Aya Shameimaru

"Aya" redirects here. For the illustrator of Wild and Horned Hermit, see Aya Azuma. For Hieda no Akyuu's previous incarnation, see Child of Miare.

射 (しゃ) 命 (めい) 丸 (まる) 文 (あや) ɕa̠me̞ːma̠ɽɯ a̠ja̠ (♫) Aya Shameimaru Aya Syameimaru More Alternative Spellings
Aya Shameimaru in Hidden Star in Four Seasons Traditional Reporter of Fantasy More Character Titles
Species	Crow Tengu
Abilities	Manipulation of wind
Age	Over 1000 years.
Occupation	Newspaper writer, reporter.
Location	Youkai Mountain
Music Themes
風神少女 (Short Version) (Phantasmagoria of Flower View) 風神少女 (Shoot the Bullet) 妖怪の山　～ Mysterious Mountain (Mountain of Faith)
Appearances
Official Games
Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Playable Character, Possible Opponent) Shoot the Bullet (Cover, Title Screen, Main Character) Mountain of Faith (Stage 4 Boss) Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (Playable Character, Possible Opponent) Subterranean Animism (Playable Partner) Touhou Hisoutensoku (Playable character in arcade mode) Double Spoiler (Title Screen, Main Character, Spoiler Boss) Great Fairy Wars (Route C1 ending) Hopeless Masquerade (Background Character) Impossible Spell Card (6th Day Boss) Hidden Star in Four Seasons (Playable character) Unconnected Marketeers (All bad endings)
Print Works
Curiosities of Lotus Asia (Chapter 30) Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red (Main Character) Extra of the Wind (Main Character) Perfect Memento in Strict Sense Strange and Bright Nature Deity (Chapter 19 and 20) Silent Sinner in Blue (Prologue cameo, chapter 1 cameo, chapter 9 cameo, chapter 20 and 21) The Grimoire of Marisa Oriental Sacred Place (Chapter 1 cameo, chapter 9, chapter 12, 14 and 18 cameo) Wild and Horned Hermit (Chapter 1 cameo, 2 cameo, 5 cameo, 8 cameo, 12 cameo, 15 cameo, 16 cameo, 18 cameo, 19 cameo, 20 cameo, 22 cameo, 23 cameo, 40 cameo, chapter 42, 48 cameo) Symposium of Post-mysticism Forbidden Scrollery (Chapter 6 cameo, chapters 32, 33, 35, 45, 49, 50, 52, 53) (Secondary Character) Strange Creators of Outer World Vol. 3 (Profile Section) Visionary Fairies in Shrine (Chapter 2 Cameo, 6 cameo, 7 cameo, 9.5 cameo, 10 cameo, 11.5 cameo) Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia (Main Character) The Grimoire of Usami (Section 1-7) Lotus Eaters (Chapters 8, 9, 10, 15 cameo, 16, 21, 22, 37, 38, 44) (Secondary Character) Foul Detective Satori (Secondary Character) Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine (Cameo, Fortune Slip No. 33)
Miscellaneous Works
Circle Cut (C69)

"You don't seem related to the incident, so without further ado, allow me to blow you into the next week!"
— Aya Shameimaru to Eternity Larva (Hidden Star in Four Seasons Stage 1)

Aya Shameimaru (射命丸文, Shameimaru Aya) is a crow tengu who serves as the journalist for the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, writing articles about anything in Gensokyo. She first appears in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red as the reporter of its articles.

General Information

Personality

Aya is courteous - though she is more firm towards the weak and more polite with the strong, she is always polite when conducting an interview, though she will forcefully drive away any that interfere. She has a sharp mind that turns thoughts much more quickly than humans, so it is difficult to tell what she is thinking, and she changes her mannerisms to match who she's with, so no one feels entirely comfortable around her. Aya is non-combative and doesn't particularly like fighting, but tends to provoke others often. However, few can match her real strength, so she mostly just lets them be.

Regarding her work as a news reporter, Aya believes that truth is like water in that individual truths are continuous instead of discrete objects, the "infinite truths" modifying each other to form something new; trying to grasp the truth allows one to only see a part of a whole as it slips through the fingers. Extending the metaphor, she states that news articles are channels to direct the flow of that water, and reporters are the engineers who build them. She believes that, as she maintains her "truth" that there are no objective facts except in ideal worlds such as mathematics, there is nothing wrong with reporting the truth that she creates - the truth that will prevail in the end.

Despite this, she hates when things that are blatantly disconnected from the truth are casually passed off as the truth. In this vein, she disliked writing "talboid" style articles, which followed the spirit of “more exciting, more attractive”, for her cancelled weekly publication. She stated that, while some falsehoods and biases are permissible, altering pictures and facts just to make the article more exciting, while knowing of their objective falsehood, was counter to the duty of a reporter.

Aya is frustrated at the tengu bureaucracy's rigidity of its hierarchy, where one cannot move positions due to ability or quality of work; and additionally dislikes the long work hours and the issue of having "rules for rules sake". At one point, she expressed intent in using her paper to perform whistleblowing, but was foiled by Megumu Iizunamaru before her plan could come to fruition.

Abilities

Manipulating wind

With this ability, Aya can create, control, and stop winds of incredible strength at will. This even extends to being able to create tornadoes. While her powers are among the top class in Gensokyo and not many can really challenge her, she prefers to remain non-combative. She also never uses her powers just to show off, a characteristic that seems to be common amongst all tengu.

Speed

While Tengu as a whole are known for their incredible speed that few can match, Aya prides herself as being "the fastest" in Gensokyo, and has been referred to as such by ZUN. According to Marisa Kirisame, not even Remilia Scarlet, who was apparently able to fly around the Moon in an extremely short amount of time, can compare to Aya's speed. This speed is even demonstrated in one of her spell cards, where she moves so fast across the screen that her movement is replaced by lasers.

Occupation

Aya runs the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, for which she flies around Gensokyo, gathering information, taking pictures, and performing interviews with humans and youkai alike for articles, which are commonly sensationalist in nature. If there is no news to be found, Aya has no issues with creating news worthy material herself. In addition, Aya works to deliver free (and often, unwanted) copies to people all over Gensokyo.

Among the tengu, she takes the largest interest in the inhabits and special characters of Gensokyo at large, to the point where barely a moment passes where she isn't obtaining material, either from her own observations or from colleagues. In particular, the Human Village is one of her major sites of interest - she has been observing it for a long time in order in an attempt to catch any trouble brewing in human society, but is frustrated at the continual stagnation and lack of events.

While in earlier works her paper is regarded as a simple gossip "third rate rag", in Forbidden Scrollery and beyond, its influence has extended to become a major source of information within the human village, in part due to Aya working with Kosuzu Motoori in Suzunaan to further push the Bunbunmaru's sales in the Human Village. Due to this, it is consistently depicted to maintain popularity and have a powerful effect on public opinion.

Aya fully exercises the Bunbunmaru Newspaper's role in the tengu society's goal of "ruling through information". Although her stated policy is to report only the truth, she often writes opinionated pieces, twists the truth, or outright lies in her articles to her advantage - in order to grab more readers, fulfill her ulterior motives, or avoid causing a panic within the human village. She often uses them to deny or publicize the truths of incidents and other events, whichever would be more convenient or attract the most readers. For example, one of her articles ruined the popularity of a plum wine festival that the Hakurei Shrine was planning, much to the dismay of Reimu Hakurei; another boosted the business of Geidontei while defaming the Myouren Temple by lying about the cause of a ghost haunting; yet another hid the truth that Miyoi Okunoda was a youkai in the human village, because Aya found an after hours youkai bar in the Human Village too convenient to pass up on.

Possessions

Camera

Aya's tengu camera is used for gathering photographs for her articles. In Shoot the Bullet and Double Spoiler, it has the ability to clear away danmaku caught in a photograph.

Bunkachou

Aya owns the Bunkachou (文花帖), a tengu notebook she uses for gathering innumerable photographs and handwritten notes for articles.

Hauchiwa fan

Aya's leaf shaped hauchiwa fan is her weapon. In addition to acting as a melee weapon, it can generate gusts - one sweep of the fan can knock down a house, two sweeps can fell a large tree, and three sweeps can cause a traveler's cloak to be blown away.

Official Profiles

Official Profiles

Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red - 本書について

・本書オリジナル、幻想郷一の情報通?射命丸 文（しゃめいまる あや）が登場！！ 　　大人気キャラクター32人を、文の視点から徹底解剖！ 　　もちろん文章は原作者ZUN氏による書き下ろし！

Original to this book: The No.1 information specialist of the Gensokyo, Shameimaru Aya is here! With Aya's original insight, the 32 hugely popular characters are taken apart and examined. Of course, the text is written anew exclusively by the original creator, ZUN.

Phantasmagoria of Flower View - キャラ設定.txt

○伝統の幻想ブン屋 　　射命丸　文（しゃめいまる　あや） 　　Syameimaru Aya 　　種族：鴉天狗 　　能力：風を操る程度の能力 　　　鬼が幻想郷にいた、千年ほど前から住み着く天狗。 　　　元は鴉。風を操る程度の能力を持つ。 　　　性格は真面目で融通が利かない。強い者には礼儀正しく、弱い者には強気に出る。ただ、取材の相手となれば常に礼儀正しい。 　　　彼女の持つ力は、幻想郷の中でも最高クラスではあるが、決して力を見せびらかせようとはしない。これは、彼女に限らず天狗の特性でもある。 　　　普段は山に住み、風と同じ速度同じ向きに移動する。噂好きで、いつも情報を仕入れては、天狗仲間で情報交換する。交換するたびに情報は変化し、殆どの噂は大げさな物となっている。 　　　天狗の中でも彼女は幻想郷の女の子達の噂が好き。自分で観察したり、仲間から仕入れたりと新しい情報が入ってこない時などほとんど無い。ただ、どの情報も多分に嘘が混じっているものである。 　　　彼女は「文々。新聞」（ぶんぶんまるしんぶん）という不定期新聞を作り、天狗内で配っている。嘘だらけの新聞である。 　　　今回の様な異変が起きる事で、天狗達は大喜びである。こういう時は色んな新しい情報が入ってくるからであり、その情報を元に新聞が書けるからである。

Traditional Reporter of Fantasy Aya Shameimaru Species: Crow Tengu Ability: Manipulating wind A tengu who has been in Gensokyo for over 1000 years, when oni were still around. Her origin is a crow. She has the ability to manipulate wind. Her character is honest but not rigid. She is polite to strong people, and deals more firmly with weak people. However, she is always polite when conducting an interview. Although her powers are among the top class in Gensokyo, she never uses them just to show off. This isn't only a characteristic of hers, but of tengu in general. She usually lives on a mountain where the wind always moves at the same speed and the same direction. She loves gossip and is always gathering information exchanged with her fellow tengu. During any exchange, information is warped, and almost all of their stories end up exaggerated. She is the biggest connoisseur of rumors about the girls of Gensokyo among the tengu. Through observing for herself and collecting information from colleagues, barely a moment passes when she isn't obtaining material. However, much of her material is mingled with rumor. She writes up her non-periodical newspaper, Bunbunmaru Newspaper, and distributes it among the tengu. It's a newspaper chock-full of rumors. As the current disaster started up, the tengu were overjoyed. There was much new material to be obtained, based on which they can write up their newspapers.

Mountain of Faith - キャラ設定.txt

○４面ボス　里に最も近い天狗 　　射命丸　文（しゃめいまる　あや） 　　Syameimaru Aya 　　種族：鴉天狗 　　能力：風を操る程度の能力 　　妖怪の山の新聞記者。主に幻想郷の少女達のローカルニュースを新聞にする天狗である。 　　今回は、白狼天狗から侵入者ありとの報告があった。こういう場合、普段は自警隊リーダーの大天狗の総指揮の元、白狼天狗が交渉、及び警備に当たる。 　　しかし、何故か大天狗は報道機関である彼女を呼び出し交渉を命じた。 　　彼女は首を傾げながら現場に向かうと、その疑問はすぐに氷解した。 　　侵入者は、彼女がいつも新聞のネタにしている人間だったのである。 　　つまり大天狗は、文が侵入者の事を一番理解していると判断して、目的は何なのか聞き出せると判断したのだ。 　　彼女は手加減して戦った振りを見せ、わざと負けた。戦いもしないで山に入れてしまうと、彼女が人間と繋がっていると疑われる可能性があったからである。 　　文は人間に屈した振りをして、最近現れた謎の神社に案内した。大天狗には『侵入者の目的は山から迷惑な来客があったとの事でしたので、天狗社会に矛先が向かないように、最近現れた謎の神社の様子を見に行かせました』と報告した。 　　大天狗はその報告を聞き、ピンチをチャンスに変える働きをした文を褒めた。 　　そして、下っ端である犬走に引き続き人間の監視を命令し、その謎の神様の様子も探る事にした。 　　犬走の報告によると謎の神様は人間と戦闘になったが、遊んでいる様子であり、遊びを楽しんでいるようだった。性格は極めて明るく、頭脳は明晰。危険性は少なく、むしろ友好を築く事で、山の妖怪の生活はより良くなるのではないか、との報告であった。 　　それから、天狗の頭領である天魔様と、山の神様の間で秘密の交渉が行われる事になった。 　　何を話し合ったのかは公開される事はなかったが、結果はお互い山に住む者として友好関係を築く事になった、と知らされた。 　　それ以来、天狗や河童は新しい神様を信仰するようになった。 　　信仰といっても、一緒に宴会をする程度の事だったが。

Tengu Closest to the Village Aya Shameimaru Species: Crow Tengu Ability: Manipulating wind A news reporter on the Youkai Mountain. A tengu who typically writes local news stories about the girls of Gensokyo. This time around, she got word from the white wolf tengu that an intruder had entered the mountain. Normally, the white wolf tengu are charged by the great tengu with patrolling the mountain, and conducting negotiations and defensive operations. However, in this case, the great tengu decided to call on this member of the information media to conduct negotiations. Cocking her head to one side in doubt, she headed to the scene of the event, where her confusion was immediately dispelled. The intruder was one of the girls she was always covering in her newspaper. In other words, the great tengu understood that Aya had the most in-depth knowledge of the intruder, and had the best chance of being told outright what the intruder's aim was. Aya went easy on the intruder, put on a show of vigorously defending herself, and purposefully lost. After all, if she let the intruder enter the mountain without putting up a fight, she would likely be suspected of being an accomplice to the humans. Aya pretended to lose to the humans, and guided them to the mysterious shrine that had appeared recently. She reported to her superiors that the intruders had no business with the tengu society, but were instead interested in the troublesome, enigmatic shrine that had appeared of late. The great tengu took in her report, and then commended Aya for turning around a potential threat into an opportunity. They then ordered the underling Inubashiri to continue her observation of the humans, and go to investigate the shrine of the mysterious god. According to Inubashiri's report, the mysterious god and the humans had waged battle, but it was truly a playful event where the two parties seemed to be enjoying themselves. Their respective personalities were bright, and their heads kept level. There was little, if any, real danger - rather, by pursuing a friendly relationship with the shrine, the youkai of the mountain might be better off in the end. After that, the chief of the tengu, Lord Tenma, entered into secret negotiations with the mountain god. The details of their discussions were not made public, but it was made known that they had agreed to share the mountain with each other and pursue friendly relations. Since then, the tengu and the kappa came to have faith in their new god. Though, it was really more of an agreement to all celebrate together than a matter of faith.

Scarlet Weather Rhapsody - おまけ.txt

○伝統の幻想ブン屋 　　射命丸　文（しゃめいまるあや） 　　種族：天狗（鴉） 　　住家：妖怪の山 　　能力：風を操る程度の能力 　　　むしろ、動くことがその物が風と言ったところ。 　　　風に乗って飛び、風の声を聴き、自在に風を起こす。 　　　風の噂を掴む事も得意。 　性格：頭脳明晰、人前では丁寧な態度を見せる。非好戦的。 　　　彼女の思考能力は非常に高く、それが真実かどうかはともかく、人の何倍ものスピードで考えを巡らす。 　　　何を考えているのか予想することは非常に困難。その上、表面上は相手のレベルに合わせてくるため、一緒にいる誰もが居心地の悪い気分になる。 　　　戦うことは余り好きではないが、喧嘩を売って歩いている。ただ元々敵う相手ではないのでその喧嘩を買う者は少なく、泣き寝入りするばかりである。

Traditional Reporter of Fantasy Aya Shameimaru Race: tengu (crow) Place of residence: the Youkai Mountain Ability: Manipulating wind Or, perhaps it would be better to say her movement is the wind. She rides the wind, listens to the wind, and can cause wind whenever she pleases. She's also good at collecting the wind's rumors. Personality: very intelligent, and courteous towards others. Non-combative. Her mental faculties are extremely sharp, and turns thoughts about in her head much more quickly than humans. It's very difficult to tell what she's thinking. On top of that, she changes her mannerisms to match whoever she's with, so nobody feels entirely comfortable around her. She doesn't particularly like to fight, but she tends to pick fights a lot. However, not many can really challenge her, so few take her up on it, and she has to just let them be.

Subterranean Animism - キャラ設定.txt

○伝統の幻想ブン屋 　　射命丸　文（しゃめいまる　あや） 　　Shameimaru Aya 　　種族：天狗 　　能力：風を操る程度の能力 　　山に住んでいる天狗で新聞記者。 　　山の神様と河童が何か不穏な行動を取っていたので潜入取材していたら、謎が地底世界に繋がった。 　　これを取材して記事にすれば部数増大のチャンスと踏んで、霊夢を利用した。 　　天狗にとって地底に入る事は避けたかったからである。

Traditional Reporter of Fantasy Aya Shameimaru Species: tengu Ability: Manipulating wind A tengu reporter who lives on the mountain. She heard that the kappa and the gods of the mountain were up to something, so she went off to report on it, it turned out that the mystery was connected to the underground world. She figured she could greatly increase her circulation if she wrote a story about it, so she used Reimu to investigate. As a tengu, she wanted to avoid actually going underground.

Hidden Star in Four Seasons - omake.txt

○紅葉を散らす天狗 　　射命丸 文 　　Shameimaru Aya 　　種族：天狗 　　能力：風を操る程度の能力 　　天狗の新聞記者。 　　あちこちを取材しているので、いち早く気候の異常に気が付いた。 　　ただの冷夏や猛暑ではないが、全てにおいて原因が隠されている。 　　その異常さに人為的なものを見たが、果たしてその勘は当たっているのだろうか。

The Tengu who Scatters Autumn Leaves Aya Shameimaru Species: Tengu Ability: Capable of manipulating wind A tengu newspaper reporter. She's been doing news reporting in various places, so she clued in to the strange weather right away. These clearly aren't your average cool summers or heat waves, but in every case, the cause is concealed. She perceived something artificial about this abnormally-- but will that intuition prove true in the end?

Skills

Skills

Name	Translated	Comments	Games	Usage
Total: 18
「補扇」	"Extra Fans"		PoFV	Charge attack
「天狗烈風弾」	"Tengu Gale Bullet"		PoFV	EX attack
疾風扇	Gust Fan		SWR	Default 236B/C
疾走風靡	Dashing Domination		SWR	Default 214B/C
天狗の立風露	Tengu's Mist Standing		SWR	Default 22B/C
暗夜の礫	Pelting in the Dark Night		SWR	Default 421B/C
烈風扇	Gale Fan		SWR	Alternate 236B/C
疾走優美	Dashing Grace		SWR	Alternate 214B/C
天狗のダウンバースト	Tengu's Downburst		SWR	Alternate 22B/C
鎌風ベーリング	Wind Sickle Veiling		SWR	Alternate 421B/C
天狗ナメシ	Tengu Tree-Felling		SWR	Alternate 214B/C
天狗の太鼓	Tengu's Drumbeats		SWR	Alternate 22B/C
「深山颪」	"Deep Mountain's Fall Wind"	Used remotely by Reimu	SA	Shot
「鴉の闇」	"Crow's Darkness"	Used remotely by Reimu	SA	Bomb
楓扇風	Maple Fan's Wind		Soku	Alternate 236B/C
天狗礫	Tengu Gravel		Soku	Alternate 421B/C
クレイジーフォールウィンド	Crazy Fall Wind	Aided by Okina Matara's back doors; also used by Reimu, Marisa and Cirno	HSiFS	Fixed/Sub-type C
ヴァカンスの生命	Vitality on Vacation	Aided by Okina Matara's back doors; also used by Reimu, Marisa and Cirno	HSiFS	Sub-type E

Spell Cards

Spell cards

Name	Translated	Comments	Games	Stage
Total: 29
風符「風神一扇」	Wind Sign "Wind God's Fan"		PoFV	Use
疾風「風神少女」	Gust "Wind God Girl"		PoFV	Use
岐符「天の八衢」	Crossroad Sign "Crossroads of Heaven"		MoF GoM	St. 4: E/N —
岐符「サルタクロス」	Crossroad Sign "Saruta Cross"		MoF	St. 4: H/L
風神「風神木の葉隠れ」	Wind God "Wind God's Leaf-Veiling"		MoF GoM	St. 4: E/N —
風神「天狗颪」	Wind God "Tengu's Fall Wind"		MoF	St. 4: H
風神「二百十日」	Wind God "Storm Day"		MoF	St. 4: L
「幻想風靡」	"Taking Fantasy by Storm"	Alternatively translated as: "Illusionary Dominance"	MoF SWR SWR DS GoM GoU	St. 4: N/H Use Story St. Sp — —
「無双風神」	"Peerless Wind God"		MoF	St. 4: L
塞符「山神渡御」	Blockade Sign "Mountain God's Procession"		MoF	St. 4: E/N
塞符「天孫降臨」	Blockade Sign "Advent of the Divine Grandson"		MoF	St. 4: H
塞符「天上天下の照國」	Blockade Sign "Terukuni Shining Through Heaven and Earth"		MoF	St. 4: L
旋符「紅葉扇風」	Whirl Sign "Autumn Leaf Fan's Wind"		SWR	Use
竜巻「天孫降臨の道しるべ」	Tornado "Guidepost for the Advent of the Divine Grandson"		SWR	Use
逆風「人間禁制の道」	Headwind "Route Forbidden to Man"		SWR	Use
突符「天狗のマクロバースト」	Thrust Sign "Tengu's Macroburst"		SWR	Use
風符「天狗道の開風」	Wind Sign "Opening Wind of the Tengu Realm"		SWR	Use
魔獣「鎌鼬ベーリング」	Demon Beast "Sickle Weasel Veiling"		SWR	Use
突風「猿田彦の先導」	Squall "Sarutahiko's Guidance"		SWR SWR	Use Story
旋符「飄妖扇」	Whirl Sign "Fluttering Fey Fan"		SWR	Story
旋風「鳥居つむじ風」	Whirlwind "Torii Whorl-Wind"		SWR	Story
風符｢天狗報即日限｣	Wind Sign "Tengu Newspaper Deadline Day"		Soku	Use
鴉符｢暗夜のデイメア｣	Crow Sign "Daymare in the Dark Night"		Soku	Use
取材「射命丸文の圧迫取材」	Reporting "Aya Shameimaru's Coercive Reporting"		DS	St. Sp
望遠「キャンディッドショット」	Telescoping "Candid Shot"		DS	St. Sp
速写「ファストショット」	Snapshot "Fast Shot"		DS	St. Sp
写真「激撮テングスクープ」	Photography "Quick-Shooting Tengu Scoop"		ISC	St. 6
「瞬撮ジャーナリスト」	"Instant Shot Journalist"		ISC	St. 6
風符「天狗突風雨」	Wind Sign "Tengu Rainstorm Gust"		HSiFS	Use

Character Design

ZUN once commented that the gaming concept of Shoot the Bullet was around since the same time he created Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. As such a game required a camera-using character, Aya was created specifically to fit that purpose.

Name

Aya's appearance in BAiJR

Her full name is Aya Shameimaru (射命丸　文). The characters for Shameimaru (射命丸) literally means, in sequence, "to shoot (an arrow)" (or "to shine into/onto"), "command", "decree", "order" or "life" (or "hit/target" in the word meichuu meichuu (命中)), and "circle" (common name ending, usually seen in names of crafts and swords or similar weapons, and is also a very common suffix for the names of ships). Aya (文) means "text", "sentence" or "literature", and it's also the first character of "Bunkachou". The name Shameimaru (射命丸) is derived from Sha-Mail (Shamēru → Shameimaru), which is text messages with photos, very appropriate for a fast-traveling journalist who takes pictures.

For Aya's Bunkachou (文花帖) notebook, Bun (文, also pronounced as aya) means "sentence, text", ka (花) means "flower", "blossom" (or "pretty", "cute thing" in a figurative sense) and chou (帖) means "notebook": therefore Bunkachou literally means "notebook of flowering sentences".

Design

Aya has red eyes and short black hair. She wears a white blouse, black short skirt, and a tokin. She also wears Tengu geta on her feet in many depictions. From Phantasmagoria of Flower View to Scarlet Weather Rhapsody and in Hidden Star in Four Seasons, she can be seen holding a hauchiwa fan. In Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, Phantasmagoria of Flower View, and Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, Aya is shown holding a notebook and being accompanied by a crow.

In her alternative outfit in Phantasmagoria of Flower View, her hat and notebook are green, her shirt and skirt are purple, and her fan is blue.

In Double Spoiler, Aya now carries a camera and wears an orange armband reading Shuzaichuu (「取材中」, lit. "collecting material/the scoop"). She is also notably depicted with pointed ears, compared to the normal-looking ears that were visible in her Mountain of Faith portrait. In Hidden Star in Four Seasons her skirt is based on Hanafuda October suit.

Appearences

Phantasmagoria of Flower View

Aya's back sprite in PoFV

Aya's sprite in PoFV

Main article: Phantasmagoria of Flower View: Aya's Scenario

During the events of Phantasmagoria of Flower View, she sets out to turn the ongoing flower incident into an interesting news story, forgetting the fact that the incident occurred on cycle every 60 years.

Mountain of Faith

Aya's sprite in MoF

Main articles: Reimu's Scenario and Marisa's Scenario

When Aya was sent by the other Tengu to see who the intruder on Youkai Mountain was during Mountain of Faith she was surprised to see it was the heroine. Although Aya doesn't want to fight the heroine, she prioritizes her bosses' orders. She decides to "go easy" on the heroine and leads her to the new shrine, believing that the heroine could get rid of a large nuisance to the Tengu.

Subterranean Animism

Main article: Reimu and Aya's Scenario

During the events of Subterranean Animism, Aya assists Reimu using a device given to them by Yukari Yakumo to stay in contact between the surface and the underground to solve the incident regarding the earth spirit's sudden eruption from a newly formed geyser. Aya's secondary objective throughout the story is to gain exclusive scoops and interviews through Reimu's journey deeper in the underground.

Hidden Star in Four Seasons

Aya's back sprite in HSiFS

Main article: Aya's Scenario

Aya goes off to investigate an incident regarding the abnormal weather in the different areas of Gensokyo to write an article asking anyone who appears if they know anything about the cause of it. She then comes to the realization that this incident might be more than meets the eye.

Unconnected Marketeers

She appears as a cameo in the bad endings in Unconnected Marketeers, creating an article mocking the protagonists for losing.

Shoot the Bullet

Aya's back sprite in StB

Main article: Shoot the Bullet Story

Aya is the main protagonist and only playable character in Shoot the Bullet. She sets out to take photographs of various Touhou bosses for reasons only she knows. She doesn't shoot danmaku herself, as she has no intention in defeating her opponents, and she doesn't want her own danmaku in the photos.

Scarlet Weather Rhapsody

Main article: Scarlet Weather Rhapsody: Aya's Scenario

During the events of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, Aya goes around doing her job, and after an encounter with Reimu and Marisa she decides to infiltrate the Scarlet Devil Mansion to report on the Scarlet Devil and write an article about her. Remilia mentions something about the weather incident, and Aya goes back to the Youkai Mountain. There she meets an infuriated Reimu complaining about an earthquake destroying her shrine. In spite of the situation, Aya defeats her as an intruder.

Touhou Hisoutensoku

Main article: Touhou Hisoutensoku: Aya's Scenario

If connecting Scarlet Weather Rhapsody with Touhou Hisoutensoku, then Aya can become a selectable character to play with, although she appears in no scenarios.

Double Spoiler

Main article: Double Spoiler Story

Aya once again appears in Double Spoiler as a sequel to Shoot the Bullet, as one of the two playable characters. She competes with Hatate Himekaidou for the best newspaper, who is the other playable character. She also appears as a Spoiler stage boss if the player is using Hatate.

Fairy Wars

Aya appeared as a cameo on the Route C1 ending of Fairy Wars. After Cirno defeated the Three Mischievous Fairies, she wanted to keep her status as the strongest by defeating a youkai. She finds Aya who can't be bothered to fight because she hasn't got time, but she suggested that she ought to fight a human first. It turns out to be Marisa Kirisame, to which this story extends onto the Extra stage.

Hopeless Masquerade

Aya in HM

Aya made a background cameo appearance in Hopeless Masquerade on the Myouren Temple and Genbu Ravine stage. She is seen standing on top of the temple in the former and on pipe in the latter, taking photographs. She also produces Bunbunmaru Newspapers that are shown after each fight.

Impossible Spell Card

In Impossible Spell Card, Aya (been one of the tengu mentioned by Mamizou Futatsuiwa) takes notice of minorities trying to capture the mischief-making amanojaku Seija Kijin, who also appears to be one of the many youkai that tries to capture her on day 6. She uses spell cards that are considered impossible to dodge. She apparently writes up an article about this, which makes stronger humans and youkai try to capture Seija.

Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

Aya appears as the main character, interviewing many other characters and asking them to give information about themselves, or about various events in which they were involved. She also writes about past incidents and notorious places in Gensokyo.

Curiosities of Lotus Asia

Main article: Curiosities of Lotus Asia Chapter 30

Aya appears in Kourindou and asks Rinnosuke Morichika about the outsider, knowing she visits the shop regularly. After being asked both by Rinnosuke and Reimu Hakurei of her intentions, she claims that she wanted to interview her. After commenting that the time when Sumireko usually appears has passed, both Aya and Reimu go outside to look for her. After returning with a lost Sumireko, she goes ahead and asks Sumireko for an interview, which she happily accepts. At the end, the interview was made in the shrine by Reimu's proposal but the magazine where it was going to be published was cancelled.

Perfect Memento in Strict Sense

Main article: Perfect Memento in Strict Sense: Aya Shameimaru

Hieda no Akyuu writes an in-universe encyclopedic article on Aya as part of the Gensokyo Chronicle.

Silent Sinner in Blue

In chapter 20, Aya comes to the Hakurei Shrine to see if Reimu came back from the Moon to write an article, but it's not until months later that Reimu appears. After hearing about Reimu's experience in the Lunar Capital, she decides that it is not appropriate for an article, and follow Reimu and the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion to the party they were going to do, to see if she can write an article or not.

Oriental Sacred Place

In chapter 9, Aya writes about a mysterious floating city that appears above the ground, what got the interest of the Three Fairies and Reimu. While Reimu goes investigate, Marisa takes care of the shrine, encountering Aya. Marisa asks Aya explanations, to she responds saying that long time ago there was a sea there, where numerous fish and youkai would swim, until it got dryed out. Thanks to a landslide, part of the buried treasures were discovered, and between those there is a clam youkai which could its breath to show illusions to others, like the city. Reimu comes back after seeing the city disappeared, and Aya tricks her and the fairies saying it was an evil youkai's doing.

Strange and Bright Nature Deity

In chapter 19, Aya meets the Three Fairies of Light and they explain to her that they want to scare Reimu Hakurei. Aya explains that she could do it, and for that she lies to the shrine maiden saying that her newspapers' words are alive and that they need to be read or a tsukumogami could appear. After that, she uses her wind powers to blow the newspapers in the warehouse in front of Reimu to make her think they were really tsukumogamis. After that, Reimu becomes paranoid and even tells Marisa Kirisame to read the newspapers or otherwise they could transform, archiving what the fairies couldn't.

Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia

In this book, Aya attempts to write and publish a weekly periodical in the style of a tabloid magazine from the Outside World. In it, she includes many overt and verbatim references to real-world political slogans and talking points associated with populism and nationalism, casting suspicion on or willfully misrepresenting the residents or visitors of Gensokyo she considers "immigrants" (those who live at Eientei, Hecatia Lapislazuli, and Sumireko Usami in particular), as well as chiding those responsible for maintaining "Gensokyo's isolation" (Reimu Hakurei and Yukari Yakumo in particular) as being inadequate in their positions.

As she interviews many of the residents and visitors of Gensokyo with increasingly leading and accusatory questions, she is eventually cautioned by Hecatia Lapislazuli that spreading an ideology of isolationism and suspicion among Gensokyo's residents will only lead to Gensokyo's eventual decay and downfall, since the nature of Gensokyo is one that relies on forgotten youkai "immigrating" to Gensokyo. Aya decides, after some thought and remembering the goddess' warning about lunarians taking advantage of her, to come clean about the way she manipulated the facts of her interviews and articles, and to not publish that edition of her newspaper.

Forbidden Scrollery

Aya disguises as a human reporter inside the human village to snoop for articles to write in her newspaper, and approaches Kosuzu Motoori to sell her newspapers at Suzunaan, which Reimu begrudgingly allows. The newspaper finds itself at odds with Mamizou's tsukumogami "social network" over controlling the sphere of social influence within the human village.

During a great storm, Aya and the other tengu protected the human village from the worst of its effects. When Kosuzu was found missing, Reimu confronted Aya about a possible kidnapping by the Tengu. Aya denied the accusation in spite of Reimu's divine revelation.

Foul Detective Satori

During the events of Foul Detective Satori, Aya is shown taking notes on the string of attacks taking place across Gensokyo caused by Mizuchi Miyadeguchi. She initially disregards the cause of the events in favor of spreading news about Reimu's inability to solve the incident, but is brought up to date on the cause of the incident after being attacked by Reimu under suspicion of bring possessed.

After the attack on Moriya Shrine, Aya teams up with the heroines to help them try and catch Mizuchi.

Lotus Eaters

Aya appears in Lotus Eaters as usual to find scoops for her articles. On one occasion, she published an article that ruined Reimu's alcohol business. Aya initially wanted to expose Miyoi Okunoda as a youkai for scoops, however, she ultimately decided not to, as Sanshoku Geidontei was too convenient for her. She uses this secret bar to socialize and gather information from the other youkai regulars.

Due to Tengu having been shown to be able drinkers, Aya was the first person seen overcoming Miyoi's ability to induce hallucinations.

Relationships

Reimu Hakurei

Aya frequently visits Reimu and the Hakurei shrine, being an ever potential source of interesting new articles, much to the latter's dismay. Despite this, Aya refuses to report on some of the incidents that Reimu solved, stating that she needs more evidence for her claims. Reimu also allies with Aya during the events of Subterranean Animism.

Momiji Inubashiri

Momiji is a wolf tengu (and thus lower ranking) co-worker living on Youkai Mountain. She often gets in fights with Aya. According to Aya, it seems like Momiji looks down on all crow tengu, but Hatate suggests it is just something personal between Aya and Momiji.

Hatate Himekaidou

Hatate is a fellow crow tengu and rival newspaper journalist. Aya dislikes Hatate for being a shut-in that doesn't "try to contribute to society", while Hatate criticizes Aya for acting pompous about being busy all the time. Despite their differences, they are willing to work together, as seen in Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia, Aya's ending in Hidden Star in Four Seasons, and Foul Detective Satori.

Mamizou Futatsuiwa

Mamizou and Aya are shown as being quite underhanded with each other in a fiercely competitive rivalry, although they still find ways to call truces on occasion.

In Forbidden Scrollery, Mamizou and Aya compete in the sphere of social influence of the Human Village by pitting the tengu's "traditional" media against Mamizou's "social network" of tsukumogami.

In Lotus Eaters, they're seen setting aside their differences, at least temporarily, to work towards the greater good of protecting the Human Village from immediate danger.

Megumu Iizunamaru

Megumu is the chief of the crow tengu, which makes her Aya's superior.

In Chapter 38 of Lotus Eaters, Aya attempts to do some whistleblowing and expose Megumu's manufactured red snow scheme, but gives up upon learning that doing so would only go against the "public interest" of Gensokyo.

Gallery

Covers

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  Cover of Shoot the Bullet, featuring Aya's silhouette

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  Aya in the cover of Strange Creators of Outer World 3

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  Aya in the cover of Curiosities of Lotus Asia 30

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  Aya on the Vol. 6 cover of Forbidden Scrollery

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  Aya on the Vol. 6 special cover of Forbidden Scrollery

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  Aya on the cover of Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia

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  Aya on the Vol. 4 cover of Foul Detective Satori

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  Aya on the Vol. 6 cover of Lotus Eaters

Artworks

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  Aya artwork from Phantasmagoria of Flower View

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  Aya artwork from Phantasmagoria of Flower View

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  Alternate outfit from Phantasmagoria of Flower View

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  Aya artwork from Mountain of Faith

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  Aya artwork from Scarlet Weather Rhapsody

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  Aya artwork from Touhou Hisoutensoku

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  Aya artwork from Double Spoiler

Sprites

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  Aya's colors from Touhou Hisoutensoku. Middle top refers to her 2P palette from Scarlet Weather Rhapsody.

Illustrations

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  Aya illustration in the Grimoire of Marisa

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  Illustration of Aya in Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia

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  Aya from Who's Who of Humans & Youkai - Dusk Edition

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  Aya's fortune slip in Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine

Screenshots

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  Aya in Extra of the Wind

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  Aya depicted in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense

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  Aya in Silent Sinner in Blue

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  Aya as seen in Oriental Sacred Place

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  Aya in her human disguise in Chapter 32 of Forbidden Scrollery

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  Aya in Lotus Eaters

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  Aya in Foul Detective Satori

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  Aya and Mamizou Futatsuiwa's cameo in Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine

Others

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  Aya rough sketch by ZUN alongside Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

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  Aya sketch design

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  Aya's Sigil in the Grimoire of Marisa

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  Aya's sigil from Touhou Hisoutensoku

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  A depiction of Aya in one of the ability cards seen in Unconnected Marketeers

Additional Information

• Aya is the first character in the Touhou Project to originally appear in an artbook, then later in a game.
• A silhouette of Aya occupies the front of the jewel case for Shoot the Bullet.
• In Mountain of Faith, Aya is the first stage 4 boss in a Windows game not to have some sort of gimmick/variation based on the playable character (i.e. Patchouli Knowledge's different spell cards in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Reimu Hakurei or Marisa Kirisame in Imperishable Night, etc.).
• In Touhou Hisoutensoku, she has a palette that resembles Ranka Lee from Macross Frontier.
• She is the only character introduced in Phantasmagoria of Flower View to return in a later main game, which is Mountain of Faith.
• Aya has appeared, even as far as mention or reference, in every game in the second generation of the Windows era up until Ten Desires, from Mountain of Faith to Fairy Wars.

Fandom

Main article: Fandom: Aya Shameimaru

Official Sources

Official sources

• 2005/08/11 Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red - 本書について
• 2005/08/14 Phantasmagoria of Flower View - キャラ設定.txt (official profile)
• 2005/12/30 Shoot the Bullet - Playable Character
• 2006/12/27 Perfect Memento in Strict Sense - Traditional Reporter of Fantasy: Aya Shameimaru
• 2007/08/17 Mountain of Faith - Stage 4 dialogue; キャラ設定.txt (official profile)
• 2008/05/25 Scarlet Weather Rhapsody - おまけ.txt (official profile)
• 2008/05/26 ~ 2008/06/26 Strange and Bright Nature Deity - Chapters 19-20
• 2008/08/16 Subterranean Animism - Reimu/Aya's Scenario; Reimu/Aya Extra Stage dialogue; キャラ設定.txt
• 2009/03/09 ~ 2009/04/09 Silent Sinner in Blue - Chapters 20-21
• 2009/05/26 Oriental Sacred Place - Chapter 1 (cameo)
• 2009/07/28 The Grimoire of Marisa - Aya Shameimaru's Spell Cards
• 2010/03/14 Double Spoiler - Playable Character; Hatate's Spoiler Stage Spell Card comments
• 2010/06/26 Oriental Sacred Place - Chapter 9
• 2010/09/25 Wild and Horned Hermit - Chapter 2
• 2017/08/11 Hidden Star in Four Seasons - Aya's Scenario
• 2020/03/27 Who's Who of Humans & Youkai - Dusk Edition - Article
• 2020/06/25 Lotus Eaters - Chapter 8
• 2021/03/21 Unconnected Marketeers - Bad endings

See Also

• Aya in Touhou Hisoutensoku wiki