The story revolves around divine spirits appearing in Gensokyo, which the heroines go investigate.
Shrine Maiden of the Five HindrancesReimu Hakurei
The all-too-familiar shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine.
She treats everyone the same. However, since her job is youkai-hunting, she acts particularly strict with youkai, but she doesn't really care much about humans or youkai.
She goes off to investigate after being alerted by the odd divine spirits, that seemed far too shabby and numerous than they should. It'd be troublesome if she just left them alone and something happened, in which event her shrine would be blamed.
Greedy MagicianMarisa Kirisame
An ordinary magician living in Gensokyo. She also has a mania for collecting things.
She seems a bit rebellious, but in reality she's the most straightforward. She always wears black clothing because she thinks that's what magic users should do and because it hides dirt very well. Very straightforward.
She noticed that the divine spirits were actually masses of human desire. Her motivation is from pure curiosity. Curiosity is also a form of desire.
Selfish Shrine MaidenSanae Kochiya
The Shrine Maiden living in Moriya Shrine in Youkai Mountain. She is not used to youkai hunting.
She wish to have human friends to keep her company, since she lives constantly surrounded by gods and youkai, but most of humans living around the foot of the mountain are youkai-like humans. The thought of becoming like one of them eventually, is somewhat disconcerting to her. As may be expected of a living god, she is as strong as youkai, but she is also somewhat of an airhead.
The spirits are very important spirits for a shrine. She thinks that in order to stir up the faith among humans, it is imperative that she must collect these spirits.
Half-Phantom Seeking DeathYoumu Konpaku
The gardener of the Netherworld, and Yuyuko Saigyouji's swordsmanship teacher.
She is always busy doing her chores as the gardener of the incredibly large Hakugyokurou garden. She's straightforward and always on her duty, but very easy to deceive. The phantoms haven't been making much of a fuss these days, so she's somewhat peace-addled.
The bizarre spirits that suddenly appeared-- "divine spirits"-- were beings composed of the desires of humans. Their existence was transient, so they disappeared quickly, but she went off to investigate hoping that there will be no more incidents relating to any kind of spirits in the future.
Stationary GhostYuyuko Saigyouji
Stage 1 Boss
Yuyuko is a ghost princess who lives in the Netherworld, and is Youmu's mistress. She doesn't have too much of an interest in divine spirits, but the direction in which the divine spirits are headed intrigued her a little. This direction was Myouren Temple, a temple that was just recently constructed.
It was a place for those who want to meditate to suppress their inner desires, but for divine spirits, which are the essence of desires, to congregate there... It surely didn't seem like the conduct of a typical temple.
And it happened when she was thinking about that.
Some humans were intruding her properties to investigate about divine spirits. After seeing them, she was relaxed that there was no need for her to do anything, and decided to continue with her flower viewing.
Sutra Chanting YamabikoKyouko Kasodani
Stage 2 Boss
You may have loudly shouted "Yahoo-!" when climbing a mountain. If you hear a "Yahoo-!" in response, then it's a yamabiko at work.
She lives in the mountains, and when she hears a joyous voice, she replies back with a loud yell. A youkai that loves to join in on the fun.
But these days, superstitions like "Yamabiko (mountain echoes) are just sound waves being reflected back to you-" have become commonly held. Realizing the emptiness of secularism, she decided to enter the Buddhist discipline.
Her ability works well with reciting Buddhist sutras. It is her everyday work in the mountains.
And by doing so, she now inspires fear as "a sutra-reciting voice coming from a mountain where no one is present", so she was able to retain her place as a youkai.
Loyal CorpseYoshika Miyako
Stage 3 Boss
A dead body from ancient Japan, reanimated by Seiga, for whom she works as an underling. This time, she was summoned to protect the Hall of Dreams' Great Mausoleum during the verge of resurrection.
With strange powers and a body that feels no pain, she is a formidable enemy when faced head-on, but her cerebral faculties are on par the computational power of an obsolete computer, so escaping from her is a simple task.
When wounded in battle, she restores her strength by devouring spirits. She is not easily defeated, but escaping from her is a simple task. (Take note of this!)
Her body is very stiff, and her joints do not flex. She can't even walk straight. Her master has recommended various stretches to her. Engaging in physical activity without stretching first may lead to injury—even if you're a zombie.
Wicked Hermit who Passes Through WallsSeiga Kaku
Stage 4 Boss
Open for Long Description
When Seiga was young, her father took a liking to the Tao and left her behind to shut himself up in the mountains. Finding herself interested in a book her father had left behind, she read through it over and over, and became attracted to the Tao, and swore she'd become a hermit one day, too, and meet her father.
As she grew older, she was able to marry into the Kaku family. She led a life without any restrictions on her freedom, but she was unable to throw away her aspirations towards Taoism, and she spent every day depressed. As a result, she practically became a shut-in, never conversing with anyone.
One day, after eight more years had passed, Seiga suddenly said her goodbyes. Her family thought it was odd but as Seiga fell sleep, seemingly like any other day, she never opened her eyes again.
Surprised, a great sadness cast itself over her family, and they buried her utterly lifeless body.
However, she wasn't dead. While she'd been shut away in her room, she used a technique she'd read about in her book to make a bamboo rod take the form of her own body, making her appear to be dead. That was what her family had buried.
She cast away her worldly life and ran. Yes, she ran to join the world of hermits she'd so yearned for.
―――Countless time has passed. As a hermit, she'd gained a certain amount of power. In order to reach this far, she also did many things which made her feared. However, the Heavens did not acknowledged her and she became a wicked hermit.
She had a tendency to "Spread the ways of Taoism", as a pretense for showing off her powers. However, Taoists and hermits of her level weren't that unusual in this country. So, she thought she'd move to a hermit-less country, and headed out for a country in the east she'd never seen before: Japan.
At that time in Japan, Buddhism, which had just spread there from the continent, and Shinto, which placed its faith in Japan's native gods, were locked in battle for supremacy.
Thinking this was the perfect chance, she caught the ear of Toyosatomimi no Miko, who was widely seen as a most virtuous person, and taught her of the charms of Taoism.
She suggested to the powerful ones that they use Buddhism in politics to keep the people from getting restless, while they used Taoism to attain superhuman strength for themselves.
Since Taoism was a nature-worshipping polytheistic creed, it fit well with the beliefs of Shinto, which held the powerful in Japan to be descendents of the gods. And since its ultimate goal was immortality, it was a compelling alternative for them to the more stoic Buddhism. A little while after she thought about it, Miko spoke to her former religious rival, the Mononobe clan, of this plan.
Ghost of the Children of the GodsSoga no Tojiko
Stage 5 Midboss
A ghost of a member of the powerful ancient Japanese family, the Soga. She is serving Miko together with Futo, but she has been denied to resurrect as a human due to her connections with Futo in the past. It looks like she is treated conveniently by Futo taking a spirit form.
She herself isn't feeling any particular inconvenience taking the spirit form. Rather in fact, she had been considering that she had no use for a human body, which would break down so quickly.
The Soga and the Mononobe had fought over Buddhism, but Futo and Tojiko's relationship is not in bad terms, and thought to be a give-and-take relationship. For now, they both hate Buddhism.
Shikaisen from Ancient JapanMononobe no Futo
Stage 5 Boss
Open for Long Description
Long ago, indeed, fourteen hundred years ago or so.
Before, in fact, it had been decided that the country would rule over the people. People, things, technology, religion... Many things were being introduced from across the sea.
One of those would greatly influence the direction Buddhism would take in this country.
The country was divided into pro- and anti-Buddhist factions, which dug in more over time. The Mononobe, the ones who had Umashimaji no Mikoto - a god in Shinto - as its ancestor, was in the anti-Buddhist faction. Her confrontation with the Soga, the ones who had a human[9] as its ancestor, was dreadful, and afterwards this religious conflict wasn't talked of as a petty political battle, but as a battle between the lineage of the gods and human dignity.
And so, religious war over Buddhism ended in tragedy.
The battles grew more vicious with each passing day as the Mononobe waged an anti-Buddhist campaign that invaded and burned temples and threw out their statues. Perhaps it was simply bad timing, but after that day, an epidemic began to spread, resulting in the passing of the Emperor.
The Soga proclaimed this to be a curse brought on by despicable acts against Buddhism. This rallied support in Soga's favor, who was eventually given permission to bring the Mononobe into submission.
This battle resulted in the destruction of the Mononobe. From then on, the nation's politics were carried out in a fashion befitting Buddhism.
This is what most people know about the religious war between the Mononobe and the Soga.
However, there was someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes: Futo.
A daughter of the Mononobe, she worshipped at the altar of another faith.
That faith was Taoism, which had been introduced at the same time as Buddhism. Taoism could grant people superhuman abilities based on their own actions, eventually resulting in immortality. It was particularly appealing to those with political power.
However, that appealing faith also had a weakness. It was not well suited for political control, as anyone could undergo the ascetic training necessary to become a hermit. As a result, she decided to practice her Taoism in secret.
Miko, a fellow Taoist practitioner, came to her with a certain plan.
Her plan was to govern the country using Buddhism as a means to keep the citizenry pacified. Then, they would cast a curse on their own deaths and be reborn as shikaisen.
Futo became an ally of the Soga and was able to manipulate them. Thus, the Soga came to be blind followers of Buddhism.
Naturally, as descendents of the gods, the Mononobe (excepted Futo) weren't particularly pleased about this.
The result was a protracted religious war over Buddhism. It was, in fact, a war between ancient gods of Japan in name of the Mononobe and Miko, who wished to become a new god through Taoism. Thus Buddhism was only a deception for their plan.
However, it seemed it would take a long time for their resurrection to take place.
That was probably because a group of Buddhist monks doubted that Miko had actually died, and constructed a large temple above her grave to prevent her from resurrecting.
Buddhism had been used for political ends, but it had apparently been a miscalculation to allow it to become so widely followed that even in modern Japan it continues to be widely observed.
Shoutoku TaoistToyosatomimi no Miko
Stage 6 Boss
Open for Long Description
Born in a stable, she was recognized as a genius at an early age.
Born into a high position, she overheard many complaints when she was young.
People would let their tongues loose around her, assuming she wouldn't be able to understand them, so she heard a lot of idle grumbling from servants and such.
However, Miko was able to understand them - and provide very specific advice right away.
Rumors of her spread throughout the land, and she gained enormous popularity as a saint.
She had her own troubles as a genius.
"The earth hasn't changed from the age of the gods, and the seas are still filled to the brim.
Why must humans be forced to accept death?"
She became dissatisfied with her fate that, as a human, she would eventually die.
Seiga, who had heard the rumours about Miko, was confident she'd found the person she'd been looking for, and came to spread Taoism to her.
Taoism was essentially nature worship, and by becoming one with nature it could bestow immortality on its followers.
Miko's heart danced in joy.
She also told Seiga that her faith could never lead to having strong rule over a country.
Seiga didn't care about national politics so long as she could further her own goals, but Miko held a different view.
In that case, Seiga recommended, she should make the appearance of becoming a Buddhist. When Miko learned Buddhism was a strict creed that forbade murder, she determined it would be a good means to calm the nation, and accepted it.
Miko spread Buddhism throughout the country, in order to ensure that those without political power would not gain power. In the shadows, she advanced her own experiments with Taoism.
As a result, she obtained superhuman abilities and left behind a number of legends with which everyone is familiar.
She didn't neglect her work towards her ultimate goal of immortality.
She turned to the use of various unusual materials, such as cinnabar. This ruined her body.
She had destroyed her health because of the very Taoism that was meant to grant her immortality.
Thinking she'd be unable to wait long enough with the state her body was in, Miko decided to become a shikaisen. This was a secret technique in which she would die (or make it appear that she'd died) and be resurrected.
However, afraid to undergo the procedure alone, she reached out to Futo, and convinced her to go to sleep first.
Believing in Miko's power, Futo became her test subject. Once Miko confirmed that, after death, Futo continued to sleep without decaying, Miko went to sleep herself.
Miko had planned to awaken when the nation felt limited by its Buddhist precepts and felt the need for a saint. However, her calculations went awry, and the nation was controlled by Buddhism for over a thousand years.
Because Buddhist monks continued to place seals on Miko's mausoleum, she was unable to resurrect. Miko's plan had been foiled.
Miko judged she had no need to rush and could resurrect herself at any time, and so continued sleeping. Finally, the time of her resurrection came.
The trigger was a rumor that the legends regarding her were all fabricated. Since, in modern times, there were no more people with superhuman powers, it wasn't surprising that tales of her exploits were seen as simple lies.
As a result, her mausoleum ended up in Gensokyo. Since there weren't any temples in Gensokyo at that time, she prepared for her resurrection to proceed whenever she felt it was necessary.
By some stoke of timing, though, a new temple was built.
And, whether by plan or by chance, it was built directly over her mausoleum.
That was, of course, Myouren Temple.
Would Miko let herself be held back by a Buddhist monk once more?
Or would she fight that monk?
A fight just like the battles between the Mononobe clan (of the old gods) and the Soga clan (of the Buddhists) had fought over and over so long ago?
Bake-danuki with Ten TransformationsMamizou Futatsuiwa
Extra Boss
A bake-danuki of proper upbringing.
An unusual youkai that lived outside of Gensokyo.
She's made her way inside this time to help out an old friend in a pinch.
Tanuki take great pleasure in watching the reactions of humans that they trick, so they seldom do direct damage. They are more powerful on the night of a full moon.
Their ability to shapeshift makes them similar to the nue in a way. Neither of them seem to be terribly effective youkai when it comes to close combat.
Can this kind of youkai really hold her own against Miko? After all, youkai are fairly self-centered and don't take or give orders easily, so no matter how strong each one of them may be, they'd still lose in the end.
It seems she'd lived together with humans in her home town (Sado). Sometimes she'd trick them, but she'd also lend money to the poor and worked diligently on any task she was given, so she integrated well into human society.
However, She doesn't get along with foxes, so it is rumored that no foxes live in Sado.
She would end up causing trouble with the foxes of Gensokyo, but that's a story for another day.
