The Mathen Emporium

💽 FIC DAY 💽

in this week's chapters, mokou and agate probe the scope of the cooking change with a dip into jacobo's audio archive. memories of the urchin battle are still fresh within them - but what do the tapes say?

Long before I forgot the warmth of the noonday sun or the refreshing coolness of the evening breeze, I forgot my name. Call me what you will. I am the Rogue.

that shit is what an entire genre is built on! the knowledge that you, as a player, develop of Rogue's whims of procedural generation, represents the titular Rogue's suffering as discrete dungeon chunks from countless lifetimes spent in darkness and strife reorder entirely around them. the mechanics were so raw and new that the devs had to justify it, and the way they did so beats the hell out of most stories you get with roguelikes these days - or just straight up cobbles the shoes that these newer ones walk in for their whole narratives. i didn't even know Rogue had a story before today!

Ran fumo under a yellow lamp

Yukari's La Promenade

my american lit professor went to this poe conference. like to be clear this is a man who has a doctorate in being a book nerd. he reads moby dick to his four-year-old son. and poe is one of the cornerstones of american literature, right, so this should be right up his alley?

wrong. apparently poe scholars are like, advanced. there is a branch of edgar allen poe scholarship that specifically looks for coded messages based on the number of words per line and letters per word poe uses. my professor, who has a phd in american literature, realizes he is totally out of his depth. but he already committed his day to this so he thinks fuck it! and goes to a panel on racism in poe’s works, because that’s relevant to his interests.

background info: edgar allen poe was a broke white alcoholic from virginia who wrote horror in the first half of the 19th century. rule 1 of Horror Academia is that horror reflects the cultural anxieties of its time (see: my other professor’s sermon abt how zombie stories are popular when people are scared of immigrants, or that purge movie that was literally abt the election). since poe’s shit is a product of 1800s white southern culture, you can safely assume it’s at least a little about race. but the racial subtext is very open to interpretation, and scholars believe all kinds of different things about what poe says about race (if he says anything), and the poe stans get extremely tense about it.

so my professor sits down to watch this panel and within like five minutes a bunch of crusty academics get super heated about poe’s theoretical racism. because it’s academia, though, this is limited to poorly concealed passive aggression and forceful tones of inside voice. one professor is like “this isn’t even about race!” and another professor is like “this proves he’s a racist!” people are interrupting each other. tensions are rising. a panelist starts saying that poe is like writing a critique of how racist society was, and the racist stuff is there to prove that racism is stupid, and that on a metaphorical level the racist philosophy always loses—

then my professor, perhaps in a bid to prove that he too is a smart literature person, loudly calls: “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ORANGUTAN?”

some more background: in poe’s well-known short story “the murder in the rue morgue,” two single ladies—a lovely old woman and her lovely daughter who takes care of her, aka super vulnerable and respectable people—are violently killed. the murderer turns out to be not a person, but an orangutan brought back by a sailor who went to like burma or something. and it’s pretty goddamn racially coded, like they reeeeally focus on all this stuff about coarse hairs and big hands and superhuman strength and chattering that sounds like people talking but isn’t actually. if that’s intentional, then he’s literally written an analogy about how black people are a threat to vulnerable white women, which is classic white supremacist shit. BUT if he really only meant for it to be an orangutan, then it’s a whole other metaphor about how colonialism pillages other countries and brings their wealth back to europe and that’s REALLY gonna bite them in the ass one day. klansman or komrade? it all hangs on this.

much later, when my professor told this story to a poe nerd friend, the guy said the orangutan thing was a one of the biggest landmines in their field. he said it was a reliable discussion ruiner that had started so many shouting matches that some conferences had an actual ban on bringing it up.

so the place goes dead fucking silent as every giant ass poe stan in the room is immediately thrust into a series of war flashbacks: the orangutan argument, violently carried out over seminar tables, in literary journals, at graduate student house parties, the spittle flying, the wine and coffee spilled, the friendships torn—the red faces and bulging veins—curses thrown and teaching posts abandoned—panels just like this one fallen into chaos—distant sirens, skies falling, the dog-eared norton critical editions slicing through the air like sabres—the textual support! o, the quotes! they gaze at this madman in numb disbelief, but he could not have known. nay, he was a literary theorist, a 17th-century man, only a visitor to their haunted land. he had never heard the whistle of the mortars overhead. he had never felt the cold earth under his cheek as he prayed for god’s deliverance. and yet he would have broken their fragile peace and brought them all back into the trenches.

my professor sits there for a second, still totally clueless. the panel moderator suddenly stands up in his tweed jacket and yells, with the raw panic of a once-broken man:

Day 4331: Touhou

1440p version

ex bosses

Stage 4

Stage 5

Stage 6

An official remaster of the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil was announced today, releasing this September. The first time a Touhou game has gotten this treatment, and notably the first time EoSD is available digitally at all (I think). Featuring art and music redone by ZUN, updated gameplay, and notably, inbuilt translations for 10 languages!

First of all, the origin myth of Suwa Myoujin, the tale of Takeminakata defeating Moreya and taking over the Suwa region, and historians' attempts to explain the real-life origin of the myth itself:

If you allow me the small digression, it's theorised that the whole saga of Greek myths set during the Trojan War (mostly written down roughly at the 8th century BC) were inspired by a real-life war between Greek city-states in the Mycenaean era (around 1100 BC), which had probably been motivated by competition over trade routes but then was mythologised into these fantastic and dramatic tales about gods taking sides and messing with mortals.

In much the same way, a widely accepted explanation for the Suwa Myoujin origin myth is that a tribe or nation invaded the Suwa region and surpassed & absorbed another tribe or nation already living there. Depending on how old was the conflict that inspired the myth later on, there are two variants of this theory:

One says that Moreya represented the native Joumon hunter-gatherers and Takeminakata represented the agrarian Yayoi arriving there.

The other says that Takeminakata represented the Yamato (the basis for the modern Japanese nation, ruled by the first few emperors of the dynasty that still reigns in Japan today) and Moreya represented a local clan of the Suwa region refusing to join the nascent Yamato state and submit themselves to its ruling dynasty.

Recently, another variant of this theory was proposed. This one suggested the conflict symbolised by the Suwa Myoujin origin myth was much more recent: the Soga vs Mononobe civil war. According to this interpretation, Takeminakata in the myth would have represented the Soga clan bringing Buddhism from outside of Japan with support from the imperial family (including the official Japanese military at the time, whose leadership included Prince Shoutoku), and Moreya in the myth would have represented the Mononobe clan fighting for the preservation (and supremacy) of the native Shintou beliefs & practices.

One of the main arguments for this (perhaps the only significant one, to be fair) is that the leader of the Mononobe clan at the end of the conflict was called "Mononobe no Moriya". His name doesn't share kanji with the god Moreya's name, but does share a kanji with the Moriya clan, the priestly lineage claiming to be Moreya's direct descendants (whose current living representative was one of the inspirations for the character Sanae Kochiya):

Mononobe no Moriya: 物部 守屋

Moriya clan: 守矢 氏

Moreya god: 洩矢 神 (To clarify, Suwako's surname is written with both of the same kanji as the Moreya god; "moreya" is just an archaic way to spell "moriya")

Even if their kanji didn't match at all, the Mononobe clan's leader has already been occasionally conflated with the god Moreya in a few ancient and medieval stories.

What does this have to do with Futo?

While it'd been speculated that Futo's basis was Mononobe no Moriya, or at least the Mononobe clan as a whole, I think it's more likely she was based on Mononobe no Futsuhime, the younger sister of Moriya (the kanji of Futo and Futsuhime are almost the same; "Futo" is just "Futsuhime" minus the "hime"). Futsuhime betrayed her clan and married Umako, the leader of the Soga clan; after the civil war, one of Umako's and Futsuhime's daughters was one "Soga no Tojiko no Iratsume" (I saw "iratsume" being translated as merely "Lady"), who then went on to marry Shoutoku years later.

So… Going back to the Touhou Project:

I guess adapting this rather fringe theory into the Touhou universe would still be fair game. What would that look like? (I apologise in advance if it sounds too much like bad fanfiction)

Suwako had offspring, and one of her descendants was Mononobe no Moriya, or at least she believes this is the case (I saw someone else half-joking that Mononobe no Moriya could be just an incarnation of Suwako herself). It'd be quite fitting: the Mononobe clan fought on the "Shintou side" of the conflict; with Suwako being a Shintou god herself (and an ancient one at that), whatever the Mononobe clan and their leader were doing would be aligned with her own personal interests. In that context, one of her descendants (Futsuhime) betraying her family and helping their enemies -thus leading to the eventual demise of Mononobe no Moriya- would deeply hurt Suwako.

Fast-forward to one-and-a-half millennia later in Gensoukyou, at some point either on the 13-to-13.5 timeskip or in the middle of the inter-religious conflict within the events of 13.5...

Suwako learns of this bunch of reincarnated Taoists suddenly joining Gensoukyou (she probably grumbles for a few minutes about Kanako's ambition and reckless actions causing incidents again). Both she and Kanako can be pragmatic enough to reach some kind of agreement and let them live their lives like they're already doing with that "Buddhist youkai gang" on that flying-ship-turned-temple or whatever… Then she learns their names: hearing "Soga" for the first time after so long certainly brings back bad memories, as well as "Toyosatomimi", but when Suwako hears "Mononobe no Futo", she sees red. Many centuries ago, the past selves of all three of them were aligned with the side opposite to the one favoured by the native god, but that's not a big deal. If this were about continuing that old war or about religion, then Suwako would have already gone "scorched earth" on Byakuren and her followers (she'd even have to break up with Kanako, if those rumours about her being descended from the Buddhist god of fortune Daikoku-ten were anything to go by), and the Taoists would be left alone. But this is not about religions, or about competing for power or faith, or about something as trivial as the sides of an old war. This is personal for Suwako. This is about family. There's a blood debt here, and the native god will make sure "the Traitor of the Mononobe Clan" pays it. And if the Crown Prince and the daughter born from that betrayal insist on staying at her side... Well, they can leave this world with her; it'll be a fitting end for the three of them.

Of course, this would be solved when we reach the end of Hopeless Masquerade, and Suwako would have learnt to let go of her grudge after she and Futo kicked each other's arses in typical Gensoukyou fashion. But I'll let y'all figure out how that could happen, because my brain has run out of creative juices by this point.

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P.S.:

I shared this idea on other spaces, and it was compared with plots written by Zounose.

Maybe that's why Zounose's work is catching my attention so much lately.

What makes this so much more special is that you have to realize, ZUN is really quick to shoot down people’s headcanons when he doesn’t agree with them, especially if it becomes popular fanon. 

Fanon Marisa is a smooth lady killer? In FS, he has her turn into a blushing, giggling mess at the sight of other people MAYBE having a romantic moment when Reimu’s with her. 

Fanon Kisume is a cute harmless bucket loli? He says outright that she keeps people’s heads in her bucket. 

Fanon Rinnosuke has a harem and doesn’t realize it? Not only does Canon Rinnosuke distance himself emotionally from every single girl who comes in, more and more characters seem like they can barely stand the guy, and the feeling’s mutual. He’s a pompous know-it-all who thinks that his speculation is as good as your experience. 

Alice and Yukari being top contenders for a protagonist love interest? Alice hasn’t been in the plot or even said a line for like 10 years now, Marisa spends all her time with Reimu, and Reimu constantly says she hates Yukari for very valid reasons that would also make her a poor lover, but a perfect emotionally abusive ex-girlfriend (too many secrets, too controlling, too manipulative, doesn’t communicate, never appears unless she wants something). 

…then remember that ZUN loves to canonize things that become popular fanon when he does agree with it. 

Remilia sleeping in a coffin? Remilia scoffed at it at one point, but ZUN went and made it canon anyway in the most obvious and hilarious way possible. In SSiB and others, she sleeps in a coffin on a bed. 

The nameless extras we all gave nicknames to, like Daiyousei, Koakuma, and Tokiko? Those names got canonized. 

Aya having wings and Momiji having wolf ears and a tail? Canonized.

Kasen being a fatty? As of AoCF…

天子:  ふん 何が日々精進しているんだか 全身から奢りが溢れ出ているよ

Tenshi: Hmh! What sort of asceticism do you adhere to day by day? There are luxuries bulging and overflowing from your entire body!

Canon.

Everyone being ambiguously gay? ZUN pushes this button like it gives him a treat.

Reimu herself has been doing gay things since the moment she left the house.

Don’t get me wrong, ZUN will annihilate your OTP if it suits his needs because he does not give a shit, but he’s more than fine with his girls being lesbians. 

Speaking of OTPs, though… it would be one thing if all the teased ReiMari we get were isolated incidents, or from a single manga artist, but at this point, what isn’t it being teased in? 

The OP’s art is all from Strange Creators of Outer World, which is as official as you can get.

There’s ReiMari all over the place in Wild and Horned Hermit… 

There’s some scattered about in Three Fairies…

It’s teased in Forbidden Scrollery multiple times…

I don’t have any pictures of Silent Sinner in Blue, but there’s teased ReiMari in that, and SSiB reveals that Reimu has only one futon, so every time Marisa sleeps over, which is often…

There’s ReiMari on the freakin’ ZUN art of Lotus Land Story, and in one of Marisa’s good endings in LLS, they go on an awkward date…

and speaking of SSiB, I dunno what ZUN did to the artist, but after finishing his work, that guy started shipping ReiMari hard-fuckin’-core… 

There’s even a little bit in AoCF if you pair Reimu and Marisa up in Versus mode and win…

Surprisingly, I almost didn’t get the chance to fight together with you, Marisa, but…

If we kept at it, we might just be the greatest pair there is!

Look at that happy smile. Reimu doesn’t act that way towards ANYONE else. In her scenarios, she only paired up with Kasen as a proof of concept, and with Yukari, she spends the entire time bitching about it. This line reveals that she had planned and expected to pair up with Marisa, and laments that she almost didn’t get to, but once she got the chance, she couldn’t wait to do it more.

Should also be noted that the word for “pair” here can mean “couple”, so Japanese twitter lost their freakin’ shit over this line.

During Yukari’s route in AoCF, Reimu says that she and Yukari can’t be beaten because they are the True Strongest Pair. Reimu’s line to Marisa in my above post happens afterward, and it refers to that line by having just one word changed. I stylized the translation a bit because the literal one seems awkward, but if I translate it a bit more literally, she says “Depending on our practice, might we become the Strongest Pair Ever, perhaps?”

Phrasing things you’re sure of as a question is expected in polite speech and feminine speech in Japanese, and Reimu is pretty girly, so I’ll make my final translation of that line, “If we kept up our practice, I think we’d become the Strongest Pair Ever!”

Given that tiny bit of context of her saying she and Yukari were the True Strongest Pair earlier, what she’s saying to Marisa implies that she wishes it weren’t true. She wants Marisa to work together with her more so Marisa can replace Yukari for good. She doesn’t want Yukari to be her best option when the shit hits the fan, she wants that to be Marisa, and she knows Marisa already has it in her, so all they need to do is practice and it’ll happen. Not “become a Youkai,” not “get stronger”, just “practice our teamwork”. She believes in Kirisame Marisa, the Orindary Magician, just the way she is.

Reimu’s offer would even solve Dream Marisa. In case anyone doesn’t know yet, Spoilers for Doremy’s arc, Dream Marisa is a Dreamworld copy of Marisa that speaks her deepest, most secret thoughts, where she revealed she was super upset that Reimu and Yukari never let her be the one to save the day. If Marisa took up Reimu’s offer, she would then get to be The Hero right alongside Reimu, not upstaged by her and Yukari during the last part like always. It reveals that Reimu wants Marisa to succeed too, she wants to help her do it, and she wants to be there when it happens.

Even more significantly, Reimu doesn’t know about Dream Marisa. She wasn’t there. She wants this solely because she cares about Marisa. Reimu also doesn’t like hard work. It’s a stated fact. She could easily shrug and be content with Yukari because it’s easy, but she’s refuses. She’s willing to work to see this happen.

Suddenly, the reason Japanese Twitter exploded over this line makes all the sense in the goddamn world.

YukaReimu did get a nod in the main arc, but ReiMari once again comes out ahead in the afterstory, and somehow this all still happens in-game. Is ZUN inching us towards a final declaration that ReiMari is Game Canon? We’re getting awfully close.

Oh, they go on a fancy dinner date at the end of Mystic Square, too.

【8.11】 by yochii

In terms of family trees and mythologically recognizable characters, the likes of Eirin, Sagume, and indeed the Watatsukis are pretty unambiguously kami/gods. (By extension, we have to assume Kaguya is too; although the original Kaguya-hime is a fairytale character with no specific religious status, it isn't much of a leap to call her one even within that story.)

Beyond that, SSiB and CiLR make it explicit that both Reimu and Yorihime are also summoning Lunarian gods when they do their thing. With Yorihime being able to summon the likes of Amaterasu, I have to assume she could summon Toyohime too, yeah. Putting aside any unknowable questions about whether she'd be allowed to do so without "the proper measures" or "permission" (CiLR ch. 6).

It's specified (most explicitly in SSiB ch. 6) that gods, including those with physical bodies, are simply cloned when summoned into a new location. This would also apply to Toyohime. I guess that's a good reason not to.

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That said, as a tangent: although their summonability seems to be one of the least ambiguous things about them, there's a lot about the Lunarians' exact nature that gets into the territory of what I'd call "dubious by omission". Stuff that isn't directly contradictory per se, but has been left ambiguous and starts to get more and more dubious the longer it goes without being mentioned or clarified in any way even when the Lunarians otherwise come up. It's really hard to see them running on very similar rules as the Moriya or Aki gods, but they may have simply outgrown such concerns when they moved to the Moon and chose a new form of immortality. And of course, the ones we're most familiar, Eirin and Kaguya, also have the elixir as an added complication.

"The kami and Lunarian lore in Touhou is delightfully ambiguous. I am currently rereading through all material, hoping to get insights on them (particularly how Heaven relates to the Lunar Capital), but I don't expect their status/nature will be truly clarified in canon."

And also the reply from @clarste :

"Bunrei."

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@clarste mentioning the bunrei, along with this part of @chireikiden's response...

"It's specified (most explicitly in chapter 6 of Silent Sinner in Blue) that gods, including those with physical bodies, are simply cloned when summoned into a new location."

... reminded me of this post [https://occasionaltouhou.tumblr.com/post/734999981348552704] and this addition to it [https://mashounen2003.tumblr.com/post/806214114154266625]: @occasionaltouhou and @sukimas remembered a piece of Touhou lore from Strange and Bright Nature Deity (which then was reiterated in one of the early chapters of SSiB, although I don't remember whether it was in chapter 6 or it was in any other) where it's explained a kami can split themself and each portion can stay alive as a whole instance of said kami, and they used this as the basis for the theory that there are at least two instances of each heavenly kami, one somewhere in Gensoukyou and another in the Lunar Capital; this in turn had reminded me of a couple of Shintou religious practices that are pretty much two phases of one process: the aforementioned bunrei (or wakemitama, written with the same kanji) and the kanjou (where the word bunrei is used for the resulting "divided spirit").