• Welcome to Touhou Wiki!
  • Registering is temporarily disabled. Check in our Discord server to request an account and for assistance of any kind.

Rin Kaenbyou

From Touhou Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
() (えん) (びょう)   (りん)
kaembʲoː ɽiɴ (♫)
Rin Kaenbyou
Rin Kaenbyou
Hell's Traffic Accident
More Character Titles
Nickname

Orin ( (りん) )

Species

Kasha

Abilities

Carrying away corpses, controlling and communicating with spirits

Occupation

Controller of spirits in the remnants of the Hell of Blazing Fires

Location

Hell of Blazing Fires, Palace of the Earth Spirits

Music Themes
Appearances
Official Games
Print Works


"If I kill you, human, my hellfire cart will get heavy~♪ Man, carrying off corpses is fun!"
Rin Kaenbyou to Reimu Hakurei (Subterranean Animism Stage 5.)

Rin Kaenbyou (火焔猫 燐 Kaenbyou Rin) is one of Satori Komeiji's pets. Her job is to carry corpses to the former Hell of Blazing Fires to regulate its heat.

General Information

Personality

Rin has an energetic, positive personality; she prefers to be called Orin, since she doesn't like long names. She claims that while it is more fun to take on a pure cat form, she can't talk to humans that way - nor does it seem she can do her job, carting corpses away, which she seems to take great pleasure in. She appears to have challenged the main character in Subterranean Animism partly because she wanted their corpse, but also partly to test their strength to see if they would be able to stop Utsuho Reiuji for her, and appears to bear no ill will towards them for her defeat. Symposium of Post-mysticism states that she has no interest in killing humans herself to gain their corpses; she prefers to hunt for those on the verge of death, supposedly because it makes for more interesting conversation. If a corpse is properly buried, she'll lose interest.

Abilities

Carrying away corpses

Rin's official profile lists her ability as "carrying away corpses". As an ability that comes from her species, it is as it sounds like. The carried-away corpses burn as fuel for the Hell of Blazing Fires, although it is a mystery why the abandoned Hell of Blazing Fires needs to be fuelled in the first place. Incidentally, the spirits of the corpses carried away by kasha become onryou and become unable to achieve nirvana. She can also shift between cat form and human form at will. Hieda no Akyu states in Symposium of Post-mysticism that her corpse-carrying ability is not really a youkai-like one, but she is very good at it, using various tricks.

Controlling and communicating with spirits

She is able to communicate with corpses and control all kinds of spirits; she appears to enjoy the conversations of the freshly dead, because they may not realize they're dead. In combat, she can briefly reanimate corpses so that they "act" like zombies.

However, prior to the events of Subterranean Animism, she displays the ability to drive vengeful spirits above-ground, which is what causes the heroines to dive underground in the first place. Symposium of Post-mysticism does not mention this.

Occupation

Rin is a kasha living in the Palace of the Earth Spirits; her master is Satori Komeiji. Essentially, she lives day-to-day by stealing corpses from funerals to cart them to the former Hell of Blazing Fires. She will not kill humans herself, though she (quite efficiently) pursues humans that are close to death, hiding stolen corpses in her wheelbarrow using a straw mat, or just generally collecting corpses she happens to run across. Humans do not usually think that she would be carting corpses out in the open like she does, so she has a degree of freedom even in places with lots of people. In addition to maintaining the energy influx for the power source, she also controls vengeful spirits, at least in the vicinity.

Possessions

Rin's only possession is her wheelbarrow, often referred to as "Orin's Cat Cart". It has no special properties, but Symposium of Post-mysticism describes it as the pushcart that has likely carried the most corpses in all of history.

Backstory

When the Underground separated from Hell, becoming known as Former Hell, both Rin and Utsuho Reiuji became pets to Satori Komeiji. Her job is to cart corpses into the fires generating heat for the Underground. One day, she noticed that the flames were extremely strong - much stronger than usual - and, worried, forced evil spirits above-ground to try and signal youkai to come help. She did not tell Satori about the possibly gigantic power Utsuho had obtained, however, and decides to figure things out for herself.

Character Design

Rin's illustration in Symposium of Post-mysticism

Origin

Rin's concept is taken from the kasha, a type of youkai that appears during stormy weather to bring the bodies of sinners to Hell. They are said to be cats that have turned into youkai through various circumstances such as long life. Sometimes temples near places where kasha are said to live will hold two funerals for the dead: in the first, the coffin is filled with rocks so that the kasha won't disrupt the funeral to carry off the deceased. Rin is said to steal corpses from funerals while no one is looking.

Name

Her full name is Rin Kaenbyou (火焔猫 燐 Kaenbyou Rin). The characters for Kaenbyou (火焔猫) literally mean "blazing cat". The one for Rin () means "phosphorus". Rin is shown pushing a wheelbarrow, which is also known in Japanese as a Nekoguruma (猫車), which means "cat cart".

Design

Rin has black cat ears (on top of another pair of human ears) and dark red eyes, with fiery red hair styled into twin braids and adorned by black ribbons at the top and bottom of the braids. She wears a black decorated dress with green frills. She's pushing a wheelbarrow in one hand and holding a vengeful spirit in the other. Surrounding her are several more of these spirits. Although Rin has two tails in her cat form, it appears that she loses them when she turns into her human form. Most pieces of official art tend to show her without tails, but there are a few exceptions.

Appearances

Games

Subterranean Animism
Rin's sprite in SA
Rin's cat form sprite in SA

Rin's story in Subterranean Animism is similar no matter what player character you pick. she appears as the stage 4, 5 and 6 midboss, while appearing as the boss for stage 5. When a human arrives underground instead of a youkai like she was expecting, she challenges the heroine, wanting to take her corpse. However, she is defeated, and upon witnessing the heroine's strength, asks her to go deeper into the Hell of Blazing Fires in order to stop Utsuho Reiuji. During her boss battle, she is seen summoning Zombie Fairies and Vengeful spirits.

Rin's back sprite in UDALG
Rin's sprite in UDALG
Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost

Spin-offs

Double Spoiler

In Double Spoiler, Rin appeared as a stage 8 boss and uses spell cards that involves Zombie Fairies when Aya Shameimaru and Hatate Himekaidou take photos of her and her danmaku. When taking a picture of Rin in her cat form, the player is awarded the "Cat bonus", which gives a bonus of 666 points, the mark of the beast. This is somewhat fitting considering that Rin is located in Hell.

Hopeless Masquerade
Anigif of Rin dancing in HM

Rin appears as a background cameo in Hopeless Masquerade on the Palace of Earth Spirits and Youkai Tanuki Forest stage. She is seen doing a rally cheer.

Rin appearance in Wild and Horned Hermit

Literature

Symposium of Post-mysticism

In her article in the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, Rin was brought in to the Myouren Temple by Byakuren Hijiri and the others to talk to the zombie guarding part of the cemetery, Yoshika Miyako. After explaining to them that the reanimated corpse doesn't want to hurt anyone, she takes a few other corpses as payment and returns to the Underground with them.

In addition, Byakuren mentions that Rin once came up from the Underworld because she wanted to join the temple. The monk turned her away as Rin really only wanted access to the vast amount of graves in the graveyard.

Wild and Horned Hermit

In Wild and Horned Hermit, she is ordered by Satori Komeiji to recover stone cherries in Gensokyo. [1]

Foul Detective Satori

In Foul Detective Satori, she appears as Satori Komeiji's assistant, acting as a kind of "Dr. Watson" to Satori's "Sherlock Holmes".

Relationships

Rin with Yoshika Miyako in SoPm
Satori Komeiji

Satori is Rin and Utsuho's master. Apparently she keeps them as pets, but they have their own jobs to do, and are not seen together very often in the games or in books. Satori will often pet her fur whenever she sleeps besides her.[2]

Utsuho Reiuji

Utsuho is described as Rin's old friend from when the yama split Hell out of the Underground. She is on good enough terms with her to not tell Satori about the trouble she causes in Subterranean Animism.

Chen

In Foul Detective Satori, Chen and Rin appear to be very friendly and physically affectionate with each other, implying an amiable relationship between the two.[3]

In Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost, Ran mentioned that the two of them play with each other often, implying they are currently friends.

Minor Relationships

Yoshika Miyako

In Symposium of Post-mysticism, Rin is brought in to communicate with Yoshika, as her ability is being able to talk to corpses.

Gallery

Illustrations

Artwork

Others

Spell Cards

Spell Cards
Name Translated Comments Games Stage
Total: 14
猫符「キャッツウォーク」 Cat Sign "Cat's Walk" SA
GoM
St. 5: E/N
猫符「怨霊猫乱歩」 Cat Sign "Vengeful Cat Spirit's Erratic Step" SA St. 5: H/L
呪精「ゾンビフェアリー」 Cursed Sprite "Zombie Fairy" SA
GoM
St. 5: E/N
呪精「怨霊憑依妖精」 Cursed Sprite "Fairies Possessed by Vengeful Spirits" SA St. 5: H/L
恨霊「スプリーンイーター」 Malicious Spirit "Spleen Eater" SA
GoM
St. 5: E/N
屍霊「食人怨霊」 Corpse Spirit "Vengeful Cannibal Spirit" SA St. 5: H/L
贖罪「旧地獄の針山」 Atonement "Needle Mountain of a Former Hell" SA
GoM
St. 5: E/N
贖罪「昔時の針と痛がる怨霊」 Atonement "The Needles of Yore and the Vengeful Spirits in Pain" SA St. 5: H/L
「死灰復燃」 "Rekindling of Dead Ashes" SA St. 5: E/N
「小悪霊復活せし」 "Small Demon's Revival" SA St. 5: H/L
妖怪「火焔の車輪」 Youkai "Blazing Wheel" SA St. 6: E/N/H/L
死符「ゴーストタウン」 Death Sign "Ghost Town" DS St. 8
「死体繁華街」 "Corpse Shopping District" DS
GoU
St. 8
酔歩「キャットランダムウォーク」 Drunkard's Walk "Cat Random Walk" DS St. 8

Additional Information

  • Her name, Rin, shares pronunciation with 輪 ("wheel"), which might be in reference to her motifs of wheels and carts, as well as her species as a kasha.
  • Rin may be one of the most persistent Touhou Project bosses, appearing as a midboss in three stages, and as a stage boss all in one game.
  • Some of her attacks resemble attacks used by the second boss of Samidare from Project Blank, Anareta.
  • In ancient Aztec culture, each household had a small red dog called the Techichi who was said to guide lost souls to the underworld, and would often be sacrificed along with its master. Strangely, Rin has red hair and performs a similar duty.
  • Rin's dancing pose in Hopeless Masquerade may be a reference to how she dances in Twilight Frontier's Komeiji Satori no Jousou Kyouiku, where Rin, or Koishi Komeiji, will do a similar dance if she manages to get to a gift-box first.

Fandom

Official Profiles

Subterranean Animism - おまけ.txt
Rin Kaenbyou SA ○5面ボス 地獄の輪禍

  火焔猫 燐(かえんびょう りん)(通称:お燐)
  Kaenbyou Rin

  種族:火車
  能力:死体を持ち去る程度の能力

  本当の名前は火焔猫 燐(かえんびょう りん)
  本人は長い名前が嫌いで、誰にでもお燐と呼ばせている。

  火の中に棲む猫で、さとりのペットである。口が上手く、死体や霊と自由に会話が出来る為、灼熱地獄跡で怨霊の管理を任されている。

  彼女の古い友人に霊烏路空が居る。彼女とはさとりに飼われ始めた頃、則ち地底が地獄でなくなった頃以来の親友である。

  ある日、彼女は灼熱地獄跡に異変を感じ取った。
  いつもよりも火力が強かったのだ。

  火力の管理は空の管轄である。お燐はすぐに空の元を訪ねて驚いた。
  誰から貰ったのか、恐ろしいまでの強力な力を手に入れていたのだ。

  それ以来、空は増長し始め、力を見せつけるようになっていった。
  終いには地上を灼熱地獄にして支配するとまで言い始めた。

  そんなこと出来る筈もない。さとり様が許す筈もない。
  その企みを地底の誰かに知られてしまえば、空は鬼達に始末されてしまうかも知れないのに。
  お燐は友人の変貌に呆れ、彼女は禁断の技を使う。

  それは怨霊を地上に送り込む事。それにより地上の妖怪達に異変を知らしめる事が出来れば、何かが変わる筈だと。
  彼女は地上の妖怪達に助けを求めたのだが、彼女の前の現れたのは地上の人間だった。

  その人間は思いの外強く、妖怪退治の専門家といううってつけの人間だったのである。
  その人間の腕が確かなら、増長した空を懲らしめる事が出来るかも知れない、そう考えた。

  最初からさとり様に相談すれば良かったのだが、お燐は何となく空の異変を隠した方がいいと思っていた。もし空の異変に気付けば、さとり様は容赦なく空を始末するだろう、そう考えていた。
  勿論そんな筈も無いのだが、子供が親に秘密がばれるのを恐れる様に、お燐も秘密がばれる事を恐れていた。
  お燐は彼女に畏怖の念を抱いていたのである。

Stage 5 Boss Hell's Traffic Accident

Rin Kaenbyou (nickname: Orin)

Species: kasha
Ability: Carrying away corpses

Her real name is Rin Kaenbyou.
She doesn't like long names, though, so she has everyone call her Orin.

A cat that lives among the flames, and Satori's pet. Since she's well-spoken and can converse freely with corpses and spirits, she was left in charge of controlling the spirits in what was once the Hell of Blazing Fires.

She has an old friend named Reiuji Utsuho. They've been close friends since before the time Satori began taking care of her, that is, the time when the underground separated from Hell.


One day, she felt a disturbance in what was left of the Hell of Blazing Fires.
The flames were much stronger than usual.

Regulating the flames was Utsuho's job. Orin went to visit Utsuho and was surprised by what she found.
She had discovered a frighteningly strong power, or had been given it by someone.

Since then, Utsuho began to grow stronger, and to seek out power.
Eventually, she started talking about conquering the above ground and turning it into a scorching hell.

There's no way she should have been able to do that. There's no way Satori would allow it.
If anybody underground found out about this plan, the oni would probably take care of Utsuho.
Amazed by the transformation her friend had undergone, Orin began to delve into a forbidden art.


That forbidden art was how to drive the vengeful spirits above ground. If she could force some sort of incident with the youkai above ground, something would surely change.
She was trying to get the youkai above ground to help her, but what finally appeared before her was a human from above ground.

That human was unexpectedly strong, and what is more, she specialized in youkai extermination.
If she's really that strong, Orin thought, she might be able to deal with Utsuho.


Everything would have turned out fine if Orin had just gone to Satori in the first place, but she thought it would be better if she tried to hide what Utsuho was doing. If Satori had found out about Utsuho's plan, she thought, she'd waste no time dealing with Utsuho in a ruthless fashion. Of course, that wasn't true, but just as children are afraid of their parents finding out their secrets, Orin was afraid of Satori finding out about hers. Orin was somewhat in awe of Satori.

Official Sources

Official sources

References

  1. Wild and Horned Hermit - Chapter 28
  2. Strange Creators of Outer World - Subterranean Animism Cross Review: "Orin often hugs me, and her fur is so beautiful and cute! Whenever I notice her sleeping next to me, she's so warm and comfortable that I can't help but want to pet her." -Satori Komeiji
  3. Foul Detective Satori - Chapter 8