Nitori Kawashiro

Main Profile

Nitori Kawashiro	Name:	河城　にとり（かわしろ　にとり） Nitori Kawashiro
	Species:	Kappa
	Abilities:	Power to control water
	Age:	Unknown
	Occupation:	Engineer
	Location:	Youkai Mountain
	Description:	(Touhou 10) Blue hair and eyes. She wears a blue dress with lots of pockets for tools around the hem of the skirt and her upper arm, and a dark aquamarine backpack with a golden key on the strap in front of her. She also wears a green hat, blue wellington boots and carries a cattail.
	Relationships:	Marisa Kirisame (Ally)
	Appearances:	Mountain of Faith (Stage 3 Midboss, Stage 3 Boss) Subterranean Animism (Playable Partner) Double Spoiler (Scene 4-1, 4-3, 4-5, 4-7 Boss)
	Titles:	See Character Titles

Nitori is a very shy Kappa who lives on Youkai Mountain. In fact, the first time she sees the heroine, she runs off with barely a word. She's good-natured enough, but has an odd way of showing it when she tries to scare the heroine away from the mountain via danmaku and spell cards. It's for the heroine's own good, though, as the mountain is a very dangerous place for humans, and Nitori just doesn't want her to get hurt. She actually likes humans; she just doesn't seem to know how to act around them. During the events of Subterranean Animism, she is one of the Kappas who hears from the God of the sky about the new power of nuclear fusion in the Underworld. However, they are unwilling to go there due to the Oni living underground. Learning that Reimu is going underground to investigate, she convinces Marisa to explore there as well, since she doesn't seem to have anything better to do.

Fun Facts

• The characters for Kawashiro mean "river castle", while Nitori is in hiragana. There is a home furnishing chain store named Nitori in Japan, but it seems she has nothing to do with it.
• Nitori is also a Latin word defined as either "brilliance, brightness, glow; splendor" or "perseverance; reliability", all fitting things to associate with such a brilliant engineer.
• Her name might have originated from Ryunosuke Akutagawa's novel Kappa the second chapter of which begins with the sentence 「そのうちにやっと気がついてみると、僕は仰向けに倒れたまま、大勢の河童にとり囲まれていました。」(Sono uchi ni yatto kigatsuite miru to, boku wa aomuke ni taoreta mama, oozei no kappa ni tori kakomarete imashita.) "When at last I came 'round, I found myself lying on my back surrounded by a large number of kappas." — from the translation by Seiichi Shiojiri.

• The Kappa in the series seem to be inspired by the Kappa in the above mentioned novel where they have their own civilization as opposed to their bloodthirsty nature in folklore.
• Nitori's "Optical Camouflage" spell cards may refer to another aspect of kappas that Akutagawa writes about: "But what is most remarkable about kappas is that, unlike human beings, they change colors according to their surroundings."
• Her backpack resembles a tortoise shell. Isn't that fitting for a kappa?
• Nitori is the only playable partner in Subterranean Animism who never appeared in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody; all the rest of the partners did. However, according to an interview with ZUN, she was intended to appear in Touhou Hisoutensoku, but was scrapped due to time constraints.

• As traditional depictions of kappa show a bald spot at the top of their heads, rumor has it that her hat is concealing that bald spot. However, ZUN discredited this rumor during a discussion on 2ch after Mountain of Faith was released.
• Some fan works depict her carrying a Pepsi Ice Cucumber in place of the reed she normally has. (In Japanese folklore, kappas love cucumbers. This is also referenced by Nitori's "Monster Cucumber" spell card.) She's also sometimes depicted wearing a school swimsuit under her dress.
• One of the earliest fan-made vocal arrangements of Nitori's theme music (にとりの唄(萌), Nitori's Song (Moe)) has lyrics that translate as "Kappappa kappappa Nitori, you get more than you pay for with Nitori." The latter part is from the slogan of the above-mentioned Nitori store chain, and several doujinshi have made it into something of an unofficial slogan for her as well. A reference to "kappappa kappappa" subsequently appeared in Subterranean Animism.
• It is speculated that Nitori is one of the kappa who helped Suwako in the construction of Hisoutensoku.

• Aside from Rinnosuke and Yukari, Nitori is considered to be the most technologically advanced in the Touhou universe, often showing her capability to construct modern/futuristic weapons and machinery in fan works.

Official Profiles

Mountain of Faith - Demo - キャラ説明.txt

○３面ボス　超妖怪弾頭 　　河城 にとり（かわしろ　にとり） 　　Kawashiro Nitori 　　種族：河童 　　能力：水を操る程度の能力 　　妖怪の山に住む河童である。ここ暫くの間、河童は滅多に人間の前に 　　姿を現さなくなったが、河童は人間を隠れて観察していた為、人間と 　　は仲が良いつもりでいる。 　　突然態度や口調を変えたり、ちょっと奇異な性格の持ち主だが、案外、 　　人見知りする。人間をみるとすぐに逃げる。 　　コテコテのエンジニアで、人工物をみるとすぐにばらしては、元通り 　　にする。その為の工具が、彼女の服にびっしり入っている。 　　今回は、山には入ろうとしていた霊夢達を追い返そうとしていたのだ 　　が、それだけ山が緊急事態だと判断したからである。

Super Youkai Warhead Nitori Kawashiro A kappa that lives on Youkai Mountain. For a long time, kappa haven't let themselves be seen by humans, but since they usually hide to watch humans, they like to think that they are on good terms with humans. She may suddenly change her attitude or speech, and she possesses a rather odd personality, but she's unexpectedly shy. She runs away the moment she sees a human. Since she's an engineering nut, whenever she sees something man-made, she takes it apart and puts it back together. Because of this, her clothes are stuffed with tools. She wanted to turn away Reimu and the others who had entered the mountain, but this is only because she believed that there was some sort of emergency occurring on the mountain.

Mountain of Faith - キャラ設定.txt

○３面ボス　超妖怪弾頭 　　河城 にとり（かわしろ　にとり） 　　Kawashiro Nitori 　　種族：河童 　　能力：水を操る程度の能力 　　妖怪の山に住む河童である。ここ暫くの間、河童は滅多に人間の前に 　　姿を現さなくなったが、河童は人間を隠れて観察していた為、人間と 　　は仲が良いつもりでいる。 　　突然態度や口調を変えたり、ちょっと奇異な性格の持ち主だが、案外、 　　人見知りする。人間をみるとすぐに逃げる。 　　コテコテのエンジニアで、人工物をみるとすぐにばらしては、元通り 　　にする。その為の工具が、彼女の服にびっしり入っている。 　　今回は、山に入ろうとしていた霊夢達を追い返そうとしていたのだが、 　　それは山が緊急事態だった為、人間には危険だと判断した為である。 　　結局、霊夢達は警告を聞き入れようとしなかった為、にとりはこっそ 　　り山の奥へ入らせることにした。どうせなら謎の神様に会わせてみよ 　　うと思ったのだ。 　　すったもんだの騒動の結果、結局河童は新しく来た山の神を受け入れ 　　る事になった。

Super Youkai Warhead Nitori Kawashiro A kappa that lives on Youkai Mountain. For a long time, kappa haven't let themselves be seen by humans, but since they usually hide to watch humans, they like to think that they are on good terms with humans. She may suddenly change her attitude or speech, and she possesses a rather odd personality, but she's unexpectedly shy. She runs away the moment she sees a human. Since she's an engineering nut, whenever she sees something man-made, she takes it apart and puts it back together. Because of this, her clothes are stuffed with tools. She wanted to turn away Reimu and the others who had entered the mountain, but this is only because she believed that there was some sort of emergency occurring on the mountain, and she thought the humans would be in danger. In the end, since Reimu and company didn't take her advice, Nitori secretly decided to let them into the mountain. She thought it would be interesting to watch them interact with the mysterious new god. As a result of the ensuing battle, the kappa came to accept the new god of the mountain.

Subterranean Animism - キャラ設定.txt

○超妖怪弾頭 　　河城　にとり（かわしろ　にとり） 　　Kawashiro Nitori 　　種族：河童 　　能力：水を操る程度の能力 　　山に住む河童。 　　河童達に驚きのニュースが入ってきた。山の神様曰く、地底に超高温の 　　核融合炉が完成しつつあるという。 　　いち早くその究極のエネルギーを手に入れて、色々試してみたい。 　　そう考えたのだが、河童として鬼の住む地底には入りたくなかった。 　　どうにかして地底を調べたかったのだが、その時、霊夢が妖怪の要請で 　　地底に潜るという噂を聞いた。 　　先を越されてなる物かと、にとりは暇そうにしていた魔理沙に話を持ち 　　かけ、地底に潜らせる事にした。

Super Youkai Warhead Nitori Kawashiro Species: kappa Ability: power to control water A kappa that lives on the mountain. Recently, the kappa heard some news that greatly excited them. According to the gods of the mountain, a high-temperature nuclear furnace was being completed underground. They wanted to get their hands on it as soon as possible to perform various tests with it. However, the kappa didn't want to go underground where the oni lived. As they were wondering how they could investigate the underground, they heard a rumor that Reimu would be going there at the request of the other youkai. Ever taking the initiative, Nitori decided to go convince Marisa to explore underground, since Marisa didn't seem to have anything better to do.

Book Synopsis

The Grimoire of Marisa

Main article: The Grimoire of Marisa: Nitori Kawashiro's Spell Cards

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