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Kasen Ibaraki

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Revision as of 20:21, 26 March 2012 by Plubio (talk | contribs) (→‎Trivia)
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茨木 (いばらき)  華扇 (かせん)
Kasen Ibaraki
Kasen Ibaraki
Kasen Ibaraki in Wild and Horned Hermit
片腕有角の仙人
More Character Titles
Nickname

茨華仙 (いばらかせん) (Ibarakasen)
華仙 (かせん) (Kasen)

Species

Hermit(?)

Abilities

Understanding what birds say, crushing onryou, instant movement, using animals, remote control of artificial arms, connecting separate spaces, guiding and transfiguring youkai, hiding her home using fangshu, creating and controlling light orbs

Location

Youkai Mountain, also seen at the Hakurei Shrine

Appearances
Print Works

Kasen Ibaraki (茨木 華扇 Ibaraki Kasen) (with pseudonyms Ibarakasen 茨華仙 and Kasen 華仙) is a mysterious hermit living in the mountains. Possessing an artificial arm and various abilities, she can often be seen dispensing knowledge to Reimu, Marisa, and Sanae. She first appeared in Wild and Horned Hermit, in which she is the main character.

Concept

Name

Her family name, 茨木 (Ibaraki) could mean "rose bush", while 華扇 (Kasen) is written with the characters for "flower fan". In her pseudonym, (Ibara), refers to a thorny wild rose, hence the rose brooch and thorn motif on her dress. The characters 華仙 (Kasen) roughly mean "flowery mystic" or "gorgeous hermit".

Although she introduces and identifies herself as Ibara Kasen in Wild and Horned Hermit, Kasen Ibaraki appears in brackets alongside the nickname, this is due to the fact that her real name is Kasen Ibaraki (茨木華扇 Ibaraki Kasen) with nicknames 華仙 (Kasen) or 茨華仙 (Ibarakasen). This was later confirmed by official site.[1] An pseudonym () is different from their given names () or a courtesy name () - rather, it is a name that they go by which they have given themselves. Also, in a marginal explanation in chapter 16 of Oriental Sacred Place, it explained that her nickname Kasen (華仙) was her pet name.

Appearance

In her original appearance, she has red eyes, and shoulder-length pink hair with Chinese-style double buns. Her right arm is wrapped in bandages. She wears a white shirt and a green skirt, over those a brown front panel that has a thorny vine motif and a large rose-shaped ornament just below collar level. She also appears to have a shackle on her left wrist.

Story

Kasen Ibaraki in Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 16
Wild and Horned Hermit

Kasen meets Marisa Kirisame outside the Human Village as the latter was running an errand for Reimu Hakurei. In the beginning, she appears to be nothing but a simple, strange ascetic, but it's all a guise. Her real motive for appearing at the Hakurei Shrine is to search for the Kappa's Arm, thought by her to be at the Hakurei Shrine. Second, according to her, her objective is to shut down the connection between humans and the Former Hell. What that means is unclear, but she takes great interest in the runaway evil spirits at the Underground Geyser Center, and is able to destroy them with her bandaged arm which, when unwrapped, takes the form of black ash or smoke. This brings her to the attention of Komachi Onozuka, whose superiors are concerned about Kasen's movements. As she continues to act in secret, she also attempts to teach Reimu, Sanae Kochiya, and Marisa how to be better people, investigates and wraps herself up in various small time incidents, and introduces Reimu and the others to her power to control various beasts.

Relationships

Kasen is kind and polite to nearly everyone. She is always willing to lend a word of advice or teach a lesson, but is often seen as preachy and overly critical of others.

Reimu Hakurei

Kasen remembers Reimu Hakurei from long before, having visited the Hakurei Shrine many times in the past, although Reimu's memory failed her and she had to be reminded who Kasen was. She's mostly earned Reimu's annoyance, who dislikes sermons and doesn't want her shrine to smell of them. She mostly thinks of Kasen as a nagging, preachy busybody. However, Reimu often concedes, either because Kasen is usually right or she doesn't want to deal with her. Kasen is openly critical of Reimu, believing her to be too greedy and slack in her duties.

Marisa Kirisame

Initially thinking she was just a strange hermit, Marisa Kirisame also met Kasen some time before Wild and Horned Hermit and is the first to remember who she was. Once reunited, Kasen is invited by Marisa to visit more often, to the disdain of Reimu. Marisa hopes that Kasen will teach her any life extending techniques and is more than willing to listen to Kasen's preaching in exchange.

Kasen's Pets, the Unnamed Dragon, Unnamed Dapeng, and Unnamed Raijuu, Saouchi, Kume

Mostly cryptids who can be summoned at any time, such as when she called on the child dragon to abduct Reimu and used the dapeng for transportation. However, there was a point at which the raijuu she captured previously felt lonesome and ran away. She is also shown to have a snake and monkey.

Other Minor or Unknown Meetings or Associations

Sanae Kochiya

Sanae Kochiya lives on the Youkai Mountain near to Kasen and are considered neighbors. They meet fairly often and are on friendly enough terms. Kasen is a bit critical of Sanae, as well, albeit to a much lesser extent than Reimu. Sanae describes her as living in a large mansion, corrected by Kasen as being a training dojo.

Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya

Despite being friendly enough with Sanae, she is highly suspicious of Kanako and Suwako's schemes to attain faith and their inability to handle the Underground Geyser Center's dangers.

Komachi Onozuka

Komachi Onozuka and Kasen are slightly antagonistic toward each other. Ordered to keep Kasen under surveillance, Komachi is distrusting of her, even to the point of threatening her with her scythe, although she doesn't appear to be serious about it.

Suika Ibuki

When Suika Ibuki appeared at the Hakurei Shrine, Kasen quickly fled the scene in order to avoid her. She appears familiar with Suika but her relationship with her is unknown but appears hesitant about letting Suika know about her current status.

Additional Information

Trivia

  • Kasen was one of the possibilities ZUN had in mind for the Extra Stage boss of Ten Desires, along with Byakuren Hijiri.
  • Kasen is mentioned in Ten Desires' ending no.4 where it's explaining that Marisa heard from Kasen that the ultimate goal of Taoism is to achieve immortality.

Fanon

  • Because of the advantages of being a hermit, Kasen is not required to eat that much, suggesting that she could be potentially very thin in return. Fans picked that up, drawing her with a very skinny exposed chest to the extent that you can see her ribs under her skin. It is a pun on "Rib-kasen", which is Abarakasen (肋華仙) in Japanese.
    • Though in contrast, most arts give her a moderate frame and figure, sometimes more so.
  • For some reason, Kasen is sometimes portrayed with a sign in her hand, which was featured in Chapter 2 of Wild and Horned Hermit.
  • Many fans expected Kasen to appear in Ten Desires. Due to this there exists a fanmade Phantasm Stage featuring her.
  • Since the introduction of Seiga Kaku in Ten Desires, fans have frequently depicted Kasen and her together.

Official Profiles

東方茨歌仙 official website

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Kasen Ibaraki WaHH 茨木華扇(号:茨華仙)
片腕有角の仙人

山に棲み、修行を重ねる仙人。し
ばしば里や神社に現れては、あり
がたいお説教をしてくれるらしい。
動物を導く能力を持っており、龍や
大鵬といった幻獣すらも自在に操
る。

Ibaraki Kasen (Pseudonym: Ibarakasen)
One-armed horned hermit

A hermit living in the mountains, repeatedly training. She's said to appear frequently in the village and shrine and give them a nice scold. Having the ability to guide animals, even controling such fantastic beasts as dragons and the cryptid Dapeng.

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Official Sources

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References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "キャラクター紹介" (in Japanese). Ichijinsha. 2011. Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)