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Kogasa Tatara

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多々良 (たたら) 小傘 (こがさ)
tataɽa koɡasa (♫)
Kogasa Tatara
Kogasa Tatara
Kogasa Tatara in Ten Desires
The Cheery Forgotten Umbrella
More Character Titles
Species

Karakasa obake

Abilities

Surprising humans

Occupation

Scaring Humans

Location

Human Village[1], Myouren Temple[1] (Cemetery[2]), Hakurei Shrine[1], Moriya Shrine[1]

Music Themes
Appearances
Official Games
Print Works

Kogasa Tatara (多々良 小傘 Tatara Kogasa) is a karakasa obake whose sole purpose is to surprise people. However, she hasn't been very successful so far. She encounters the heroine on their way to catch up with the flying object on a mission to scare her, but it doesn't work. She was once a normal umbrella in the human world; forgotten by her owner, and no one else claimed her because the colour was unpopular at the time. As time went on, the wind swept her away to Gensokyo and she became a youkai. According to her profile in Undefined Fantastic Object, she is currently reading up on classic ghost stories in order to improve her scaring technique.

General Information

Personality

Kogasa is a cheery happy youkai, but gets easily depressed when things don't go her way (which is very often), typically when she fails to surprise someone despite her best efforts. She states that she wishes for vengeance on humans for being discarded in Undefined Fantastic Object. However, she's actually quite friendly to humans and her veangeance doesn't go beyond surprising and spooking humans. She gets genuinely pleased when she successfully surprises someone (or thinks she successfully surprised someone).

She despises not being taken seriously. She often attacks the protagonist in Undefined Fantastic Object in a fit of despair when she thinks they're making fun of her. She's displeased with children liking her eccentric design.

Kogasa seems to suffer from self-esteem problems, as she is easily pushed into lamenting about wondering what her purpose is or that she might be better off if she just went back to being an umbrella. Perhaps as a part of this, Kogasa seeks to discover a true purpose of existance for youkai, tsukumogamis, and herself. She has attempted this by starting a career in babysitting (which did not seem to go very well), surprising people (which also isn't going very well, though she's more successful ever since moving to the graveyard), and was even considering going back to being an umbrella just so she can be useful in that regard. She's stated to Aya Shameimaru in an interview that she's trying to imagine what humans want, and then plans on becoming that something they can use. Deep down, it appears this pitiable illegally dumped object and troubled forgotten item just wants to be desired.

Her depression may also be another attempt at getting attention. She can get so depressed upon failing to surprise someone that it can become "a bother". Reimu Hakurei notes in Undefined Fantastic Object that Kogasa seems to have lost the battle on purpose, to which Kogasa agrees. Kogasa comments that it might be sadism, although Reimu suspects it's something else. That Kogasa ironically treats umbrellas like garbage by throwing them in certain spell cards leads Hatate Himekaidou to wonder if she wants to be treated like garbage, herself.

Ability

Surprising Humans

This stated ability does not appear to be an actual ability beyond what anyone could do. Kogasa's observed attempts to surprise anyone hasn't really consisted of much more than her screaming "Boo!". Hatate Himekaidou notes that she hides in the darkness to attempt to surprise people, but her hiding places are obvious. Hieda no Akyuu describes her attempts as child's play, to the point where the greater "threat" from her is how bothersome it can be to deal with her after she gets depressed by her failure to surprise someone. She also states that it's sometimes better for someone to just pretend to be surprised in order to please her. From this statement, it does not appear that Kogasa is even able to discern when someone is genuinely surprised by her, despite how she's stated that surprising people is how she feeds. It is unknown if a person pretending to be surprised provides her with any sustenance, though it does make her happy.

Surprising the Player

Kogasa seems to have some interesting interactions with the fourth wall, such as her stated failure to defeat Yoshika Miyako in Ten Desires due to a "time out", her appearance on the Undefined Fantastic Object CD despite being stated by ZUN to not be involved with the story at all (the "surprise" coming from seeing her when you open the case), her appearance as the Undefined Fantastic Object extra-stage mid-boss despite not having any relation to the story at all which comes complete with a "Surprise!" sound effect to hammer the point home (the only extra-stage mid-boss in the series to have no real involvement in the story), and dropping the first full power-up in Ten Desires upon her defeat. It is unknown if this is an in-story canon ability (after all, one can't be held back by common sense in Gensokyo) or just an out-of-story running gag.

Spell Cards

Judging by the names and graphics of her danmaku, Kogasa appears to use rain and light attacks in her spell cards (including a rainbow). From a statement by Hatate Himekaidou, the extremely large spinning danmaku orbs that Kogasa throws are actually umbrellas, which creates an awkward sight of an umbrella attacking by throwing other umbrellas. Her train spell cards are actually extremely dense umbrella barages thrown so fast and so close together that they appear to be a train. Her "Karakasa Surprising Flash" seems to be a blinding flash of light. Finally, her "Umbrella Cyclone" spell card and the fact that her rain attacks can be angled may indicate she may use stormy winds as well, but this is uncertain.

Backstory

According to Kogasa's conversation with Sanae in Undefined Fantastic Object, as far as Kogasa could tell, she was an umbrella that was thrown out by her original owner because her design was a little off. Unwanted and undesired, the divine spirit residing within the umbrella became angered after being abandoned. Hoping to get back at the human that threw her out, Kogasa became a youkai. She then (badly) modified her own appearance to look more ferocious and youkai-like, and her quest for revenge on humanity (by surprising them!) had begun.

It is unknown when Kogasa was first abandoned as an umbrella to become a tsukumogami. However, she's expressed to Reimu how she misses the old days when youkai ruled the night, and people even slightly surprised by her weren't able to walk straight. Reimu finds her "old-time" stories uninteresting, and Marisa comments that Kogasa is "really behind the times." This would imply that Kogasa has been around for a long time.

Character Basis

Kogasa as depicted in
Symposium of Post-mysticism

Name

The characters for Kogasa (小傘) mean "little umbrella". Tatara (踏鞴) is the traditional Japanese method of smelting iron. Many workers lost an eye checking the colour of the fire to measure its temperature and/or a leg pushing the tatara furnaces. They wore geta to avoid the heat of floor which brought about the tale of the Ippon Datara, a one-eyed, one-legged youkai that somewhat resembles a karakasa obake. [3]. Akyu in Symposium of Post-mysticism states that Kogasa modified the appearance of her umbrella to resemble this youkai, and believes she derives her name from it.

Design

Kogasa has turquoise hair, one turquoise eye and one red eye. Wears a blue-green vest with white sleeves and a light blue skirt. Uses a purple umbrella with an eye and a tongue protruding from it. The design purpose of her eyes is likely to be retaining the appearance of Karakasa obake, which is an one-eyed youkai, by blending her right eye into her hair that has the same color, and to high-light the left-red eye as an one-eyed one.

Story

Attention: This section is a stub and it needs expanding with more information related to the section's topic. If you can add to it in any way, please do so. You may improve one (or more) of the following points:
  • Insert the summaries
Undefined Fantastic Object

Kogasa's role in Undefined Fantastic Object is rather limited. In Stage 2, she appears twice, trying to surprise the heroine, who doesn't particularly want anything to do with her, as she is slowing her pursuit of the flying object. They engage in a high-speed aerial battle that inevitably ends with Kogasa's defeat and the heroine's arrival at the flying object. Also inevitably, she misinterprets what the heroine says as the answer to how to surprise humans. She returns in the extra stage under the assumption that it being night is enough to scare humans, and is defeated once again by the heroine. As such, she is the only character that is completely unrelated to the story in Undefined Fantastic Object, as well as the only unrelated character to be in an Extra Stage.

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She does threaten to wreck Sanae Kochiya's shrine in Sanae B's story, but is threatened right back.

Ten Desires

After the events of Undefined Fantastic Object, she has been plotting to go scare Byakuren at her newly-built temple. In Ten Desires, she takes to the cemetery adjacent to the Myouren Temple and the surrounding sky, but runs afoul of newcomer Yoshika Miyako. However, after asking the heroine to help her banish Yoshika, she also receives a beating.

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Relationships

Myouren Temple

Kogasa has a neutral relationship with Myouren Temple and is not registered as a member of this faction. Her purpose of staying there is to scare the humans that frequently visit it's cemetery.[1]

Minor or Unknown Meetings or Associations

Yoshika Miyako

Yoshika Miyako's presence in the cemetery becomes an unknown threat for Kogasa.

Hakurei Shrine[1] & Moriya Shrine[1]

These locations are listed as places that Kogasa frequents in Symposium of Post-mysticism, but no reason is given. In Undefined Fantastic Object, Kogasa tells Sanae that she is considering going to Sanae's shrine to wreck the place as revenge for Sanae being mean to her, which may indicate a possible reason..

Spell Cards

Spellcards
Name Translated Comments Games Stage
Total: 18
大輪「からかさ後光」 Large Ring "Umbrella Halo" UFO St. 2: E/N
大輪「ハロウフォゴットンワールド」 Large Ring "Hello Forgotten World" UFO
GoU
St. 2: H/L
傘符「パラソルスターシンフォニー」 Umbrella Sign "Parasol Star Symphony" Reference to the game Parasol Stars UFO St. 2: E/N
傘符「パラソルスターメモリーズ」 Umbrella Sign "Parasol Star Memories" Reference to the game Parasol Stars UFO St. 2: H/L
雨符「雨夜の怪談」 Rain Sign "A Rainy Night's Ghost Story" UFO St. 2: E/N
雨傘「超撥水かさかさお化け」 Umbrella "Super Water-Repelling Bone-Dry Monster" UFO St. 2: H/L
化符「忘れ傘の夜行列車」 Monster Sign "A Forgotten Umbrella's Night Train" Based off of people leaving their umbrellas behind on trains[4] UFO St. 2: E/N
化鉄「置き傘特急ナイトカーニバル」 Monster Train "Spare Umbrella Express Night Carnival" UFO St. 2: H/L
傘符「大粒の涙雨」 Umbrella Sign "Lightly Falling Large Raindrops" UFO St. Ex
驚雨「ゲリラ台風」 Surprising Rain "Guerrilla Typhoon" UFO St. Ex
後光「からかさ驚きフラッシュ」 Halo "Karakasa Surprising Flash" UFO St. Ex
傘符「一本足ピッチャー返し」 Umbrella Sign "One-Legged Return Hit" DS St. 3
虹符「オーバー・ザ・レインボー」 Rainbow Sign "Over The Rainbow" DS
GoU
St. 3
傘符「細雪の過客」 Umbrella Sign "Flurry Travelers" DS St. 3
虹符「アンブレラサイクロン」 Rainbow Sign "Umbrella Cyclone" TD St. 3: H/L
雨洞「レイニーケイブ」 Rain Cavern "Rainy Cave" SFW Story
水砲「グラウンドウォーターストリーム」 Water Cannon "Ground Water Stream" SFW Story
跳傘「大時化サプライズ」 Leaping Umbrella "Stormy Weather Surprise" SFW Story

Additional Information

Surprise~
  • She is the only character in Undefined Fantastic Object that has no role in the story.
  • She is the only Touhou character so far to have two different eye colours, known as heterochromia.
  • Her surprise appearance as the Extra stage of Undefined Fantastic Object midboss was a surprise to the user who played the game. She even appears on the Undefined Fantastic Object disc with a small caption above her that reads 'おどろけー' (Surprise~), making Kogasa one of the few characters to indirectly muddle with the 4th wall, another example being, coincidentally, Sanae.
  • In Undefined Fantastic Object, she says "Urameshiya". "Urameshii" means to be jealous or bitter, while "ya" is similar to saying desu or da. It's often translated as "I'm envious," or simply "Boo," which has become her catchphrase in fandom.
    • Ghosts, youkai, and possessed objects (such as Karakasa obake) are said to belong to a lower realm in the Six Realms of Buddhist belief. "Urameshiya" is often said by such creatures to express envy towards humans, whose place in the Human Realm affords them less suffering. Thus, "I envy your life!" would be a more appropriate translation, although it tends to be used in the same context as "Boo!"
  • It is possible, although not likely, that the idea for Kogasa came from the umbrella which the Vaisravana holds in his right hand; however, because she doesn't have any relationship to the other characters(and that umbrella is said to bring peace and protect the Vaisravana's treasure, not surprise people), this seems like a stretch.

Fandom

  • Due to Reimu A's scenario in Undefined Fantastic Object, where Kogasa utters the word "sadism" (even though Reimu points out that it should be the opposite) the phrase 「さでずむ」 or "sadism" has become a meme associated with Kogasa.
  • She is also often depicted as bullied by Sanae Kochiya, possibly because of Sanae's cold words in her dialogue in Undefined Fantastic Object (although Reimu's dialogue with her was a lot colder in comparison).
  • Fans have noticed she looks similar to Yuuka Kazami in style. Both have short hair, and also wields an umbrella.
    • Since that, most fans think she is the new youkai moe.
  • There has been some question as to which is the actual Kogasa, the girl or the umbrella. A number of people have expressed their opinion that the girl is merely a spiritual extension of the true karakasa obake. This opinion is supported by the fact that her umbrella has Geta at the bottom. Sumposium of Post-Mysticism clarifies that both the girl and the umbrella are Kogasa, and the two can not be separated (presumably not without what would basically be the equivalent of chopping or ripping off a limb or head for a normal person).
  • She's similar to Chen in Perfect Cherry Blossom in that she appears as both bosses of stage two and an extra stage midboss. But unlike Chen, she has no relation to the boss of the extra stage.
  • Because she is the only character who is not involved in the main plot of Undefined Fantastic Object, many fanworks include her with Nue Houjuu because of her appearance in the extra stage. Sometimes she is simply seen as part of the entire Undefined Fantastic Object cast.
    • In Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 12, Kogasa is not grouped with the Myouren Temple with the rest of the Undefined Fantastic Object cast but appears in a later page as a cameo at the festival in the Hakurei Shrine which was rivaling the Myouren Temple for publicity. Akyuu makes sure to clarify in Symposium of Post-mysticism that just because Kogasa frequents the cemetary does not mean she is a member of the temple.
    • While living in the graveyard in the back of Myouren Temple, no relationship is stated. She was one of the victims of Suika Ibuki's sneak attacks around the temple, Mamizou Futatsuiwa refered to her as the karakasa obake in the cemetery in a way that made her sound like non-affiliated youkai. Because Mamizou talked about the youkai in training were attack and how attacking youkai who don't assult humans is too extreme, Kasen questioned about Kogasa not even being a youkai in training at all and why she was in the cemetery. She was apparently just playing around, but her purpose to surprise humans in the cemetery is known from Ten Desires making her a bad example for Mamizou as shown by Kasen's reaction.
  • Some fanart has Kogasa be "surprisingly" shapely under her clothes, playing on the surprise aspect of Kogasa's nature. In such a regard, she's quite successful in surprising others with her figure.

Official Profiles

Undefined Fantastic Object - Settings and Extra Story.txt
Kogasa Tatara UFO  ○2面ボス  愉快な忘れ傘

  多々良 小傘(たたら こがさ)
  Tatara Kogasa

  種族:からかさお化け
  能力:人間を驚かす程度の能力

  使われなくなった傘が化けた者。
  彼女は元々は忘れ物の傘だったのだが、配色が不人気で誰も拾ってく
  れる事もなく、雨風に飛ばされているうちに妖怪になった者である。

  人間に実害を与えることは少なく、ただ驚く人間を見て気分がすっと
  させるのである。
  しかし最近は驚いてくれる人間が少なく、ただいま驚かし方を古典的
  な怪談を見て勉強中。

Stage 2 boss The Cheery Forgotten Umbrella


Kogasa Tatara

Race: karakasa obake
Ability: Surprising humans

An umbrella that was left unused and became a youkai.
She was originally an umbrella that someone forgot, but since the colour is unpopular, nobody ever picked her up, and she was carried off by the wind and became a youkai.

She rarely really hurts anyone, she just likes watching people be surprised.
However, not many people have been surprised by her, so she's reading classic ghost stories to improve her technique.

Kogasa Tatara ○エキストラ中ボス  愉快な忘れ傘

  多々良 小傘(たたら こがさ)
  Tatara Kogasa

  人を脅かすなら夜じゃなきゃいけないんだ
  と思ってやってきた。
  人間が驚いてくれたかどうか、それは判らない。
  今回唯一の通りすがりの妖怪。
  新しく幻想郷に寺を造った白蓮でも驚かしに行くかと策略中。

Extra stage midboss The Cheery, Forgotten Umbrella


Kogasa Tatara

She figured you'd be best off trying to surprise people at night,
so that's why she showed up.
She didn't know if anyone would really be surprised or not.
She is the only passerby youkai in this game.
She's currently thinking of plotting to go startle Byakuren, who just opened a temple in Gensokyo.

Ten Desires - キャラ設定とエキストラストーリー.txt
Kogasa Tatara TD  ○3面中ボス  お困りの忘れ物

  多々良 小傘(たたら こがさ)
  Tatara Kogasa

  種族:唐傘お化け
  能力:人間を驚かす程度の能力

  お寺の周りをフラフラしている妖怪傘。
  唐傘お化けと墓地の相性は良く、殆どの時間墓地で暮している。
  何故なら、街中では驚いてくれない人間でも、お墓参りに来ているときは簡単に驚いてくれるのだ。やったね。凄いね。

  しかし、そんな幸せ絶頂の彼女にも事件が起きた。

  墓地の奥で見た事もない妖怪が現れ、我が物顔で近寄らせないようにし始めたのだ。


  その妖怪とコンタクトを取ろうとしたが、全く会話にならず、危険を感じた彼女は、その妖怪を強制的に追い出そうとした。

  しかし暖簾に腕押し。糠に釘。
  いくら攻撃しても手応えが感じられず、結局逃げ帰ってきてしまった。


  お寺の連中に助けを求めようかとと逡巡していると、見た事のある人間がやってきたのだ。かつて何度か戦った事のある人間だった。

  「きっとあの妖怪を倒しに来たんだわ」そう思った彼女は、思い切ってお願いする事にした。


  それがこのざまである。

Stage 3 midboss Greatly Troubled Lost Article


Kogasa Tatara

Race: karakasa obake
Ability: Surprising humans

A youkai umbrella that wanders around the sky above the temple.
She found her place in the cemetery, and found herself living in the cemetery most of the time.
This is because while humans that are rarely surprised in the middle of the road, they are easily scared when they are in the cemetery. And she finally did it. Amazing.

But an incident has crept up to disrupt her truly happy time.

A youkai who was never seen before has been appearing from the inside of the cemetery, and has been moving around like it was its home ever since.

She tried to get in contact with that youkai, but she couldn't communicate with the youkai at all. Feeling threatened, she wanted to shoo away the youkai forcefully.

But that ended up as futility. No matter how she attacked, she couldn't get a response out of it, so she escaped.

While she was considering whether she should ask for help of the members of the temple, she saw those humans that she saw before. They were those, whom she encountered and fought several times before.

And so she thought, "They must have come to defeat that youkai!" and decided to ask boldly.

And she ended up like this.

Official Sources

Official sources

References