Eirin Yagokoro

Main Profile

Eirin Yagokoro	Name:	八意　永琳（やごころ　えいりん） Eirin Yagokoro
	Species:	Lunarian
	Abilities:	Can create all types of medicine, genius-level intelligence.
	Age:	Unknown, but incredibly old ("much older" than 1400+-year-old Kaguya, was instrumental in the establishment of the lunar capital)
	Occupation:	Pharmacist
	Location:	Eientei
	Description:	Dark grey eyes, long silver hair, has a large braid on her back, and carries a strange pair of bow and arrow. Her clothing is red and blue, and is covered with constellation patterns. She also wears something similar to a nurse's cap.
	Relationships:	Kaguya Houraisan (Fellow exile) Reisen Udongein Inaba (Apprentice) Tewi Inaba (Allied earth rabbit) Fujiwara no Mokou (Indirect recipient of eternal life) Sakuya Izayoi (Unknown) Watatsuki no Toyohime (former student) Watatsuki no Yorihime (former student)
	Appearances:	Imperishable Night (FinalA Midboss, FinalA Boss, FinalB Midboss) Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Ending No. 5, 9, 12) Shoot the Bullet (Stage 9-1, 9-3, 9-5, 9-7 Boss) Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (Reisen's Ending)
	Titles:	See Character Titles

Eirin is a genius of medicine from the Moon, able to create even the elixir of immortality. She is living in exile in Gensokyo after choosing to stay with Kaguya Houraisan on Earth rather than take her back to the Moon. She was a very well-known figure on the Moon, having not only been instrumental in the founding of Lunar society with Lord Tsukuyomi, but also being its leading medical mind and the person in charge of the Moon's emissaries to the Earth.

During the events of Imperishable Night Eirin attempted to seal the passage between the Earth and Moon, which becomes open during full moons, by casting a spell that would seal the Earth inside a chamber (similar to a Chinese folktale about a paradise found inside a pot). She only meant to do this to protect both Kaguya and Reisen so that the emissaries coming from the Moon wouldn't be able to reach them, but this did not go unnoticed by the various Youkai in Gensokyo who enjoy the moonlight.

It seems that now Eirin has begun using her knowledge of medicine to act as Gensokyo's own pharmacist, selling medicines at Eientei ranging from sleep aids to cures for illness. She is generally a fairly pleasant person and is devoted to serving her best friend, Kaguya, but she does not suffer fools gladly and because of her incredibly high intelligence she can come across as snooty, exasperated and condescending at times to those not sharp enough to immediately follow her explanations.

Fun Facts

• The characters for Yagokoro mean "Infinity minds", and Eirin "Eternal jewel."
• Eirin's clothing has trigrams (broken and solid Yin/Yang lines) lining the bottom hem. They appear to be the complete set of trigrams used in Feng Shui, and match the set of trigrams on the Hakkero.
• Although Eirin was the one who formulated the Hourai Elixir, it has never been explicitly stated whether she has consumed it herself or not. Her official profiles say nothing on the matter, and she never claims in-game that she is immortal, unlike Kaguya (who refers to herself as an eternal being) and Mokou (who flatly states she is immortal). Considering that she was punished far less severely than Kaguya was, it is possible that leniency was granted in consideration that she did not actually drink the elixir. While she is incredibly old, Lunarians do not die deaths of natural causes. (She does acknowledge that she has prolonged her life through the use of drugs, but does not specifically mention the elixir; also, Yuyuko mentions her power of death will not work on Kaguya or Mokou, but offers no such caveat against Eirin.)
• Eirin has a Spell Card named "Apollo 13" after the aborted third American moon mission launched in April 1970. The spell card's spell sign is "Curse of the Heavens", and seems to imply that it was Lunarian magic, not mechanical failure, that critically damaged the spacecraft and forced it to abandon its lunar landing so as to forestall the "invasion". It's also stated that the Lunarians know why 13 is cursed. Could Eirin have something to do with it?
• Eirin is often shown in fan works as using the many rabbits at Eientei, especially Reisen, as test subjects for various drugs and medicines. And according to Cage in Lunatic Runagate, she actually does sneakily give medicine to the rabbits.
• Eirin's Last Spell (Forbidden Arcanum "Hourai Elixir") is the only spell card that is shared by two characters (the other character being Kaguya Houraisan) in the whole Touhou series.
• She might be based on Ame no Yagokoro Omoikane no Mikoto (天八意思兼命), the god who thought of the plan to lure Amaterasu out of hiding. This can be seen by her spellcard, and by the correlation between Eirin's sharp intellect and Omoikane's. (Takami-Musubi is also very strongly associated with intellectual facilities.) The interrelationships of various lunar figures presents a more interesting situation. Eirin is distantly related to the Watatsuki sisters, both based on mythology. In Cage in Lunatic Runagate: Chapter 3, Watatsuki no Toyohime mentions that Eirin's participation was critical to the founding of the lunar capital, and that she was older even than Tsukuyomi. Omoikane is the son of Takami-Musubi, one of the great gods that summoned Izanagi and Izanami into existence, but it's unclear whether Omoikane was born before the creation of the Japanese islands, which also saw the births of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo. Regardless of whether she is "menat to be" Omoikane, Eirin clearly draws on Omoikane in many ways.

Official Profiles

Imperishable Night - キャラ設定.txt

Eirin Yagokoro

○６面ボス　月の頭脳= 　　八意　永琳（やごころ　えいりん） 　　Eirin Yagokoro 　　種族：月人 　　能力：あらゆる薬を作る程度の能力。天才。 　　月の民。つまりは宇宙人。地上に隠れ住んでから結構長い。輝夜との 　　付き合いは、はるか昔輝夜が月に居た頃から始まっている。 　　八意家は、何時しか月に住むようになった薬の天才家系。中でも永琳 　　の知能は抜群である。彼女の頭脳は人間のそれをはるかに上回るが、 　　逆に何を言っているのか良く判らない時も多い。 　　本当は、輝夜より圧倒的に力を持つ。だが常に輝夜以上にならない様 　　に力をセーブしているらしい。 　　はるか昔、月の姫である輝夜の罪が晴れた為、罰として地上に落とさ 　　れていた輝夜を月に連れ戻しに来た使者の一人。ただ、とある理由で 　　輝夜と共謀し、月の使者を全員殺害してしまう。当時輝夜と一緒に住 　　んでいた賤しき地上人には、口止め料として永琳特製の「蓬莱の薬」 　　の入った薬の壺を手渡した。この薬、飲むと死ななくなるのである。 　　その地上人は、蓬莱の薬を使わなかったらしく間も無く死亡した。 　　後で分かった事だが、地上人は何者かに殺されていたのである。 　　詳しい話は輝夜のエピソードで。 　　また、咲夜を見て大変驚くのだが、何故なのかは永琳にしか判らない。

Stage 6 Boss, Brain of the Moon Eirin Yagokoro Species: Lunarian Abilities: Creation of any kind of medicine; natural genius She's a person from the moon. That means she's an alien. She has lived on the Earth for a long time. Her relationship with Kaguya dates back to their days on the moon. The Yagokoro family is a line of medicinal geniuses that have been living on the moon for some time. Even among them, Eirin is exceptionally intelligent. She is much smarter than humans, which makes her rarely understood. In truth, she has power well beyond that of Kaguya's. She saves her power and maintains it at a lower level out of respect for Kaguya. Long ago, Eirin was one of a party of messengers who were sent to bring Kaguya back to the moon; the crime for which she was exiled to Earth had been forgiven. For some reason, she helped Kaguya kill all the other messengers instead. To ensure that the earthlings who lived with Kaguya would remain silent, she bribed them with the Hourai Elixir. The elixir had the power to make people immortal. None of those earthlings consumed the elixir, however, and died shortly afterwards. It was later discovered that they were murdered. More detail is available in Kaguya's profile. Eirin is very surprised to see Sakuya, but only she knows the reason why.

Book Synopsis

Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

Main article: Article and Interview: Eirin

Eirin has created a new medicine called the Kochoumugan (Butterfly Dream Pill), which guarantees that one will have a pleasant dream. She says that since the youkai of Gensokyo rarely suffer from physical ailments, she began developing medicine for spiritual ailments instead. This particular medicine is ancient, but humans who took it in the past often found their dreams too enjoyable and never returned from the dream world, so Eirin has weakened its potency and made it safe to use. She also has a variety which causes nightmares instead of pleasant dreams.

In the interview, Eirin remarks that only a few people have come to buy the pill, even though it was a featured article in Aya's newspaper. Aya admits she doesn't have many readers. She is curious who is buying the medicine; Eirin is initially reluctant to say, but then reveals that it was Alice Margatroid. Aya mentions that she tried the pill herself, but found the dream uninteresting. Eirin suggests that she try Kochoumugan Nightmare Type (a scene in Shoot the Bullet).

Perfect Memento in Strict Sense

Main article: Perfect Memento: Eirin Yagokoro

Not translated yet.