#lore sanjines

[loreber]

”Esta vida tan vacía, sumida en la monotonía de la rutina, mirando alrededor llena superficialidades, y materialismos innecesarios, en los que nos envuelve la sociedad, cubriendo nuestros ojos de la realidad.”

.-Loretto ✨

[yamayuandadu]

Every god with a cameo appearence in SSiB

After much deliberation, here it is. The lore post promised long ago. The translator notes for SSiB focus on locations of famous shrines of the mentioned deities and include a few mistakes, so I figured it’s worth writing a short introduction to each of the gods summoned or otherwise mentioned in this manga. The gods are arranged by chapter of first appearence; due to length and number of images, the list has been placed under a read more. Please do not take this warning lightly.

Chapter 1

Ama-no-iwato-wake no kami - one of the gods partaking in the “descent of the heavenly grandson” alongside Omoikane (whose Touhou counterpart is Eirin). Doesn't actually seem to be too prominent, sources available in English mention that he's a deity of gates (but not the only one and seemingly less versatile than a few other kami he shars this title with), and some Kojiki commentaries consider him an epiteth of Ame-no-Tajikarao, yet another participant of the descent, known for his prodigious strength, and for cooperating with Omoikane once before already – when Amaterasu refused to leave the cave Ama-no-iwato (which I assume is where the epiteth theory comes from). Based on Kanako’s comments from LoLK, it’s possible he’s a Lunarian in Touhou, like all the other Kojiki celestial gods.

“Lord Daikoku and his 180 children” - or rather Okuninushi, the ruler of Izumo and leader of the earthly gods in Kojiki. He's viewed as the gongen of the god of luck Daikoku, as both are gods of agriculture. All around nice guy, sometimes portrayed as unusually tall and strong, and hero of many myths, including these of white hare of Inaba and the god Sukuna-Hikona (both of whom are portrayed as his advisers from time to time; the scarecrow god Kuebiko plays this role in th Kojiki too).

Chapter 2

Chang'e needs no introduction, I think. Unlike almost everyone else here, she's not a Shinto deity.

Chapter 5

Sumiyoshi sanjin/daijin – the trio of Sokotsutsu no O no Mikoto, Nakatsutsu no O no Mikoto and Uwatsutsu no O no Mikoto. As the manga itself explains, they're the gods of sailing and safe voyage. They're brothers of the Watatsumi, who are, depending on the version, either three gods of the sea... or a single god, Ryujin, also known as Owatatsumi, who rules the seas from his Dragon Palace (and whose daughters the Watatsukis are based on). Curiously it seems they're also star gods, which certainly fits well with their role in SSiB plot (the stars they correspond to are the same ones Remilia names the rocket modules after, too). They're also associated with empress Jingu as she purportedly asked for their help before embarking on a military expedition against Korea.

Chapter 12

Gion – the former Gion shrine is known as Yasaka shrine today (no relation to Yasakatome). The enshrined deity is Susano-o, invoked to ward off disease. In the past he was often conflated with Gozu Tenno (who in turn was conflated with Matara-jin, but let's not go down this rabbit hole today), the most significant of the “epidemic gods” who acted as both sources of disease, presented as punishment in this context, and as saviors bestowing fast recovery and good health on the faithful. Like many similar shrines it was also involved in rituals meant to purify a certain class of restless spirits to make them act as deities protecting from diseases.

Chapter 13

Atago – the god of mount Atago, originally worshiped by Shugendo monks. He's a gongen (manifestation) of an aspect of Jizou, specifically “Shogun Jizou”, a tutelary deity of soldiers... and firemen (the idea is that Jizou can transfer injuries and suffering to himself). He is occasionally conflated with Kagutsuchi, the kami of fire killed right after being born (worth nothing Keiki's mythical counterpart is his sister). Other, more popular version, makes him a tengu who repented and became a protector of the pious human inhabitants of Mt. Atago; a variant of this legend claims said tengu was the true form of Nichira, a buddhist mentor of prince Shotoku (there's a Matara-jin connection here, as well, but let's save that for another day...)

Chapter 14

Honoikazuchi - one of the eight thunder gods created from pieces of Izanami's dead body in Yomi. They chase after Izanagi when his visit plan goes south, assisted by mysterious “hags of Yomi” (there are sources which claim the hags and thunder gods from this myth are what oni are based on in folklore, but such fanciful claims were only made by the “national learning” movement, which was seeking a way to purify culture from buddhist influences, and as such lack merit).

Kanayamhiko - a kami of metal, a tutelary deity of blacksmiths, miners, coalmakers, and so on (also, yet another sibling of Keiki's mythical counterpart, also “born” in the myth of Kagutsuchi). I assume he's summoned to change daggers into sand because early on in Japanese history save for some imported crafts all the iron was the result of a lengthy process relying on iron sand rather than ore. As a side note – most shrines related to blacksmith work enshrine a female deity named Kanayako, who's functionally identical to the Kanayamahiko from Nihon Shoki. Both historians and religious authorities appear to believe the gender of the deity was flipped at some point for unknown reasons. He had a slightly bigger cameo in WaHH.

Chapter 15

Amatsu Mikaboshi  - an enigmatic earthly god mentioned in the Nihon Shoki – a god of stars (which explains why he's invoked to deal with Marisa's spellcards). He resisted the land transfer and was severly punished for it. Many online sources portray him as some sort of “primordial evil,” which is a misunderstanding, perhaps originally caused by a peculiar string of events (though more likely by ignorance) – first Mikaboshi with conflated with Myoken (the pole star; guess which obscure figure referenced in Touhou which won't be discussed here was Myoken associated with?), then, during the Meiji reforms, Myoken was rejected due to being a syncretic deity, and many Myoken temples were converted into temples dedicated to Amenominakanushi, one of the only gods explicitly predating Izanagi and Izanami in the creation myth (seemingly there were no shrines dedicated to him prior to the dawn of the “national learning” movement, though). “Primordial evil” Mikaboshi portrayals, which cut the middleman (eg. Myoken), extrapolate the heavenly gods calling him an evil deity into him being a god of evil.

Ishikori-dome – a tutelary kami of mirror-makers. Yet another associate of Omoikane, both in the myth about luring Amaterasu out of a cave, and then during the descent of the heavenly grandson. According to the myths she's responsible for creating the Yata no Kagami, one of the imperial regalia. Following the LoLK logic (“Lunarians are like the celestial gods,” eg. The Kojiki gods who descended from the heavens and subjugated the earthly ones) she might be a Lunarian.

Chapter 16

Ame no Uzume – a kami of dawn and dance. She too is an associate of Omoikane, partaking in getting Amaterasu out of a cave (which her SSiB appearence echoes) and in subujgation of the earthly gods during the descent of the heavenly grandson (she marries Sarutahiko, one of the rulers of the earthly gods – seemingly of a different group of them than the Izumo gods following Okuninushi). As above, probably should count as a Lunarian in Touhou.

Amaterasu – does she need an introduction? The central deity of Shinto, the ruler of them all, the sun, the progenitor of the imperial family. Simply put, a god too significant to show up in Touhou for longer than two panels. She's basically here as an extension of Ame no Uzume's myth.

Chapter 17

Oomagatsumi – ritual impurity given form, one of the two basically identical kami created while Izanagi was undergoing ritual ablutions after returning from Yomi, the land of the dead.

Chapter 18

Izunome – as far as I can tell, making her a shrine maiden is ZUN's own invention. In the Kojiki, she's born when Izanagi purifies himself after escaping the land of the dead, and that’s quite literally where her role both starts and ends. She seemingly has no shrines today, though Japanese wikipedia mentions an Amaterasu shrine which in the past held some festival related to “Izunome-jin”. I'm pretty sure she's here because she and Oomagatsumi are part of a single myth, and represent a specific instance of pollution and its immediate removal.

Chapter 19

Takeminakata – that's just Kanako. LoLK confirmed it, if anyone still had any doubts by then. There are dozens of versions of the myth, it honestly deserves its own post, so I won't discuss that here.

[loreber]

“Las mejores ideas surgirán de los ideales más justos.”

.- Lore Sanjines.

[loreber]

“Hay dos formas de hacer el amor: el que todos conocemos, y el otro cuestionando entre mentes.”

.- Lore Sanjines

[loreber]

The dog is a model

[loreber]

Así se van, eliminándote de todo, después de tanto, después de todo.

[loreber]

“No encajaba en ningún lugar, no encajaba con nadie, pero en algún momento solo pensé que, tal vez podría encajar en tu corazón.”

.- B. Lore Sanjines

[loreber]

[loreber]

La filosofía y la ciencia, son mi mayor esencia.

[loreber]

“El arte me ha salvado de estar en el borde del colapso, de estar un poco más lejos de aquella delgada línea entre la vida y la muerte, por el solo hecho de querer plasmar, aquellos ocultos sentimientos. ”

.- B. Lore Sanjines

[loreber]

Y… ¿Si nos emborrachamos con filosofía, ciencia y buenas charlas?

[loreber]

- Cual es tu mayor miedo?

Mi mayor miedo......- responde perdiendo su mirada en el vacío -

Es.. el no llegar a cumplir mis sueños y mis expectativas, y conformarme con una vida superficial y vacía, hasta la eventual muerte. Ese es mi mayor miedo.

.- Un trozo de una vida (Lore Sanjines)

[loreber]

[loreber]

Te rompieron tanto, que dejaste de sentir.

Te decepcionaron tanto que dejaste de esperar.

[loreber]

Entonces te encontré en el lugar menos esperado

En el momento menos pensado

De la manera mas inusual

Y cuando me saludaste, no esperaba nada

Pero después de haberte conocido mas, termine esperándolo todo

.-Lore Sanjines 

[loreber]

“Disculpa, pero no quiero un futuro con alguien que me recuerda al pasado.”

.- B. Lore Sanjines