Sanae Kochiya (東風谷 早苗, Kochiya Sanae) is a human, but is also a distant descendant of the goddess Suwako Moriya. Her role at the Moriya Shrine is similar to a shrine maiden, but with her inherited power Sanae has also become a minor deity herself. Originally from the Outside World, Sanae migrated to Gensokyo with the shrine and its two resident goddesses, Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya. As a result, she is rather knowledgeable about the outside world and modern living, although her attempts to explain scientific concepts usually just confuse the locals. Her knowledge on things like the youkai of Gensokyo, on the other hand, seems a bit lacking for a shrine maiden.

General Information [ edit ]

Sanae was first introduced in Mountain of Faith as the stage 5 boss, reappeared as the extra stage of Subterranean Animism and later became a playable character in Undefined Fantastic Object, Touhou Hisoutensoku, Ten Desires and Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom. She is a secondary character in the comic Wild and Horned Hermit.

Personality [ edit ]

Sanae is confident, energetic and dutiful, sometimes too much so, and tends to get carried away easily or have trouble thinking for herself. She also appears to be something of a geek, making references to popular culture and having knowledge of advanced scientific concepts. As someone who grew up in the Outside World, much of Gensokyo seems strange and novel to her; she finds unusually great fun in exterminating youkai and solving incidents, seeming to view herself as the hero of a fantasy novel or video game. Multiple characters have noted that Sanae's dismissive attitude towards youkai and youkai power makes her too much like a youkai herself.[1] The simple fact that she is adjusting to life in Gensokyo makes her an extremely rare case.

Occupation [ edit ]

Sanae's occupation as a Wind Priestess means to be the priest to worship the god of wind. However, while causing miracles of wind and rain to come about through a secret technique with many secrets, since she herself is treated to the same level as gods, and has become one who gathers faith, she is also a living god. In Mountain of Faith, just in front of Reimu Hakurei, she said about herself, "I guess you could call me something like a Shrine Maiden", indicating that there's a chance that she's different from a Shrine Maiden, but in the works, she is fundamentally treated as a Shrine Maiden the same way Reimu is. Furthermore, since Sanae is a "god" while at the same time being a "human", even if she loses all her faith, she can continue to live as a human.

Abilities [ edit ]

Ability to cause miracles

Sanae is capable of invoking miracles through her godly heritage, and many of her spell cards are themed after miracles of various religions or odd events. It's mainly the manipulation of weather, and also seems to use it in prayers for rain. The "miracles" that she can invoke are not related to good or bad fortune – they are merely events that have a very low chance of occurring. Before invoking a miracle, she needs time to prepare it proportional to how unlikely the miracle is. Simple ones can be invoked with a single word, while the most complex can take days.

Abilities as a shrine maiden

Sanae is a shrine maiden, but of a different type to Reimu Hakurei. Like Reimu she is capable of summoning gods, granting her some of their powers; while she relies on this ability much more than Reimu, she is only capable of summoning her patrons: Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya.

Character Design [ edit ]

Name and Origin [ edit ]

Her full name is Sanae Kochiya (東風谷 早苗). Sanae (早苗) can mean "rice seedling" or "early seedling", and Kochiya (東風谷) "eastern wind valley". The same "east" (東) appears in Touhou (東方), and the same "wind" (風) in the title of Mountain of Faith (風神録).

Unusual amongst Touhou characters, both are real names used in modern Japan. Presumably Sanae's name is derived from the real world person "Sanae Moriya" (守矢早苗), the 78th head of the Moriya family which claims descent from the god Moreya (洩矢神, Moreyashin, "Moreya" is an archaic pronunciation of "Moriya"). This family were supposed to succeed one of the priests of the Suwa Grand Shrine, Jin Choukan (神長官, "God Director").

Design [ edit ]

In her first appearance in Mountain of Faith she wears a blue and white outfit similar to a shrine maiden's, with the blue areas covered in light blue polka dots and stripes. She has long light green hair, and yellow eyes (green in Undefined Fantastic Object and Ten Desires, blue in Touhou Hisoutensoku portraits). In Mountain of Faith, she wears a snake-shaped hair accessory wrapped around her hair on one side, and a blue headband with a frog's head on it[2] (both probably meant to represent Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya), however, in every subsequent appearance after MoF, she has instead worn a hair clip shaped like a frog's head. She carries a gohei with straight paper decorations as opposed to the typical gohei.

In Ten Desires her hair color is slightly paler, and she wears a shorter skirt with maroon-colored boots instead of aquamarine-colored shoes.

Story [ edit ]

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Mountain of Faith

Sanae's sprite in MoF

When humans on the Outside World began losing their faith in her and Kanako Yasaka, the shrine's actual deity, Kanako decided to move the shrine to Gensokyo where at least youkai might have faith in them. During the events of Mountain of Faith Sanae tried threatening the Hakurei Shrine in order to establish the Moriya Shrine as the dominant one, not realizing how powerful humans like Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame were. In response to the threats Sanae was defeated by the heroine followed shortly after by Kanako and Suwako Moriya's defeat. However, the residents of the Moriya Shrine have since come to an understanding with their new neighbors and live in peace with the other residents of Youkai Mountain.





Following the extra scenario as the player heads through the Moriya Shrine to look for the two goddesses, Sanae appears as the midboss of the stage. She believes that the traditional greetings in Gensokyo is by attacking with danmaku because you can't be trapped by common sense. She attacks the heroine with three spell cards, but was defeated. Specifically on Reimu/Suika's scenario, she returns stating that Kanako was creating a kappa industrial revolution by using the old Remains of Blazing Hell. She was unaware of the incident that occurred in the game, making Reimu unhappy.

Undefined Fantastic Object

Sanae's back sprite in UFO

In each scenario of Undefined Fantastic Object, Sanae is ordered with a different task. Depending on this, her secondary bullet will become a snake or a frog.

Kanako Yasaka's task is to to train her own abilities by hunting Youkai.

Suwako Moriya's task is to to find the Treasure Ship.

Sanae notices the strange spirit at the Moriya Shrine in Ten Desires and knows what they are: divine spirits, born from humans due to powerful fears, desires and feelings. She takes the opportunity to gather the divine spirits, as it is the same as gathering faith from humans. She can't, however, figure out why all these divine spirits have appeared in the first place.

In Touhou Hisoutensoku, thinking that a gigantic robot appeared in Gensokyo, Sanae is in pursuit of the giant figure, when she stumbles into a giant pit to the nuclear reactor run by Utsuho Reiuji and learns that Suwako Moriya is responsible for creating the "robot" figure, Hisoutensoku.

Double Spoiler

In Double Spoiler, Sanae appeared as an Extra stage target, where she uses a few spell cards and had Aya Shameimaru and Hatate Himekaidou take photos of her and her danmaku.

Hopeless Masquerade

Sanae in HM

Sanae made a background cameo appearance in Hopeless Masquerade on the Genbu Ravine and Youkai Tanuki Forest stage. She is seen standing next to Suwako Moriya waving her onusa.

After apparently reading the newspaper by the tengu about a mischief-making amanojaku, she becomes one of the many strong youkai and humans to try and stop Seija Kijin. She uses spell cards that are considered impossible to dodge.

Relationships [ edit ]

Sanae serves as the shrine maiden of Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya, and moved with them to Gensokyo. Sanae is also Suwako's distant descendant. During the events of Mountain of Faith, Kanako sends Sanae out to collect faith. Much like Yukari Yakumo's use of Ran and Chen, Sanae can summon Kanako and Suwako in her spell and skill cards in Touhou Hisoutensoku.

Sanae appears to have a friendly relationship with Reimu Hakurei, as she has been seen visiting the Hakurei Shrine on numerous occasions, both in the Prologue of Undefined Fantastic Object and in Wild and Horned Hermit; Sanae is even tasked with minding the shrine while Reimu is training with Kasen Ibaraki.

Sanae frequently meets Marisa on her visits to the Hakurei Shrine, and they seem reasonably friendly.

Gallery [ edit ]

Covers [ edit ]

Artworks [ edit ]

Sprites [ edit ]

Sanae's colors from Touhou Hisoutensoku

Illustrations [ edit ]

Sanae in a promotional flyer by alphes

Others [ edit ]

Skills [ edit ]

Skills Name Translated Comments Games Usage Total: 14 スカイサーペント Sky Serpent Aided (?) by Kanako UFO

Soku

LoLK Type A

Alternate 22B/C

Focused コバルトスプレッド Cobalt Spread Aided (?) by Suwako UFO

Soku

LoLK Type B

Alternate 22B/C

Unfocused 風起こし Wind Calling Soku Default 236B/C 波起こし Wave Calling Soku Alternate 236B/C 星落とし Star Falling Soku Alternate 236B/C 乾神招来 突 Sky-God Summon: Thrust Aided by Kanako Soku Default 623B/C 乾神招来 風 Sky-God Summon: Wind Aided by Kanako Soku Alternate 623B/C 乾神招来 御柱 Sky-God Summon: Onbashira Aided by Kanako Soku Alternate 623B/C 坤神招来 盾 Earth-God Summon: Shield Aided by Suwako Soku Default 214B/C 坤神招来 鉄輪 Earth-God Summon: Iron Ring Aided by Suwako Soku Alternate 214B/C 坤神招来 罠 Earth-God Summon: Trap Aided by Suwako Soku Alternate 214B/C おみくじ爆弾 Omikuji Bomb Soku Default 22B/C マイティウィンド Mighty Wind TD Unfocused ウィンドブラスト Wind Blast TD Focused

Spell Cards [ edit ]

Spell Cards Name Translated Comments Games Stage Total: 25 秘術「グレイソーマタージ」 Esoterica "Gray Thaumaturgy" MoF

Soku

TD

GoM St. 5: E/N

Use

Use

---- 秘術「忘却の祭儀」 Esoterica "Forgotten Ritual" MoF

Soku St. 5: H

Use 秘術「一子相伝の弾幕」 Esoterica "Secretly Inherited Art of Danmaku" MoF St. 5: L 奇跡「白昼の客星」 Miracle "Daytime Guest Stars" MoF

Soku

GoM St. 5: E/N

Use

---- 奇跡「客星の明るい夜」 Miracle "Night with Bright Guest Stars" MoF St. 5: H 奇跡「客星の明るすぎる夜」 Miracle "Night with Overly Bright Guest Stars" MoF

Soku St. 5: L

Use 開海「海が割れる日」 Sea Opening "The Day the Sea Split" MoF

Soku St. 5: E/N

Use 開海「モーゼの奇跡」 Sea Opening "Moses's Miracle" MoF

Soku

GoM St. 5: H/L

Use

---- 準備「神風を喚ぶ星の儀式」 Preparation "Star Ritual to Call the Godly Winds" MoF St. 5: E/N 準備「サモンタケミナカタ」 Preparation "Summon Takeminakata" MoF St. 5: H/L 奇跡「神の風」 Miracle "God's Wind" MoF St. 5: E/N 大奇跡「八坂の神風」 Great Miracle "Yasaka's Divine Wind" MoF

GoM St. 5: H/L

---- 秘法「九字刺し」 Esoterica "Nine Syllable Stabs" SA

Soku St. Ex

Use 奇跡「ミラクルフルーツ」 Miracle "Miracle Fruit" SA

GoM St. Ex

---- 神徳「五穀豊穣ライスシャワー」 Divine Virtue "Bumper Crop Rice Shower" SA St. Ex 蛇符「神代大蛇」 Snake Sign "Orochi of Ancient Times" Snake Sign inferred from Great Snake Swimming in the Clouds UFO Use 手管の蟇蛙

蛙符「手管の蝦蟇」 Wily Toad

Frog Sign "Wily Toad" UFO

DS

LoLK Use

St. Ex

Use 祈願「商売繁盛守り」 Prayer "Charm of Good Commerce" Soku Use 御籤「乱れおみくじ連続引き」 Omikuji "Random Omikuji Barrage" Soku Use 蛇符「雲を泳ぐ大蛇」 Snake Sign "Great Snake Swimming in the Clouds" Soku Story 奇跡「ファフロッキーズの奇跡」 Miracle "Miracle of Fafrotskies" Soku Story 奇跡「弘安の神風」 Miracle "Divine Wind of the Kouan Era" DS St. Ex 妖怪退治「妖力スポイラー」 Youkai Extermination "Youkai Power Spoiler" DS St. Ex 蛇符「バインドスネークカモン」 Snake Sign "Bind Snake Come On" ISC St. 6 蛇符「グリーンスネークカモン」 Snake Sign "Green Snake Come On" ISC St. 7

Additional Information [ edit ]

Fandom [ edit ]

Official Profiles [ edit ]

Mountain of Faith - キャラ設定.txt ○５面ボス 祀られる風の人間

東風谷 早苗（こちや さなえ）

Kotiya Sanae 種族：人間

職業：風祝

能力：奇跡を起こす程度の能力 一子相伝の秘術を持つ人間である。

性格はいたって真面目で、自分の力に自信を持っている。時には過信しすぎる事もある。 元々は、風の神様を祀る人間だったらしいのだが、秘密の多い秘術で雨や風を降らす奇跡を起こしているうちに、周りの人間は秘術を行う人間自体を信仰するようになっていった。 つまり、風の神様が起こしていた奇跡を、いつの間にか人間が起こしていると勘違いし始めたのだ。 それにより、彼女ら秘術を扱う人間は人間でありながら信仰を集め、神と同等の扱いを受けるようになった。現人神である。 早苗は幼い頃から、口伝でしか伝えられていない奇跡を呼ぶ秘術をマスターしていた。子供でありながら奇跡を呼ぶ彼女は、多くの信仰を集められる――筈であった。 しかし、外の世界は大きく様変わりしていた。神徳の多い神様でさえ信仰する人間が激減していた。当然、人間でありながら神となった現<人神など、信仰する人間は殆ど存在しなかったのだ。

早苗は別に信仰がなくても、普通の人間として生活できるから問題はなかったのだが、早苗が祀っている神様、神奈子はそうはいかなかった。 神様は信仰を失うと力も失う。神徳も出せなくなる。

それは神の死に等しい。 神奈子は決断した。人間から信仰を集めるには限界がある。これからは妖怪の信仰を集める事も考えないといけない、と。 早苗はその具体的な計画を聞き驚いた。我が国には昔から『幻想郷』という世界があった。その世界は今でもひっそりと存在しているのだという。幻想郷では外の世界で失われた（幻想になった）物が集まる。

つまり神への信仰も、幻想郷に移りつつあると考えられる。

そこで神奈子は、幻想郷に神社ごと移動すると言うのである。人間の世界との決別であった。

人間の世界との別れは恐怖であったが、それ以上に奇跡を起こす力を持っていた彼女にとって、奇跡の世界へ行く事は楽しみであった。 彼女は幻想郷の人間を正直なめていた。唯一の博麗神社を脅せば幻想郷自体、自分達の思い通りになると考えていたのである。彼女は霊夢に脅しを入れに行き、そして今回のように逆に痛い目にあってしまったのだ。 幻想郷に住む人間は、彼女が思う以上に厄介であり、そして力を持っている事を彼女は思い知らされた。 ここでは、彼女は特別な存在ではない。現人神なんかではなく、ただの人間となっている事に気付いたのだ。

これからは幻想郷の人間として普通に生きていくしかないのである。 Deified Human of the Wind



Sanae Kochiya Species: Human

Occupation: Wind Priestess

Ability: Causing miracles A human who possesses the knowledge of a secretly inherited art.

She has a very straightforward personality, so she has a lot of confidence in her own abilities.

Sometimes, perhaps a bit too much confidence. Wind Priestesses were originally a devotees of the wind god, but as they used their secret abilities to create miracles such as summoning the wind and rain, the people around them began to believe in these humans with mysterious abilities. In short, over time, people began to mistake the miracles caused by the wind god as being caused by them. In addition, as keepers of secrets, they began to accrue faith and be treated as gods, even though they were humans. They became living gods. When she was young, Sanae had mastered the secrets to call upon miracles that had been passed down through an oral tradition only. A young girl that could call upon the power of miracles would certainly collect great amounts of faith --- one would expect. However, the outside world had changed a great deal. Faith in even gods with many divine virtues had been decreasing rapidly. There were few who would worship even a living god who had attained divinity during their life as a human.



Though she didn't really have much faith, Sanae was able to live as a normal human without any real problems, but this would not do for the god she worshiped, Kanako. When people lose faith in gods, the gods lose their power. They can't manifest their divine virtues. This is the same as death, for a god. Kanako came to a decision. There were limits to the amount of faith that could come from humans. From now on, she would have to also look to youkai as a source of her faith. Sanae was surprised to hear the details of her plan: a world called "Gensokyo" has existed within our nation since time immemorial. It is said that this world still exists, hidden. Gensokyo has collected a number of things that have become lost - or, become fantasy - in the outside world. One could say that even people's faith in gods is in the process of moving to Gensokyo.

And so, Kanako decided to move her shrine into Gensokyo. She would say farewell to the world of humans.



Sanae was afraid of leaving the world of humans, but as a person with the power to call on miracles, going to a world of miracles was one of the fun parts. She did not take the humans of Gensokyo seriously. She thought that if they threatened the only shrine in Gensokyo, the Hakurei Shrine, Gensokyo itself would submit to their every wish. She went to deliver her ominous message to Reimu, and then was in turn defeated. The humans who lived in Gensokyo were more troublesome than she'd imagined, and in time she learned of the power they held, as well. Here, she was nothing special.

She realized she had gone from being a god incarnate to just a normal human being.

All she could do now was to live a normal, peaceful life as a human of Gensokyo.

Undefined Fantastic Object ○山の新人神様

東風谷 早苗（こちや さなえ）

Kotiya Sanae 種族：人間

能力：奇跡を起こす程度の能力 妖怪の山にある守矢神社に住む巫女さん。妖怪退治は不慣れ。 普段は神様と妖怪達に囲まれて暮している為、人間の話し相手が欲しいと思っているが、麓の人間は妖怪染みた人間ばかり。

そのうち、自分のああなるのかと少しだけ心配している。

でも、現人神と慕われただけあって妖怪にも劣らないが、少々惚けた所もある。 神奈子に言われて妖怪退治の真似事をしてみたり……幻想郷に慣れようとしている。 The Newbie Goddess of the Mountain



Sanae Kochiya Species: Human

Ability: Causing miracles The Shrine Maiden living in Moriya Shrine in Youkai Mountain. She is not used to youkai hunting. She wishes to talk to humans more, because she lives with gods and youkai, but most of humans living around the foot of the mountain are youkai-like humans. She is worried about becoming like them. As may be expected of a living god, she is as strong as youkai, but she is also somewhat of an airhead. She tries to do something like youkai hunting on Kanako's recommendation, and... she makes an effort to get used to Gensokyo.

[4] Touhou Hisoutensoku - official website ○祀られる風の人間

東風谷 早苗（こちや さなえ） 幻想郷に来てから早二年経とうとしていた。

初めは異形なる者に対して畏怖から、まともに儀式も行えなかったが、今ではすっかり馴染み、違和感なく通常の仕事を行う事が出来た。 もう、多少の事では驚かないと思っていた。

勿論、そう思ってしまったら必ず驚かされるのが幻想郷である。

そこが外の世界にはない幻想郷の長所であった。 彼女は、守矢神社から見える巨大な人影を見ていた。

人影は神社よりも遥かにでかい、彼女にとっての古典的な表現では十階建ての高層ビル位はあるだろうか。 その人影は、彼女には昔アニメで見た巨大人型ロボットに見えた。 しかし、ロボットと言うには動きが滑らかすぎた。

まるで生きているかの様に動く人影は、時には山に望み、時には里を睨みそして突然霧に包まれたあと、不気味なほど静かに消えた。 その事を神奈子に報告すると、それは「ブロッケンの妖怪」だと教えてくれた。

ブロッケンの妖怪とは、自分の影が霧に映り巨人に見える気象現象である。 実際何らかの気象現象かなんかであろう、そう考えてしまう自分の思考回路が面白くなかった。

だから彼女は、あの影は里を襲う巨大ロボだと思う事にした。

そう考えると調査が楽しいからである。 そう、アレは決して霧に映った影などではない。

霧が出てきたのは人影が出た後だったし、何より、ここは何が起こってもおかしくない場所、幻想郷なのだから。 Deified Human of the Wind

Sanae Kochiya It had already been two years since she came to Gensokyo. At first, she was so frightened by the bizarre monsters that she simply couldn't perform the rituals of a shrine maiden, but now she had become familiar with them, and carried out her daily jobs without any discomfort. She thought that she wouldn't be surprised by some things any more. Of course, thinking like that in Gensokyo ensures that you will be surprised. That is Gensokyo's strong point, not present in the outside world. She saw the huge figure from the Moriya Shrine. The figure was far bigger than the shrine. She guessed that, to use a classical comparison, it was about as big as a ten-story building. The figure seemed to her like a giant robot from some old anime she had watched. But its movements were too smooth to be a robot's. The figure moved as if it were alive, occasionally overlooking the mountain, occasionally shooting a glare at the village. Then, it was suddenly shrouded in mist, and disappeared with an uncanny silence. When she reported it to Kanako, she told her it was the "Brocken specter." The Brocken specter is a meteorological phenomenon caused by a reflection of your own shadow on mist that seems to the observer to be a giant. In reality, be it a meteorological phenomenon or something else, thinking like that wasn't interesting. So she decided to think of that shadow as a giant robot attacking the village. Because that would make thinking about it more fun. That's right, that definitely wasn't a shadow reflected in mist. After all, the mist hadn't appeared until after the figure was already there. More than anything, though, because this was a place where nothing was too strange to happen: Gensokyo.

Ten Desires - キャラ設定とエキストラストーリー.txt ○山の新人神様

東風谷 早苗（こちや さなえ）

Kochiya Sanae 種族：人間

能力：奇跡を起こす程度の能力 妖怪の山にある守矢神社に住む巫女さん。妖怪退治は不慣れ。 普段は神様と妖怪達に囲まれて暮している為、人間の話し相手が欲しいと思っているが、麓の人間は妖怪染みた人間ばかり。

そのうち、自分のああなるのかと少しだけ心配している。

でも、現人神と慕われただけあって妖怪にも劣らないが、少々惚けた所もある。 神霊は神社にとって重要な霊。人間の信仰心を煽るにはこういった神霊を集める事が重要だと考えている。 The Newbie Goddess of the Mountain



Sanae Kochiya Species: Human

Ability: Causing miracles The Shrine Maiden living in Moriya Shrine in Youkai Mountain. She is not used to youkai hunting. She wish to have human friends to keep her company, since she lives constantly surrounded by gods and youkai, but most of humans living around the foot of the mountain are youkai-like humans. The thought of becoming like one of them eventually, is somewhat disconcerting to her. As may be expected of a living god, she is as strong as youkai, but she is also somewhat of an airhead. Divine spirits are very important spirits for a shrine. She thinks that in order to stir up the faith among humans, it is imperative that she must collect these spirits.

Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom - trial omake.txt ○山に住む奇跡の現人神

東風谷 早苗

Kochiya Sanae 種族：人間

能力：奇跡を起こす程度の能力 山の神社に住む巫女さん。 どうも妖怪の山に異変が起こっていることに気が付いていた。

しかし、妖怪達にはそれが見えないのか反応する物は居なかった。

不気味に感じた彼女は霊夢に相談する。 Mountain-Dwelling Living God of Miracles



Sanae Kochiya Species: Human

Ability: Causing miracles The Shrine Maiden living in the shrine on the mountain. She realized that there was some kind of incident occurring on the Youkai Mountain.

However, perhaps because the youkai hadn't noticed anything yet, nobody reacted to what was going on.

Feeling a sense of unease, she went to consult with Reimu.

Official Sources [ edit ]

References [ edit ]







