Strange Creators of Outer World/Who's Who of Humans & Youkai in Gensokyo/Hata no Kokoro

Kokoro Whos Who.png
幻想郷人妖名鑑
(はたの) こころ
Who's Who of Humans & Youkai in Gensokyo
Hata no Kokoro
種族
面霊気
Species
Menreiki
活動範囲
人間の里、ほか
Place of Activity
Human Village, etc.
主な能力
感情を司る程度の能力
Main Abilities
Ability to manipulate emotions
活動
暇つぶし
Activities
Killing time
こころは、古いお面が付喪神となった妖怪・面霊気という妖怪で、「東方心綺楼」のラスボスとして初登場した。彼女は全部で六十六のお面で構成されていて、見た目は人間の姿をしているが彼女の本体はお面だ。こころがお面を被ると面ごとに割り当てられた感情をこころ自身が抱くだけでなく、周囲にいる人々にも感情が伝播する能力を持つ。人間の姿のほうは基本的に無表情で感情を表に出すことはほとんどないが、感情そのものは備わっており、自身の喜怒哀楽の面を被って主張してくる。 First debuting as the final boss of Hopeless Masquerade, Kokoro is a type of youkai called a "menreiki", a tsukumogami born from old masks. She's made up of sixty-six masks, and despite her human appearance, her true body is her masks. When Kokoro wears a mask, not only does she express the emotions assigned to each mask, but also has the ability to propagate those emotions to those around her. The human figure is basically expressionless and rarely shows her feelings, but she still has human emotions, and insists on wearing masks to express herself.
「希望の面」が行方不明に The Missing "Mask of Hope"
普段は六十六の面が揃うことで自らの能力をコントロールできていたこころだが、面の一つ「希望の面」が不慮の事故で失われてしまったことをきっかけに能力が暴走。里の人間たちに閉塞感が蔓延することになってしまった。困ったこころは特定の人物に集まった人々の希望を奪うことで、希望の面の代替品とすることを目論んだが、霊夢らによって阻止された。 Normally, Kokoro was able to control her abilities using her combined sixty-six masks, but her abilities went haywire once she ended up losing one of her masks, the Mask of Hope, in an unforeseen accident. A sense of hopelessness had spread to the people of the Human Village. The troubled Kokoro had intended to substitute her Mask of Hope by depriving the Human Villagers of their hope for a particular person, but Reimu and the others stopped her.
この一件を反省材料とすべく、こころは面に頼らずに感情を学ぶべく、人間や妖怪に決闘を仕掛けたり、オカルトボールに手を出したり、完全憑依の実験に手を貸すなどさまざまな異変にも首を突っ込んでいくようになる。その後完全憑依異変の際には、感情を論理的に覚えた結果として他人の感情が読めるようになったという。人間味を得ようとした結果、妖怪らしさのほうが増してしまったのでは? In order to reflect on this incident, Kokoro had gotten involved in various incidents as she engaged in duels with humans and youkai, got her hands on the Occult Balls, and helped out in an experiment with Perfect Possession in order to study emotions without having to rely on her masks. Thereafter, during the Perfect Possession incident, she became able to read the emotions of others as a result of logically remembering said emotions. Could it be that she ended up acquiring more youkai-like manners as a result of trying to obtain a taste of human behavior?
面について About the Masks
こころの面は、能や狂言の原型となった申楽(さるがく)の祖、秦河勝が使っていたもの。だが、元をたどれば豊聡耳神子が河勝に命じて作ったものだと神子は言う。長い時間を経た道具は付喪神となるというが、道具が道具なら作った者も大概な存在であった。なお、無くなった希望の面は古明地こいしが地割れで拾ったと発言していることから、紛失のきっかけが間欠泉騒動だった可能性がある。 Kokoro's masks were first used by Hata no Kawakatsu​, the founder of Sarugaku and the model for Noh and Kyougen. However, according to Toyosatomimi no Miko, the source of Kawakatsu's masks can be traced back to Miko herself. It's said that tools that live for a long enough time turn into tsukumogami, but if a tool was just a tool, then those who made it could also be considered a part of that. As for the lost mask, it was said that Koishi Komeiji picked up the mask after it fell through a crack in the ground, so it's possible that the geyser incident was the reason said mask got lost in the first place.


Comment from ZUN Comment from ZUN
無表情キャラなので、ぼーっとしていてお面にのっとられているような、幽霊っぽいイメージでした。結果的に激しい動きをしているけど(笑)。本体がお面なら、被る者が必要だろうってことで人間っぽい部分を用意したんだけど、結局なんなんだろうね。やっぱり霊? こころのお面は基本は喜怒哀楽の四種で十分なんだけど、「喜」と「楽」って用途が被るよね。その使い分けには悩みました。 Since Kokoro is an expressionless character, I had her give off a ghostly vibe, like she was in a daze after being hijacked by the masks. As a result, her movements are quite extreme (haha). Since her true body is the mask, I gave her a humanoid part because a mask would need someone to wear it, but I wonder what that could ultimately be. Is she a spirit after all? As for Kokoro's masks, four different emotions would've been enough, but "joy" and "comfort" have their uses. I was worried about how to use them properly.