Profile

Overview

Rinnosuke Morichika (森近　霖之助, Morichika Rinnosuke) is the owner of an antique store named Kourindou.

In Touhou, he is perhaps the only male protagonist among the main characters (leaving aside characters which are still in the middle of setting, Unzan and Genjii from the previous work, could also fall into that category, if nonhuman species are taken into account).

Additionally, Rinnosuke is one of only a few characters that always wear glasses in Touhou (the others are Rikako Asakura and Mamizou Futatsuiwa from The previous work, and as well as Sumireko Usami. Moreover, his ahoge also makes him a quite rare character in Touhou (another one is Nue Houjuu).

Characteristics

Rinnosuke handles items for both human and youkai, which makes him quite rare, even in Gensokyo.

Before Marisa was born, he had worked as an apprentice at The Kirisame’s store, which is a large antique store in the Human Village and owned by the Kirisame. Then he started his own business by setting up Kourindou, an antique store dealing with forgotten curios as well as items from the outside world, in the belief that he could try to make it on his own through utilizing all the skills and capabilities.

However, there are numerous numbers of items not for sale, due to his hobby of item-collecting (he would have almost no trouble making a living in this ethnic group, even if these items do not sell well, so he is actually not very care to sell). According to ZUN, the original author, He is made for hobbies, rather than business.

In Gensokyo Chronicle, Hieda no Akyuu thinks Rinnosuke "not business material" and simply cut him out.

Even being aware of that, Rinnosuke has not changed his stance and runs the antique store for love rather than for business. He does not mind when Reimu and Marisa buy items only on credits, which suggests that they did not even think about paying for them, or when they just take these items from the store.

It seems that Rinnosuke does sell, though. When he feels like selling, he might actively promote with his courtesy as an owner.

Also, despite of his youthful appearance, Rinnosuke has been living here since even before the Great Hakurei Barrier, for he can live incomparably longer than human as a human-youkai hybrid. As a result, Rinnosuke is quite knowledgeable and even knows the history of Hakurei Schrine.

Rinnosuke was frequently invited by Marisa, Reimu and other girls to blossom views or banquets. He, however, hardly ever showed up as he did not like noisy places, even invited by many peoples. But when it comes to collections, he becomes so enthusiastic that he regularly steeps foot into Muenzuka, a danger area even in Gensokyo, to get replenishment.

Rinnosuke has known Marisa and Reimu, who were also often mentioned in the story, for quite a long time. And he is deeply connected especially with Marisa.

For Marisa, Rinnosuke has been a friend from childhood for as long as she could remember. She developed this kind of a hobby of collecting metal items because of him.

The acquisition of Marisa’s signature magic, light magic, was also inspired by Rinnosuke.

It remains still unclear, how Rinnosuke met Reimu. But Reimu always borrows his clothes without asking, or putting a cup on display in the store, which is originally exclusive for Reinnosue, or ask him to make clothing and the purification rod as a favor (on credits). Rinnosuke thinks Reimu as annoying and grumbling as Marisa, but he seems actually to enjoy and welcome it. By the way, Reimu would not talk in such a close and friendly way unless it is with Marisa or Rinnosuke.

For more official information, please refer to the following link 森近霖之助@ wiki.

Species

In contract with Keine Kamishirasawa, another half-human-half-youkai (therianthrope) formed after birth, Rinnosuke is half human half youkai since he was born. It is not clear, which one of his parents is human and which one belongs to youkai. And his ethnic group in youkai is unknown, either.

As a human-youkai hybrid, Rinnosuke shows some traits: He is immune to both disease in human (physical illness) and disease in youkai (mental illness). He also has a much higher life-expectancy than human and therefore seldom age. Moreover, for Rinnosuke eating is simply a pleasure. He does not have to take foods just in to keep himself alive. In terms of superpower, he is more like a yokai, but from the lifestyle perspective, he is more like a human. He combines the best of human and yokai instead of being merely half human half youkai.

Appearance

Rinnosuke has a short bob with silver hair and gray hair ( slightly different from a strict bob cut as the back hair is not very long), with a pinch of ahoge standing. Rinnosuke also has a pair of golden eyes, with oval glasses, which has a black edge merely below. He also wears clothes with asymmetric two-tone color in blue and black, and a choker on his neck.

Personality

Rinnosuke is a man with tenderness and kindness, who does not like noises and prefers to be alone.

He is a so-called thinker, who can find pleasure in deeply pondering and exploring. Also, he is quite knowledgeable, and there are depictions showing that he considers this degree of knowledge and insight as a status, and therefore is pretty proud of himself. As a result, Reimu and Marisa usually turn to him for questions, and he also tells them all what he knew. But Rinnosuke seems to be not good at dealing with Yukari Yakumo, who is good at reading people’s minds

He calls himself "cannot do the rough and hard work" and usually does not do physical works such as snow-shoveling.

Additionally, he would let it go if he could not understand a thins no matter how he tried, in a belief that "if not, I could not survive in Gensokyo". Moreover, he thinks in a magical way instead of a scientific way, which means that he always has fantastic interpretations. For that reason, Rinnosuke has many views and thoughts that are quite different from a scientific one. But he seems to have scientific knowledge as well.

Furthermore, Rinnosuke is fond of collecting just like Marisa. In Kourindou, where is a house as well as a store for Rinnosuke, in addition to items for sale, there are numbers of items not for sale, such as valuable tools, book and even originals , for which Rinnosuke would be regrettable if he sold them out because they turned out to be very practical. He is also worried that one day he might become someone who collects just for collection, like Marisa.

In Touhou Sangetsusei, Reimu thinks, that if she shows Rinnosuke a big egg, then he would take it away. Also in Immaterial and Missing Power, Marisa believes, that if she shows something to Rinnosuke, it would probably be taken. The fact, that Rinnosuke is fond of collecting, seems to be spread among people around him, to a certain degree.

Abilities

Ability to perceive the name and use of a tool As the name itself suggests, Rinnosuke can learn a tool’s name and know what it is used for.

However, his capability is limited within the name and utility. He does not know how actually to use it. Although he says "the tool will work, as long as we know what it is used for", they actually rarely work.

What is plausible is his capability to read memories in tools, as he claims.

When it comes to items with no name on itself, (such as an undiscovered bone of the dinosaur) though he could not figure out the name either, he could indeed know certainly, if it lacks a name initially or not.

For that ability, Rinnosuke described it as "a deep love for tools". It is possible that he acquired this capability after birth.

Creation of Magic Items

It is his skill rather than ability, to create extremely powerful magic items. Also, it was he who made Marisa’s mini-Hakkero Reimu’s maiden costume and the purification rod. Additionally, Rinnosuke has a good command of knowledge in the magic field, that he can work as an alchemist through the legendary metallurgy technology, with which people could have no trouble working mental. That allows him to transfer the unknown utility into another item, and then makes the best use of it. This kind of skill is much trickier than his original ability

Combat Ability

Although there are records showing that Rinnosuke had entered and existed Muenzuka, where is considered as an extremely danger place, without any trouble, and had also made mini-Hakkero, a weapon with firepower that can even burn down a mountain, but there were few words about a real battle. Therefore his combat ability still remains unknown.

Rinnosuke is not that much into Danmaku Gokko, for it would be stupid if an adult or a man play it.

ZUN believes, that Danmaku Gokko should be a game for girls. So it would not be able to serve its purpose when a male adult gets involved. From that point, he had made a comment, "cannot fight with Reimu or others with danmaku ", yet left another comment later, "Oh no, (danmaku) might be shot ".

Overall, Rinnosuke has necessary combat skills, but not that strong, or he specializes only in self-protection.

Or he fights armed with the magic items mentioned before (in other words, he could compete with good equipment rather than excellent combat skills).

Additionally, He also dreams of being recognized as the owner of Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, which is so powerful that it may help you to conquer the world, and could hence utilize this power (apart from the power in the sword itself) if he could be good at swords, he might acquire the combat skills at the highest level.

Related Illustrations

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Touhou　Touhou Project　Curiosities of Lotus Asia

External Links

English

Rinnosuke Morichika - Touhou Wiki - Characters, games, locations, and more

Rinnosuke Morichika | Touhou Wiki | Fandom

Japanese

森近 霖之助 - アニヲタWiki(仮) - atwiki（アットウィキ） (Aniwota wiki - atwiki)

森近霖之助とは (モリチカリンノスケとは) [単語記事] - ニコニコ大百科 (NicoNico Encyclopedia)

Chinese

森近霖之助 - THBWiki · 专业性的东方Project维基百科 - TBSGroup (THB Wiki)

Article in Other Languages

森近霖之助