Welcome to the Archive of the Sealed Gods. The purpose of this project is to explore and document the esoteric in Touhou Project games and the associated media.
The worldbuilding of this well-beloved doujin media empire is full of refrences to real life mythology, religion, esoteric traditions, paranormal, occult and fringe science ideas.
These ideas strongly root the games and their associated print works in to the more numinous, magical and mysterious side of reality.
This no doubt greatly contributes to what people refer to when they say Touhou is "souled".
However, this project poses a bold statement based on 6+ years of research into paranormal and occult topics as well multiple individual's (including my own) experiences:
Touhou is "souled" in a literal sense
Touhou is greatly influenced by real-life mythologies and beliefs from three religions: Shinto, Buddhism and Taoism
Touhou is also influenced by some ideas from Western esoteric tradition and paranormal research
Inspiration rooted in real life spirituality gives Touhou exceptional spiritual potency that explains it's enduring popularity
The fierce adoration roused by it's spiritual potency has at least turned Touhou into an egregore
However, there are indications that there are spirits of non-human origin within Touhou
Gensokyo is at the very least heavily inspired by real-life locations in Nagano, Japan
The various entities within Touhou represent spirits tied to Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism and certain Western beliefs
Spirits have taken many different manifestations over time, and the way they are represented in Touhou is continuation of this
It is possible to reach out to these spirits and to contact them and multiple people have done so
The spirits of Gensokyo are capable of supernatural feats and can offer guidance
The most powerful of these spirits are genuine deities and are most worthy of reverence
It's possible to radically change your relationship with Touhou, yourself and the world at large by taking the spirits of Gensokyo as your mentors.
You are warmly welcome to never view Touhou the same way as you did before.
Please wait warmly...this site is incomplete
This site is meant to be an evolving, living text, a dialogue and not a monologue. However, I intend to eventually produce downloadable texts based on the contents of this site.
Please check this site from time to time if you become interested in the topic.
I am currently working on practical advice for contacting the spirits of Gensokyo among other things.
I also have several ideas for texts that do not quite fit the linear structure of this site, and will eventually put them in a subsection of their own.
The site will also be updated as new relevant information is found.
Please note that there are some texts dealing with mature topics related to the Touhou Project and spirituality here. Please leave if you are not an adult.
Recent updates
13.01.2025: Thunderbolt Vehicle update.
Received a new very high quality submission: Esoteric Buddhism in Touhou Project.
It deals with what kind of references to Esoteric Buddhism there are in Touhou, and how Touhou reflects some of the ideas of in particular Shingon Buddhism.
Started creating a new kind of (read: any kind) folder structure for this site. This is purely internal work and will not show to any of the visitors.
Except when the process of moving to that new structure inevitably makes this site a mess for a while...
The site has broken 15 000 views!
06.01.2025: Shungedo & UFOs update.
Added Shugendo & Touhou, a very accomplished book review/mythology exploration/series of effortposts by a diligent anon, slightly editorialized into more article-like format with their permission.
Added my own review of "Japanese Shamanism" by Percival Lowell, which turned out not be "Japanese Shamanism" (but nevertheless by Percival Lowell), but was an interesting - if dated - read nevertheless.
Minor update to Ultraterrestrial Fantasy Organisms in the form of a funny yet informative panel from WaHH and reiterating the Touhou connections because apparently this stuff has been confusing to some people.
Put the experiences of the anon whose ankle pain was healed by the kami of Jomine Shrine into it's own page too, because a miracle, no matter how small, deserves it.
Experimenting with a more informative structure for updates.
The site has exceeded 14000
28.12.2024:
Kappa Web Dev update. Finished updating the menu structure. It, like much of this site, is a compromise untill I find the time to learn actual website design. Added a mention of Kamikochi valley and it's connection to the novel Kappa by Ryonosuke Akutagawa to Gensokyo Is A Place On Earth?. This novel most likely influenced the depiction of Kappa society within Touhou, and perhaps the more satirical elements of Touhou in general. Added also a mention of lake Suwa's big fireworks displays - perhaps they influenced ZUN's taste for danmaku..?
21.12.2024: Hexagram 13 update.
Added the Other's Words and Letters from the Archive sections. Made the Contact page less cryptic to reach. I hope to gather other people's experiences with the inhabitants of Gensokyo and the spiritual traditions associated with them, so please feel free to reach out to me. The site has broken 12 000 views and will probably look a bit more jankier than usual for a while as I update the menu structure.
11.12.2024: One of the people who has contributed to the Archive is gathering funds to help his friend escape the Sudanese Civil War. Due to the extraordinary circumstances I have decided to help him spread awareness of the campaign. Please donate to https://gogetfunding.com/help-someone-escape-the-sudan-civil-war/ if you just can. Everything helps.