History of the Archive
19.01.2025: Seven Stars, Eight Trigrams update.
Substantial update to the Taoism section, which was very lackluster before.
Changes include:
- greatly expanded on the Taoist views of the fundamental forces and energies of the universe and how they are patterned.
- collected findings related to the Bagua trigrams in Touhou
- added a whole section about the Big Dipper and it's connections to Touhou
Also added the Taoist Encyclopedia to External Sources.
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 14 000 views!
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.
03.12.2024: Little Arcana of 10 000 Hits update: Updated the introduction to reflect the existence of Part 4. Added stuff related to Patchouli's health and her grimoires to Western Magic in Eastern Wonderland. Added some more Touhou and real life examples of "waves" to the Hifuu Club's Fringe Activities section. Added mention of the Hahakigi legend of Sonohara, Nagano to Gensokyo Is A Place On Earth? Added mention of the Ascent to Heaven children's game about catching a glimpse of Chang'e and slightly elaborated on repetive stimuli and brainwave generators on the Common elements between Touhou and spiritual practice section. The site has exceeded 10 000 views - it did so a good while ago actually, it's at about 10 513 or so as if writing this. This has been beyond my wildest expectations and in a very short time too, even though I'm sure most of the visitors just took a brief glance and left, maybe even had a chuckle. No matter what, thanks to all who have visited and I hope this has been of some use or inspiration to you.
18.11.2024: Strange Cycle of Six Months update: Added personal experiences section, which I will properly insert into page structure at some point. I hope to gather other people's experiences with the spirits of Gensokyo into a separate subsection, so it's only fair that I am the first one to share my story so far. Today marks six months of consistent spiritual practice for me. I have also been informed that the Archive has "gone Reddit", which explains the recent surge in traffic. The site has exceeded 8000 views.
11.11.2024: Kaminazuki update: Updated Shinto section, added Living With Kami to external sources and detailed the lore behind Mt. Iizuna on Gensokyo Is A Place On Earth? The site has exceeded 7500 views!
31.10.2024: Halloween microupdate: Added a mention of the origins of the ritual that Alice Margatroid performs in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red. Added Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai to external sources.
27.10.2024: Pre-Halloween megaupdate: Added part 4: Starting the Practice Mod. Split History of the Archive into it's own section. This will probably be the last update of this size for the year.
16.10.2024: Added Encyclopedia of Shinto and several Buddhist sources to External sources section.
13.10.2024: Delighted to learn that the Archive has inspired the creation of shichisei.info, a resource on Tendai Buddhism that's relevant to Touhou lore via Matara Okina-sama and it's influence on Shugendo and thus the Tengu. Added the site to external sources.
07.10.2024: Extremely minor update to the Gensokyo Is A Place on Earth?-section and the Yohai subsection. There's a mountain in the Yatsugatake mountain range called Mt. Tengu, which while not surprising is a bit pointed. I am also very bad remembering names of the various kami and it took me untill today when I realized that Izumo Grand Shrine is a shrine dedicated to of one of the kami tied to Okina-sama.
02.10.2024: Unplanned mini update in honor of the eclipse: Added general study of religion subsection to external sources (not sure why I didn't do this earlier). Fixed a typo and an image glitch related to html caching. The site has now over 5000 views!
01.10.2024: Pre-eclipse update: Added a lot of headers into the texts for improved readability [debatable]. Minor additions and structural changes in Part 1. Major expansion of ZUN Moon Rising and Shifting Through The Layers, Passing Into Fantasy sections. Added a mention of Youkai Mountain being the "original form" of Yatsugatake mountains in Gensokyo Is A Place On Earth? Fixed some typos, added a link or two, probably made some changes I already forgot about.
22.09.2024: Autumn equinox update: Added more external sources, small updates to Shinto and Hifuu Club sections. Site has reached over 4000 views.
11.09.2024: Extensive update to External Sources section. The archive has passed 3333 views...where have all of you come from!?
09.09.2024: In honor of Cirno Day, the index page has been made more descriptive and useful.
04.09.2024: Small updates to Taoism, Buddhism, Hifuu Club sections, bigger update to the Supernature section where I added ZUN's quote about him being surprised by the depth of his own characters and how some of the "seemed to move on their own".
14.08.2024: Made this to look a bit more like an actual web page [debatable]
13.08.2024: Added some images and the "...Touhou?" section.
11.08.2024: First version of the site is published.
