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The Touhou project has various interesting links to Japanese culture like mythology, traditions, and religion. It usually uses Japanese folklore and some traditions in story lines, and uses religion and mythology on characters. It even has a lot more, and it all comes together creatively, more traditional than modern itself.

The first Touhou game in the series was made by Jun’ya Ota in 1996 and continued as a vertical scrolling Danmaku shooting games. Danmaku is a Japanese term for the barrage of bullets, the games consist of mostly female characters and has a huge range of characters. It has very good storylines and known especially for its music. They involve a particular aspect of Japanese culture range from folklore, religion, and historical in the recent games: especially from Mountain of Faith.

Behind the stories

There are multiple ways Touhou could be related to Japanese culture — one way is the connection of Japanese Traditions and Touhou. Some of the Touhou game’s stories are built up on some Japanese Traditions. For an instance, the game Perfect Cherry Blossom’s story is where a group of girls tried restoring spring in order to bloom a cherry tree fully for a flower viewing event. In the game, the tree was named after an ancient Buddhist poet who often sung of his love of cherry blossoms and his desire to die beneath flowers. In the Heian period, the Imperial household’s poets, singers, etc. gathered and celebrated under the cherry trees. The story of Perfect Cherry Blossom is inspired by the Japanese tradition of enjoying the beauty of flowers.

In another game Imperishable Night, the story is based on the celebration of the full moon in Japan. The story is that a group of girls sense something is wrong with the moon and must restore the moon to insure a full moon on the night of the tsukimi festival. "Tsukimi" means moon viewing in Japanese and is a celebration of the full moons that takes place on August 15th which is known as the Mid-Autumn Moon month (Chuushuu no meigetsu, 中秋の名月) on the traditional Japanese lunar calendar.

The entirety of Imperishable Night is inspired by a Japanese legend known as the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter about a princess Kaguya-hime from the capital of the moon, who was found in glowing bamboo by a bamboo cutter named Taketori no Okina. Kaguya’s theme in Imperishable Night “Taketori Hishou” is based on this background; she also references the 5 impossible tasks with her spellcards. Kaguya Houraisen’s back story is very similar to Kaguya Hime. Imperishable Night involves “tsuki no usagi”, which is Japanese for moon rabbits that pound mochi on the moon, and in other stories pounds elixir of life, references to this is the hourai elixir spoken as a elixir of life by the moon rabbits.

Youkai

In the Touhou series, there is a variety of Japanese legendary creatures called "youkai". Youkai is a term mostly in Japanese folklore creatures, but it can also be a term used for anything that is a supernatural being or legend and what not, from any culture.

There are many types of youkai with different features and abilities. In the Touhou Series, some youkai are classified with their own races, while the other ones are simply called Youkai. The Touhou series also has a class of youkai called exceptional youkai, which enjoy speaking to humans, are stronger and usually looks humanoid in appearance.

One of the examples of youkai in the Touhou series is Nue Houjuu, who is based of Nue in Japanese folklore. A nue in Japanese folklore is described with the head of monkey, tail of snake, body of raccoon dog, and feet of tiger. They are also able to transform into a dark cloud. Another youkai based Touhou character is Kogasa Tatara, who is based on Karakasa. Karakasa is umbrella Youkai, usually with one eye and a long tongue. Her surname is based of a traditional Japanese iron smelting method, which brought on the tale of the Ippon Datara, which is another youkai that resembles Karakasa. Ghost youkai and possessed objects like Karakasa are said to belong to the lower one of the six realms in Buddhist belief. Kogasa says “Urameshiya”. This phrase is said by such creatures that belong to a lower realm as an expression of envy towards humans. Other Youkai in Touhou are Ran Yakumo. Ran is based on the kitsune which used in Japanese folklore is a type a youkai which is very bright and has a number of tails based on their age.

Religion

Touhou is also inspired by the legend and religion of Japan. Reference to Shinto and buddhism is in Touhou like a lot of popular culture in Japan Shinto is referenced, Shinto is the ancient native faith of Japan and Japanese people.

One example of Shinto in Touhou is the Hakurei Shrine, a small Shinto shrine, and the Moriya Shrine; the latter of which was designed as the Suwa Grand Shrine, one of the oldest shrines in the Shinto religion, of course also in Japan. There are also shrine maidens or miko who are altar girls in the Shinto religion.

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