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She never imagined she would be sent flying back above ground by a geyser.<br />
She never imagined she would be sent flying back above ground by a geyser.<br />
And so, she made a pledge:<br />
And so, she made a pledge:<br />
"This time, I'll be the one to save Byakuren. Yes, riding the ship that Byakuren created."
"Now it's my turn to rescue Byakuren. Yes, riding the ship she created."
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Revision as of 05:45, 17 January 2021

村紗 (むらさ)  水蜜 (みなみつ)
mɯɽasa mʲinamʲit͡sɯ (♫)
Minamitsu Murasa
Minamitu Murasa

More Alternative Spellings
Minamitsu Murasa
Minamitsu Murasa in Undefined Fantastic Object
The Ghost Left From the Shipwreck Accident
More Character Titles
Nickname

Captain Murasa (ムラサ船長)

Species

Ship Phantom

Abilities

Causing shipwrecks

Age

Dead

Occupation

Captain

Location

Palanquin Ship/Myouren Temple, Misty Lake[1], The Wind God's Lake[1], Genbu Ravine[1], Sanzu River[1]

Music Themes
Appearances
Official Games
Print Works

Minamitsu Murasa (村紗 水蜜 Murasa Minamitsu) is the spirit of a young drowning victim who afterwards became a notorious threat due to her power to sink ships. She is currently the captain of the Palanquin Ship, searching for the fragments of the Flying Storage. She meets the heroine as she is completing the preparations to travel to Makai. Her unique weapons include the anchors she uses, as well as her ladle, which is apparently bottomless, according to an interview with ZUN and her spell card comments in Double Spoiler.

General Information

Minamitsu is a ghost who died long ago in a shipwreck. She first appeared as the Fourth stage boss of Undefined Fantastic Object. Because she was attached out in the sea, she couldn't cross the Sanzu River, so she stayed in Gensokyo.

Personality

While Minamitsu is a rather fearsome phantom, she is still kind-hearted with a bright personality. Mainly due to her ties with the Myouren Temple, she could empathize with humans and her victims, and thus chooses them more carefully. She also chats with the victims she capsizes.

Ability

Causing shipwrecks

Minamitsu possesses the ability to cause shipwrecks. Her ability appears to be odd compared to a regular ghost, which is because she drowned at sea a long time ago. Due to a certain attachment to the ocean she kept capsizing passing ships. She can also drown anyone near water, which goes as far as drowning someone who is bathing in hot spring water, or sitting peacefully near a river's edge. This is also why she is seen around places with a lot of water. However, Gensokyo does not have any seas, so this ability seldom plays a major role.

Occupation

While she was alive she was the captain of a ship, but after she was drowned with it she did nothing but capsize other ships. When Byakuren Hijiri eventually arrived she was asked to steer her old ship, the eventual Palanquin Ship. Currently she is a follower of the Myouren Temple.

Possessions

She carries her own ladle, which she uses to flood the ships of her victims with water. In her early ghost years she used to ask for a ladle, though. She also carries an anchor which she uses in battle, but its significance aside from that is unknown.

Backstory

After her death, Minamitsu became a spirit, bound to the ocean due to her lingering attachment to the world. Because of her spite, she eventually became renowned far and wide for capsizing ships. Many feared her, and tried to think of ways to somehow restrict her actions, but it wasn't until the monk Byakuren Hijiri was asked to do something about it that the situation changed. Minamitsu, knowing how famous the monk was at the time, believed she would be able to extend her influence even farther by sinking her, as well, and perhaps even escape her connection to the ocean and attack humans on land.

However, when Byakuren did appear before her on the seas completely defenseless, Minamitsu sunk her ship easily, prompting the spirit to wonder why. Byakuren then reappeared on the surface atop a shining ship, which she had constructed using the ship Minamitsu had died on as a design. Moved by the monk's insight and her own sense of nostalgia, she accepted Byakuren's offer to captain the shining ship.

Eventually, after Byakuren was sealed away, Minamitsu was "buried" into the ground along with her ship. Having been long forgotten, Minamitsu and the rest of the youkai were pushed above ground in Gensokyo by a geyser - likely due to the events in Subterranean Animism - along with the palanquin ship and the fragments of the floating vault.

Character Design

Murasa, as illustrated in Symposium of Post-mysticism

Origin

She is a ship phantom (船幽霊 funa yuurei), the ghost of a girl who drowned at sea. These types of ghosts are famous in Japanese folklore for capsizing and sinking ships, which inspired her character background and spell cards. Her ladle goes with the folklore; the ghost would approach you and demand a ladle, and then you would save yourself by giving them a ladle with a hole in the bottom.

Name

Her full name is Minamitsu Murasa (村紗 水蜜 Murasa Minamitsu) Her given name "Minamitsu" (水蜜) is a word that usually refers to the type of peach suimitsu tou (水蜜桃) or the peach itself (literally, it means "water honey"). Her surname "Murasa" (村紗) is taken from the type of ship phantom called murasa (ムラサ) known in the Oki District, Shimane. Similar to Satori Komeiji and Nue Houjuu whose names also taken from their species' name, it's assumed that when she's referred by the name written in kanji, it's referring her by her own name, while using the name in katakata she is referred by her species.[2] She is more commonly known as "Captain Murasa".

Design

Minamitsu has short, black hair and a teal eyecolor. Her clothes are designed after a regular sailor's outfit, with a white shirt and skirt with blue lines. Around her neck she has a neckerchief. In some of her spell cards, she is seen with a green aura, most likely her ghost form. ZUN stated in an interview that the design for Minamitsu was the hardest to finish. He had much more sketches of Minamitsu with different hairstyles and haircolor in comparison to the other characters from Undefined Fantastic Object. He also couldn't decide whether a long or short skirt was better for Minamitsu. Fans got confused whether she wore a skirt or shorts, but art such as in Hopeless Masquerade proves to be a skirt.

Story

Games

Undefined Fantastic Object
Minamitsu's sprite in UFO

In Undefined Fantastic Object, Minamitsu meets the heroine as she is making preparations for the ship to go to Hokkai via Makai, where Byakuren Hijiri is being sealed. Along with Nazrin, Ichirin Kumoi, Unzan and Shou Toramaru, she is one of the youkai trying to unseal her. Unlike Ichirin, she learns that the heroine doesn't have any particular motive to help the group, and attacks in order to take the fragments of the treasure back. Though she loses out in the end, she had already placed the ship in auto-pilot, so it was too late for the heroine to escape.

Spin-offs

Double Spoiler
Murasa in HM

In Double Spoiler, Murasa appeared as a stage 5 target, where she uses a few spell cards and had Aya Shameimaru and Hatate Himekaidou take photos of her and her danmaku.

Hopeless Masquerade

Murasa made a background cameo appearance in Hopeless Masquerade on the Palanquin Ship stage. She is seen standing on the ship with an anchor.

Relationships

Byakuren Hijiri

Minamitsu has a very strong relationship with Byakuren, as she is pretty much the youkai captain's savior. After reappearing in Gensokyo, she made a pledge that she would return the favor and rescue Byakuren this time.

Shou Toramaru, Ichirin Kumoi & Nazrin

She is a colleague of both Shou and Ichirin, though it's unknown exactly how or when they met.

Gallery

Illustrations

Screenshots

Spell Cards

Spell cards
Name Translated Comments Games Stage
Total: 16
転覆「道連れアンカー」 Capsize "Dragging Anchor" UFO St. 4: E/N
転覆「沈没アンカー」 Capsize "Foundering Anchor" UFO St. 4: H
転覆「撃沈アンカー」 Capsize "Sinking Anchor" UFO St. 4: L
溺符「ディープヴォーテックス」 Drowning Sign "Deep Vortex" UFO St. 4: E/N
溺符「シンカブルヴォーテックス」 Drowning Sign "Sinkable Vortex" UFO St. 4: H/L
湊符「ファントムシップハーバー」 Harbor Sign "Phantom Ship Harbor" UFO St. 4: E/N
湊符「幽霊船の港」 Harbor Sign "Phantom Ship's Port" UFO St. 4: H
湊符「幽霊船永久停泊」 Harbor Sign "Phantom Ship's Eternal Anchorage" UFO
GoU
St. 4: L
幽霊「シンカーゴースト」 Phantom "Sinker Ghost" UFO St. 4: N
幽霊「忍び寄る柄杓」 Phantom "Dipper Creeping Close" UFO St. 4: H/L
錨符「幽霊船長期停泊」 Anchor Sign "Phantom Ship's Long-Term Anchorage" DS St. 5
浸水「船底のヴィーナス」 Flood "Venus of the Bilge" DS
GoU
St. 5
「ディープシンカー」 "Deep Sinker" DS St. 5
時化「ストーミーセーリング」 Stormy Weather "Stormy Sailing" SFW
沈没「強欲な亡者達の海域」 Sinking "Ocean Region of the Greedy Dead" SFW
「舟符「キャプテンムラサの不幸な出航」 Boat Sign "Captain Murasa's Misfortunate Embarkation" SFW

Additional Information

  • Her stage theme has a distinctive Windows XP balloon hint "pop" around 2:10, which probably got in the recording, as stated in ZUN's Twitter.
  • Like Aya Shameimaru in Mountain of Faith, Minamitsu Murasa doesn't seem to have a gimmick/variation based on the playable character (which is something usual in stage 4 bosses). Though, both have a timeout spell card on Normal, Hard and Lunatic.

Fandom

Official Profiles

Undefined Fantastic Object - Settings and Extra Story.txt
Minamitsu Murasa UFO  ○4面ボス  水難事故の念縛霊

  村紗 水蜜(むらさ みなみつ)

  種族:舟幽霊
  能力:水難事故を引き起こす程度の能力


  遥か昔、海で舟が転覆して亡くなった人間の霊。
  未練から海を離れることが出来ず、そこに通りかかった舟を転覆させる毎日を送っていた。

  彼女は人間から恐れられた。
  人間の恐怖の念が彼女を妖怪に変え、ますます自分の自由な行動が制限されるようになった。
  その妖怪は、彼女の名前からムラサと呼ばれた。

  そんなある日、彼女に転機が訪れる。
  彼女の元にムラサを退治して欲しい、と依頼された一人の僧侶がやってきたのだ。

  彼女にとっても願ったり叶ったりであった。
  もうただの人間を乗せた舟を沈めても、妖怪としての力(恐怖)は上がらないと思っていたからだ。
  その僧侶、聞けば大層名のある僧侶だと言う。そんな僧侶を乗せた舟を沈めれば、当然妖怪としての格が上がるだろう。
  それが成功すれば、私を縛る呪われた海から離れて人間を襲う事も出来るかも知れない。

  ――数日後、彼女を退治しにやってきた僧侶を乗せた舟が近づいた。
  舟には僧侶の他にも数人の人間が乗っていた。
  彼女はありったけの力で、脅してやろうと思った。
  ありったけの力で、僧侶の法力を破ってやろうと思った。

  しかし彼女の予想が外れ、僧侶は完全に無防備であった。
  ただの人間より手応えが無かったのだ。
  あっという間に舟は沈み、数名の人間は全て海に投げ出された。

  彼女は落胆した。
  こんな手応えの無い相手を倒したって何の自慢にもならない。
  そう思っていた彼女の眼に信じられない光景が映った。

  僧侶は海の上に居た。
  さっき転覆させた舟とは異なる、光り輝く舟に乗っていたのだ。
  しかもその舟は、遥か昔私が乗っていた物であった。

  「貴方はこの舟を探していたのでしょう?
   だから違う舟は全て転覆させてきた」

  僧侶は自分の法力で光の舟を創りだしていたのだ。

  「その舟は……!
   ああ懐かしい……なんで」

  妖怪となった彼女には、剣や矢よりも精神的な攻撃の方が怖かった。
  僧侶はその事を知っていた。

  「私達を乗せてきた舟は、不慮の水難事故で沈んでしまいました。
   私の法力で新しい舟を創りましたが、これは特殊な舟で操れる者が居ません」

  僧侶は、水から離れられない私に手をさしのべた。

  「この舟を操るのは貴方です」

  その言葉で、彼女は呪われた海を捨てる事が出来た。

  それから数十年後。
  妖怪を救う白蓮が、人間達に捕らわれ封印されてしまった。
  それと同時に、白蓮に関わる物品も、地底奥深くに埋められてしまった。
  村紗もまた、飛倉と共に埋められてしまったのである。

  まさか間欠泉と共に再び地上に現れる事になるとは、彼女自身も予想していなかった。
  そして誓う。
  今度は私が白蓮を救う番だ、と。そう、白蓮が生み出した舟に乗って。

○Stage 4 Boss  The Ghost of the Shipwreck Accident

Minamitsu Murasa

Species: Ship phantom
Ability: Causing shipwrecks

The spirit of a human who fell off a ship and drowned in the distant past; due to her lingering attachment to this world, she was bound to the ocean and spent her days capsizing passing ships.

Humans feared her.
Their fears turned her into a youkai, and over time, her ability to act freely was getting more and more restricted.
People called her Murasa, based on her original name.

And so one day she reached a turning point.
A Buddhist priest who'd been asked to vanquish Murasa appeared.

It was everything she'd wished for, too. She didn't think she could expand her power of fear as a youkai just by sinking ships with normal humans on them anymore. The monk that appeared was apparently very well known. Her status as a youkai would surely rise if she could sink the ship the monk was on. "If I succeed," she thought, "Maybe I can even free myself from this cursed ocean and attack the humans."

―― A few days later, the ship bearing the monk who'd come to defeat her approached.
There were a few other humans besides the monk on that ship.
She thought she'd use all her strength to threaten them.
She thought she'd use all her strength to destroy the monk's Buddhist powers.

But, contrary to her expectations, the monk was completely defenseless.
She got no response from her beyond that of a normal human.
Before she knew it, the ship was sunk, and all of the people on it were flung into the sea.

This discouraged her.
There was no pride to be taken in defeating someone so powerless.
As she thought that, an unbelievable spectacle unfolded before her.

The monk was floating above the ocean.
"She's riding a shining boat—and it's not the one I just capsized.
In fact, that's the ship that I rode in so long ago."

"You were looking for this ship, right?
That's why you sunk all of those other ships."

The monk had made the shining ship using her own powers.

"That ship ... ... !
Ah, how nostalgic ... ... but why?"

A youkai like her was much more afraid of spiritual attacks than swords or arrows.
The monk knew this well.

"The ship that brought us here was sunk in a shipwreck.
I've used my powers to make a new ship, but this is a very special ship, so there's no one that can captain it."

The monk extended her hand out to me, into the oceans to which I was bound.

"But you can captain this ship."

And with those words, she was able to leave these cursed oceans behind.

A few decades passed.
Byakuren, the youkai saviour, had been captured and sealed by humans.
At the same time, anything related to Byakuren was buried deep beneath the earth.
Murasa, too, had been buried deep beneath the earth with the Flying Storage.

She never imagined she would be sent flying back above ground by a geyser.
And so, she made a pledge:
"Now it's my turn to rescue Byakuren. Yes, riding the ship she created."

Official Sources

Official sources

References