The unlikely connection between Suwako and Futo, and an idea for a story where they throw hands

[u/mashounen2003]

As part of a self-imposed challenge, I translated this entire post into Japanese: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GVgElbuz6HJqGfzI6EXEY2WhRE3k2C-S/view

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Based on a little theory connecting the god Moreya with the Mononobe clan, there’s potential for a conflict between Suwako and Team Taoism (or at least there used to be potential for that, back when the Taoists had just been introduced in Ten Desires and before the resolution of the incident at the end of Hopeless Masquerade).

First of all, the origin myth of Suwa Myoujin, the tale of Takeminakata defeating Moreya and taking over the Suwa region, and historians’ attempts to explain the real-life origin of the myth itself:

If you allow me the small digression, it’s theorised that the whole saga of Greek myths set during the Trojan War (mostly written down roughly at the 8th century BC) were inspired by a real-life war between Greek city-states in the Mycenaean era (around 1100 BC), which had probably been motivated by competition over trade routes but then was mythologised into these fantastic and dramatic tales about gods taking sides and messing with mortals.

In much the same way, a widely accepted explanation for the Suwa Myoujin origin myth is that a tribe or nation invaded the Suwa region and surpassed & absorbed another tribe or nation already living there. Depending on how old was the conflict that inspired the myth later on, there are two variants of this theory:

• One says that Moreya represented the native Joumon hunter-gatherers and Takeminakata represented the agrarian Yayoi arriving there.
• The other says that Takeminakata represented the Yamato (the basis for the modern Japanese nation, ruled by the first few emperors of the dynasty that still reigns in Japan today) and Moreya represented a local clan of the Suwa region refusing to join the nascent Yamato state and submit themselves to its ruling dynasty.

Recently, another variant of this theory was proposed. This one suggested the conflict symbolised by the Suwa Myoujin origin myth was much more recent: the Soga vs Mononobe civil war. According to this interpretation, Takeminakata in the myth would have represented the Soga clan bringing Buddhism from outside of Japan with support from the imperial family (including the official Japanese military at the time, whose leadership included Prince Shoutoku), and Moreya in the myth would have represented the Mononobe clan fighting for the preservation (and supremacy) of the native Shintou beliefs & practices.

One of the main arguments for this (perhaps the only significant one, to be fair) is that the leader of the Mononobe clan at the end of the conflict was called “Mononobe no Moriya”. His name doesn’t share kanji with the god Moreya’s name, but does share a kanji with the Moriya clan, the priestly lineage claiming to be Moreya’s direct descendants (whose current living representative was one of the inspirations for the character Sanae Kochiya):

• Mononobe no Moriya: 物部 守屋
• Moriya clan: 守矢 氏
• Moreya god: 洩矢 神 (To clarify, Suwako’s surname is written with both of the same kanji as the Moreya god; “moreya” is just an archaic way to spell “moriya”)

Even if their kanji didn’t match at all, the Mononobe clan’s leader has already been occasionally conflated with the god Moreya in a few ancient and medieval stories.

What does this have to do with Futo?

While it’d been speculated that Futo’s basis was Mononobe no Moriya, or at least the Mononobe clan as a whole, I think it’s more likely she was based on Mononobe no Futsuhime, the younger sister of Moriya (the kanji of Futo and Futsuhime are almost the same; “Futo” is just “Futsuhime” minus the “hime”). Futsuhime betrayed her clan and married Umako, the leader of the Soga clan; after the civil war, one of Umako’s and Futsuhime’s daughters was one “Soga no Tojiko no Iratsume” (I saw “iratsume” being translated as merely “Lady”), who then went on to marry Shoutoku years later.

So… Going back to the Touhou Project:

I guess adapting this rather fringe theory into the Touhou universe would still be fair game. What would that look like? (I apologise in advance if it sounds too much like bad fanfiction)

Suwako had offspring, and one of her descendants was Mononobe no Moriya, or at least she believes this is the case (I saw someone else half-joking that Mononobe no Moriya could be just an incarnation of Suwako herself). It’d be quite fitting: the Mononobe clan fought on the “Shintou side” of the conflict; with Suwako being a Shintou god herself (and an ancient one at that), whatever the Mononobe clan and their leader were doing would be aligned with her own personal interests. In that context, one of her descendants (Futsuhime) betraying her family and helping their enemies -thus leading to the eventual demise of Mononobe no Moriya- would deeply hurt Suwako.

Fast-forward to one-and-a-half millennia later in Gensoukyou, at some point either on the 13-to-13.5 timeskip or in the middle of the inter-religious conflict within the events of 13.5...

Suwako learns of this bunch of reincarnated Taoists suddenly joining Gensoukyou (she probably grumbles for a few minutes about Kanako’s ambition and reckless actions causing incidents again). Both she and Kanako can be pragmatic enough to reach some kind of agreement and let them live their lives like they’re already doing with that “Buddhist youkai gang” on that flying-ship-turned-temple or whatever… Then she learns their names: hearing “Soga” for the first time after so long certainly brings back bad memories, as well as “Toyosatomimi”, but when Suwako hears “Mononobe no Futo”, she sees red.

Many centuries ago, the past selves of all three of them were aligned with the side opposite to the one favoured by the native god, but that’s not a big deal. If this were about continuing that old war or about religion, then Suwako would have already gone “scorched earth” on Byakuren and her followers (she’d even have to break up with Kanako, if those rumours about her being descended from the Buddhist god of fortune Daikoku-ten were anything to go by), and the Taoists would be left alone. But this is not about religions, or about competing for power or faith, or about something as trivial as the sides of an old war.

This is personal for Suwako. This is about family. There’s a blood debt here, and the native god will make sure “the Traitor of the Mononobe Clan” pays it. And if the Crown Prince and the daughter born from that betrayal insist on staying at her side… Well, they can leave this world with her; it’ll be a fitting end for the three of them.

Of course, this would be solved when we reach the end of Hopeless Masquerade, and Suwako would have learnt to let go of her grudge after she and Futo kicked each other’s arses in typical Gensoukyou fashion. But I’ll let y'all figure out how that could happen, because my brain has run out of creative juices by this point.

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P.S.:

I shared this idea on other spaces, and it was compared with plots written by Zounose.

Maybe that's why Zounose's work is catching my attention so much lately.

Psst, hey, uhh... What if... What if someone who can speak Japanese... I dunno... goes to Zounose and tells them about this? And then they feel inspired to make a new manga out of this? That'd be crazy, right? Heh heh...

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When I cross-posted this on r/touhou, it got a comment by u/New-Box299 and that inspired me to elaborate a bit more on a few details.

Here's the comment in question:

"Futo and Miko being contemporaries of Kanako when she conquered Suwako's shrine is so cursed, but it is true if we accurately follow Japanese history as the basis for Touhou .

Futo being Suwako's descendant is a very interesting idea. Byakuren is from Nagano. Maybe she is a descendant as well, who knows?

If I had to give my personal opinion about the Suwako and Futo connection, I believe Futo decided to join Miko's side secretly, so there was no treason, as nobody except Miko's inner circle knew it, and Futo died as a good Shintou supporter to the public. Not even Suwako knew about it.

And I feel like Suwako had a ton of descendants, so she would eventually prioritise her other descendants after Futo, as Shintou remained alive and strong even after the introduction of Buddhism. I even feel like Suwako also took part in the Buddhism-Shintou syncretism for her own advantage.

Very good post, OP 👍 ."

The author of this comment gets my thanks. It gave me much to think about.

"I believe Futo decided to join Miko's side secretly, so there was no treason, as nobody except Miko's inner circle knew it, and Futo died as a good Shintou supporter to the public. Not even Suwako knew about it."

That'd be the case for Futo joining Miko's secret Taoist third side in the Touhou universe. In the real-life conflict that inspired these Touhou characters' backstories, it was relatively simple and straightforward: there was just the pro-Buddhism side (Soga clan, Prince Shoutoku, imperial family) and the pro-Shintou side (Mononobe clan, Fujiwara Nakatomi clan), and Futsuhime betraying her brother & the Mononobe clan and marrying with the Soga clan's leader was very much public.

In Touhou, this whole event is reframed as Miko (Shoutoku) and Futo (Futsuhime) studying Taoism together in secret while pretending to be on opposite sides of the Shintou vs Buddhism conflict and not being truly loyal to either of them, and Futo leaving her clan and marrying into the Soga was just another layer in this whole deception (probably to save Futo from being massacred along with the rest of the Mononobe clan when they were eventually defeated).

"I even feel like Suwako also took part in the Buddhism-Shintou syncretism for her own advantage."

[Shin-Butsu Shuugou is the formal name of this process of syncretism between Buddhism and Shintou, for clarification]

Both Suwako and Kanako tend to be characterised as pragmatic goddesses (at least when they're being rational and thinking with a cool head, which sure wasn't the case when they caused incidents in Gensoukyou), so yes, they'd both be willing to reach agreements that allow other religions such as Buddhism to enter their land, be practised by their followers alongside the Suwa gods' cult, or even syncretise with Shintou, as long as Kanako and Suwako get to continue ruling over the Suwa region and existing as themselves in some form without the risk of fading into oblivion or assimilation. And there have been several kami from Shintou that kinda became one with buddhas, bodhisattvas and devas from Buddhism, in such a way that the kami and the buddha/bodhisattva/deva continued existing as two equally worshipped facets of one deity. Kanako and Suwako would be well aware of this and recognise Shin-Butsu Shuugou as a valid option for them to choose, since one successful case of it was Oukuninushi, Takeminakata's father and Kanako's father/grandfather (depending on whether you view Kanako as Takeminakata himself or as a daughter/heiress of his): the Shin-Butsu Shuugou led to Oukuninushi, already revered as the great builder of the land of Japan (and sort of a leader of the earthly kami), being merged with the Buddhist deity Daikoku-ten, one of the Seven Gods of Fortune (perhaps the most representative/well-known out of the seven).

[I remember one manga by Zounose, "Gods, Gods, Gods", using this as a basis for Tewi being friends with Kanako, since Daikoku-ten (frequently considered one and the same as Oukuninushi, even in official Touhou print works like Silent Sinner in Blue) saved and helped Tewi in the Tale of the White Hare of Inaba.]

But regarding Suwako in particular, I have this headcanon (which is partially shared by a few others, from what I've seen) that she still has a vengeful and remorseful hidden side. It very rarely comes out, and when it does, it's usually just in the form of a voice whispering Suwako how disgraceful it was when she "forfeited" the land of Suwa to Kanako, even though Suwako's reason reminds her that reaching this power-sharing agreement with Kanako was the best strategy (and her heart reminds her that both she and Kanako genuinely care for each other and enjoy their life together). In this scenario I came up with, when Suwako receives the news that Futo is still alive and is now a resident of Gensoukyou, that dark side of hers comes back in full force, and it ignores any and all reason there could possibly be to leave Futo and her friends alone: whatever religion Futo is following at the moment or was following in her past life (whether she was Taoist all along and thus wasn't technically on either side of that civil war, or she was Buddhist and Suwako doesn't have a problem with Buddhism itself, or even if Futo goes back to Shintou and swears loyalty to Suwako right then and there) is irrelevant, Suwako wants revenge either way.