The Rise and Fall of Empress Kaguya

Kaguya Houraisan is a character from Touhou Project who appears in the Drillimation Danmaku Universe, and you might have met her if you’ve played Touhou Kourinden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria. As a quick backstory, she was the first monarch of the People’s Kingdom of Gensokyo, located west of the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo.

The rest of her life is unknown after you finish the postgame of Touhou Kichouden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria 2. But her backstory goes as far back as around the time of Queen Marisa’s birth.

Backstory

According to a Heian Period legend, a young princess from the moon drank the Hourai Elixir. It was declared illegal, and palace officials tried to execute her. It did not work after several attempts, so she was sent to Earth to live among the Japanese. A reincarnation of her was found by a bamboo cutter. She was raised by an elderly couple, and as she came of age she began to enjoy life on Earth but began to feel guilty after rumors of her beauty spread across the country.

Five noblemen reached out to seek her hand in marriage, but she would only marry the one who would give her a special item, and all of them failed miserably. When emissaries arrive from the moon, they forgive the princess’s crimes and allow her to return to the moon. She would not allow that! And so, she betrayed the emissaries and escaped to the Gensokyo Continent. She continued until she settled on a rocky island located just a few kilometers south of the continent. This was said to be the mythical origin for the Lunar Capital, said to today be the smallest province in the entire Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo.

Early Life

Hundreds of years later on September 9, 1666, Kaguya Houraisan was born. Her father, Okina Houraisan, was the last ruler of the Lunar Capital and was the only child of her parents. She grew up in an unrestrained and unstructured environment and loved gazing at the Pacific Ocean at sundown.

In 1679 at the age of 13, she betrayed her father by leaving the Lunar Capital. She brought along three friends: Eirin Yagokoro, a pharmacist, and the Inaba sisters of Reisen Udongein and Tewi. She continued trekking north until she discovered the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. From there, a new mansion was being built to call her new home: The Palace of Eternity. The Palace marked the beginning of the People’s Kingdom of Gensokyo with the founding of Chikurin, and Kaguya named herself the Empress.

Empress of the People’s Kingdom of Gensokyo

Two years later in 1681 after hearing the legend of Rinnosuke Morichika and his quest to defeat Vladrouge Scarlet, she invited him to the Palace of Eternity. She became infatuated with Morichika for one reason: she had fallen into a lengthy depression after leaving the Lunar Capital and meeting him would cheer her up. A couple years before, she had formed a close relationship with him by exchanging letters and gifts, hoping for a possible engagement with him.

South of Chikurin lies a town named Kedomachi. It had already been experiencing a boom in Chinese influence after a prominent figure named Yuugiku Kanbe (Ba Youju) had resided there. It took days to get to either one of the two cities from the other side, so a new form of transportation was created: the creature of Hawkoons, which could fly at very fast speeds. Kaguya was impressed with it, but during each trip, she arrived later than planned because the high speed of the Hawkoons would give the Empress a headache, and needed a lot of time to recover.

Despite wanting to have a husband, she could not have Kourin in her hands because Master Kirisame demanded that his daughter Marisa Kirisame be his wife instead. After Vladrouge Scarlet was defeated and the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo was established, King Consort Kourin signed the Empress into the Treaty of Kozankyo. Under the treaty, King Kourin would also be the consort of Empress Kaguya, despite no marriage being entered. The same thing also applied to Queen Yukari of the Democratic Kingdom of Gensokyo.

The next chapter of her life would not be easy, a few months after Queen Marisa became pregnant with her son Kichou, Kourin ordered the monarchs of the People’s Kingdom of Gensokyo and Democratic Kingdom of Gensokyo to have a child, which took Kaguya by surprise. She was required to become pregnant under Kourin’s orders, and on December 18, 1703, she successfully gave birth to a daughter which she named Towa Houraisan. She took complete care of her.

She eventually grew to love Towa, despite being ashamed of not producing a male heir like Queen Marisa did. In an interview with The Daily Bunbunmaru, the Empress explained:

“The biggest destiny of every empress, queen, or princess is to give birth to an heir. If they’re fortunate to produce a male, the kingdom’s ambitions will be met. If they produce a female like I did, they have two options: continue having children until a male is produced or allow the female to reign. I ultimately chose the latter because King Kourin is not my husband and the pregnancy and childbirth processes are two long and painful paths.”

Queen Marisa’s accusation of King Kourin’s political meddling to allow him to create multiple royal families under his blood nearly resulted in their divorce. Upon Towa’s birth, Kaguya’s influence at court was increased.

Scarlet Devil War

For the full story of this, we recommend playing Touhou Kichouden ~ Mythos of Phantasmagoria 2.

In 1716, Kaguya and her daughter’s lives were shattered when the Gensokyo Socialite Order raided and took control of the capital city of Chikurin where they lived. They had to flee to Kozankyo for refuge. This ultimately resulted in Crown Prince Kichou of the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo being sent to find and defeat the Order including its admins. It was successful, and Kaguya successfully reclaimed Chikurin, which had become a province of the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo within the coming years after the Scarlet Devil War.

The victory also increased her public interest and continued to be an icon and public sensation wherever she and her daughter went.

Later Life and Death

On the weekend of Towa’s 18th birthday in 1721, Kaguya watched her marry her longtime childhood friend and would become a grandmother the following September.

In May of 1733, Kaguya would face something that would change her life permanently. While getting dressed one morning, Towa started noticing patches of baldness, and Kaguya would be devastated to learn she had alopecia areata – an autoimmune disease that resulted in the loss of all of her hair and became completely bald on July 6, 1733 – the day before Tanabata. As a result of this devastation, on the day of Towa’s 30th birthday, Kaguya resigned and abdicated the throne, making her daughter the Empress, and ultimately assumed the title of Empress Emeritus.

In March 1746, Kaguya traveled alone to Kedomachi, and while walking around the city on March 10, 1746, a 35-year-old former Crimsonite grunt of the Gensokyo Socialite Order approached her and struck her in the neck. She immediately collapsed afterward and died within a matter of hours. She was 79. Upon her death, Empress Towa stated:

“Today, we shutter ourselves in mourning. Yesterday, a former Gensokyo Socialite Order Crimsonite Grunt came to Kedomachi where my mother, Her Majesty the Empress Emeritus Kaguya Houraisan, was visiting and the grunt did nothing to improve his social position. It wasn’t a woman he murdered, it was an Empress he had in view.”

Upon her death, the Palace of Eternity’s security was beefed up. The alleged killer in the attack was arrested by local authorities. He was found guilty and sentenced to death and was formally executed on April 16, 1750.

Legacy

Today, several statues and monuments in both Chikurin and Kedomachi were erected in Gensokyo in the years following her death. The first such shrine in Chikurin to open following her death was the Houraisan Shrine, founded a year after her assassination on October 4, 1747. The shrine also contains her ashes and her soul is enshrined there.