punishments). Because of how bloody his tortures were, legends started to circulate that Vlad Tepes had a taste for blood. His last name Dracul is Romanian for "Dragon" or "Devil." Dracula respectively means "Son of the Devil." Similarly, while she is nowhere near as cruel as Vlad Tepes, she does have an appetite for blood. Despite this, she doesn't drink enough from her victims that results in death. While well-versed in the fields of literature and wisdom, she possesses a childlike demeanor contrasting with her haughty and arrogant personality. Vampires aren't limited to Touhou obviously, with a long lineage of depictions from film to literature. Vampires originally came from the Slavic term "Upir" (Упирь). The Upir in Slavic mythology were said to be women who had sold their souls to the Devil, or people who did not believe in Jesus. According to the Orthodox Church, such people were considered to be literal agents of Satan. This attitude later helped entrench the occult connections between vampires and Satan. The occult has had a long interesting history with society as a whole. Often considered to be mysterious and evil by most of society, it has been a source of horror for long time. At the same time it has also been something of a bit of a fad or a societal pleasure, as evidenced by the Victorian age, which Remilia is derived from. The Victorian Age was a very peculiar age. The Industrial Age had began, with technology advancing at a rapid pace. No longer was society dominated by agrarian practices. The age of metal was dawning, and with it so did a widening gap between the rich and poor. While the rich got richer, indulging themselves in immeasurable wealth and luxuries, the poor continued to languish and suffer despite the rapid pace of technological progress. This era also marked the rise of secularism. Once-dominant religious institutions were being quickly abandoned in favor of rationality. One such influential work was Charles Darwin's famous work The Origin of Species which had helped solidify the scientific phenomenon known as Evolution which explained the origins of various species. Despite this growing secularization there was also a dual religious revival. While Christianity grew in popularity at the time, the same could be said of the occult. Interest in the supernatural and death was at an all-time high. Movements such as spiritualism (a religious idea in which communication with the dead was key) grew into play, attracting mainstream attention. This was also the age of the Gothic Horror genre, where the modern vampire grew into fruition. In particular, Bram Stroker's Dracula helped solidify the basic vision of a modern-day vampire. Even those who have not read the novel know the iconography. Dark, gothic castles, adorned with infinite wealth, with the aristocratic Count Dracula being very hospitable and affable, in spite of his horrific nature as a vampire. From this point on, vampires were no longer symbols of heresy, but instead symbols of wealth, knowledge, and the occult. Remilia reflects this in a number of ways. She is the head of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, a massive estate host to a wealth of books. In Gensokyo proper, it is the largest collection of books in the mysterious realm. It is not available to the public, a perfect analogy for the occult and the pursuit of mysterious hidden knowledge. Many such as Marisa Kirisame have sought to discover such mysterious secrets in the mansion, but to of no avail. Her mansion proper is a very affluent one, with a plethora of supernatural staff to assist Remilia in her endeavors, channeling Count Dracula's wealth and taste. Remilia herself tries to maintain an elegant, aristocratic demeanor which is heavily contrasted to her childish and at times petty nature. The last thing to discuss with Remilia is her sigil: Remilia's Sigli. Circular in shape, in the center is an upside-down triangle, with eyes surrounding the triangle. In the middle is one massive eye, surrounded by three other eyes on the points of the triangle. This symbol is mighty spooky, but it does have lots of symbolism behind it. The upside triangle, with the eye in the middle is reminiscent of the Illuminati. The Illuminati, plural for the Latin Illuminatus (Enlightened Ones) were in real-life a secular libertarian organization in Bavaria. However, it was criticized and labelled heretic by the Catholic Church, and as such later faded away. Despite the secular origins of the Illuminati, the term grew to mean something completely different than from what was intended. The Illuminati has been used as conspiracy theory fodder for a long time now, with it being cast as a secret society manipulating world events in order to eventually rule the world. As for what this so-called "New World Order" will look like suspiciously varies between conspiracy theorists, with a different scapegoat filling in as the evil oppressor. The triangle is inspired from the Sigil of Lucifer which originated from the Italian Grimorium Verum. As I have mentioned previously, Lucifer's name in Greek means "The Morning Star" whereas in Hebrew it means "Light-bearer." Since the term Illuminatus means "Englightened One" this is alluding to not only Remilia's occult connections, but also to her nature as a possessor of knowledge, and is as such an enlightened being. Unlike the Luciferian view of Lucifer which maintains that Lucifer had an altruistic nature, trying to bring knowledge to humanity under the petty eye of God, Remilia keeps her knowledge to herself. After all, power is a vital thing, regardless of whether it be in real life or in Gensokyo. Due to Touhou's massive cast of characters, locations, species, and the like it is impossible for me to cover everything, much less all the various Doujin works. This was merely me talking about some of the more significant attributes, or rather the elements which had caught my attention the most. Nonetheless, Touhou paints a very rich world, drawing from philosophy, religion, history, and popular culture. The latter one is slightly ironic, as while Touhou drives inspiration from past culture it itself has been something culturally recognizable. Of course, not nearly to the extent of something like Disney, but it has had an impact nonetheless. Even if one has not played any of the games or read any of the Doujins, characters such as Reimu and Marisa are instantly recognizable. The plethora of fan-made music, mangas, and even an (fairly-well done) Anime was spawned from it. And this was not at the behest of a overbearing studio executive, but sheer fan passion. The games themselves were never technological marvels, produced all by ZUN himself. It is a series that is built on it's fans, rather than the other way around. |
uh woah damn uh pretty good |
That's a pretty decent ammount of research and bibliography for a forum post You be makin a essay or something? Cause this looks really cute |
Mkim said: That's a pretty decent ammount of research and bibliography for a forum post You be makin a essay or something? Cause this looks really cute This was for a seperate website I'm on as well, in which I actually have the proper citations and the like. Since many here are aware of Touhou, I decided to put this up here as well. |