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Yin-Yang Orb

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陰陽玉 (おんみょうぎょく)
Yin-Yang Orb
Th05Yin-YangOrb.png
The Yin-Yang Orb in Mystic Square
Species

Spirit??

Abilities

Spiritual Power

Occupation

Reimu's aid

Location

Hakurei Shrine

Appearances
Official Games
Print Works
Miscellaneous Works
Other

The Yin-Yang Orb (陰陽玉 Onmyou-dama or Onmyou-gyoku) is an orb with the appearance of a yin-yang symbol, used by Reimu Hakurei. Ever since Highly Responsive to Prayers, they've been Reimu's prime weapon.

General Information

The Yin-Yang orbs has appeared in every game Reimu Hakurei has appeared in, from early PC-98 to the latest Windows game. They appear next to her and are used in many of her attacks, either firing danmaku or being used as projectiles themselves.

Due to the canonicity between the PC-98 and the Windows era, there's somewhat mixed information about the Orbs. This information is split into two as followed:

  • In the PC-98 era, the Yin-Yang Orbs are stored with spiritual power made from a wondrous type of crystal and are the greatest treasure of the Hakurei Shrine, in which a soul dwells within.[1][2] In Story of Eastern Wonderland, Mima explains that only a blood member of the Hakurei clan may use the orbs, of which Reimu is the last living member. They are an extremely effective weapon against non-humans (youkai) and can be used for good or for evil. The orbs' power works by constantly absorbing the power of its user over time, where once they've been filled with the user's power, they can release all the stored energy at once, and then start the cycle over again.
  • In the Windows era, Reimu continues to use the Yin-Yang Orbs as her main weapon but their history is not referenced. Unknown to her, the true source of their anti-youkai properties is the god of the Hakurei Shrine, for whom they act as a go-shintai.

During the PC-98, it was treated as a type of character, but this doesn't seem to be the case in the Windows era since it's seen as an object.

Character Design

Origin

The following is based on the Yin-Yang Orb's ending scenarios in Highly Responsive to Prayers. Reimu's wish for the destruction of Earth is actually a reference to the final boss in the shoot 'em up Metal Black, a game ZUN cites as an influence for his very early games. The other creature, called a "mountain-walker", appears in Izumi Takemoto's manga Loop Salada. Izumi Takemoto is a manga artist whose works are referenced in various places in the Touhou Project.

Name

It's full name is the Yin-Yang Orb (陰陽玉 Onmyou-dama or Onmyou-gyoku). The first two kanji Onmyou (陰陽) mean "yin and yang", with on () being the yin meaning "dark" and you () being the yang mean "light". The kanji Gyoku () literally means "Ball", "Sphere" or "Jade" (a green gem).

Design

Tiny wish-granting fairy
tiny wish-granting fairy
Joyful spherical creature
Joyful spherical creature

The Yin-Yang Orb appears to be a typical taijitu (yin-yang symbol) made of some type of crystal. Its true form is unknown.

In Highly Responsive to Prayers Makai route good ending, the ball transformed into a tiny fairy with a white dress and pink hair. In the Hell route good ending, the ball transformed into a strange creature resembling a white ball with stick-like legs and a top hat.

The Yin-Yang Orbs' Appearances

PC-98

Highly Responsive to Prayers
Sprite of the Yin-Yang Orb in HRtP

The Shrine Maiden Reimu Hakurei is able to frantically persuade a bouncing Yin-Yang orb to hit various on-screen targets, "cards" and "bosses" alike. The Yin-Yang Orb is her only true weapon against the powerful enemies, but she lacks the training to be able to fully control it. As such, she must avoid contact with it at all times; should the orb impact Reimu, she will be hit, and a life will be lost. However, Reimu can knock and manoeuvre the Yin-Yang Orb around by whacking it with her gohei, slide-tackling it or firing an ofuda at it. Only the Yin-Yang orb can damage the enemies, so simply firing your shots at enemies will have no effect.

When the orb passes over a card in the field, the card is considered to be hit (though no actual collision occurs). In most cases, a single hit is enough to overturn a card and eliminate it from the field, though in later stages, occasional cards will require multiple hits to overturn. Additionally, when the orb impacts a boss's weak point, the boss takes damage and loses a single notch from its health bar. Furthermore, the orb can dispel small white bullets (but nothing greater) as it passes through them.

In the endings to Highly Responsive to Prayers, the Orb appears to transform into either a tiny wish-granting fairy or a joyful spherical creature. In Makai route good ending, Reimu thought the tiny fairy can grant wishes, so Reimu wished for money, a cake, a hot meal, "the truth of the Universe", and the "destruction of Earth", with a response from the fairy: "Who'd wish something like that!?" In the Hell route good ending, the joyful creature starts destroying parts of the Hakurei Shrine and Reimu gets angry.

Story of Eastern Wonderland

Depending on which ending you get Genjii will explain the orb's "true power", each of which is hilariously mundane and is never spoken of again in the series:

  1. The ability to eat sweets and not get fat
  2. The effect of giving its user whatever scent they desire
    The Yin-Yang in PoDD
  3. The ability to turn into a cat whenever the user chooses
Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream

In Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream, the orbs were for the first time treated as ordinary projectiles, used on the opponent's screen whenever Reimu summons an attack. If Reimu were to summon a Boss Attack, then unlike other characters who use their own body to be on the opponent's screen, the appearance of a giant Yin-Yang appears instead.

Lotus Land Story
The Yin-Yang Orb in LLS

Also used by Reimu when she's a playable character, the Yin-Yangs appear as ordinary danmaku on Stage 4, supporting Reimu during her boss fight as they bounce downwards towards Marisa.

Windows

Imperishable Night
Th08YinYangSprite.png

Also used by Reimu when she's a playable character, the Yin-Yangs appear as a generic enemy on Stage 4 just like they did on Lotus Land Story, supporting Reimu during her boss fight as they bounce downwards towards the heroine; because they're destroyable, it wouldn't be best to treat them as danmaku. However, similar to other spirits throughout the game, if the player chooses to focus, then they'll become transparent, undefeatable, but also harmless, which simplifies gameplay.

Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Th09YinYangSprite.png

In Phantasmagoria of Flower View, the Yin-Yangs weren't shown to be a default weapon for Reimu Hakurei, but instead they appear as Reimu's Extra Attack. It was described as "Mysterious orbs bouncing off the boundaries." If Reimu were to kill a spirit, then a black and white yin-yang will appear in the opponent's screen and bounce downwards from the top, being ordinary danmaku. However, they've doubled in size compared to their previous game's counterpart. If the player is using the alternative version of Reimu who uses a blue outfit, then her Yin-Yang Orbs will be aqua coloured.

Subterranean Animism

In Subterranean Animism, Yukari modified the Yin-Yang Orb to act as a communicator to stay in touch with the other youkai while Reimu went to Former Hell.

Literature

Oriental Sacred Place

In Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 10, the Yin-Yang Orb is shown to still have its communicator function and was thrown onto the ground by Reimu in disgust at Yukari using it to eavesdrop on her.

Later in Chapter 17, the Three Fairies of Light decide to finally solve the mystery of the Hakurei Shrine once and for all. Kasen Ibaraki informs them that to start, they need to figure out who its god is and what the god's blessing was, and in order to do that, they need to find the shrine's go-shintai. However, because solving the mystery could disrupt the current golden situation with youkai and humans in Gensokyo, Kasen uses her animal companions to trick the three fairies into finding three false go-shintai that she hid amongst the shrine (and wrote down "go-shintai" on the back of them just in case, though that turned out to be unnecessary). Later, Kasen finds the Yin-Yang Orb on the ground (presumably because Reimu threw them away earlier). The Yin-Yang Orb destroyed Kasen Ibaraki's artificial arm when she touched it, revealing that the orbs were the real go-shintai of the shrine, and the shrine's blessing was youkai extermination. Kasen has an animal companion snake return it to the shrine.

Seihou Games

Sprites of the Yin Yang in Shuusou Gyoku
Note: This section is part of the Seihou Project by the Doujin circle "Shunsatsu sare do?".
Shuusou Gyoku

Being part of Reimu Hakurei, the Yin Yang Orbs appear on the Extra stage of the first Seihou Project game Shuusou Gyoku, a danmaku game series by the junior doujin circle "Shunsatsu sare do?", where ZUN also contributed music and art to the game and put them in the game. The Yin-Yang Orbs appeared as ordinary danmaku, supporting Reimu during her boss fight as they bounce downwards towards VIVIT when Reimu shoots them, which is very similar to her battle in Lotus Land Story.

Relationships

Hakurei relations

Reimu Hakurei is able to control the Yin-Yang Orb in both the PC-98 and Windows canon. She uses the orb to exterminate both humans and youkai regardless if they're enemies. The Hakurei God uses the Orbs as its go-shintai, blessing youkai extermination through it.

Genjii and Mima are said to have relations with the Orb; this is unknown.

Additional Information

Fandom

Official Profiles

Yin-Yang Orb   ★ 陰陽玉 ・・・ 博麗神社最大の秘宝

     正体不明の玉、非常に霊力があるので、何かの霊魂が宿っているか、     生命体であると思われる。 通常、霊体や魔性の物には、こういった     霊力のある武器でないと倒すことが出来ない。

  ★ Yin-Yang Orb ・・・ Greatest Treasure of the Hakurei Shrine

     A mysterious orb with an unnatural amount of spiritual power. Perhaps a soul dwells within? It appears as though it could be alive. Normally you cannot defeat spirits or devilish powers without a weapon such as this.

Yin-Yang Orb   ★ 陰陽玉 ・・・ 博麗神社最大の秘宝

     霊力のこもった不思議な鉱石で出来た玉。一見するとただの玉でありとて     も武器とは思えないが、博麗の血を引くものが使うと、恐ろしいほどの霊力     を発する。      今回は、2個の陰陽玉が靈夢の左右に付いている。

  ★ Yin-yang Orb ・・・ Greatest Treasure of the Hakurei Shrine

     An orb storing spiritual power made from a wondrous type of crystal. At a glance,     it looks like a regular orb and nobody will think of it as a weapon, but when used by     somebody of the Hakurei lineage, it can release tremendous power.      This time, two Yin-yang Orbs follow Reimu by her sides.

Official Sources

References