About
Name: Fujiwara no Mokou
Alternate spellings: Huziwara no Mokou, Mokou Fuziwara
Species: Human
Abilities: Eternal youth and immortality, resistance to and manipulation of fire
Age: Currently ageless, but has existed for over 1300 years.
Occupation: Rescues lost people, Bamboo forest guide, Claims to run a yakitori stand
Location: Somewhere in the Bamboo Forest of Lost
Description: * Red eyes and ankle-length light violet hair. Wears a light brown shirt that appears as if it has been discolored from fire, and dark red overalls that are randomly decorated with paper charms. Her hair is tied with these same red and white paper charms.
Relationships:
* Kaguya Houraisan (Bitter rival?)
* Keine Kamishirasawa (Friend)
Appearances:
* Imperishable Night (Extra Boss)
* Shoot the Bullet (Extra Stage 5 and 6 Boss)
Formerly an ordinary human, Mokou became an immortal being after drinking the Hourai Elixir about 1300 years ago. Now she is unable to die, at least not permanently, though she still feels the pain of injuries as normal. She's considered to be very powerful, though it's not clear whether it's because she actually has that much power, or if it's simply because she doesn't die and can therefore keep fighting until she can no longer stand the pain.
She has hated Kaguya ever since the moon princess humiliated Mokou's father by turning down his marriage proposal after he failed her trial of the Impossible Requests. Though the slight happened over a thousand years ago, she continues to seek her revenge against Kaguya, knowing full well that she can never succeed--nor can Kaguya ever put a permanent end to her. When not fighting with Kaguya, though, she aids the nearby villagers by exterminating youkai and will even guide them safely to Eientei for medical treatment. She is a loner by nature and chooses not to socialize with humans or youkai, and has a dubious personality that can easily switch from friendly to threatening and back again, but her actions seem to indicate she may be a good person.
Fun Facts
* In Cage in Lunatic Runagate, she is shown as having had short, dark hair when she was mortal. No explanation of this is given.
* The characters for Fujiwara literally mean "Wisteria field", and Mokou "Scarlet (younger) Sister". According to ZUN, however, Mokou can also mean "Paint me red" and her name has no connection to Flandre Scarlet.
* Considering Mokou's surname and her back story as a daughter of an aristocrat charmed by the Kaguya-hime of legend, she is supposed to be the daughter of Kuramochi no Miko (車持皇子), who was given the quest for the Jewelled Branch of Hourai by Kaguya. His model is speculated to be Fujiwara no Fuhito, the factual founder of the Fujiwara clan; a powerful clan of regents during the 9th to 13th centuries.
* Another note is at that time it was common for aristocrats to have "の" (pronounced no) between their surname and first name or their title and name. Thus the English equivalent of her name would be "Mokou of the Fujiwara Clan".
* Mokou's character title is a pun on the title of ZUN's music CD, 蓬莱人形 ～ Dolls in Pseudo Paradise. She also uses a spellcard named Hourai Doll. Doesn't someone else have a Hourai Doll too?
* Mokou appears on the cover of Imperishable Night, silhouetted against the moon beneath the silhouette of Kaguya.
* Due to her power of resurrection and ability to control fire, Mokou is often depicted as having the same powers as the mythical phoenix (she even has a spellcard called "Possessed By Phoenix" and "Immortal Flying Bird Phoenix"), even occasionally sprouting what appears to be a Phoenix's body pulsing out. Fans like to depict these as 'wings of fire', but in canon she only controls the flames of the phoenix in her spells. The Phoenix is probably more of an aura depicting her immortality.
* Fandom is divided as to whether or not Mokou actually is possessed by a phoenix; it would seem redundant, as she is already immortal (unless she did it to grow more powerful).
* Mokou is one of the few people in all of Gensokyo to wear pants. This, along with her somewhat forceful way of speaking, often leads to her being depicted as a tomboy (perhaps why her parents kept her out of public view).
* The paper talismans on Mokou's pants and hair ribbons might be wards to protect them against being burned by fire. Her shirt, which lacks those talismans, appears to have been burnt repeatedly, while the ribbons and pants show no such wear.
* The fact it took the combined efforts of her, Kaguya, and several rabbits to put out a forest fire in her Bohemian Archive article implies that while she's capable of starting and increasing fire, she might not necessarily be able to extinguish it.
* Chapter 11 of Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth contains the first canonical depiction of a confrontation between Kaguya and Mokou. In it, they seem to have a danmaku fight with food.
* She seems to have a good relationship with the members of Eientei despite her dislike of Kaguya and is willing to lead the rabbits home. She also seems to have a good relationship with Keine Kamishirasawa.
* In Canon, the Spellcard 199 in Imperishable Night might refer to Iwakasa as she implied she felt regret over causing his death.
* In the same Chapter in Cage in Lunatic Runagate: Chapter 4, her immortality was derived indirectly from Iwakasa as well, as he saved her life prior to her immortality.
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