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A meme involving giant, disfigured heads resembling those of Touhou characters. It originated on 2ch in early 2008 when an Anon tried to make a Shift_JIS portrait of Reimu and Marisa and failed horribly. Another Anon thought the failed attempt was humorous and drew the infamous original picture (shown below right). Ever since that fateful day, yukkuri heads have dominated parts of NicoNico and made cameos in numerous other pieces of Touhou fanart. Their catchphrase "Yukkuri shiteitte ne!" literally means "Do it slowly!", but has been more loosely translated as "Take it easy!" by the English-speaking Touhou community. This remains the basis for many of the jokes centered on yukkuris.

Since then, writers and artists in Japan have produced a huge amount of yukkuri material, making an entire ecosystem based around their various forms. Even ZUN appears to have made a small official acknowledgement of the yukkuri phenomenon, with a line of narration reading "The rocket has been destroyed!! This is no time to be taking it easy!!" in Silent Sinner in Blue Chapter 12.

From what has been gathered through comic shorts and translations, mostly from anonymous contributors on 4chan's /jp/ image board, this is a peek at the yukkuri world. (Note: since yukkuris are entirely a fan creation, no standards exist. This means the many artists often make their own facts and rules.)

Yukkuri MarisaReimu

Take it easy!

Summary

Yukkuris, named after their catchphrase, are creatures that appeared in Gensokyo one day. Nobody knows why or how. They are grossly misshapen heads with exaggerated facial expressions that bear striking similarities to Touhou characters, constantly telling people to "take it easy". There is a yukkuri for nearly every Touhou character, each with its own quirk and personality. However, all the yukkuris are incredibly stupid, so the quirks and personalities just end up as jokes rather than anything that even vaguely commands respect.

The yukkuri population in Gensokyo has climbed exponentially since their introduction. They're seen as pets, livestock, food, beanbag chairs, pests, and/or targets by the people of Gensokyo. The purpose of the yukkuris remains a mystery and probably will forever, so the best course of action would be to sit back, relax, and take it easy.

Physical Characteristics

  • They consist of a grossly exaggerated head with hair and head accessories.
    Fat Yukkuris

    Fat Yukkuris

  • Normal ones are about the size and weight of a basketball. However, they can grow to much larger sizes. There are also fat ones which look similar to normal ones, but are slightly bigger and more bloated. If a yukkuri is forced to eat too much food at once, it does not become a fat yukkuri but is instead stretched out and "filled" with so much food that bouncing can force bean paste out of its eyes or mouth.
  • There seems to be no upper limit to a yukkuri's size. In theory, a yukkuri can become any size as long as it eats enough. However, it is unlikely to happen naturally, as a significant size increase would likely cripple the yukkuri or make it more noticeable to predators.
  • They are filled with bean paste and therefore edible, which makes them a particular target of Yuyuko. Some variants have different fillings. For example, Remilia-types are meat buns.
  • They have an outer layer of "skin" that is a bit less than an inch in thickness.
  • Their teeth, hair, and accessories are identical to their human counterparts, but somehow turn into bean paste when eaten. It is theorized that they are "grown" with dead cells, much like the dermal layer on human skin.
  • Their accessories will stay attached to them unless taken off by force.
  • They breathe, eat, see, hear and move (by bouncing off the ground), yet, with the exception of their eyes, they have nothing resembling organs.
  • They are extremely fragile. Severely injuring them is very easy. They seem to make up for it by having lots of stamina. A yukkuri can survive extreme amounts of trauma before dying. Examples include: having a large piece of its body bitten off, having most of its bean paste scooped out, getting all of its skin peeled off, getting impaled on a stick, etc.
  • They do not have blood; instead, they bleed watery bean paste. Despite having no circulatory system, a yukkuri can get dizzy from being hung upside-down. They are also known to urinate and defecate bean paste.
  • They are soluble in water, but only after prolonged exposure. All yukkuris are aware of this and will avoid rain when possible.
  • Yukkuris are very elastic. However, stretching a yukkuri beyond a limit will render it unable to return to its normal shape, and stretching it even more will break it.
Mutants

Examples of Yukkuris with miniaturized bodies

  • They have a "crying moe", which causes people to abuse and bully them. Even good-natured humans can become sadists. This has a reverse effect on some humans (Sakuya, Eirin and Reimu are often portrayed as having a yukkuri and caring for it), and little or no effect on youkai. In theory, this could be their natural self-defense, a psychic manipulation field that is meant to stop things from wanting to hurt them, since they lack any physical ability to fight or flee from predators. Only, of course, it doesn't work.
  • Some of them have miniaturized bodies. It is not known whether they are mutated Touhou characters or mutated yukkuris. Examples include: Remilia-types, Flandre-types, Reisen-types, Tewi-types, Sikieiki-types, and possibly others that have yet to be discovered. Mutated types are usually born as regular yukkuris and gain bodies after a certain amount of time. The exact amount of time is unknown; it varies from a few hours to days. Whether the growth is instantaneous or gradual, and where they get their clothes, is unknown. After gaining bodies, mutated yukkuris stop growing in size.
  • Yukkuris are able to regenerate from almost any physical injury as long as they are alive and provided with food (sugar is especially good), but they can still die. Mutant-type yukkuris have an upgraded healing factor. They are somehow able to regenerate without consuming additional mass and do so in a much shorter time frame. Eating a yukkuri whole is one way to counter their restorative abilities, and death is permanent.
  • Despite their physical regenerative capabilities and short memory, it is possible to scar a yukkuri emotionally. Depending on the method used, a yukkuri may become catatonic, insane, psychotic, murderous, and/or dead.
  • Yukkuris demonstrate great stamina when under stress and danger.

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