Kiana Khansmith
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Today's Document
taylor price
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oozey mess
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Origami Around
Misplaced Lens Cap
Xuebing Du
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
One Nice Bug Per Day
Keni
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
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PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
noise dept.
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@undefinedfantasticedits
I'm opening requests for edits!
I'll admit idk how the best way to go about this is, but I need ideas so I'm opening up requests Just give me the character/person/thing/etc you want me to make an edit of, "themes" for the edit (ie: certain colors or aesthetics, for example), specific images you want me to use (if any), and i'll get on it as soon as i can.
Heya everyone! If you're wondering why edits have been slow, It's because I've been working on some ambient music under the name Fullest Moon! This is my first ever published song, "St. Overmorrow", and I have an EP coming up soon, so I hope you all enjoy!
touhou taught us that when things are difficult, rather than giving up, you should instead pull out a bomb
cringey ironic jeff the killer edit? 🥺🥺🥺🥺
I hope you enjoy this! :D
sabitsuki from .flow (dotflow) :pleading_face: ?
Here ya go! I hope you like it! I think this turned out really well, I've been playing around with using different assets, and I think it really paid off.
what do y'all think?
Wanted to make a silly lil Spinda so that's what we've got here EHEHEHEHEE!!! U^x^U!!!!
This will probably flop but hi touhou fans🚶🏻♀️
zun: *sprites two shitty little creatures for his silly videogame*
everyone: These Are Beloved Characters Big Fairy And Little Devil
The Fans be like:
how have i not seen this before this is beautiful
shoutout to friends that share their music tastes with you
I lover her design
Liking the sphinx a lot
I LOVE MAID EIKI!!!!!!!!💞🐾
ME TOO!!!!
stage 3 dialogue is so freaking funny
Given all the memes going around, I thought it was fitting to make a University Of Michigan Football themed edit of Nareko Michigami from Touhou 20. Because when else am I gonna be able to combine two of my major interests like this? Decided to go for a more "cluttered" style over my more standard neat-and-tidy style. I'm honestly not sure how this one turned out ^^;
m_o_k_u (Twitter)
Exploring the Demo Characters of Touhou Kinjoukyou ~ Fossilized Wonders
With the arrival of a new mainline Touhou demo, I finally want to take a swing at writing up my own examination and explanation of the cast of Fossilized Wonders so far, alongside my own thoughts on the characters and some speculation as to where the incident is going to go. As an enthusiast of both mythology and paleontology the title definitely intrigued me, to the point I made my own prediction for a possible character, but Fossilized Wonders still managed to surprise. Obviously, spoilers ahead.
Also, thanks to @Yamayuandadu for her help with this post. Ubame Chirizuka
Ubame is fairly straightforward, she’s described as a yamanba, a mountain-dwelling hag that is already represented in the series with Nemuno Sakata. However, her surname, Chirizuka (塵塚), also suggests inspiration from the Chirizuka-Kaiō (塵塚怪王; “King of the Dust Heap”), a kind of yōkai created by the famous Edo period artist Toriyama Sekien. According to Sekien, the Chirizuka-Kaiō is chief of the yamanba, an apparent allusion to the noh play Yamanba, though the Chirizuka-Kaiō has also been associated with Tsukumogami due to its illustration in the Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro, which depicts it releasing a horde of Tsukumogami, alongside the fact that the work is otherwise filled with illustrations of Tsukumogami. Ubame herself is also noted to be the king of the yamanba, much like the Chirizuka-Kaiō, and even has a crown to boot, so the inspiration seems clear.
Toriyama Sekien’s depiction of the Chirizuka-Kaiō from the Hyakki Tsurezure Bukuro.
As an aside, her given name Ubame is likely taken from the Ubame oak (姥目樫, ubamegashi), in much the same way that the name Nemuno is likely taken from the Persian silk tree (合歓木, nemunoki), which is a fun way to link the two yamanba characters together. Chimi Houjuu
Chimi is certainly one of the stranger characters visually, however her basis is evident from her name, as chimi can also refer to malevolent mountain-dwelling spirits (魑魅, also known as chimei in China). The chimei (alongside the mōryō/wangliang) is typically characterized as a troublesome spirit/monster that dwells in the wilderness, namely mountains and rivers. Just as Chimi’s bio says, the chimei and wangliang are indeed very ancient too. Notably appearing in Chinese texts such as the Zhuozuan (左傳), written in the 4th century BCE, as demons that attack people in rivers, lakes mountains and forests. Additionally, the mei (魅) recorded in the Shanhai-jing (山海經), which likely dates to the Han dynasty, has been identified by most commentaries on the text as identical with the chimei. Here the chimei is again associated with the wangliang, as a dangerous creature that lurks in mountains and waters, and is said to attack unwary travelers.
The wangliang specifically was also believed to dwell in tombs, where it was thought to devour corpses. Because of this, the wangliang was the subject of particular exorcism rites, with the Zhouli (周禮), written in the 2nd century BCE, noting how the wangliang was driven away by Fangxiangshi exorcists. Here it is said that, during royal funerals, a Fangxiangshi would strike the four corners of the funeral chamber with a lance, to drive away corpse-eating fangliang (方良, another name for the wangliang). Chimi’s bio additionally states that she is a creature known for its long ears, alongside her hair being suggestive of ears, which would appear to be a trait taken from the mōryō/wangliang. The Huainanzi (淮南子) for instance, states that the wangliang has “long ears and beautiful hair”, and the Wakan Sansaizui (和漢三才図会) also depicts a mōryō with long rabbit-like ears.
A depiction of a mōryō/wangliang from the Wakan Sansaizui.
Collectively Chimimōryō/Chimeiwangliang (魑魅魍魎) is occasionally used to refer to hordes of monsters, or otherwise nondescript collectives of spirits/demons. In one version of Gozu Tennō’s origin for instance, he is said to have become a leader of demons, Chimimōryō (魑魅魍魎), where he is otherwise stated to preside over the many gods of pestilence. Chimi herself appears to simultaneously represent both a chimei and wangliang, given she takes the long ears of the latter, and presumably the wangliang’s association with tombs, given her presence in an incident which revolves around a pyramid. Though I can’t help but wonder if we’ll also get a wangliang character in the full release, to complete the duo. One aspect does strike me as particularly unusual about Chimi however, that being her surname Houjuu (封獣), which she shares with Nue Houjuu (封獣 ぬえ). I'm unfamiliar with any connection between the nue and the chimei, though I suspect it may be something which will be expanded on by ZUN himself. Nareko Michigami
Despite the stereotypical Egyptian theming to her design, Nareko is actually noted as being a dōsojin (道祖神; “roadside deity”), which are Japanese folk deities enshrined by the side of the road and serve to avert disease and misfortune. The name Michigami (道神; “god of the road”) pretty directly draws from the kanji in dōsojin, though using the kun’yomi reading of the characters. Nareko’s stated ability to “block roads” is also a fairly direct representation of the dōsojin’s power, as they are believed to block off roads from evil influences, earning them the alternative name sae-no-kami (障の神; “god of obstruction”, not to be confused with shōgejin (障礙神) which refers to obstructive Buddhist deities like Matarajin). A typical example of a dōsojin is the ever-present Jizō statue, which is represented in Touhou by the character Narumi Yatadera. However another common form of dōsojin are statues featuring a man and woman, typically embracing or holding hands. Occasionally the pair in question are specific deities such as Sarutahiko and Ame-no-Uzume, which were often regarded as a married couple in popular perception. The crest adorning Nareko’s tiara also appears to depict an embracing pair of figures, demonstrating her connection to the Japanese dōsojin, despite her otherwise Egyptian design.
A dōsojin statue from Azumino in Nagano, depicting a male and female couple.
The iconography of these statues could also be particularly explicit, with the depicted figures sometimes being shown kissing or even copulating. Furthermore, the dōsojin itself could often take the form of a phallic stone. The exact reason for this sexual symbolism is unclear, though it evidently appears to have been a powerful apotropaic image. In any case, the cult worship of such stones can be traced back to the paleolithic/neolithic, and it was only much later that the iconography of the dōsojin became anthropomorphized. It is also worth pointing out that, although Nareko’s design suggests an Egyptian theme, the riddle-telling sphinx she references in her dialogue is specifically Greek in origin, not Egyptian. In the myth of Oedipus, the sphinx is portrayed as a feline being with the head and breasts of a woman and feathered wings. While not divine herself, the sphinx was placed near Thebes by Hera for reasons unknown, and menaced anyone passing by with a riddle she learned from the Muses (interestingly, while Greek authors present the content of the riddle itself consistently, there was no agreement over whether it was supposed to be poetry or prose).
The popular image of sphinx today is based on a type of statue commonly manufactured in ancient Egypt, which is more correctly referred to as an “androsphinx” - literally “male sphinx”. This term was coined in antiquity by the Greeks, though. The term Egyptians used to refer to this type of statue has yet to be identified, if it existed in the first place. In Egyptian art, this sphinx was typically the representation of the pharaoh or his wife. For example, the Great Sphinx of Giza is a representation of Chefren. Additionally, in the Hellenistic period the god Tithoes came to be depicted as a sphinx. A similar being with a ram’s head instead of a human’s was one of the representations of the god Amun. While it is sometimes referred to as a “criosphinx” today, Egyptologists sometimes question the validity of calling it a sphinx at all.
Speculation on the Full Release
It seems that many have taken Nareko’s design as a sign that the incident will feature more explicit Egyptian mythology, and while I’m not opposed to the idea in principle, I can’t help but be skeptical. ZUN tends to leave the direction of an incident very unclear with the demo, and I feel that Nareko would be a little too on-the-nose there. Instead I would argue that Nareko’s design is a bit of a red-herring, and is only themed that way to match her role in guarding a pyramid, after all, there is no reason that the pyramid needs to be Egyptian. Rather, I suspect that the pyramid, and indeed the incident more broadly, will be tied to Mount Minakami (皆神山; “Mountain of Every God”) of the Nagano prefecture, which serves as the location of Gensokyo. Due to the mountain’s unique shape, it has been presented in fringe theories as a prehistoric man-made mound, said to be “the world’s largest pyramid”. There is even a local “Pyramid Festival” (ピラミッド祭り) held on the 5th of May (the same date the Demo was released on) celebrating this idea. To be clear this is almost certainly complete pseudoarcheology, of a similar vein to the Bosnian pyramid claims, however it is still fair game for Touhou.
Mount Minakami.
Outside of pseudoarcheology, Mount Minakami also has its fair share of shrines to draw from. The Iwato Shrine (岩戸神社) in particular, built around a small cave entrance about halfway up the mountain, is believed to be the remains of the stone entrance (天岩戸, Ama-no-Iwato) that was hurled from Takamagahara by Tajikarao once Amaterasu was lured out of hiding. This same cave is also held to be the entrance of the supposed pyramid, allowing for an easy association to be made between the two. To be fair, I also doubt that ZUN would feature a deity as high profile as Amaterasu, even in such a milestone game, but there’s clearly a throughline to link classical Japanese mythology with a fun fringe theory. While also a bit of a reach, the notion of a prehistoric pyramid would also explain why ZUN decided to feature a figure of the “Heart-Shaped Dogū” (ハート形土偶) with his picture of the demo, perhaps hinting that the incident will feature Jōmon artifacts and aesthetics, alongside advanced technology, akin to what WBaWC did with Kofun burial mounds.
“Heart-Shaped Dogū” (ハート形土偶).
Other than this, my first impression with the name alone was that we were going to get a character based around prehistoric life, hence my own prediction. And while I wouldn’t rule out the possibility completely, it certainly doesn’t seem like the incident is going that way directly. There is also a rather unexpected reference made to the figure of Prester John in the stage 3 theme, Prester John being a legendary Nestorian patriarch and king who ruled over a lost Christian nation in Central Asia, and was said to have lived in a palace built from gold and precious gems. Now an incident themed around Nestorian Christianity would certainly shake things up (Nestorianism being an eastern branch of Christianity that was even able to spread into China by 635), but given that this is just a stage theme, and nothing else in the game really hints towards Nestorianism, I'm highly skeptical that this has any deeper meaning to it, and it would be a strange way to reveal the direction of the incident.
Thoughts on the Characters
I’ll admit I’m fairly mixed on the characters of Fossilized Wonders. They’re pretty fun conceptually, but their designs aren’t really to my taste, and don’t have the same immediate appeal that the cast of WBaWC had for me. Ubame’s design feels a little incomplete, especially in comparison to Nemuno, and could’ve really done with including the broken chest that the Sekien illustration has. Chimi’s design is deliberately abstract and nature-themed, but doesn’t feel like it works in ZUN’s style. Should be a fun design to draw though. And while I think Nareko is a really funny character, and her design is easily my favorite out of the three, she also feels very… disorganized? Trying to mesh the concept of a dōsojin with the rather surface level Egyptian aesthetic just causes both to come across as half-baked, and I would prefer her design to have darker skin if the latter was more emphasized.
Additionally, I really wish there was a bit more to chew on with regards to the characters inspirations. They all seem to be pretty generic representatives of their given species (excluding Nareko’s quirks), rather than being something more specific, as with characters like Eternity Larva, Eika and Kutaka. Hopefully the full release will be able to pick up the slack there, but it does still leave something to be desired. Generally I’m more fond of characters with a laser-focused inspiration, rather than those who try to represent an entire category of creature/deity, and some of the recent additions like Chimata especially suffer in that respect for me.
That being said, I’m still very optimistic about Fossilized Wonders, even assuming I’m correct about Mount Minakami, I’m still likely going to be surprised with what Zun ends up doing. And I can very easily see myself warming to the new characters over time.
