History of the Archive

25.08.2025: A Green Journal update:

Published A Green Journal, first reader submission in a good while.
The writer had some very interesting experiences and good insights to share.
I was more than happy to publish it.
"There is Gensokyo everywhere for those with the eyes to see.
Just a reminder, you can send your own experiences if you have them to me through the Contact page.
Feels very self-indulgent to post this after a recent site updated, but here we go:
The site has now over 65 000 views.
I like the even 10s and 5s a lot.

23.08.2025: Gallop To Me Over The Long Beach update:

Published a review of The Catalpa Bow, a book on Japanese shamanism.
I found the book very enjoyable and highly informative and I recommend it for anyone interested in the subjects of this site.
I've started a process of overhauling the site a bit in preparation for a larger overhaul sometime in the future.
Another thing is that I have started work on that series of articles on the kami of Gensokyo.
Some of it is already completed, I would just rather publish it all in a single big push.
That way I spare myself from constantly fiddling with html and menus and all that, my least favorite part of running this site.
The site has reached 64 000 views.
I keep saying it, but I am amazed at how many seem to find their way here.

03.08.2025: Return from the Land of Gods update:

Published the Return from the Land of Gods update.
Took me a while because as much as I loved Japan and had wonderful experiences there, returning triggered a pretty severe existential crisis.
This turned out to be ultimately very cathartic, and I have a much clearer vision for the future now.
Plans for future updates include a series of articles detailing the mythological background and nature of the six kami of Gensokyo I revere.
A more proper travelogue is something I will likely make at some point, but I feel like recent content has been rather self-indulgent.
I have also made contact with someone who took part in early, very early precursors to the Esoteric Touhou threads on /jp/.
These threads predated currently oldest known Western sources noting the spiritual qualities of Touhou.
For me, it's like finding proof of Atlantis, haha.
The Japanese half of the Mythosphere is also on my agenda, as I finally feel like I have a good enough grasp of it to write about it.
A broader rework of the site's contents is due sometime in the medium term future.
There are new ideas I have been exposed to that have much greater explanatory power than some things currently presented here.
It's less of right and wrong and more of core versus periphery, if that makes sense.
A kind of invisible network has emerged, and this site is part of it.
It might become more visible in the future.
The site has breached 55 000 views, it's almost 60k in fact.
Even consider some of it is inevitably bot traffic, I am still amazed at how popular this site has become.

21.06.2025: Greetings from the Land of Gods update:

Published the Summer Solstice Letter - Greetings from the Land of Gods! - 21st of June 2025.
I'm currently in Japan, so I decided to write about some of my experiences.
The time spent here has been very illuminating about many things.
These include how popular religion is practed in Japan and how the kami can be felt in the material world.
This journey has also contextualized certain things presented in Touhou for me.
In time, I will probably do more of a travelogue type of thing with pictures and all that.
I just don't want to spend too much time cooped up in hotels writing things at the moment.
There is too much to experience out here, probably everywhere really.
I think the full importance of this journey can be realized only when it's over.
I hope you all have a wonderful midsummer.
The site has now over 50 000 views. Quite the number for less than a year, isn't it?

27.05.2025: Beginner's Mind update:

Added the Downloads sections and the first downloadable PDF - Introductory Practices.
The long promised PDF is finally here!
It offers a condensed version of the Practice Mode section with slightly different focus.
You will find there a broad set of mutually reinforcing practices that will help you develop skills and qualities needed for more advanced spiritual practice.
I hope it will be of use to you.

25.05.2025: The Way Home update:

Published The Way Home and The Soul in Touhou
It's partly a review of Thomas P. Kasulis' Shinto: The Way Home and partly an attempt to analyze what that "soul" in Touhou is by using his analysis of Shinto terminology.
May all fans of Touhou find their way home!
The promised PDF-booklet is now in the proofreading phase.
I have viewed the numerous typos on this site mostly as a way to make it clear that this was not written with AI.
But I want people to have a good impression of the booklet.
The site has reached 45 000 views.

17.05.2025: Closed Chapters, New Sources update:

Added the Purification and protection and Last Words on Practice Mode sections to the Starting the Practice Mode chapter.
I think this more or less rounds it up and presents a reasonable starting point for people interested in actually practicing spirituality, but who are hesitant to yet commit into any particular tradition.
There are of course many ways to go about these things, but this is a gentle, reasonable way, I think.
The promised PDF booklet on practice is nearing it's completion...please wait warmly...
Starting the Practice Mode will require some kind of coherency & redundancy sweep at a later date.
I'll however be focusing on other kinds of things in the near future.
I have some ideas for what Part 5 will be, but not quite sure yet which it will be.
A larger update of The Esoteric In Touhou is necessary at some point too.
...
I added some more sources to the External Sources too.
First is Grooving with Kami, an English language blog of a Shinto priestess.
Second is Paul Hine's Modern Shamanism with a Japanese translation attached to it!
Third but not least is The Saicho Repository project.
The Saicho Repository seeks to translate the writings of Saicho, founder of Tendai Buddhism, into English. Please donate to the project if you would like too such happen.
I am sure it would make Okina-sama very happy.
The site has reached 42 000 views!
I keep missing special updates for big fancy round numbers - I have been very busy with work, language studies and travel preparations.

04.05.2025: More Practice update:

Added four new sections to Starting the Practice Mode:
Divination
Visualization
Energy Work
Grounding
They are a bit barren compared to the other pages at the moment, but will be fleshed out a bit in the future.
I am working on a PDF booklet that will sum up the practices and have some things not at the moment presented on the site.
The site has reached 39 000 views!

21.04.2025: Whispered Oracles and Footnotes update:

Published an analysis of The Whispered Oracle of Hakurei.
There was a lot to unpack with this very peculiar book that had some strangeness going on around it's premature release.
Turns out that under the lighthearted surface it is a kind of a ritual aimed at re-defining and re-establishing Gensokyo.
Added a mention of the omikuji and Whispered Oracle to the Shinto section.
Added few little things to the mythosphere article related to some recent events.
Added a mention of the Japanese being aware of something like the ultraterrestrial hypothesis to the Ultraterrestrial Fantasy Organisms page.
Forgot to add a link to the "incredible fascinating article" I talk about in the Spring Equinox Letter...that has been now corrected.
Pretty sure I also made another minor update somewhere but I kinda forgot to keep track of it and what it was..! Sorry about that.
The site has exceeded 36000 views.

09.04.2025: Essence of Shinto update:

Published a Review of Essence of Shinto, a fascinating book with a somewhat troubling background.
What to make of it when good ideas come from questionable background? It is always a challenging question.
While I have not been quite as active as I hoped with updates, there is a very substantial update to the Practice Mode section incoming.
This will also include the long-promised first downloadable text...Please wait warmly, Emissary is editorializing...
The Whispered Oracle of the Hakurei Shrine will deserve it's own update.
It's incredible we have a canonical Touhou divination book now.
The site has breached 33000 views! Too bad I could not squeeze out something to celebrated 30k.

20.03.2025: Spring Equinox update

Published the Spring Equinox 2025 letter where I go over some anomalous experiences and changes from spiritual practice I've noticed since the summer of 2024.
Minor graphical updated to reflect the fact that I have taken up formal worship of Eirin-sama and Suwako-sama.
Spring is here so hopefully there will be a bit more frequent update cycle. There is certainly more than enough material for it.
The site has breached 29000 views.

14.03.2025: Enter the Mythosphere update.

Published Exploring the Touhou Mythosphere – Part 1: The West.
It is the first in a two-part series of articles that explores sources on the more mythological and spiritual side of Touhou.
As one can surmise from the tittle, the first part focuses on the Western sources.
There's not much represented in a systematic fashion, but the scattered bits and pieces tell an interesting story of their own.
It was a joy to discover that already in 2012 some people were seeing below the surface.
Also updated the external sources section a bit.
The site has exceeded 28000 views.

22.02.2025: Appeasement of the Sages update.

Received and published the first known account of someone finding and completing the Appeasement of the Sages ritual.
Momentous occasion and the success is auspicious to all those who desire to reach out to the Sages and other spirtis of Gensokyo.
Fixed some residual jank and added new headers to the various sub-pages.
The site has exceeded 25000 views!
Previously mentioned update on the more spiritual & esoteric takes on Touhou is still being worked on.
Please wait warmly...

09.02.2025: Buddha Pointing at the Moon update.

Small updates to Buddhism and ZUN Moon Rising sections.
Buddhism section is now fact-checked by a Real Mahayana Buddhist(tm).
Added direction mention to Shigisan Engi Emaki as source of inspiration for Undefined Fantastic Object & refrence(s) to Zen Buddhism and Wild in Horned Hermit.
Elaborated on the importance of Moon in East Asian culture, it's association with water also in East Asian culture, found more lore about Eirin and Tsukiyomi, and potential references to the Greek goddess Artemis in Touhou.
Slight update to the texts on the main page.
Site has exceeded 22000 views! However, because the new version uses more images, the increase in views isn't in reality as drastic as it seems.
People associated with the site have made some really incredible discoveries. There were people doing more mythopoetic, spiritual takes on Touhou already 13+ years ago.
Resources in Japanese exploring similar themes, perhaps less from a "believer" point of view, have been discovered.
Early Medieval Japanese Buddhists going to China to learn from the sources must have felt something like what I have been feeling lately.
Content related to these discoveries will be forthcoming relatively soon.

29.01.2025: Year of the Snake update.

Wrote the Year of the Snake Letter where I take a look at some things going on in Japan surrounding Buddhism, Shinto, and their strange intersection with Touhou.
In particular, I highlight the very unusual situation surrounding the Shika no Kuni documentary, where a Shinto ritual that had not been performed for 600 years was reconstructed.
The purpose of this ritual was historicaly to establish a line of communication to the kami of Suwa, which Touhou fans know through the Moriya Shrine characters.
The timing and certain events relating to Touhou, Suwa and Moriya Shrine (both the real-life and fictional) both in Japan and outside of it are quite fascinating to say the least.
A throughout article on the rich Suwa mythology is on my agenda.
The site has exceeded 18000 views.

25.01.2025: Great Work Re-Worked update.

Thanks to the efforts of Apollo Darkside, the Archive has taken another leap towards looking like and acting like an actual website. Huge thanks!
There is now an actual navbar.
Images are now highly responsive to re-sizing.
This should theoreticaly now load in a legible manner on mobile devices, old computers and consoles and whatever Rasperry Pi powered potatoes you might have.
Invisible to users but very meaningful to me, there is now an actual folder structure and the Recent Updates section and navigation bars can be updated from a single source.
Please note that there is some residual jank remaining. If the site looks broken, force reload (ctrl + f5 or shift + f5) on your browser.
The old structure will exist in parallel for a while...a liminal trace of the old world...soon to slip away...

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.