| “ | What Gensokyo lacks... is belief in its gods. | „ |
| ~ Kanako Yasaka |
Kanako Yasaka is the current deity of the Moriya shrine in the Touhou Project video game series, serving as a major antagonist in several games and the final boss of the tenth game, Mountain of Faith. Her pride, her fatal mistakes because of naïveness, using her powers for selfish means and her extreme methods to gather faith at everyone's else expense have made her worthy of the villain title and the cause of more than one dangerous incident. She has the power to create sky.
She defeated the original goddess Suwako Moriya in the great Suwa War and was the one to give Utsuho "Okuu" Reiuji her distinctive nuclear powers which she used to take over Gensokyo. She also tried to monopolize faith by shunning the Hakurei Shrine with help of her devout, Sanae Kochiya. The goddess was ultimately stopped by the heroines Reimu and Marisa.
Appearance[]
Kanako has an elaborate red shirt with long white sleeves and a round mirror over the center of her chest. She wears a long black skirt with a red flower print hem. She has poofy intense blue hair and dark red eyes. Behind her, for decoration purposes, is a large twisting rope circle shimenawa with shide.
Personality[]
Kanako is an ambitious and persuasive woman who treats religion like a business, using whatever means bring her the most "profit" - that profit being faith. She has a natural presence that can seem intimidating or suspicious at times, but also reliable. Unusually for a god she has little respect for tradition - she demands little formality in her worship, and encourages scientific progress. It is somewhat strange for a deity to be knowledgeable about science.
She is also shown to be very friendly and hospitable towards humans, though as is the case with all deities, she may curse them if they are disrespectful. She also seems to be rather cantankerous, argumentative, short-tempered, and temperamental, but she is vulnerable to gifts.
Relationships[]
- Sanae Kochiya (Wind Priestess)
- Suwako Moriya (Fellow goddess)
- Utsuho Reiuji (Recipient of Nuclear Powers)
Gallery[]
Profile[]
Other Appearances[]
Merchandise[]
Theme Music[]
Trivia[]
- Her surname, Yasaka, can be split up in 'Ya' and 'Saka'. 'Ya' meaning 'eight', and 'Saka', which would mean 'hill'. Yasaka would therefore mean 'Eight hills'. When her first name, Kanako, is divided, it would be 'Ka' meaning 'God', 'Na' meaning 'Wild Apple' and 'Ko' meaning 'Child'.
- Her surname is also the same as that of Yasaka Shrine (formerly Gion Shrine) in Kyoto.
- Kanako might be named after Princess Yasakatome, one of the gods of the Suwa Grand Shrine, which, on the other hand, Suwako Moriya is named after.
- The large wooden pillars that Kanako throws are called Onbashira.
- Onbashira can literally mean "The Honored Pillars".
- The shrine pictured in the background image of Kanako's spellcards is 下社秋宮 (Shimosha Akimiya, lit. the Autumn Court of the Lower Shrine), one of the four shrines that make up the Suwa Grand Shrine.
- Kanako is also depicted with Yukari Yakumo and Eirin Yagokoro. This is due to their family names containing the character 八 (pronounced "Ya") which, when misread, can mean old hag.
- Kanako is one of only two windows-series characters whose stage has no midboss whatsoever, the other being Toyosatomimi no Miko.
- Oddly, Kanako's sprite changes colors in rainbow order during the time between when her theme begins and when she starts to battle. It also happens to another character in the PC98 ages.
- Kanako's last spell card, Mountain of Faith/Virtue of the Wind God, is somewhat harder on Easy than on Normal.
- Kanako is the first character in the series who was the final boss and the midboss for the extra stage in the same game.
- Kanako's accidental involvement in setting up the events of the 3 games that came after her debut game (SA, UFO, and TD respectively) spawned a popular Touhou meme in which the cause of an incident can potentially be largely attributed to Kanako, otherwise known as "It's a Moriya Shrine conspiracy".
Extended Links[]
- Kanako Yasaka - Heroes Wiki
- Kanako Yasaka - Touhou Wiki
- Kanako Yasaka on the Magnificent Baddie Wiki
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 Villains
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PC-98 Embodiment of Scarlet Devil Perfect Cherry Blossom Imperishable Night Phantasmagoria of Flower View Mountain of Faith Subterranean Animism Undefined Fantastic Object: Ten Desires Double Dealing Character Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom Hidden Star in Four Seasons Wily Beast and Weakest Creature Unconnected Marketeers Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost Official Spin-offs Other | ||