ZUN uses the pseudonym ”Team Shanghai Alice” in his creative works. This is a quite interesting choice, as he is the only known member of such a team. The Shanghai Alice part is quite fascinating too. Once upon a time Shanghai was a very international city in China, a melting pot of the East and West. Alice of course refers to the classic mind-bending fantasy tale Alice in Wonderland.
Whatever were the motivations for choosing such a pseudonym, it has become more than apt. While Touhou draws mainly from Eastern culture (down to its name), it also incorporates many ideas of Western origin. The medium of a video game is, ultimately, a Western invention too.
In some way, ZUN's worldbuilding is almost like a fantasy version of rangaku. Rangaku was an attempt by the Japanese to integrate Western technologies and learning into their society during their period of isolation. This was largely a very succesful endeavor, and it resulted in things like rapid adoption of firearms and high-quality clockworks both for timekeeping and entertainment in the form of karakuri automatons. The crowning achievement of this period was the world's first surgery under general anesthesia using a mix of traditional Chinese medicinal knowledge and Western surgery techniques. Beyond these marvels, the rangaku era produced some curiosities, such as an attempt to explain gravity using Taoist concepts. In some way, explaining youkai as fluctuations of quantum space and the power of gods as being fueled by human belief is very in line with this.
Touhou blends these influences together in a beatiful, funny and captivating way. I will never have the experience of being a native Japanese and really understanding these games and their cultural references as they would. But as a Westerner, these games and exploring their influences has deepened my understanding of Japanese culture and led me to paths I would have never expected.
Perhaps on some level the way Touhou plays with Japanese culture alone explains much of its popularity. Many Westerners see it as a bizarre Japanese curiosity, and I must admit I was once one of such. But to build up its solid footing within the doujin scene must have taken something that has deeply resonated with the home audience. Of course there is the music, the striking visual style, the gameplay and the cute girls. But there must be something else, an element of recognizing elements of your own culture depicted in such an unusual, fantastic light. An element of nostalgia and the awareness of things ”passing into fantasy”, out of living memory and into mythology.
Eventually, Touhou would be such a cultural force in its home country that the Westerners interested in Japanese otaku culture had to take notice. I vividly remember how my initial reaction to Touhou media was just sheer perplexion. What on Earth was this thing even? Why is everyone a girl with a funny hat? How do people even successfully play such overwhelming games? I can imagine this was the reaction for many. And over time Touhou built itself up as ”that weird thing”, drawing in more and more curious onlookers. Some of them even go beyond the memes, fumos and pornography. Some of them play the games and read the print works.
And some of those who play the games feel that there is something numinous, otherworldly in there. Is it a mere aesthetic quality, or perhaps something more? Delving into the lore of the games might rapidly reveal a strange, magical side to reality. In particular those who have had previous contact with the fringes of human cognition and experience might find some of the ideas downright uncanny.
The next chapter asks you to take a leap of faith and to abandon common sense to seek a higher form of truth. We are going to explore Touhou beyond its influences, Touhou beyond its impact as a cultural phenomena. After all, we have seen many otaku fads come and go, many a gacha have tried to dethrone Touhou, yet it endures year after year.
The question we are going to explore is a simple but complex one.
What if Touhou is more than just a doujin franchise?
