Introduction to Mountain of Faith

Mountain of Faith Title Screen Image Credit: Official Site http://www16.big.or.jp/~zun/html/th10top.html

“A myriad Autumn gods”
(Mountain of Faith, Stage 1 English Title)
A new shrine has settled on Youkai Mountain, among their first actions is to incite the rage of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden by attempting to strike down any competition they may have in gathering faith. Not only is the mountain itself in a state of disarray, but a representative from the new shrine itself has asked for the Hakurei Shrine to close down. That won’t do. So it’s time to once again set out, with just Reimu and Marisa as your playable options(though with all-new shot-types!) and deal with whoever these gods might be. 

This game, paraphrasing ZUN, was a fresh start for Touhou, as he had originally planned to stop at Imperishable Night. On a new engine, with an entirely new spell-card system, and having only Reimu and Marisa be playable, he was clearly treading both new and old ground. The name of the game itself, “Fuujinroku” was a callback to the very first shooting game in the series: “Fuumaroku,” Story of Eastern Wonderland. That said, the difference isn’t as extreme as between Mystic Square and EoSD, so this remains the 10th game in the Windows era (sometimes referred to as the second generation of the Windows games): Touhou Fuujinroku(Wind God Chronicles) ~ Mountain of Faith. 
The events of Mountain of Faith are equivalent to the A10 universe.

At the foot of the mountain, Reimu’s first encounter is with the god of Autumn leaves, Shizuha Aki. Poor Shizuha’s job is to paint each leaf its color, before she violently kicks the trunk of the trees to have the leaves fall. Take some time to remember her if you see the vibrant leaves of Autumn. The first stage boss of this game is Shizuha Aki’s more popular little sister, the goddess of the harvest in Gensokyo, Minoriko Aki. A comment from Reimu regarding the goddess’ sweet potato perfume makes her angry, at the sacrilegious idea that a shrine maiden would think of eating a god. She is quickly dispatched. Reimu’s hungry now, so it’s best to quickly ascend the mountain and clear up the incident. 

As a brief note, these two are the first of several gods that Reimu and Marisa encounter in this game. In an interview, ZUN mentioned this to be the time when gods were becoming a lot more apparent within Gensokyo. While that might sound a bit intimidating, the shinto concept of a god is very different from western ideas. In every object exists a divine spirit, or so it’s believed. The “Myriad Gods” or “Yaoyorozu no Kami”(Eight Million Gods) are meant to represent this idea. Gods are not too dissimilar from Youkai in that they sustain themselves from faith, as Youkai do from fear. However, some gods do not need this faith, such as the Amatsukami(Heavenly Gods), who Eirin from Imperishable Night may be one of. This is to say, gods may become more prevalent, but many will prove no more than Stage 1 or 2 bosses. 

Moving onwards, under the cover of the Autumn trees close to the base of the mountain, a river snakes through the forest. Here, we are met by Hina Kagiyama, a goddess of misfortune. She collects nagashi-bina dolls, dolls which are set adrift down a river to purify humans of misfortune. Hina considers youkai mountain too dangerous, and so attempts to prevent Reimu/Marisa’s passage upwards. She gathers misfortune by spinning her body, and disperses it in the form of danmaku in a similar way as well. She isn’t able to deter them for long however, and the protagonists fly further up Youkai mountain.

Following the river, they are soon met by Nitori Kawashiro, after busting her high-tech optical-camouflage gear. A Kappa, proclaiming herself to be a friend to humans. She too tells them to turn around as Youkai mountain is too dangerous. Of course, the only way to get Reimu and Marisa to listen is to beat them. Rather, they defeat the hydrokinetic kappa and progress deeper—into Tengu territory. 

A massive waterfall roars down the side of the mountain here, fairies even burst from behind it to attack. Midway up, a wolf-patrol tengu, Momiji Inubashiri attempts to halt our progress—she is defeated of course. Like Daiyousei and Koakuma, she has no official ingame portrait, but has become wildly popular. At least she was given a name. Finally, at the top of the waterfall, we’re met with a familiar face. Aya Shameimaru, crow tengu journalist, reporter, and this time, reinforcer of the Tengu’s territory. She doesn’t want to fight you, as the new god on the mountain’s been causing them some trouble as well, but intruding is an offense on its own, so she compromises, and goes easy on us(thank the myriad gods, because Peerless Wind God is bad enough as is). Once defeated, she agrees to take the protagonists to the peak of the mountain, where the new shrine and its god have settled.

The shrine is massive, and flying up its pathway takes up nearly the entire stage. Assailed by fairies as usual, eventually you are stopped by a peculiar green-haired girl, whose attire looks familiar. Sanae Kochiya, wind-priestess, Arahitogami(living god), and shrine maiden, greets you now. She aggressively proselytizes, emphasizing the importance of faith in Gensokyo, though to Reimu she may as well be preaching to the choir. Sanae’s background is an interesting one, and she remains one of the very few humans who have entered Gensokyo from the modern day. That aspect of her character is very present in the following works, seen in her enthusiasm in regards to science and discovering new things in Gensokyo(such as Youkai extermination). However right now, all she is is an obstacle. So Reimu and Marisa teach her the way things are done in Gensokyo, through a Danmaku battle, against her power of calling forth miracles. Surprised at her loss, she wonders why Reimu doesn’t have more followers given her strength. Reimu doesn’t know either.

Final stage. Flanked by Onbashira, huge wooden pillars found at a specific shrine, you fly through the shrine at the top of the mountain. No midboss this time, you face the final boss directly: Kanako Yasaka, the imposing new god of the mountain(self proclaimed at the time). Surrounded by Onbashira with a backdrop of a massive lake in the moonlight, Kanako’s first appearance is quite dramatic. Her supposed goal is to save Gensokyo by filling the hearts of its residents with faith once more. Reimu doesn’t believe that her goals coincide with the Hakurei shrine’s continued existence, and Marisa’s quite content with the way things are now, so they battle. 

After a hard-fought Danmaku battle, should the protagonists come out on top with no Continues used, progress to each character’s Good ending. Should a continue have been used, go on to the Bad ending(and give it another try!). That is the primary story of Mountain of Faith. In the aftermath, Kanako tries a more diplomatic strategy, with the residents of Youkai mountain, and her negotiations with the Tengu and Kappa work out quite well, and going forward, their existences are quite closely tied together. She even gets a branch shrine at Hakurei Shrine, as for humans, going up Youkai Mountain is quite the challenge.

EXTRA STAGE

However, you know we’ve got one matter left to take care of. Reimu and Marisa wonder about a few things. During Marisa’s encounter with the new god, Kanako claimed the mountain itself was her object of worship, and they had never seen the inner sanctum of the new shrine. If Kanako’s place of worship was not the innermost part of the shrine, whose was it?

That question drives them all the way back up the Mountain, to the inner sanctum of the shrine. Kanako once again greets them, this time warning them not to disturb her ever-sleeping friend. Now they really had to know, and so, defeat her once more. In the innermost parts of Moriya Shrine, they meet its true, original god. Suwako Moriya. 

She’s a cheerful, energetic god, also like Kanako. She explains the reason they ended up here. With dwindling faith in the outside world, Kanako made an executive decision to move their shrine to Gensokyo. Suwako wasn’t happy about it, but having lost to Kanako in the Suwa war many centuries ago, Kanako had official ownership of it. The deal they worked out amounted to joint ownership however, as Kanako could not control the curse gods of the land, so Suwako remained. Truthfully, Suwako didn’t entirely mind, as her faith increased, and though their relationship could seem like a bitter rivalry, according to ZUN, they are close friends. However, she was jealous of the “festival” Kanako and Suwako had partaken in without her, so you must listen to her demands, and join her in a Danmaku battle one last time.

As mentioned before, Sanae Kochiya is a very interesting character, as while she is a human just like Reimu and Marisa, her extended heritage to Suwako Moriya and link to the Moriya Shrine has given her godly powers similar to the gods she worships, making her a Living God, or Arahitogami. She and the Moriya Shrine were originally in Japan (the Outside World), but (a) god’s will has led them to appear in Gensokyo and begin to adapt to life there. She may be a shrine maiden like Reimu, but her ability to cause miracles makes it very easy for her to rally up followers and faith, to the annoyance of the Hakurei Maiden. Her faith toward the gods of the Moriya Shrine is one represented in her attacks, both as her A10 self as well as whenever she resolves incidents, as her Last Word, Grand Moriya Summon - Wind of Faith, calls forth said gods to punish anyone who does not follow the Moriya Shrine.

Speaking of the gods of the Moriya Shrine, here is one now! Kanako Yasaka was not the initial owner of the Moriya Shrine, but she was able to defeat the previous god who owned the shrine and took over it a very long time ago. She was the main force that desired to move to Gensokyo, as the Outside World has begun to lose their faith in gods. In Gensokyo, however, she believes that faith is much easier to inspire. Even though her shrine is atop of Youkai Mountain, a location humans would fear due to youkai, Kanako’s strength allows her to negotiate with the tengu leaders and assist her in her shrine “business.” Her powers in particular are a great mystery, but as a god of lakes, you can be she will be exerting the strength of her Last Word, Suwa’s Dragon Faith, to show off the lake serpent that overthrew the former Moriya god.

Predating Kanako’s invasion of Moriya Shrine and being the very distant ancestor to Sanae, Suwako Moriya is a very mysterious god. She was taken down by Kanako way back then, but that doesn’t say anything about the extent of her strength, as she still gives both incident resolvers a hard time in the Extra stage. Her defeat came about when Kanako extended a wisteria vine to rust away her army’s arsenal of iron weapons, so in a true battle of strength, the victor is unclear. Suwako is also the only one who could control the curse gods of the land, the Mishaguji. Either way, she is here to stay in Gensokyo, and if her A10’s Last Word, Mishakuja Faith, is anything to go by, you really shouldn’t try to mess with her or her shrine, even if it doesn’t belong to her anymore.

Characters who are yet to have an A10 appearance.