(Touhou 8,9) Her human half has dark blue eyes, short silver hair, carries a katana with a cherry blossom insignia and flower attached, and a wakizashi (short Japanese sword). Wears a dark green and white dress with several ghost insignias along the edges and breast pocket, and a black ribbon placed off-center on her hair. Her ghostly half is a formless ghost as large as her human half. The two halves are always seen together.
(Touhou 7) Same as above, except she had bright red eyes.
Youmu is one of the stranger entities in Gensokyo, part-human and part-ghost at the same time. Her two halves are not intermixed like one would expect from a cross-breed, but actually exist in physically seperate bodies. Youmu has a straight-forward and focused personality, which complements her swordsmanship abilities well. However, her personality conflicts with that of her master, Yuyuko Saigyouji, who is very whimsical and playful in nature. Still, she serves Yuyuko as best as she can, tending to the gardens in Hakugyokurou and following her orders.
Youmu commonly wields two blades at once, having studied some under her father, Youki. The longer blade, called 楼観剣 (Roukanken) - Tower-Watching Sword, is said to be able to kill ten ghosts in one swipe; the shorter blade, 白楼剣 (Hakurouken) - White Tower Sword, is able to cleave through a person's own confusion. However, not much is known about her particular style of swordsmanship, or her parents. What is known is that Youki, also a servant of Hakugyokurou, had begun training a very young Youmu (possibly as a child?) when he suddenly disappeared one day, leaving her style incomplete (and presumably causing her to teach herself). No one currently knows his whereabouts.
During the events of Perfect Cherry Blossom, Youmu was ordered by Yuyuko to gather as much spring essence from Gensokyo as she could in order to get the entire cherry blossom garden, including the legendary Saigyou Ayakashi, to bloom perfectly. Youmu's efforts indirectly caused winter to continue unchecked in Gensokyo, prompting the player to find the source of the problem. Youmu tried to prevent the player from reaching Hakugyokurou, but was defeated. She also tried to stop the player's confrontation against Yuyuko, but was defeated again.
Fun Facts
Youmu's ghostly half is sometimes called "Myon" by fans. At other times it has been nicknamed "Option". Though it's a term borrowed from Gradius, this is not a common appellation.
Fanworks occasionally depict Youmu as idolizing Sakuya, most likely because they are similar characters; they are stage 5 bosses who use bladed weapons and have power over time. In these comics Youmu addresses Sakuya as "Onee-sama", a title usually used to refer respectfully to an older sister or to a woman one respects or admires. (It is also popular in yuri novels and comics, like "Maria-sama ga Miteru.")
The characters for Konpaku mean simply "Soul", and Youmu something like "Bewitching dream."
Although both "Kon" (魂) and "Paku" (魄) are "soul", their elements are different. "Kon" stands for a mental soul, which is separated from a body as soon as human dies and ascends to Heaven; "Paku" is a physical soul, which remains in the body a few days and goes back to the Earth. In this case, "Kon" is Youmu's ghostly half, and "Paku" is human half. Maybe "Konpaku" is not only be a surname but a feature of her race.
The kanji that makes up "Youmu" (妖夢) is also part of the kanji for Perfect Cherry Blossom (東方妖々夢).
In Phantasmagoria of Flower View, Youmu's name is written in Roman letters Japanese style, with her surname first, during pre-battle conversation with her, even though every other character in the game with a Japanese name has their name Romanized western-style with their first names first. This is one of several typographical inconsistencies in the game (another being the inconsistent spelling of Aya's name).
Because of Youmu's spellcard "200 Yojana in One Slash", she is said to be capable of striking at speeds most would consider physically impossible (200 yojana can be a distance anywhere from 2,000-3,000 kilometers or 1,250-1,875 statute miles in length). In order to cover that kind of distance in the split-second a typical sword slash takes to execute, she would have to be capable of moving at far beyond hypersonic speed; her slowest sword slashes have been calculated to move at speeds in excess of Mach 70 (70 times the speed of sound, or 53,200 mph/85,120 km/h at sea level), fast enough to circle the entire Earth at the Equator in less than half an hour and around three times the speed required to orbit the Earth, for reference. One doujinshi went into far too much detail trying to work out the specifics of this...
During some of Youmu's spellcards time appears to slow down while she performs her sword slashes. This is not due to any innate time-stopping power such as the one Sakuya has; rather, it is simply Youmu moving so fast that relative time slows down for her (Einstein's general relativity theories hold that at extremely high velocities time moves slower for those traveling at that velocity than for a stationary observer). For the record, moving at this velocity should vaporize her and her sword from the air friction heat... thank goodness for magic.
Stage 5 boss, a being of half-human and half-ghost. She's both the second gardener for the Saigyouji clan and the guardian of their mistress. The ability is swordsmanship.
Youmu arranges the garden with two swords: Roukan-ken is a longer sword that has the power of killing ten ghosts; Hakurou-ken is a shorter one that can slash the human's confusion.
Konpaku Youki, the former gardener, had been the one for about 300 years, but suddenly became a hermit after having made a very young Youmu be his successor. Youmu's ability of swordsmanship has still been in progress, so she needs daily practice. Though Youmu herself has no clue where her master is, she recognizes it by a lesson from him.
This time, following the order the mistress of Saigyouji gave her, she has gathered all of spring essences in Gensokyo to make Saigyou Ayakashi bloom fully.
Here in Hakugyokurou, there are so many cherry blossoms besides Saigyou Ayakashi, which has never bloomed. The former gardener said, "I've seen the fully-bloomed Saigyou Ayakashi before, but this might be the last time." At that time, Youmu had no idea what he meant and why the mistress of Saigyouji gave her an order.
Youmu sweeps the garden of the Saigyouji family; it's about 200 yojanas long (The mistress exaggerates, of course). This garden has a large amount of cherry trees, where is a good site for residents all over the Netherworld. When spring comes, Youmu is very busy in sweeping.
(Note: Yojana is a unit of the distance that ancient India's imperial army could move per day. 1 yojana equals about 10-15 km. In other words, the Saigyouji's garden is about 2,000-3,000 km. long... Is that so?)
This year isn't the exception, too. The ghosts are really thrilled by the wonderful cherry trees. Everyone said, "I'm happy to be a ghost!" On the other hand, Youmu, the half-human saw this raving scene and got a half sympathy, "I'm half happy to be a half ghost!"
Now, all she should do is wait for the blooming of Saigyou Ayakashi.
A gardener who works in Hakugyokurou and lives there. She's a half-being (and also half-baked): half-human and half-ghost, half-dead and half-alive, half-phantom and half-reality. Yet she has two swords.
She makes an effort as hard as she can, but it hardly pays off. She's always made fun by funny fellows of Gensokyo because of her straightforward character.
She's very good at fighting arts for half-baked, and so is casting a spell for half-baked. In reality, she attacks well in both ways. She uses Roukan-blade and Hakurou-blade, which has youkai's power. She can slash her enemy, ghosts, danmaku and human's confusion except few things.
Roukan-blade (a longer one) has the power of killing ten ghosts in one slash; Hakurou-blade (a shorter one) can mainly slash human's confusion. Of course, both of them can kill alive human.
Both human and ghost being.
She's a half-human and half-ghost in the Netherworld. Her ability is swordsmanship.
She attacks her enemy with Roukan-blade and Hakurou-blade. She has two kind of body: human and ghost. This means she's incompletely useful girl.
She's supposed to be a swordsmanship teacher of Yuyuko-sama, still, she's treated as a gardener so far.
She's so immature you can't help liking because of her straightforward and pure character, yet she's always made fun by anybody for her nature.
The nature of residents in Gensokyo is beyond simplicity.
Main weapon is the swords, and her effort.
Notes:
This time, she makes her trip with Yuyuko.
Focused movement is only available when she's alone.
It's hard to use because of her narrow range of attack and the unique movement of her soul figure.
When you use Spell Card, you can't attack for a while.
Besides, Spell Card is also hard to use...
By the way, you can return the soul figure back to Youmu by changing to Yuyuko.
Species: Comprised equally of human and ghost
Abilities: Master of Swordsmanship
She's the gardener of Hakugyokurou (which is in the world past death), but originally she was a swordmanship teacher for Yuyuko.
Even she herself is not certain either she is alive or not, human or ghost.
However, she slowly but surely grows older as time passes, so maybe she's alive.
Konpaku's swords were designed primarily for use against ghosts and spiritual beings, but they still seem to work well against "pre-deads".
Half-human Half-ghost and Half-baked Konpaku Youmu
Ms.Half-being, half-human and half-ghost.
A gardener of Hakugyokurou in the Netherworld, who's ability is swordsmanship.
Originally, she's a swordsmanship teacher of her mistress.
Knowing that there're in full bloom in Gensokyo, she came to see the scenery. Though she saw lots of ghosts when she hid behind the flowers, she pretended not to find anybody.
Half-human Half-ghost and Half-baked Konpaku Youmu
Species: Both human and ghost
Ability: Swordsmanship
A gardener of Hakugyokurou in the Netherworld.
Originally, she's a swordsmanship teacher of her mistress.
Knowing that flowers are in full bloom in Gensokyo, she came to see the scenery. Though she saw lots of ghosts hidden behind the flowers, she pretended not to see them.