My thoughts on Okina are rather complicated, on one hand ZUN clearly did his homework when working on HSiFS, and as such she’s likely the character who has sparked the most curiosity from Touhou fans regarding her inspiration. In this respect she serves as a testament to just how effective Touhou can be at introducing these kinds of subjects to a broader audience, and even my own interest in Japanese religion is owed in part to the seeds sown by Okina. However, as time has gone by I’ve found myself feeling more and more dissatisfied with how Okina has been handled in HSiFS and beyond, to the point that my own appreciation towards her stems more-so from my appreciation of Matarajin, and at this point I think it’s fair to say she is one of the biggest pieces of wasted potential in the series.
Now I won’t go too in-depth covering Matarajin himself here, as I eventually plan to write up a series of posts explaining his origins and associations in detail (though I’m gonna wait until I’ve read Bernard Faure’s Gods of Medieval Japan vol.4 first), but, credit where credit is due, almost all aspects of Okina’s appearance in HSiFS are informed either directly or indirectly by Matarajin. To give some of the major examples:
Both her name and design are pretty obvious in how they draw from Matarajin, with her tabard additionally bearing the image of the big dipper, in reference to Matarajin’s connection with the asterism, and her given name Okina (隠岐奈) serves as a pun on the noh figure of okina (翁; “old man”) who Matarajin is sometimes identified with.
The “Land of the Backdoor” (後戸の国, Ushirodo no Kuni) serves as a reference to Matarajin’s role as the guardian of the backdoor (後戸, ushirodo) of the Jōgyōzanmai-dō (常行三味堂, a kind of Buddhist meditation hall, specifically referring to the one built by Ennin at Enryaku-ji). Okina’s attendants; Satono and Mai, on the other hand are based on the figures of Nishita Dōji (爾子多童子) and Chōreita/Teireita Dōji (丁令多童子) who appear in Genshi Kimyōdan texts, in addition to being depicted alongside Matarajin in artwork (interestingly the kanji used to spell Mai’s family name, Teireida (丁礼田), seems to be taken from the written form of Teireita Dōji (丁礼多童子) in the Tendaishū Genshi Kimyōdan Denki (天台宗玄旨帰命壇伝記)).
The various titles attributed to Okina, such as “god of obstacles” (障碍の神), “god of noh performance” (能楽の神), and “god of the shuku” (宿神), are all drawn in some way from Matarajin’s network of associations, while Okina’s designation as a “secret god” (秘神) is likely based on Matarajin’s role as the “hidden buddha” (秘仏) of Mōtsū-ji (I would even suspect that HSiFS’s incident at large; a “hidden/secret god” announcing their presence in a grand display, is based on the practices surrounding hidden buddhas).
Okina’s apparent conflict with Eternity Larva is a play on Hata no Kawakatsu’s exploits in ending the self-destructive worship of one Tokoyo-no-Kami (常世神; “God of the Everlasting World”), with Okina even hinting at Eternity Larva’s identity as Tokoyo-no-Kami (常夜神, though spelled here as “God of Everlasting Night”) in Cirno’s Extra Stage, this conflict further hinges on Matarajin’s identification with Hata no Kawakatsu (though, as I will cover later, this is not as strong of a connection as Touhou would lead you to believe).
In Aya’s Stage 6 dialogue it’s mentioned that the tengu and Okina are both descended from the so-called “people of impairments” (障碍の民), while this isn’t strictly based on any particular myth or legend it likely draws from the role tengu play in Buddhism as demons that obstruct enlightenment, similar to how Matarajin is a god of obstacles (障碍神, shōgejin). Moreover, Matarajin appears to have been envisioned as a tengu-like deity that had to be placated in the Tendai ritual known as Tengu-odoshi (天狗怖し; “frightening the tengu”), which is also reflected in HSiFS with Okina being characterized as a tengu-warding deity.
On top of all this, there are other more deep-cut references made elsewhere; such as Okina’s Extra Stage theme “Secret God Matarah” (秘神マターラ) drawing from the Sanskrit mātaraḥ (a term that refers collectively to the demonic matrikas, which in-turn are the likely etymological origin of the name Matarajin), and the spell card “Fire of Ena” (穢那の火) which references the obscure identification of Matarajin as the placenta deity Ena Tenjin (穢那天神, also written as Ina Tenjin (移那天神)).
Okina Matara (from SCoOW) and her basis, Matarajin. As an aside, it took way too long to find an image of the Rinnō-ji painting that had a remotely acceptable resolution lol.
All of this culminates in a character whose identity is tied inseparably to their cultural basis, but, by virtue of the general unfamiliarity of the subject matter (medieval Japanese religion, and by extension its deities, is not a widely understood topic even in Japan), this serves to make Okina an incredibly intriguing character in HSiFS. I’d even go so far as to say that this intrigue is the strongest element of Okina’s presentation, as the references made to Matarajin, alongside her role as a sage and founder of Gensōkyō, immediately established her as a very historied character with numerous connections to figures both inside and outside of the series itself. With the hints that were given it was interesting to consider for instance, that, if Okina was indeed Hata no Kawakatsu, she should have a background with Miko; given that Kawakatsu served under Prince Shōtoku and was involved in the creation of the 66 masks that gave rise to Hata no Kokoro.
Now this is all well and good, but with a better understanding of Matarajin, and historical Japanese religion more broadly, I can’t help but find some issues with the exact portrayal of Okina that was put forward in HSiFS. For starters, it’s clear that Okina draws in large part from the ideas put forward by Hattori Yukio; in which Yukio considered Matarajin to be identical to a deity called Shukujin (宿神), as presented by Konparu Zenchiku in his work the Meishukushū (明宿集; “Collected Writings Illuminating the Indwelling Deity”). According to Zenchiku, Shukujin served as one of the many manifestations of a primordial being named Okina (翁) who emerged at the creation of the world to protect Japan and its people, and notably appeared in the guise of Hata no Kawakatsu to perform sarugaku at the command of Prince Shōtoku. It followed to Yukio then that Matarajin was fundamentally the same figure as Kawakatsu, which matches with how Okina is presented in HSiFS (Okina even refers to herself as a “god of the shuku” (宿神, shukujin)), however, it’s crucial to note that Matarajin is never actually mentioned in the Meishukushū and the identification hinges on Yukio’s interpretation that the text implicitly treats Matarajin and Shukujin as one and the same.
I’ve seen some Touhou fans treat the identification of Matarajin and Kawakatsu as unquestionable fact, and while there are some other connections between the two (e.g. Matarajin continues to be venerated at Kōryū-ji; a temple founded by Kawakatsu, in addition to Matarajin being a god associated with the performing arts; while Kawakatsu is credited with the founding of noh/sarugaku) the reality of the situation isn’t as cut and dry as Touhou presents it. Furthermore, Yukio’s theories surrounding Matarajin have received some pushback from other scholars and should be taken with a grain of salt. This is similarly the case with regards to Yukio’s interpretation of Matarajin as a “god of the backdoor” (後戸の神, ushirodo no kami), a label that Okina notably uses to refer to herself (in addition to it serving as the basis for Okina’s domain and ability), which was based on the idea that Matarajin was predominantly enshrined at the “backdoor” (後戸, ushirodo; a term designating the room directly behind the central image of Amitābha in Jōgyō-dō meditation halls) of temples, however, there is little evidence to suggest this was the case, and instead Matarajin appears to have been traditionally enshrined to the left of Amitābha (though there are still cases of Matarajin being enshrined in the ushirodo, such as at Kōryū-ji). Ultimately this means that a substantial portion of Okina’s identity is built on a surprisingly flimsy foundation, made worse by the fact that Kawakatsu and the ushirodo are given substantially more attention in HSiFS than many of Matarajin’s more concrete connections.
A statue of Hata no Kawakatsu, housed at Kōryū-ji in Kyoto.
Unfortunately this problem bleeds into some of Okina’s other alleged affinities, with her Stage 6 omake noting her as being a “god of sericulture” (養蚕の神), which I can only assume is a trait borrowed once again from Hata no Kawakatsu (given that the Hata clan; a Korean immigrant group that settled in Japan during the fourth and fifth centuries, are credited with the introduction of sericulture to Japan), as Matarajin himself was at no point associated with silkworms. In fact, the inclusion of this label is made all the more egregious considering the lack of attention given to more fitting associations; such as Matarajin’s role as a “god of epidemics” (行疫神, gyōyakujin); which is never mentioned in HSiFS despite it arguably being his most enduring occupation, with him still being venerated as such in the “Ox-festival” (牛祭, Ushi-matsuri) of Kōryū-ji.
On a similar note, Okina’s omake also includes the strange choice of describing her as an “earth mother goddess” (地母神, jiboshin), frankly any use of this term is a bit of a red flag, and I have to imagine that this was an attempt at referencing the dakinis and/or matrikas, though in the former case Matarajin was specifically identified with the dakinis in their role as flesh-eating demonesses (with his appetite for livers likely being derived from the dakinis’ consumption of the “human yellow” (人黄, ninnō)), rather than anything related to the Hindu goddess Ḍākinī (who I suppose could vaguely be described as an earth mother goddess), meanwhile the matrikas were similarly linked to Matarajin as demons of pestilence (which defined their image in Japanese Buddhism more-so than their identity as mothers). Another possibility is that this label could be intended to reference Matarajin’s function as a placenta deity (胞衣神, enagami), though, as Bernard Faure states; Ina Tenjin was envisioned as an avatar of the “Black Yakṣa” (i.e. Mahākāla), and so I’m skeptical as to whether they were actually worshiped as anything resembling an “earth mother goddess”. More broadly, placenta deities functioned as literal deifications of the placenta in its perceived role as a protector of the developing fetus, according to Japanese Buddhist embryology, and had far more in common with fate-determining figures, such as Myōken; as beings that watched over an individual throughout their life and meted out good or bad fortune in accordance to the treatment of the placenta, than the popular image of a mother goddess. In any case, “earth mother goddess” is a fairly unhelpful and reductive label to use here.
A group of flesh-eating dakini, detail from the Womb Realm Mandala.
There is a also more pervasive issue in how ZUN seems to treat Matarajin as a uniquely complex and incomprehensible deity; with Okina claiming that “no god could possibly have so many divine natures at once” in her Stage 6 dialogue with Aya, and her omake additionally stating that “nobody knows what her true nature really is”, hell, even her title is literally “The Ultimate, Absolute Secret God”. While a lot of this is undoubtedly just for flair, it’s not exactly accurate to reality, and I’ve seen a number of Touhou fans make the pretty absurd claim that Matarajin is the single most complex Japanese god, when it’s clear their knowledge of the figure doesn’t extend much further than what’s presented in Touhou. At the very least it can be said that Matarajin is a complex figure, but much of that complexity is emblematic of the religious landscape of medieval Japan as a whole, where, unlike modern Japan which clearly distinguishes Buddhism from Shinto, native kami were regularly enshrined alongside Buddhist divinities; if not considered to be manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas outright (it can even be argued that modern Shinto more-or-less emerged from within this Buddhist framework). Importantly, this paradigm saw the development of numerous figures that straddled the line between Shinto and Buddhism; exhibiting foreign affinities yet only being known from Japan, such as Gozu Tennō, Sanbō Kōjin and Ugajin, with Matarajin being just one example.
Even putting aside these special cases, having such a complex and multifaceted identity is far from a trait unique to Matarajin; Amaterasu is about as mainstream a Japanese god as you can get and yet her medieval career saw her identified with a plethora of figures, including Vairocana, Aizen Myōō, Enmaten, Dakiniten and even Brahma (for a far more exhaustive coverage of the subject I recommend checking out this two-parter by Yamayuandadu). All of this makes it come across as a bit silly, if not naive, to place Matarajin on a pedestal as some bizarre exception to the rule, when if anything they’re actually a decent introductory figure to understanding other Japanese Buddhist deities. With all that said, I don’t expect ZUN (and certainly not Touhou fans as a whole) to be an expert in historical Japanese religion to comment on Matarajin’s complexity, but it does feel like the hype Okina is given is largely out of a lack of familiarity with other medieval deities, additionally, it can end up overshadowing other figures in Matarajin’s network, such as Sanbō Kōjin, that arguably eclipse him in that respect.
Speaking of Kōjin, while it’s not strictly a flaw with Okina, I’m somewhat mystified as to why the incident in HSiFS revolves around the seasons, as Matarajin wasn’t associated with seasons or seasonal transfer (so far as I’m aware anyway), rather, this feels like a better fit for Kōjin. On-top of being a fellow god of obstacles, Kōjin was a deity whose dwelling place was believed to change with the seasons, and they were even thought to preside over the doyō (土用); a term referring to the intermediary period between each season, a concept that plays an important role in the plot of HSiFS’s Extra Stage. While Matarajin and Kōjin do happen to be closely associated deities; the Kōjin Saimon (荒神祭文) even refers to Kōjin as “the fundamentally existing, born-at-the-same-time Matarajin (本有倶生摩多羅神, honnu kushō Matarajin)”, I can’t say I like the idea simply subsuming Kōjin’s identity and affinities into Okina though. Not only is Kōjin more than unique enough to warrant being a separate character, as you could easily base an entire incident around the plurality of kōjin as a category of demonic beings and their relationship to araburukami (荒ぶる神; “savage/insubordinate deity”), but nothing else about Okina’s presentation in HSiFS hints at an association between the two.
Sanbō Kōjin (三宝荒神; "Raging God of the Three Jewels") and his demonic retinue.
I’ll have more to say about this later, as it’s less an issue with Okina herself and more-so one with her fandom perception, but I generally dislike how the identities of other deities get bulldozed by fans in favor of propping up Okina specifically; like using Matarajin’s identification with Mahākāla to assert that Okina is Mahākāla (or even taking it a step further to claim she is Shiva, even if that’s not how these kinds of associations worked). Not only does this run into the problem of placing Matarajin on a pedestal as more deserving of having their identity recognized, but if you followed this approach to its logical endpoint you wouldn’t even be left with a coherent character (how would you even reconcile Okina simultaneously being Susanoo and Ōkuninushi, nevermind everyone else), moreover, there’s little reason to believe it should work like this in Touhou anyway (speaking personally, it makes more sense to assume that gods in Touhou are capable of manifesting in the guise of figures they’re associated with, while still being separate entities).
Now these nitpicks wouldn’t be so bad if ZUN planned to expand on some of Matarajin’s associations not touched on in HSiFS; such as his role as a god of epidemics and messenger of Inari Daimyōjin, or perhaps used subsequent appearances to explore exactly how Okina’s relationship with other deities worked, really it seems like the natural direction to take her character. However, with nearly a decade having passed since her debut, I think it’s fair to say this never manifested, and with the possible exception of Violet Detector; in which Okina’s role in the plot may be in reference to Matarajin’s function as a “dream king” (夢王, muō; a being responsible for prophetic visions), neither Sunken Fossil World nor her brief appearances in the print works have played into Okina’s basis (hell, Okina doesn’t even comment on knowing Miko when judging her spells in The Grimoire of Usami, yet the same work has Seija acknowledging the connection between amanojaku and Ame-no-Sagume). I know most fans may not think this is a particularly big deal, after all it’s not like ZUN has an obligation to use his series to teach people about Japanese religion, and Touhou characters can, and ideally should, stand on their own merits, this doesn’t really fly with a character like Okina.
Okina apparently having nothing special to say about her (presumably) old friend Miko in TGoU, while Seija directly addresses Sagume as her mythological counterpart in the same work.
As I hope I’ve made abundantly clear by now, Okina’s identity, even if it’s not a perfect reflection, is informed so heavily by Matarajin that there’s really not a whole lot to be invested in otherwise, and I can’t help but feel that Okina has suffered for it post-HSiFS. Sunken Fossil World was particularly rough; never once hinting at Matarajin’s relation to chthonian deities, such as Taizan Fukun, which would allow Okina to have a unique history with former hell, so, despite her more overbearing and theatrical personality, her implementation in the plot felt like little more than a bargain bin Yukari that existed purely to explain away Flandre’s reintroduction to the series (to say nothing of the jokes that spawned from this). The worst offender to me though is Okina’s relation to Miko (or rather, the lack thereof); I mentioned earlier that Matarajin’s identification with Hata no Kawakatsu isn’t as strong as Touhou makes it out to be, however, you could justify this decision due to the presence of Miko and Kokoro, with ZUN perhaps wanting to lean into the Kawakatsu identity to flesh out Miko’s connections while giving Okina some history with already established characters. So why haven’t they actually interacted? It’s such an obvious thing to do with the characters, that, assuming ZUN doesn’t have plans for something later down the line (which I’m not too optimistic about given his treatment of characters like Junko), I’m left wondering why he would even bother to base a character off of a figure like Matarajin if he has no interest in the opportunities that they create. Not only does this make Okina’s presentation in HSiFS feel misleading but it feels like a waste to try engaging with Touhou on a deeper level. Hell, if I wanted to be particularly cynical, it even comes across as ZUN simply using the mystique of Matarajin to give Okina the illusion of depth, without having to actually do anything other than reiterate her status as a “secret god”.
This is far from an issue exclusive to Okina too, Saki for instance is in a similar situation; being based off of Prince Shōtoku’s horse, Kai no Kurokoma (甲斐の黒駒; “Black Steed of Kai”), but hasn’t actually interacted with Miko so far (though this is a little more excusable, as, unlike Okina in TGoU, there has yet to be a piece of media where the two are present). Additionally, Hecatia has some sparse references in LoLK that reinforce her identity as Hekate (though one of those strangely centers around Apollo, who didn’t exactly have much to do with Hekate, and also implies that he was killed by Hou Yi, which is its own can of worms), but post-LoLK this was lost in favor of simply being the “goddess of hell”, and you could probably get away with swapping the Hekate inspiration out for half a dozen other underworld deities without much having to change, which is unfortunate given the novelty of introducing a greek god to the setting. This honestly made Fossilized Wonders so surprising to me, as it actually acknowledged Kanako’s identity as Suwa Daimyōjin and thus gave her some history with Yuiman, though time will tell if this ends up amounting to anything substantial, and if ZUN decides to extend the same treatment to other neglected characters.
Speaking of Fossilized Wonders; after my post covering its characters and themes, I ended up reflecting on HSiFS’s commentary on disability and the discriminated. This is typically an area where HSiFS is held in high regard, as the Strange Creators of Outer World interview on the game makes it clear that ZUN originally wanted to comment on disability directly; showing that such people are stronger than they are perceived, which morphed into the game being about “all kinds of the discriminated, not just the disabled, gathering in the land that would become Gensōkyō. And Okina showing up as one of the people who made Gensōkyō a place for that kind of person.”, though the former idea is still reinforced in Aya’s Extra Stage as Okina states that “Gensōkyō's origins cannot be told of without including us impaired people (障碍の者) as well”. This theme of disability also plays off of Okina’s inspiration, as Matarajin is characterized as a “god of obstacles” (障碍神, shōgejin), which is spelled using the same kanji that can refer to the concept of physical and/or mental disability (障碍, shōgai), and although hindrance deities were not associated with disability per se (instead viewed as engaging in a kind of spiritual blackmail; hindering Buddhist practice unless propitiated), it’s still a clever use of Matarajin’s functions. Furthermore, ZUN makes reference to Matarajin’s identification with Shukujin (宿神); a god that Hattori Yukio argued was worshiped by the shuku (夙; a term referring to outcasts that inhabited roadside settlements called shuku (宿)), which again plays into the idea that Okina serves as a representative for the discriminated (notably, Aya refers to her as a kawaramono (河原者; a term denoting outcast/discriminated people in the middle ages) in her Extra Stage dialogue, and Okina’s omake outright says she’s a “god of discriminated peoples” (被差別民の神)).
Okina depicted using a wheelchair, from Visionary Fairies in Shrine and Lotus Eaters respectively.
In hindsight however, I don’t think HSiFS does a particularly good (or even respectful) job at commenting on these matters, not the least of which because Okina isn’t actually disabled. According to the SCoOW interview, ZUN did initially plan to depict Okina as physically disabled; specifically using a wheelchair, but decided against the idea to avoid accidentally being insensitive. Though this is somewhat commendable, the fact that Okina isn’t disabled creates a lot of dissonance when she still refers to herself as a “disabled person” (障碍の者), alongside the aforementioned instances where the game treats Okina as a representative for discriminated peoples (credit where credit is due, both Visionary Fairies in Shrine and Lotus Eaters have depicted Okina as a wheelchair user, but this doesn’t retroactively excuse HSiFS for not doing the same). Worse still is Okina’s treatment of her subordinates; Satono and Mai, who are borderline mind-controlled slaves with no identity other than to serve her. The fact that Okina treats the two as disposable, notably calling them “useless/worn-out” (ポンコツ), makes it hard to swallow the idea that she’s supposed to be sympathetic towards the downtrodden, not helped by the fact that, for a “god of the discriminated”, ZUN is strangely insistent on her having the image of an “evil boss”. It’s not like Matarajin’s dōji have any pre-established lore that ZUN could be drawing from either (they’re completely blank slates as far as I’m aware), so he could’ve easily written Satono and Mai as being outcasts who were taken in by Okina, thus demonstrating her affinity for such groups, but instead ZUN went out of his way to present Okina as, to put it bluntly, an evil slave owner. All-in-all, if ZUN genuinely wanted Okina to come across as a respectful and empowering representation of the disabled/discriminated (or at the very least as a deity who sympathized with such people), then he had a very strange way of going about it.
What makes this even more frustrating to me, is that Matarajin is in a fairly unique position to convey the theme of discrimination, not only for the reasons noted earlier (i.e. his role as a god of obstacles and identification with Shukujin) but also due to his status as a demonized deity. Some Touhou fans may already be vaguely familiar with Matarajin’s role as the honzon (本尊; “principle object of worship”) of Genshi Kimyōdan (玄旨帰命壇); a pair of particularly esoteric Tendai initiation ceremonies (genshidan (玄旨壇) and kimyōdan (帰命壇) respectively) that came to be outlawed during the Edo period, under accusations of heresy and inappropriate sexual undertones; specifically being branded as Tachikawa-ryū (a term that initially referred to a benign branch of Shingon Buddhism, before it came to be invoked as a theological boogeyman, used by critics and reformers to discredit “deviant teachings”). It’s important to bear in mind however, that, even though the rituals do appear to have made allusions to embryology (which itself was nothing out of the ordinary in Japanese Buddhism), there’s nothing in the surviving documents to suggest that they were orgiastic in nature. Nevertheless, as a result of these accusations, the worship of Matarajin was prohibited on Mount Hiei and the deity was pushed to the fringe, only persisting in more peripheral Tendai centers, such as Hiraizumi. In the context of Touhou, this would make Okina not only a god of outcasts, but an outcast god; demonized and exiled from her home on Mount Hiei, it’s almost too perfect a fit for HSiFS. Sadly, even though ZUN seems to have been familiar with the allegations surrounding Genshi Kimyōdan; stating in the SCoOW interview he “did prepare some materials with that, but that would make it too vulgar.”, he doesn’t seem to have been aware of their largely baseless nature, and didn’t incorporate anything related to Genshi Kimyōdan into Okina’s backstory.
(I feel that it’s important to state that much of what I have written here is taken from Bernard Faure’s coverage of Matarajin, and is accurate to what he has written about the deity in Gods of Medieval Japan vol.2. However, the Japanese Wikipedia page for Matarajin has recently undergone a major overhaul and notes that the veneration of the deity does not appear to have been suppressed, and, furthermore, that the Genshi Kimyōdan ritual was still practiced well into the 18th century. The Wikipedia page is very extensively researched so I’m willing to take its word on the matter, and, though Faure is generally very reliable, this may be an area where western scholarly sources are somewhat lacking. That being said, I don’t think what I’ve written here should be tossed aside entirely, as there was clearly some historical stigma placed on the worship of Matarajin as a result of Genshi Kimyōdan; with the 18th century Shingon monk Tainin Myōryū (諦忍妙龍) claiming that Matarajin was a “false icon created by the stupidest of stupid folks”. As such, there’s still room to tie Okina’s association with outcasts to her basis in Matarajin, even if the matter isn’t so clear cut.)
Okina mentioning her ability to create yōkai in WaHH. It's possible thatt his could be a reference to the demonic affinities of Matarajin, though it more-so comes across as simple gloating in context.
On the subject of demonization, Matarajin is also a figure that straddles the boundary between demon and deity; with his earliest known mention identifying him as a yashajin (夜叉神; “yakṣa god”), and the Edo period Inari Jinja-kō (稲荷神社考; “Reflections on Inari Shrine”) even using Matarajin as another name for a fox spirit, alongside his aforementioned connections to tengu, dakini and matrika. With this in mind, it’s unfortunate then that ZUN barely utilized this aspect of the deity, and Okina instead goes out of her way to correct Reimu on the matter in her Extra Stage dialogue; twice stating that she’s not a yōkai but a god. Given that (according to the SCoOW interview) HSiFS was about Gensōkyō serving as a place for the discriminated, which would seemingly be referring to yōkai (backed up by the game’s treatment of tengu), it would have made thematic sense to put more emphasis on Okina’s demonic side. Not to mention that it’s just a no-brainer for Okina, as one of the sages that created Gensōkyō, to identify herself more-so with yōkai (especially given Matarajin’s historical treatment by humans), which would in-turn open a lot of doors for future explorations of her character and relationships.
It can be argued that this idea is still somewhat present in HSiFS through Okina’s ties to the tengu, as Aya claims in her Stage 6 dialogue that they are both descended from the “people of impairments” (障碍の民); which may be inferred as being a group of human (and likely disabled?) outcasts, and, notably, Satono and Mai also identify themselves as being fundamentally the same as tengu. However, if it was indeed ZUN’s intention to hint at a deeper connection between Okina, yōkai and the discriminated through this interaction, then it’s strange that she’s still largely antagonistic towards tengu (though seemingly acting friendlier in Aya’s Extra Stage) if they’re supposed to be descended from outcasts (which she supposedly helped make Gensōkyō for), additionally, this hostility isn’t even necessary to reflect Tengu-odoshi (天狗怖し) as Matarajin himself could be interpreted as the tengu that had to be pacified by the ritual. Outside of HSiFS, it’s also quite jarring that Touhou’s tengu don’t really reference their historical role in Buddhism, as reborn monks and/or obstacle-causing demons; instead sharing more in common with the pop-culture image of tengu as vaguely Shugendō-themed crow people. So, while I do appreciate the attempt to connect Touhou’s tengu to their Buddhist role in HSiFS, it would’ve been nice to see concepts like the people of impairments elaborated on in other works (Aya doesn’t even mention the people of impairments in the WaHH chapter covering the incident).
Unfortunately, things don't get a whole lot better when covering Okina's fandom reception either. With all this talk of her representing the disabled/discriminated, it’s not a great look that Okina is one of the single most maligned characters in the series, with a substantial portion of the fanbase not only treating her allusions to disability as a joke, but portraying the character as wholly unlikable. In fairness, Okina does canonically have a pretty unpleasant personality; being particularly overbearing and intrusive, which I don’t take issue with on its own (if anything her personality is a good fit for a god of obstacles), but when Ladies of the Scarlet Devil Mansion is depicting the character as a straight up pedophile, it’s more than a little tasteless (technically the "joke" didn’t originate with Ladies of Scarlet Devil Mansion; instead spawning from Okina’s role in SFW, but the doujin undoubtedly contributed to its popularity as a result of being spotlighted in SCoOW). As an aside, even without the godawful characterization of Okina, I never really got the popularity of the work; the humor feels like it came straight out of the mid-2000’s fandom (which I can’t say I have any fondness for), and despite being tagged as “girl’s love” it’s one of the most aggressively straight doujins I’ve read.
The two sides of Okina in the Touhou fandom, neither are particularly ideal...
On the flip side however, it also feels like a substantial amount of the appreciation for Okina in the Touhou fandom comes from an equally warped perspective of the character, or rather her perceived complexity. As I alluded to earlier, there’s a trend among Touhou fans to misrepresent Matarajin’s identifications and importance, often based on a very hazy understanding of the subject matter. Obviously this is the lesser of two evils here, but it’s still frustrating how often falsehoods and misunderstandings are repeated, to the point that it feels like every month or so I see someone claim that, because Matarajin was identified with Mahākāla; who was adapted into Japanese Buddhism as Daikokuten, and Daikokuten was conflated with Ōkuninushi, then that would mean that Okina is the parent of Kanako (given that the latter is based on Ōkuninushi’s son: Takeminakata). This line of logic is deeply flawed; requiring deities to be treated as little more than stepping stones (which not only erases their own unique identities, but doesn’t even accurately reflect how these identifications were envisioned), and often highlights just how little said fans actually know, for example: Daikokuten’s conflation with Ōkuninushi hinges on factors unique to him (e.g. the fact that 大黒 and 大国 can both be read daikoku), that wouldn’t apply to Matarajin (interestingly, Matarajin also has a better attested identification with Susanoo; seen in the Sange Yōryakki (山家要略記) and in the local tradition of Gakuen-ji, yet I rarely see Touhou fans bring this up). Moreover, you could employ the same line of logic to claim that Okina is secretly the same person as Kanako; based on Konparu Zenchiku’s identification of Suwa Myōjin as a manifestation of Okina in the Meishukushū, which obviously wouldn’t make any sense.
Partly to blame for this I think is the way in which information about Matarajin is often communicated in the fandom, which is epitomized by charts like the one posted above. It may seem like a strange thing to rag-on, but these images ultimately do more to confuse matters; inflating the importance of Matarajin in relation to other deities, and lacking any real context or explanation for the connections between the depicted figures. As a result, especially for people who aren’t very familiar with the subject of Japanese religion, the takeaway is often that Matarajin (and by extension Okina) is some all-encompassing and overly complex figure, rather than their complexity being emblematic of the religious framework they occupy. It also doesn’t help that these charts can be pretty flawed; the above mentioned image for instance makes many bizarre choices, such as suggesting that the name Matarajin is derived from the Bodhisattva Tārā (the name Matarajin is likely derived from mata (摩多); a transliteration of the Sanskrit mātṛ (मातृ), which refers to the matrikas. By contrast, Tara Bosatsu is virtually irrelevant in Japanese Buddhism, and as such it’s unlikely she had much influence on the development of Matarajin.), seemingly claiming that Amaterasu and Inari were syncretized with Matarajin (though Amaterasu was closely linked to Inari, and Matarajin is described as the messenger of Inari Myōjin by Shukaku Hosshinnō, that does not mean they can be treated as interchangeable.), and describing Myōken as a “goddess” (Myōken is a firmly masculine deity as far as I’m aware, and the connection between him and Matarajin is somewhat exaggerated here too. Though Matarajin was indeed associated with the dipper and the pole star, I’m unaware of any direct identification of the two deities.), alongside the absence of numerous figures with closer ties to Matarajin, such as Shinra Myōjin, Shōten, Kōjin, Susanoo, the Saptamatrikas, Dakiniten etc.
My own take on an Okina redesign, inspired by Japanese depictions of Mahākāla.
To wrap this up a bit, I wouldn’t have this much to say about a character I didn’t on some level find interesting, but between the missed opportunities, lack of development on what actually made the character interesting, and her less than stellar fandom reception, it feels harder and harder to actually like Okina as time goes by. It may also seem unfair to factor fandom reception into my criticism of ZUN here, but I can’t help but see many of my grievances with the former as products of the questionable decisions that went into Okina’s creation. The lack of cohesion between HSiFS’s commentary and the presentation of Okina as a character, make it hard to take her seriously as a representation of the discriminated, ironically making her easier to vilify instead. Meanwhile, the lack of elaboration on Okina’s affinities, alongside the exaggerated importance attributed to Hata no Kawakatsu, didn’t exactly prime the fanbase to have the most informed perspective on Matarajin’s history. On that note, while I don’t think ZUN should have to lecture his fans about historical Japanese religion, Touhou is still fundamentally a series that draws on religion and mythology as a basis. And, though I understand most fans might not care for that angle, I hold that Touhou is at its best when it leans into that inspiration, and deserves at least some credit for being a cut above most media that attempts to draw from it so explicitly. Besides, if ZUN didn’t want comparisons to be drawn between his creations and real deities, then he could simply go back to making wholly original characters, like in the PC-98 games (minus the tracing lol). But if he wants to base characters on the likes of Matarajin then I think it's fair game to critique them as representations of such figures, in which case Okina manages to be intriguing, but ultimately disappointing.
Finally, as something of a last minute addendum to this post; many of the weird decisions made by ZUN in his presentation of Okina in HSiFS may come down to an overreliance on a single source: Yami no Matarajin (闇の摩多羅神; “Matarajin of Darkness”) by Kawamura Minato. There’s no English translation and nor do I own a copy, so I cannot comment on its contents, but from what I’ve seen from some Japanese fans it would appear that ZUN drew exclusively from this book when creating Okina. On one hand it’s reassuring to see that ZUN indeed made sure to research Matarajin before making Okina, but it also highlights the problems that arise from relying on a single author, as you are ultimately at the mercy of their particular interpretations and biases. As an example from my own research; Bernard Faure in his book series Gods of Medieval Japan is rather uncritical of the ideas put forward by Hattori Yukio regarding Matatajin and Shukujin, while Noel J. Pinnington In his coverage of the Meishukushū completely dismisses Yukio's theories. It’s unfortunate that I wasn’t aware of this information before writing up most this response (I was familiar with Yami no Matarajin and the idea that it influenced HSiFS, though I had no idea to what extent), but at the end of the day it doesn’t detract from my main criticisms of ZUN not following up on the intrigue of Okina’s character post-HSiFS, alongside the game’s questionable themes and commentary.
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