Overview
Touhou Project (東方Project, Tōhō Project, lit. Eastern Project) is a group of doujin works produced by the one-man doujin circle Team Shanghai Alice operated by ZUN.
Revolving around the danmaku (bullet hell) doujin shooting games Highly Responsive to Prayers released in 1996, doujin music CD and manga which followed the original works of ZUN’s were also created.
It is often referred to as Touhou or Touhou Series.
With a vast body of derivative works, Touhou Project has become a prominent source of media content.
At pixiv, there are about 2.18 million derivative works tagged as Touhou or Touhou Project, which made it the second most-used tags next to the original work.
Focusing on danmaku STG games, it consists of a wide range of works including books, music CD, etc. Especially the games, the programming, designing, music and story composition, etc. are all made by ZUN individually, and there are barely other staff involved in the production.
As an exception, there are five danmaku action works which were co-produced with Twilight Frontier under the supervision of ZUN. Fairy Wars was handled by Makoto Hirasaka only for character drawings due to various circumstances. For books, refer to the later-mentioned columns of books.
Setting
The setting lies in Gensokyo, which is sealed away from the real world by a barrier.
The design and the initial work were influenced by Izumi Takemoto. Especially in the PC-98 version, the character appears directly.
As the general story of the game, a certain girl in Gensokyo caused an incident called “the change”, and the main characters (Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisam, etc.) solve the “changes”.
Exceptionally, Shoot the Bullet, Touhou Hisoutensoku, etc. are produced with a focus on events beyond daily lives and changes.
Although there are some exceptions, the work depicts daily lives in Gensokyo. In recent years (after Wild and Horned Hermit has started), there are many books with the previous and later talks as a supplement to explain the changes in the game version.
Characters
Beginning with human deriving from myths, Inheritances,ancient texts, etc., there are various species like yokai, ghost, and god (mitama). They are uniformly drawn as girls(children).
The characters with names are mostly girls, but men, adults, and people with names also appear in some of the books (see below) and Hopeless Masquerade.
Refer to the article of List of Touhou Project Characters for details.
Music
Refer to Touhou Music for details of the music in Touhou Project.
Copyright
According to the provisions of the original author ZUN, the copyright owner of Touhou Project is Team Shanghai Alice, and the copyright owner of derivative works is the creator of the work.
Team Shanghai Alice will not be responsible for any issues related to derivative works.
Refer to the article of Touhou Project(derivative works) for details.
Works
Though the overall series are in the same timeline, the stories are mainly differentiate between the old works (PC-98 version) produced in ZUN’s schooldays and Window version produced currently.
For details of the differences, refer to Touhou Old Works.
Refer to the article of ZUN for the producing motivation of Touhou Project.
In 2015, the year of Touhou Project’s 20th Anniversary, a variety of commemorative events were held, and many works to commemorate and celebrate the 20th anniversary were posted on pixiv.
Old Works (PC-98 version)
It was in the name of Amusement Makers, a nonofficial club of Tokyo Denki University which he had belonged to.
It is the general terms of the first five works in the series, from the 1st game to the 5th game.
ZUN developed the whole works independently (with some exceptions). It was displayed at comic market and other places under the name of ZUN Soft.
Refer to Touhou old works for details.
| Work Numbers | Titles | Publications |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Touhou Reiiden ～ Highly Responsive to Prayers. | the 20th Hatoyama Matsuri(1996), C52(1997) |
| 2 | Touhou Fuumaroku ～ the Story of Eastern Wonderland | C52 (1997) |
| 3 | Touhou Yumejikuu ～ Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream | C53 (1997) |
| 4 | Touhou Gensokyo ～ Lotus Land Story | C54 (1998) |
| 5 | Touhou Kaikidan ～ Mystic Square | C55 (1998) |
Win Version (Windows version)
It was in the name of circle Team Shanghai Alice. It is the general terms of works in the series after the 6th game.
Most of the works were danmaku STG, as previously mentioned, was developed by ZUN independently. (With some exceptions)
The 7.5th game, the 10.5th game, the 12.3rd game, the 13.5th game and the 14.5th game were under the genre of danmaku action, and were co-produced with Twilight Frontier. ZUN was responsible for story supervising and a part of composing.
Moreover, though the games basically published in the form of discs, the 14th game Shining Needle Castle was published in two forms including discs and downloads.
| Work Numbers | Titles | Publications |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Touhou Koumakyou ～ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil | C62 (2002) |
| 7 | Touhou Youyoumu ～ Perfect Cherry Blossom | C64 (2003) |
| 7.5 | Touhou Suimusou ～ Immaterial and Missing Power | C67 (2004) |
| 8 | Touhou Eiyashou ～ Imperishable Night | C66 (2004) |
| 9 | Touhou Kaeizuka ～ Phantasmagoria of Flower View | C68 (2005) |
| 9.5 | Touhou Bunkachou ～ Shoot the Bullet | C69 (2005) |
| 10 | Touhou Fuujinroku ～ Mountain of Faith | C72 (2007) |
| 10.5 | Touhou Hisouten ～ Scarlet Weather Rhapsody | Reitaisai5 (2008) |
| 11 | Touhou Chireiden ～ Subterranean Animism | C74 (2008) |
| 12 | Touhou Seirensen ～ Undefined Fantastic Object | C76 (2009) |
| 12.3 | Touhou Hisoutensoku ～Choudokyuu Ginyoru no Nazo wo Oe | C76 (2009) |
| 12.5 | Double Spoiler ～ Touhou Bunkachou | Reitaisai7 (2010) |
| 12.8 | Yousei Daisensou ～ Touhou Sangetsusei | C78 (2010) |
| 13 | Touhou Shinreibyou ～ Ten Desires | C80 (2011) |
| 13.5 | Touhou Shinkirou ～ Hopeless Masquerade | Reitaisai10 (2013) |
| 14 | Touhou Kishinjou ～ Double Dealing Character | C84 (2013) |
| 14.3 | Danmaku Amanojaku ～ Impossible Spell Card | Reitaisai11 (2014) |
| 14.5 | Touhou Shinpiroku ～ Urban Legend in Limbo | Reitaisai12 (2015) |
| 15 | Touhou Kanjuden ～ Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom | C88 (2015) |
| 15.5 | Touhou Hyouibana ～ Antinomy of Common Flowers | C93 (2017) |
| 16 | Touhou Tenkuushou ～ Hidden Star in Four Seasons | C92 (2017） |
| 16.5 | Hifuu Naitomea Daiari ～ Violet Detector | C94 (2018） |
| 17 | Touhou Kikeijuu ～ Wily Beast and Weakest Creature. | C96(2019) |
| 17.5 | Touhou Gouyoku Ibun ～ Suibotsushita Chinshuu Jigoku (βevaluation version) | Shuu Reitaisai6 (2019) |
| 18 | Touhou Kouryuudou ～ Unconnected Marketeers | Air KOMIKE |
Works with boldface letters were co-produced with another circle called Twilight Frontier.
Extra Games
The score attack games made for events.
| Derivative Elements | Titles | Publications |
|---|---|---|
| Youyoumu | Touhou Youyoumu Score Attack | The 1st Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai (2004) |
| Amanojaku | Danmaku Amanojaku Gold Rush | Digital Game Expo2014 |
It can only be played at the trial games experiencing events at places like Digital Game Expo aperiodically.
[Steam]] Online Published Works
Some previous works are published as well.
| Titles | Date of Issue |
|---|---|
| Touhou Tenkuushou ～ Hidden Star in Four Seasons | 2017/11/18 |
| Touhou Hyouibana ～ Antinomy of Common Flowers | 2018/1/5 |
| Hifuu Naitomea Daiari ～ Violet Detector | 2018/9/5 |
| Touhou Kanjuden ～ Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom | 2019/4/2 |
| Danmaku Amanojaku ～ Impossible Spell Card. | 2019/4/2 |
| Touhou Shinreibyou ～ Ten Desires | 2019/6/19 |
| Touhou Kishinjou ～ Double Dealing Character. | 2019/6/19 |
| Yousei Daisensou ～ Touhou Sangetsusei | 2019/8/2 |
| Double Spoiler ～ Touhou Bunkachou | 2019/8/2 |
| Touhou Kikeijuu ～ Wily Beast and Weakest Creature | 2019/9/9 |
Play, Doujin!
| Type of Machine | Titles | Date of Issue |
|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Touhou Shinpiroku ～ Urban Legend in Limbo | 2016/12/8 |
Books
ZUN has supervised the story of the books.
The producer of manga and illustrations and the publishers(or the serialized magazine‘s name) are explained in detail separately.
Some works such as Touhou Bougetsushou (manga version, 4 frame version), Touhou Ibarakasen and Touhou Suzunaan are also released as e-books.
| Titles | Publishers |
|---|---|
| Touhou Kourindou ～ Curiosities of Lotus Asia | ASCII Media Works |
| Touhou Sangetsusei ～ Eastern and Little Nature Deity | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Touhou Sangetsusei ～ Strange and Bright Nature Deity | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Touhou Sangetsusei ～ Oriental Sacred Place | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Touhou Bunkachou ～ Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red | Ichijinsha |
| Touhou Shikouhana ～ Seasonal Dream Vision | Toranoana |
| Touhou Gumon Shiki ～ Perfect Memento in Strict Sense | Ichijinsha |
| Touhou Bougetsushou ～ Cage in Lunatic Runagate | Ichijinsha |
| Touhou Bougetsushou ～ Silent Sinner in Blue | Ichijinsha |
| Touhou Bougetsushou ～ Inaba of Moon and Inaba of Earth | Ichijinsha |
| The Grimoire of Marisa | Ichijinsha |
| Touhou Ibarakasen ～ Wild and Horned Hermit | Ichijinsha |
| Touhou Gumon Kuju ～ Symposium of Post-mysticism | Ichijinsha |
| Touhou Suzunaan ～ Forbidden Scrollery | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Touhou Gairai Ihen ～ Strange Creators of Outer World | ASCII Media Works |
| Touhou Sangetsusei ～ Visionary Fairies in Shrine | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Touhou Bunka Shinpou ～ Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia | Kadokawa Shoten |
| The Grimoire of Usami Secret Sealing Club's Otherworld Photography Record | Kadokawa Shoten |
Music CD(Yougakudan no Rekishi)
The CD includes old work(PC-98 version)’s music. It also includes the unused music.
| Source Works | Titles | Publications |
|---|---|---|
| Touhou Gensokyo | Yougakudan no Rekishi1 Akyu's Untouched Score vol.1 | Reitaisai3 (2006) |
| Touhou Kaikidan | Yougakudan no Rekishi2 Akyu's Untouched Score vol.2 | C71 (2006) |
| Touhou Fuumaroku | Yougakudan no Rekishi3 Akyu's Untouched Score vol.3 | C71 (2006) |
| Touhou Yumejikuu | Yougakudan no Rekishi4 Akyu's Untouched Score vol.4 | C73 (2007) |
| Touhou Reiiden | Yougakudan no Rekishi5 Akyu's Untouched Score vol.5 | C73 (2007) |
Music CD (ZUN's Music Collection)
The CD includes the arranged and original music used in former works.
The booklet which comes with the CD always depicts a story following the introduction.
In particular, the series of stories which appear in the booklet after vol.2 are generally called Private Sealed Class.
Refer to the article of Private Sealed Class for details.
| Numbering | Titles | Publications |
|---|---|---|
| vol.1 | Hourai Doll ～ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise | C62/C63 (2002) |
| vol.2 | Night Trip to Rendaino ～ Ghostly Field Club | C65 (2003) |
| vol.3 | Changing Dreams in the Age of Science ～ Changeability of Strange Dream | C67 (2004) |
| vol.4 | East-West Tokaido ～ Retrospective 53 minutes | Reitaisai3 (2006) |
| vol.5 | Celestial Wizardry ～ Magical Astronomy | C70 (2006) |
| vol.5.5 | Unknown Flower, Mesmerizing Journey | Reitaisai8 (2011) |
| vol.6 | Ruins of Torifune ～ Trojan Green Asteroid | COMIC1☆6 (2012) |
| vol.7 | Izanagi Object ～ Neo-traditionalism of Japan | C82 (2012) |
| vol.8 | Swallowstone Naturalis Historia ～ Dr. Latency's Freak Report | Reitaisai13 (2016) |
| vol.9 | Old Testament Tavern ～ Dateless Bar "Old Adam" | C90 (2016) |
The Recording of Music Games
On animation sites, especially Nico Nico Douga, there are many popular works which rearranging the music in Touhou Project, and some of them are recorded in commercial music games that are currently operating as arcades.
As ZUN once belonged to Taito, Music GunGun! and GROOVE COASTER which are from the same company contains music arranged by ZUNTATA's direct composer.
Konami’s music game SOUND VOLTEX starts a public audition for music arrangements and character images.
Konami, the company which has great dominance in music games area, brought a huge impact by selecting the lineup, and changes appear as music circles start to arrange Touhou music for games.
For Nintendo’s Daigasso! Band Brothers P, music recorded on the music CD produced by Team Shanghai Alice can be posted since late July 2015.
Moreover, in December of the same year, a remix contest for the target music was held with ZUN as a special judge.
The Grand Prix works will be recorded on the CD released at Hakurei Shrine Reitaisai in May 2016, and will also be published on Band Bro.
Refer to the article of Touhou arrange for details.
Related Illustration
There is an abbreviation called Touhou, and the followings are mainly posted with this tag in pixiv.
see illustrations with the tag Touhou
WORLD WIDE Touhou Project
| Notation | Language | Aera | Abstract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Touhou Project, Touhou or PSM and etc. | English | Europe. America, etc. | PSM is the abbreviation of Project Shrine Maiden. It is the notation which appears in the original works alongside Touhou Project. |
| Touhou, Touhou Project | Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese | China, Singapore, Japan, etc. | 东方 is the notation of the simplified Chinese. In traditional Chinese notation, the 東方 notation is the same as in Japanese. A list of notations employed in Chinese used countries is posted in the articles 东方 in the pivix encyclopedia |
| 동방, 동방프로젝트 | Hangul | Korea, etc. | 동방 means Touhou, and 프로젝트 means Project. |
| โทโฮ, โทโฮโปรเจกต | Thai | Thailand | Touhou is also written as ทางทิศตะวันออก, ต.อ., ตะวันออก, เกี่ยวกับทิศตะวันออก, and Project is written as โครงการ |
Overall, among the fans, there are some common nouns such as Touhou and Touhou Project. In the event related to Touhou Project or overseas events where Touhou Project participates as a genre, the notation of Touhou and the conversation by this expression as pointing to Touhou Project is possible.
Touhou can also be used in overseas Touhou Project events.
In interviews of ZUN the word and notation of Touhou is used in the English-speaking area to refer to the whole world view (take the Interview of ZUN in the Anime Weekend of Atlanta, USA in 2013 as an example)
The notation of the original author, Team Shanghai Alice is Team Shanghai Alice in English, and 上海爱丽丝幻乐团 in Japanese.
When referring to an individual work in Japanese, for example, when pointing to Touhou Koumakyou(), it common to refer it by only using the Japanese part of the work name or rusing the part excluding the common 東方 of the title(which is Koumakyou() in the above example).
Similar abbreviations are also used in Chinese characters (for example, abbreviate 东方红魔乡 as 红魔乡).
In English-speaking countries, each work is indicated by the English title (in the above example, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil), or by the numbering of the original work(in the above example, TH6=The 6th work).
When using Japanese and other languages to interact, it may be good to forget that there are differences in the usually used abbreviations and in the origin of the abbreviations.
External Links
上海アリス幻樂団 (Team Shanghai Alice's Website)
Twilight-Frontier (Twilight Frontier's Website)
AOTAKA's 玉砕日報 ／ Sofmap炎上! 玉砕日報とAmusument MakersのWebPage (Amusement Makers official site (old)
