Touhou Project

The ***Touhou Project*** (東方Project *Tōhō Purojekuto*?, lit. Eastern Project), also known as ***Toho Project*** or ***Project Shrine Maiden***, is a Japanese dōjin game series focused on bullet hell shooters made by the one-man developer Team Shanghai Alice, whose sole member, known as ZUN, is responsible for all the graphics, music, and programming for the most part.[1] The series was inducted into the Guinness World Records in October 2010 for being the "most prolific fan-made shooter series".[2][3] The *Touhou Project* began in 1995 when *Highly Responsive to Prayers* was first developed by the group Amusement Makers for the Japanese NEC PC-9801 series of computers; the game was later released in November 1996. The next four *Touhou* games released between August 1997 and December 1998 also were released on the NEC PC-9801. The *Touhou Project* was inactive for the next three and half years until the first Microsoft Windows *Touhou* game, *The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*, was released in August 2002 solely by ZUN after he split from Amusement Makers and started Team Shanghai Alice. The *Touhou Project* became a media franchise spanning a steadily increasing number of official games, in addition to commercial fan books, music, light novels, and manga.

## Games

### PC-98 predecessor games

The *Touhou* series of games started on the Japanese PC-98
 series of computers and its first five entries are native to that
platform; standard PC users are only capable of playing them through an
emulator. Also, the PC-9801 series of computers was already on the
decline when these games were released. Because of this, they are not
well known among players. The group that made these games was called
Amusement Makers.

*Highly Responsive to Prayers* (東方靈異伝 *Tōhō Reiiden*?, lit. "Wondrous Eastern Legend")
The 1st game of the *Touhou* series, released in 1996. It is not a vertical top-down shooter like most other games in the series, and is similar to *Arkanoid*

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instead. Reimu Hakurei, the perpetual protagonist, was introduced in

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this game. Reimu Hakurei enters through the gateway into another world,
intent on locating and punishing the one responsible for destroying her
shrine. Players direct a yin yang
 orb with amulets to break away blocks and the level is over once all of
 them are gone. If the player runs out of time on a level, bullets will
rain down until the player completes the level or dies. Bosses are
defeated by hitting the orb into them until their life is fully
depleted.

*Story of Eastern Wonderland* (東方封魔録 *Tōhō Fūmaroku*?, lit. "Recorded Sealing of an Oriental Demon")
The 2nd *Touhou* game released in August 1997 at Comiket
 52. This is the first danmaku game of the series, and also marks the
first appearance of Marisa Kirisame (here as the second-to-last boss),
the second major player character of the series. The resident shrine
maiden Reimu Hakurei returns from a training session in the mountains
only to find the Hakurei Shrine overrun by a contingent of ghosts and yōkai.
 Excited at the opportunity to test her fledgling abilities, she takes
the powerful Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs and takes off on the back of her
turtle Genjii to seek out the source of the invasion. The gameplay is
generally the same as *Eastern Wonderland* throughout the rest of the series.

*Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream* (東方夢時空 *Tōhō Yumejikū*?, lit. "Oriental Dream Dimensions")
A two-player versus-type shooter similar to *Twinkle Star Sprites*, the game is labeled as the 3rd *Touhou* game, released in December 1997 in Comiket
 53. Reimu Hakurei discovers that some mysterious ruins have suddenly
appeared just outside of the Hakurei Shrine. She joins in a violent
competition with the other people who want to explore them—it is said
that the one who reaches the heart of the ruins first will win a
fantastic prize.

*Lotus Land Story* (東方幻想郷 *Tōhō Gensōkyō*?, lit. "Fantastic Home Village of the East")
The 4th game of the series, released in August 1998 in Comiket 54.
This game introduces the focus mode, a staple of the series hereafter,
that slows the sprite's
 movement to facilitate dodging bullets. Following the events of the
previous games, the magical land of Gensokyo is once again at peace
until yōkai begin to swarm the Hakurei Shrine and a tremendous power
surges from beneath a lake high in the mountains. The shrine maiden
Reimu Hakurei once again seeks out and eliminate the source of the
disturbance, only on this occasion she is unwittingly joined by an old
rival. According to ZUN, only 200 to 300 copies of the game were sold at
 the time.[4]

*Mystic Square* (東方怪綺談 *Tōhō Kaikidan*?, lit. "Fantastic Eastern Tales of Romance")
The 5th and final *Touhou* game for the PC-98, released in December 1998 in Comiket 55. Mima and Yuka, final bosses of *The Story of Eastern Wonderland* and *Lotus Land Story* respectively, return as playable characters in this game. As so often is the case in *Touhou*

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games, something is amiss within Gensokyo. A massive quantity of demons

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 are pouring from a cave high within the mountains. Seeking the source
of this invasion, Reimu Hakurei and co. must travel through Makai to
confront the one behind the problem.

### Windows games

After *Mystic Square*, the *Touhou Project* became inactive for four years while its creator ZUN began to develop several music scores for the *Seihou* games. He then left the group and made *Touhou* games for Windows
 under his own group, Team Shanghai Alice. The playability of the
Windows games was substantially improved compared to that of the PC-98
counterparts. Most *dōjin* works derived from the *Touhou* series are centered on these games.

*The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil* (東方紅魔郷 *Tōhō Kōmakyō*?, lit. "Eastern Lands of the Scarlet Devil")
This is the 6th *Touhou* game and the first on Windows. It greatly exceeded the PC-98 games graphically, switched from FM Synthesis to synthesized PCM music (with simplified midi
 as a fall-back), and was the first game to gather a substantial Western
 fanbase. The story, told by conversations between characters during
interludes in the action, goes as such: the land of Gensokyo (setting of all the *Touhou* games) has been engulfed by a scarlet mist, and its inhabitants no longer see the sun. As the shrine maiden Reimu Hakurei or the witch Marisa Kirisame, the player attempts to deal with the source of the mist, a mysterious figure called the Scarlet Devil.

*Perfect Cherry Blossom* (東方妖々夢 *Tōhō Yōyōmu*?, lit. "Bewitching Eastern Dream")
This is the 7th *Touhou* game. It is unusual among the recent
releases in that the English and Japanese titles are not similar in
meaning; its Japanese title could be rendered as *Bewitching Dream*.
 As the month turns to May, winter has lasted far longer than normal in
Gensokyo, and the denizens begin to suspect foul play. As Reimu, Marisa,
 or the new arrival Sakuya Izayoi, the player embarks on a search for those who are working to prevent spring's coming. *Perfect Cherry Blossom* continues the tradition of the *Touhou* games, with the reappearance of former bosses as playable characters. Sakuya is the head maid of the vampire Remilia Scarlet, better known as the Scarlet Devil, and the player has fought her three times before in *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*.

*Immaterial and Missing Power* (東方萃夢想 *Tōhō Suimusō*?, lit. "Gathering Dreams in the East")
This game was produced in collaboration with Twilight Frontier, and is the 7.5th *Touhou* game in the series. Despite being released after *Imperishable Night*, it is numbered 7.5 because the events in this game took place before those of *Imperishable Night*. *Immaterial and Missing Power* is a 2D fighting game
 instead of the usual scrolling shooter. Though Team Shanghai Alice was
only responsible for the storyline and some of the music, the game was
listed as one of the team's official works.

Initially playable characters in this game include some of the
characters from previous Windows games, such as the two protagonists Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame, Alice Margatroid, Youmu Konpaku (both bosses from *Perfect Cherry Blossom*), Sakuya Izayoi and Patchouli Knowledge (both bosses from *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*).
 More characters become playable as the player finishes the story mode
with the initially playable characters, and so on. An official patch to
the game adds Hong Meirin (from *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*) as a playable character, but she is not available in the story mode.

*Imperishable Night* **(東方永夜抄 *Tōhō Eiyashō*?, lit. "Eternal Night Vignette from the East")**
This is the 8th *Touhou* game. It was released at the Comiket
 66 Convention in August 2004. This story's focus is on a rather more
insidious evil than past games. Gensokyo's yearly event, the Moonviewing Feast,
 is only one dawn away, but someone seems to have replaced the moon with
 a fake that will not grow full. A team of human and yōkai set out to
remedy this before the night is over—the story says that the team the
player selects is the only team heading out to investigate, which has
caused some problems within the *Touhou* canon.

In this entry, each of the usual playable characters gets a teammate from the non-human side of Gensokyo. Reimu Hakurei allies with Yukari Yakumo, Yōkai of the Boundary; Marisa Kirisame with Alice Margatroid, the Seven-Colored Puppeteer; and Sakuya brings her mistress, Remilia Scarlet. The new team is half-ghost Youmu Konpaku and full-ghost Yuyuko Saigyouji, Stage 5 and Final bosses of *Perfect Cherry Blossom* respectively. All the other characters (except Remilia) appeared in *Perfect Cherry Blossom.*
*Phantasmagoria of Flower View* (東方花映塚 *Tōhō Kaeizuka*?, lit. "Oriental Flower Viewing Mound")
This is the 9th *Touhou* game. It was released in August 2005 at the summer Comiket 68 convention. This game is a versus-type shooter like *Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream*,
 and has very different gameplay from the past three entries in the
series. The story puts the characters in an investigation on why the
flowers of Gensokyo are blooming out of season and more than usual.
Initially playable characters include Reimu, Marisa and Sakuya as usual
(as well as two other characters from previous games), but the list adds
 on as the player progresses in the storyline of each of the players.

*Shoot the Bullet* (東方文花帖 *Tōhō Bunkachō*?, lit. "Oriental Cultural Album")
This is the 9.5th game in the series. It was released at the Comiket
 69 convention in December 2005. The game is meant to be the game
version of the official fanbook, *Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red*. The player, as tengu reporter Aya Shameimaru,
 is tasked with taking pictures of bosses for her newspaper to clear
successively more difficult stages. The game is unique in that the
player has no standard shot or bombs; rather, the camera is the main
method of offense and defense as it clears bullets from the screen.
Scoring is based on the contents of each photo, boss location, number of
 bullets, and Aya's position. Notably, this is one of only three games
in which Reimu Hakurei is not a playable character—in fact, she does not even appear as an enemy.

*Mountain of Faith* (東方風神録 *Tōhō Fūjinroku*?, lit. "Eastern Wind God Chronicles")
This is the 10th *Touhou* game. It was announced in early May
2007, and a trial version was released at the Reitaisai 4 convention on
May 20, 2007. The full game was released on the first day of Comiket
 72, August 17, 2007. Reimu receives an order to close down the Hakurei
Shrine, or it will be torn down and the god of Yōkai Mountain will take
it over. As either Reimu or Marisa, the player has to ascend to the top
of Yōkai Mountain to find the god behind the happenings and prevent the
shrine from being taken over.

*Scarlet Weather Rhapsody* (東方緋想天 *Tōhō Hisōten*?, lit. "Eastern Skies of Scarlet Perceptions")
This is the second versus fighting game similar to *Immaterial and Missing Power* and the 10.5th *Touhou* game[5]

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by Team Shanghai Alice and Twilight Frontier. It was released on May

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25, 2008. The storyline in the game revolves around the strange weather
patterns occurring around Gensokyo and as the characters are chosen in
the game, they must find out who is controlling it. This is the first
game to introduce the card deck system and changing weather conditions
that affects the gameplay during matches.

*Subterranean Animism* (東方地霊殿 *Tōhō Chireiden*?, lit. "Eastern Palace of the Earth Spirits")
This is the 11th *Touhou* game. It was announced[6] on May 1, 2008. A demo was released at the Reitaisai 5 convention alongside the full version of *Scarlet Weather Rhapsody*.
 The full version was released on August 16, 2008 at Comiket 74. A
mysterious geyser appears one day near the Hakurei Shrine, which also
seems to spout evil spirits from underground. Reimu or Marisa go
underground with the help of one of three yōkai (Yukari Yakumo, Suika
Ibuki, or Aya Syameimaru for Reimu; Alice Margatroid, Patchouli
Knowledge, or Nitori Kawashiro for Marisa) and stop the source of the
geyser before things get far too out of hand.

*Undefined Fantastic Object* (東方星蓮船 *Tōhō Seirensen*?, lit. "Star-Lotus Ship of the East")
This is the 12th *Touhou* game. It was announced[7]

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on February 26, 2009. A demo was released at the Reitaisai 6 convention

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 on March 8, 2009, and the full version was released on August 15, 2009
at Comiket 76. Spring has come to Gensokyo and a magical flying ship
that is said to bring good omen has appeared in the sky. The player
assumes the role of either Reimu, Marisa, or Sanae Kotiya, who returns from *Mountain of Faith*,
 as the three girls race to board the vessel. While the separate bomb
counter is back, the scoring system gets complemented by the "Undefined
Fantastic Objects", or UFO's, that appear as traditional unidentified flying objects in three colors (green, red and blue) and must be collected in groups of three in order to get different bonuses.

*Touhou Hisōtensoku* (東方非想天則 〜 超弩級ギニョルの謎を追え *Tōhō Hisōtensoku ~ Chōdokyū Ginyoru no Nazo wo Oe*?, lit. "Lacking Perception of the Rule of Heaven in the East ~ Chase the Enigma of the Superdreadnought Guignol")
The third versus fighting game and the 12.3th *Touhou* game[8]

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done by Team Shanghai Alice and Twilight Frontier. It was announced on

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July 23, 2009, and was released at Comiket 76 on August 15, 2009.[9] The game introduces new spell cards and weather conditions as well as improved gameplay. Characters from *Scarlet Weather Rhapsody* can be played in versus mode if that game is installed. The story mode, which is playable with Sanae Kotiya, Cirno, and Hong Meirin,
 revolves around the silhouette of a giant creature, which piqued the
interest of the denizens of Gensokyo. Both Sanae and Cirno's scenarios
involve the investigation of the strange being and to find out who is
controlling the strange giant. Meirin's scenario involves fighting a
strange being in a dream who wanted to destroy the world. This is the
only *Touhou* game in the series to not have an official English subtitle.

*Double Spoiler* (ダブルスポイラー 〜 東方文花帖 *Daburu Supoiraa ~ Tōhō Bunkachō*?, lit. "Double Spoiler ~ Oriental Cultural Album")
This is the 12.5th game in the series announced by ZUN on March 3, 2010.[10] The game was released on March 14, 2010 at the Reitaisai 7 convention. The game focuses again on Aya Shameimaru and is meant as a sequel to *Shoot the Bullet* as it has a same gameplay style but adds new characters and spell cards, covering all characters from *Mountain of Faith* onwards.
*Fairy Wars* (妖精大戦争 〜 東方三月精 *Yōsei Daisensō ~ Tōhō Sangetsusei*?, lit. "Great Fairy Wars ~ Eastern Three Fairies")
This is the 12.8th game in the series announced by ZUN on July 23, 2010.[11] The game is the continuation of the *Touhou Sangetsusei*

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manga series and was released at Comiket 78 on August 14, 2010. Cirno

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is the main character of the game and the gameplay is focused on
vertical shooting with the inclusion of the ability to freeze bullets.

*Ten Desires* (東方神霊廟 *Tōhō Shinreibyō*?, lit. "Eastern Divine Spirit Mausoleum")
This is the 13th game in the series. It was announced on February 28, 2011.[12]

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A demo was slated for release at the Reitaisai 8 convention on March

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13, 2011, however, the trial release was temporary canceled due to the Tōhoku earthquake.
 The full game was released at Comiket 80 on August 13, 2011. Reimu,
Marisa and Sanae are once again playable as they were in the latest main
 installment in the franchise *Undefined Fantastic Object* joined
by Youmu Konpaku as a fourth playable character. In this game, Reimu and
 Marisa notice an increase in divine spirits and take off to
investigate. Sanae seeks to utilize the power of the divine spirits for
the Moriya Shrine gods, and Youmu Konpaku wants to exterminate all
ghosts that are not under her right.

*Hopeless Masquerade* (東方心綺楼 *Tōhō Shinkirō*?, lit. "Eastern Tower of Heart Fabric")
This is the 13.5th game in the series, and the fourth versus
fighting game created by Team Shanghai Alice and Twilight Frontier. It
was announced on October 5, 2012. The game features a completely
different style of 2D sprites compared to the earlier fighter games.[13]

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A demo was released at Comiket 83 in December 2012, and the final

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version of the game was released at Reitaisai 10 on May 26, 2013.

*Double Dealing Character* (東方輝針城 *Tōhō Kishinjō*?, lit. "Eastern Castle of Radiant Needles")
This is the 14th game in the series, which was announced by ZUN on May 11, 2013.[14]

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A trial version of the game was released at Reitaisai 10 on May 26,

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2013 and the full version was released at Comiket 84 on August 12, 2013.
 Reimu and Marisa are once again playable and Sakuya is now a playable
character for the first time since *Phantasmagoria of Flower View*.
 The story revolves around the yōkai rioting all over Gensokyo and the
individual weapons of the three protagonists starting to act oddly. It
is their job to either take their weapons in hand and fight the yōkai,
or to cast their weapons aside.

*Impossible Spell Card* (弾幕アマノジャク *Danmaku Amanojaku*?)
This is the 14.3rd official game in the series, was announced on
April 12, 2014, and was released at Reitaisai 11 on May 11, 2014. The
game is a danmaku type that deviates from the usual play style, and
involves the player controlling Seija Kijin, who uses a series of cheat
items to clear spell cards.

*Urban Legend in Limbo*
This is the 14.5th official game in the series, announced by ZUN at
the Digital Game Expo 2014 on November 16, 2014 and released on May 10,
2015.[15] The game art is by Moe Harukawa, and was announced alongside another minigame by ZUN titled *Danmaku Amanojaku Gold Rush*.

*Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom* (東方紺珠伝 *Tōhō Kanjuden*?, lit. "Eastern Legend of Ultramarine Orb")
This is the 15th game in the series, which was announced by ZUN on
April 22, 2015. The game features four playable characters: Reimu,
Marisa, Sanae, and Reisen. It was released on August 14, 2015.[16]

## Gameplay

In the shooting games, the player's bullet power increases on a
linear scale as the player collects power-ups dropped by enemies, and
eventually maxes out. The player can also collect 'point' icons to earn
extra lives; the amount needed grows exponentially as the player's score
 rises. The player can use 'focus', the shift key by default, which
slows down the player's movement, makes the collision box visible, and
(generally; some characters are reversed) focuses the player's attack to
 make it more powerful. The graze counter, missing from *Mountain of Faith* and *Story of Eastern Wonderland*,
 tracks how many bullets entered the character sprite but avoided the
collision box, and rewards the player with a score bonus for living on
the edge.

The player can use a weapon called a 'spell card', which is similar
to a 'bomb' in most other shooting games. While the player has a limited
 number, using one makes the user temporarily invulnerable and uses a
special magical attack that generally clears the screen. Each character
has two cards with different names and patterns. The player can use one
during a short period after being hit by a bullet (known as the 'border
between life and death') to avoid loss of a life. The amount of time the
 player has available to use the border is usually around 0.3 seconds.
Bosses also have spell cards, but with bosses the term applies to a
prolonged pattern of movements and shots that lasts until the player
depletes the boss' health by a certain amount or the time runs out, not a
 one-shot attack.

Each individual game of the main series after *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil* has additional items that affect some aspect of gameplay, such as scoring or gaining extra lives/bombs. For example, *Perfect Cherry Blossom*

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has "cherry points", which are used mostly in scoring, but can grant

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temporary invulnerability (known as 'supernatural border'); *Imperishable Night*

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has "time points", which are essential to advancing to later stages,

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and also determine if the player gets to challenge a boss's 'final
spell' on normal or higher difficulties; *Mountain of Faith* has
'faith' points, which help tabulate the score the player receives upon
gathering point items and bonuses for clearing spell cards without dying
 or using a spell card.

Each *Touhou* game has four difficulty levels—easy, normal,
hard, and lunatic—with each one being harder than the previous one.
Regardless of difficulty choice, there are six stages in each game and
each one is harder than the previous. The only exception to this is The
Embodiment of Scarlet Devil on easy difficulty, which only has five
stages.

In addition to the four main difficulties, there is an extra stage
which is a long and difficult stage in which players must play through
hordes of enemies, bullets, and bosses. In order to reach the extra
stage, one must beat the game on normal difficulty or higher without the
 use of a continue. The only games that allow players to reach the extra
 stage by completing the easy difficulty are *Story of Eastern Wonderland*, *Mystic Square*, *Perfect Cherry Blossom*, *Imperishable Night*, *Fairy Wars* and *Double Dealing Character*. In terms of difficulty, the extra stage is around the normal or above difficulty levels. In *Perfect Cherry Blossom*,
 there is also a phantasm extra stage in which the enemies that were
already difficult in the extra stage have become even more challenging.
Although the phantasm stage is aimed for the most experienced players,
the difficulty is somewhere in between hard and lunatic. The phantasm
stage is accessed by beating the extra stage and capturing at least 60
spells with any of the characters and weapon types combined.

## Plot

### Background

The plots of the *Touhou Project* revolve around the strange phenomena that occur in the fictional realm of **Gensokyo** (幻想郷 *Gensōkyō*?, literally *Illusion Village* or *Fantasy Village*),
 which ZUN designed with a human village in the grounds of some remote
mountain recesses in Japan. Originally, it was simply called "a remote
separated land of a human village in an eastern country." Long before
the *Touhou Project*‍ '​s story begins, there lived many non-humans like *yōkai*

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as well as some humans in the area. After a few humans lost their way

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into Gensokyo, humans became afraid of approaching this area, although
others settled here for the sake of yōkai extermination. However, as
time went on, humans developed civilization and multiplied in number,
and thus the yōkai became distressed about how this would affect the
balance between humans and yōkai. Thus, 500 years before *The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*

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(EoSD), the yōkai sage Yukari Yakumo developed the "boundary of

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phantasm and substance," which was favored by the yōkai and protected
the balance. This was called the "Yōkai Expansion Project" and made
Gensokyo a phantasmal world that automatically called out to the
weakened yōkai of the outside world. Other things that disappear from
the outside world, like extinct animals, lost tools, and architecture,
also became abundant in Gensokyo. Since Gensokyo was a plot of land in
Japan that was separated by a barrier, it is Japan that is immediately
outside of this barrier.

As a result of the seal, Gensokyo became inaccessible from the
outside world, and similarly, those in Gensokyo were unable to leave.
Gensokyo's existence could not be confirmed from the outside world, nor
could the outside world be confirmed within Gensokyo. As a result, the
isolated community developed its own civilization, different from that
of the outside world. Although separated by a barrier, it is a bordering
 world to its outside, as opposed to being in a parallel universe.
 There are no seas in Gensokyo, since it is an inland mountain. In
Gensokyo, there are few humans, and various kinds of yōkai. Some species
 include magicians, beasts, therianthropies, vampires, bōrei, tengu, mermaids, kappa,
 and yōkai (a kind of miscellaneous group). There are others species
that could be yōkai depending on definition, like fairies, spirits, yūrei, onryō, poltergeists, hermits, oni, and gods.

In present Gensokyo, which is presented in all *Touhou Project*
games since EoSD, as opposed to the outside world where unscientific
phenomena were dismissed as "superstition" by the time of the Meiji era,
 magical and spiritual qualities prevail. The only known gateway from
the outside world into Gensokyo is the Hakurei Shrine on the border of
Gensokyo. The spell card rules were also established to keep up the
relationship between humans and yōkai in a mock style, which was
necessary for the preservation of the balance of Gensokyo. The "Great
Hakurei Barrier," managed by Hakurei Miko,
 was constructed several decades before EoSD, which is described as a
"barrier of common sense," and is thus a strong logical barrier that not
 even yōkai can pass through. The yōkai were at first against its
construction, but then gradually understood its usefulness.

### In-game events

In Gensokyo, events called "incidents" occur once in a while. An
incident is an event that affects all of Gensokyo and is of unknown
cause at the time it occurs.[17] *Touhou Project* mainly focuses on incidents in its stories, but there are also works like *Mountain of Faith* that are about events other than incidents.

Frequently, incidents are due to a yōkai's whim or curiosity, and
usually Reimu Hakurei would go to investigate it and then find and
chastise the perpetrator. Usually, the shrine maiden of the Hakurei
Shrine resolves incidents, but there are cases where Marisa Kirisame and
 other imitators would resolve them.[17]

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When a major incident occurs, the spirits and fairies are affected by

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the circumstances, the incident, and the perpetrator, and experience an
increase in power for the duration incident, so there are also cases
where a mere fairy defeats Reimu.[18] It has additionally been stated that people of the village also go out to resolve incidents.[19]

The *Touhou Project* does use the Gregorian calendar, but since
the moon is more important to yōkai, there exists the "Yōkai Lunisolar
Calendar" in Gensokyo, and although it is not used except for some
yōkai, it features prominently in works that have dates, such as *Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red*.
 This calendar does not merely take into account the waxing and waning
of the moon, but also its color and the cycles of its edge, and has a
13th intercalary month called Uruu. The smallest unit of this calendar
is the month, and the calendar era, called "~th season," goes through a sexagenary cycle. *The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil* occurred in the 118th season, *Immaterial and Missing Power* and *Perfect Cherry Blossom* in the 119th, and *Phantasmagoria of Flower View*

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in the 120th. The opening of the "Gensokyo Chronicles" to the public

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was on the 121st season. This calendar is set such that the end of World War II is on the 60th season.

According to *Phantasmagoria of Flower View*, the "flower
incident" occurs once every 60 years, with the cause being the deaths of
 a great number of humans in the outside world. According to *Imperishable Night*, the reason why Reisen ran away from the moon was due to an invasion of the Moon from Earth, which was the Apollo program. Gensokyo was separated from the outside world at around the Meiji era, and *Imperishable Night*

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was around a hundred years later. The second time the Great Hakurei

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Barrier became loose, which occurs once every 60 years (taking place in *Phantasmagoria of Flower View*), was in the 120th season.

### Characters

See also: List of Touhou Project characters

With its focus on bishōjo characters, the *Touhou*

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series possesses a large cast compared to other shooting games. While

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they aren't developed nearly to the standards of a story-based game,
many players love them, and even obscure stage bosses who only appear
once have a fanbase. One example is Hong Meirin, affectionately known as
 Chūgoku (China), the stage 3 boss of *The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*, who won a popularity contest in Japan out of all *Touhou* characters.[20]

```
Among the vast array of characters, only six named characters are male.

```

 One (Genjii) is a turtle, one is a cat (Sokrates), two (Youki Konpaku
and Myouren Hijiri) are only mentioned in passing, one (Rinnosuke
Morichika) is only featured in the serialized novel, and the last
(Unzan) is a cloud-like entity. There is also one before all these
(Shingyoku), but this character has three forms of different genders, so
 this character may not exactly be male.
Though each game features a collection of different characters, the main character of the games is always Reimu Hakurei, joined by Marisa Kirisame after the second game. The only games where this is not the case are *Shoot the Bullet* and *Double Spoiler*; Aya Shameimaru is playable on both, and Hatate Himekaidou can become playable in *Double Spoiler*. The same thing applies in *Fairy Wars*, which has Cirno as the sole playable character.

## Development

The *Touhou Project* is a one-man project by a Japanese game
maker, ZUN, who does all the graphics, music, and programming alone,
with the exceptions of the dual effort with Twilight Frontier in *Immaterial and Missing Power*, *Scarlet Weather Rhapsody*, *Touhou* Hisōtensoku*,* Hopeless Masquerade*, and* Urban Legend in Limbo*, and portrait art in* Fairy Wars*, which is by Makoto Hirasaka.*

The idea of *Touhou* first came to ZUN during his high school
years, when shrine maiden-themed games were in the minority. "It would
be nice to make shrine maiden games," he thought, and often imagined the
 music that would go with such games. He went to college, hoping to
compose music for fighting games, since they were popular at the time
due to *Street Fighter II*.
 However, he decided that in order to put his music into games, it would
 be easier to make his own game to go with it, thus the first *Touhou* game, *Highly Responsive to Prayers*, was released in 1996. The first game was originally intended as a practice in programming. *Touhou* only became a shooting game series starting from the second game, because the popularity of shooting games had revived due to *RayForce* and ZUN had long been a fan of such games.[21] ZUN remarked how the general theme and direction of *Touhou* only started coming together in the sixth game, *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*.[22]

ZUN develops his games with Visual Studio, Adobe Photoshop, and Cubase, according to his interview in *Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red*.[23]

## Other media

In addition to dōjin games, Team Shanghai Alice has also expanded the *Touhou* universe into other media.

### Music CDs

Eight music albums have been released by ZUN, each containing
rearranged versions of music from the games, in addition to original
tracks: *Dolls in Pseudo Paradise* (蓬莱人形?), *Ghostly Field Club* (蓮台野夜行?), *Changeability of Strange Dream* (夢違科学世紀?), *Retrospective 53 minutes* (卯酉東海道?), *Magical Astronomy* (大空魔術?), *Michi no Hana Michi no Tabi* (未知の花　魅知の旅?), *Trojan Green Asteroid* (鳥船遺跡?), and *Neo-traditionalism of Japan* (伊弉諾物質?). There is also a five-volume set of soundtracks containing music from the PC-98 *Touhou* games titled *Akyu's Untouched Score* (幺樂団の歴史?), in addition to original game soundtracks for *Immaterial and Missing Power*, *Scarlet Weather Rhapsody* and *Touhou Hisōtensoku*. Some of the official print media released include music CDs containing original tracks and rearranges of earlier music.

### Print media

*Curiosities of Lotus Asia* (東方香霖堂 *Tōhō Kōrindō*?, lit "Eastern Hall of the Perfumed Rain")
Written by ZUN himself, *Curiosities of Lotus Asia* is a story published in installments. First it was published in the *Colorful Puregirl* magazine, but was moved to *Magazine Elfics*

```
of the BiBLOS company after the discontinuation of the former. However,

```

 as BiBLOS went bankrupt, the series was moved again. Finally, it was
published in the magazine *Dengeki Moeoh* between the August and December 2007 issues. In addition, some installments of *Curiosities of Lotus Asia* were published on the Elnavi website. A compilation was released on September 30, 2010 by ASCII Media Works. In 2015, a continuation of the series was featured in the *Touhou*-only magazine *Strange Creators of Outer World*. The protagonist Rinnosuke Morichika is the only humanoid male character shown in *Touhou*. The main subject of this publication is about Kourindou (香霖堂?), an old tool shop run by Rinnosuke.

*Touhou Sangetsusei* (東方三月精?, lit. "Oriental Moonlight Fairy Trio")
*Touhou Sangetsusei* is a manga being published in *Comp Ace*.
 The story centers around three fairies and their daily mischiefs,
adventures, and chance meetings. The base story is written by ZUN, and
the art is drawn by selected dōjin manga artists. The first part, *Eastern and Little Nature Deity*,
 is drawn by Nemu Matsukura. Starting May 2006, Matsukura stopped
drawing the manga for health reasons, and that responsibility was given
to Makoto Hirasaka. Thus a second version of *Touhou Sangetsusei* is published, titled *Strange and Bright Nature Deity*. In January 2009, *Strange and Bright Nature Deity* ended and was replaced by the third part, titled *Oriental Sacred Place* in May 2009, still drawn by Makoto Hirasaka. The fourth continuation, titled *Fairy Wars*, was released as a game on August 14, 2010.

*Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red* (東方文花帖 *Tōhō Bunkachō*?, lit. "Oriental Cultural Album")
*Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red* is the official fanbook of the *Touhou* series. The book includes mock newspaper articles by Aya Shameimaru, an interview of ZUN, and a compilation of some dōjinshi. A CD-ROM is attached to the back cover, and in it are new music tracks by ZUN, a demo of *Phantasmagoria of Flower View*, and a wallpaper of the book's cover.
*Seasonal Dream Vision* (東方紫香花 *Tōhō Shikōbana*?, lit. "Violet Flowers and Incense of the East")
*Seasonal Dream Vision* is an anthology of dōjinshi published by Comic Toranoana. Also included is ZUN's short story related to *Phantasmagoria of Flower View* and a CD of various rearrangements of his music.
*Perfect Memento in Strict Sense* (東方求聞史紀 *Tōhō Gumonshiki*?, lit. "Desired Oral Histories of the East")
*Perfect Memento in Strict Sense* is a guide and bestiary of Gensokyo, as told by Hieda no Akyu. It was released in late December 2006, published by Ichijinsha,
 but was originally slated for August of that year. A manga that uses
the story's premise is published in the December 2006 issue of the *Comic Rex* magazine.

*Touhou Bōgetsushō* (東方儚月抄?, lit. "Eastern Ephemeral Moon Vignette")
*Touhou Bōgetsushō* is a continuation of the story from *Imperishable Night*. It consists of a manga, a novel, and a yonkoma serialized in three Ichijinsha magazines. The manga *Silent Sinner in Blue* began serialization in the *Comic Rex* magazine in the July 2007 issue. Drawn by Aki Eda, the manga focuses on the human characters Reimu and Marisa. The novel *Cage in Lunatic Runagate* was serialized in the quarterly *Chara Mel*

```
magazine, debuting on June 25, 2007. It is illustrated by Tokiame, and

```

the plot being a deep submersion into the manga, taking a non-human
perspective. Finally, the yonkoma *The Inaba of the Moon and the Inaba of the Earth* (月のイナバと地上の因幡 *Tsuki no Inaba to Chijō no Inaba*?), illustrated by Arata Toshihira, is a light-hearted discursion from the main story, featuring Reisen and Tewi Inaba. It debuted in the August 2007 issue of the *Manga 4-koma Kings Palette* magazine, which was sold on June 22, 2007.[24][25]

*Grimoire of Marisa* (グリモワール オブ マリサ *Gurimowaru obu Marisa*?)
*Grimoire of Marisa* is a book purported to be Marisa Kirisame's
 notebook recording the noteworthy spell cards that she has encountered.
 It is written by ZUN and illustrated by Takeshi Moriki for the contents
 and Genji Asai for the cover. It was published in July 2009.

*Wild and Horned Hermit* (東方茨歌仙 *Tōhō Ibarakasen*?, lit. "Eastern Thorned Immortal Poet")
*Wild and Horned Hermit* is a manga which started serialization on July 24, 2010 in volume one of Ichijinsha's *Chara Mel Febri*. Written by ZUN with art by Aya Azuma, it introduces the new character Kasen Ibara.
*Symposium of Post-mysticism* (東方求聞口授 *Tōhō Gumon Kuju*?, lit "Desired Oral Teachings of the East")
*Symposium of Post-mysticism* is a book written by ZUN and
illustrated by Masakichi, Tokiame, Azuma Aya, Masatoki Asakura and
Kitsune, and was released on April 27, 2012. The contents cover
information of almost every *Touhou* character from *Mountain of Faith* to *Ten Desires*, in addition to a series of mock newspaper articles from the *Bunbunmaru Newspaper* and *Kakashi Spirit News* explaining aspects of *Touhou* lore.

*Forbidden Scrollery* (東方鈴奈庵 *Tōhō Suzunaan*?)
*Forbidden Scrollery* is a manga series written by ZUN and
illustrated by the young female artist Moe Harukawa. It debuted in the
December 2012 issue of *Comp Ace*.[26]

*Strange Creators of Outer World* (東方外來韋編 *Tōhō Gairai Ihen*?)
*Strange Creators of Outer World* is an official *Touhou*-only magazine published by ASCII Media Works and supervised by ZUN. It features interviews with ZUN and other *Touhou* *dōjin* creators, a continuation of *Curiosities of Lotus Asia*, and manga by *dōjinshi* artists. The first issue was released on September 30, 2015.[27]
## Reception and fanworks

A prodigious amount of derivative works based on *Touhou* have been created since the release of *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*. These include dōjinshi, dōjin music, dōjin anime, and dōjin games (even though the *Touhou* games themselves are dōjin games). The vast scope of *Touhou* derivatives prompted commentary, noting that *Touhou Project* became an unmissable aspect of Japanese consumer generated media.[28]

```
These dōjin activities are mostly responsible for adding original

```

attributes to characters that ZUN may not have intended. ZUN, for the
most part, had acknowledged, appreciated, and even encouraged these
derivative works by imposing very few restrictions on the use of his
works.[1] The major restrictions are on unauthorized commercial distribution (as opposed to dōjin) and the spoiling of endings; proper attribution to Team Shanghai Alice is a recommendation.[29] ZUN stated himself that he did not want the *Touhou Project* game series to be officially commercialized.

The first recent publication of *Touhou* derivative doujinshi occurred during December 2003, following the release of *Perfect Cherry Blossom*; seven circles sold *Touhou* derivative works at Comiket 65 in December 2003. At the Comiket 74 in August 2008, a total of 885 circles had *Touhou* derivative works on display or for sale, out of a total of 35,000 circles participating at Comiket.[31][32] By Comiket 85 (December 2013), 2,272 participating circles were selling *Touhou* derivatives, far outpacing those of other franchises.[30]

The dōjin games based on *Touhou* include adaptations of other game series' mechanics with *Touhou* characters, such as *Super Marisa Land* and *Super Marisa World* (parodies of the Mario games with the titles being a play on *Super Mario Land* and *Super Mario World*, respectively), *MegaMari* (based on the *Mega Man series*), and *Touhou Soccer* (based on the *Captain Tsubasa* games by Tecmo).[33] The music of *Touhou* is also very popular and many arrangement CDs can be found for sale at Comiket and other Japanese conventions.[34]

At Tokyo Game Show 2014, ZUN announced a collaborative project with PlayStation bringing unofficial, fan-made *Touhou Project* *dōjin* games to the PlayStation 4 (PS4) and PlayStation Vita platforms. As of September 2014, *Fushigi no Gensōkyō 3* (不思議の幻想郷3?) by Aqua Style, *Touhou Aogami Engi: The Genius of Sappheiros* (東方蒼神縁起?) by Strawberry Bose and *Touhou Sky Arena Matsuri* (東方スカイアリーナ祭?) by Area-Zero have been announced for release on the PS4.[35][36] The games will be published by Mediascape, under contract by Sony Computer Entertainment and ZUN, as part of a move towards embracing indie games for commercial distribution on PlayStation platforms.[37]

Among the most popular derivatives are the series of Flash videos created by the dōjin music circle IOSYS. Many of them, one of which is "Marisa Stole the Precious Thing," are popular on otaku internet forums and Nico Nico Douga.

```
　　 _,,....,,_　 ＿人人人人人人人人人人人人人人人＿
 -''":::::::::::::｀''＞　　　ゆっくりしていってね！！！　　　＜
 ヽ:::::::::::::::::::::￣^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^Ｙ^￣
 　|::::::;ノ´￣＼:::::::::::＼_,. -‐ｧ　　　　　＿_　　 _____　　 ＿_____
 　|::::ﾉ　　　ヽ､ヽr-r'"´　　（.__　　　　,´　_,, '-´￣￣｀-ゝ 、_ イ、
 _,.!イ_　　_,.ﾍｰｧ'二ﾊ二ヽ､へ,_7　　　'r ´　　　　　　　　　　ヽ、ﾝ、
 ::::::rｰ''7ｺ-‐'"´　 　 ;　 ',　｀ヽ/｀7　,'＝=─-　　　 　 -─=＝',　i
 ,.ﾍ,）､　　）＞,､ _____,　,.イ　 ハ　　　　レ ル｀ ー--─ ´ルﾚ　ﾚ´

```

The original "Yukkuri shite itte ne!!!" Shift JIS art.
Yukkuri Marisa (left) and Yukkuri Reimu (right)

A major internet meme based on *Touhou* is "Yukkuri shite itte ne!!!" (ゆっくりしていってね!!!?, often translated as "You should be taking it easy!!!"), which centers around the disembodied, deformed heads of *Touhou*

```
characters, often referred to as "yukkuris". This meme originated from a

```

 disfigured attempt to draw the main characters Reimu and Marisa with Shift JIS art.
 Yukkuris became so popular that the phrase "Yukkuri shite itte ne!!!"
won bronze for 2008's "Net Slang of the Year" in Japan. Yukkuris also
appear in Internet advertisements, the anime *Natsu no Arashi!* and *Pani Poni Dash!*, and most notably, the front page of 2channel, the largest Internet forum in the world.[38] Yuyuko Saigyouji and Reimu Hakurei also make cameo character appearances in Square Enix's game *Lord of Vermilion Re:2*.[39]

Several fanmade anime had been made for *Touhou*. An unofficial dōjin anime project by the dōjin circle Maikaze, titled *A Summer Day's Dream* (東方 夢想夏郷?), is a fan-made anime adaptation with an original plot featuring *Touhou* characters, with two episodes released in 2008 and 2012.[40]

```
Albeit created by an amateur studio, the animation project notably

```

featured high-ranking professional voice actors. Another dōjin anime by
the circle Manpuku Jinja, titled *Fantasy Kaleidoscope ~ The Memories of Phantasm* (幻想万華鏡?), was released at Comiket 80 in 2011, with one episode released based on the storyline of *Perfect Cherry Blossom*.[41] A short derivative animated project, Anime Tenchou x *Touhou Project* (アニメ店長 x 東方Project?) was produced by Ufotable in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Japanese goods chain, Animate, as a promotional video for the store combining the world of *Touhou* with Animate's mascot, Meito Anizawa.[42]

The *Touhou Project* was nominated for the 11th annual Media Arts Awards held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, under the Entertainment category.[43] However, Nintendo's Wii Sports was given the Grand Prize award and *Touhou Project* failed to win any awards.[44]

### Reitaisai

The **Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai** (博麗神社例大祭 *Hakurei Jinja Reitaisai*?, Hakurei Shrine's Regular Grand Festival) is the largest of the many dōjin conventions hosting only *Touhou*

```
content. Although the coordinator of this convention has nothing to do

```

with Team Shanghai Alice officially, the name "Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai"
 was given by ZUN himself. It first started in the year 2004 as a way
for Team Shanghai Alice to publicly distribute the trial version for
their upcoming games to the fans well in advance of releasing them on
the internet; in addition, the 2004 Reitaisai featured a total of 114
participating circles. Since then, many *Touhou* derivative works are also gathered and sold there. Commencing every year in April or May, the convention has been hosted in Ōta, Tokyo in 2004; Naka-ku, Yokohama in 2005; Sunshine City, Tokyo in 2006 and 2007; and the Tokyo Big Sight
 in 2008 and after. The year 2010 saw the birth of Reitaisai SP, an
additional Reitaisai to be held every autumn due to increasing
popularity. The 2011 Reitaisai was temporarily canceled due to safety
concerns after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[45] It was later rescheduled and held on May 8, 2011 with approximately 4,940 participating circles.