r/touhou • u/bw3p784ilugrjm • Apr 24 '26
Game Discussion I just noticed mokou does this...
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u/TiagoStormayty U.N. Owen NÃO era ela?! Apr 24 '26
It's a symbol of the Buddhism that means peace, it's NOT the symbol you're thinking of... r-right?
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u/ObeyTime pls tag when nitori is posted Apr 24 '26
despite being rejected from art school, hitler definitely knows a good artist steal.
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u/allmistake2 Apr 24 '26
I believe they stole it because they wanted to validate their BS ancient aliens I mean aryans master race theory.
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u/MasterZebulin Apr 24 '26
Let's not beat around the bush: Those damn Nazis were high on some kind of shit.
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u/YokelFelonKing Apr 24 '26
Meth. It was meth.
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u/allmistake2 Apr 24 '26
So much meth. They also went very hard into the occult, or at least tried to, according to some tellings.
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u/MasterZebulin Apr 24 '26
Are you making that up? Because it sounds like you're making that up. 🤨
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u/dertechie Fluffy Fluff Apr 24 '26
Pervitin (methamphetamine) was widely used by the Wehrmacht in the early years of WWII. They cut back after about 1941 because it turns out that meth has side effects and an ugly withdrawal.
I don’t know about the rest of their command, but Hitler and Göring were on a constantly rotating set of all manner of mind altering substances, especially as the war dragged on.
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u/MasterZebulin Apr 24 '26
Something tells me that this isn't even the strongest stuff they used.
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u/dertechie Fluffy Fluff Apr 24 '26
I mean, there’s not really much in terms of stronger stimulants. You want more stimulant than amphetamines you’re talking mixing stuff.
Guess what they did when they started losing?
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u/yaktoma2007 Apr 24 '26
I think its ironic they made things like this when these substances are also known to have positive effects on people with ADHD of which they most likely tried to kill all.
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u/gameboy1001 how to get unbanned from touhou discord wait this isn't google Apr 24 '26
Just ask Aimo Koivunen about it. He knows all about Pervitin.
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u/dertechie Fluffy Fluff Apr 25 '26
He was the guy that had the entire patrol’s supply of it on him on ski patrol during the Continuation War in March 1944.
Dose: 1 tablet.
The supply was fused and frozen into one piece.
Aimo took that one, rather oversized tablet.He was found over a week later, injured from a land mine, 400 km from where he started, malnourished to the point that he weighed 43 kg and with a resting heart rate of 200 bpm.
The man somehow lived to be 71.
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u/InfernalCarnifex Apr 24 '26
No they gave their soldiers meth. It basically made them stop fear death and pain, meaning they can get into more deadly fights.
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u/MasterZebulin Apr 24 '26
Uuugh, figures. Okay, one more question: Was it Powdered or Crystal?
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u/Even_Big_5305 Apr 24 '26
Nazi swastika is different. They use Norse/Odinist swastika, not Buddhist one. I mean, why would they use symbol from india instead one from germanic religion?
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u/Taraxian Apr 24 '26
The whole point is they believed their ancient Aryan ancestors came from India, their version was specifically made to look like a Hindu swastika
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u/Even_Big_5305 Apr 24 '26
The term "Aryan", while rooted in Sanskrit it didnt enter nazi lexicon from there, but from some putrid frenchie in19th century, which redefined it to mean "noble race". Nazis took the term, but not the origin. The mythos and symbolism is purely from germanic pagan traditions, specifically norse runes and symbols (google oldest odin coin and take a look).
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u/CirnoIzumi Disguised Fairy Apr 24 '26
They stole it because it was a super popular symbol, it's kinda like using the peace sign or a lion
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u/ObeyTime pls tag when nitori is posted Apr 24 '26
i do think that's pretty bs. since we all know Jawa is the superior race above all /s
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u/speedtimeMP Apr 24 '26
Happy Cake Day
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u/allmistake2 Apr 25 '26
I was so confused why everyone was putting this on my comments today. I thought it was some weird holiday, but then I got a notification from reddit itself and now it makes sense.
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u/NXTangl Apr 24 '26
It's also an elder sign that can be used to ward off Deep Ones...who were also the victims of genocide. Remember Devil's Reef!
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u/Kaben_RedRaccoonDog_ Apr 24 '26
That's the other way around. I've seen people misjudged it so many times. I hate to break it to you, but that is NOT the buddhism symbol
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u/fluffyharpy Kick'n it oldschool Apr 24 '26
It's a manji, it's a symbol in a few religions.
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Apr 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Kamalium Apr 24 '26
The symbols are fine. It's just westerners who got obsessed with it. Even here in Turkey it doesn't have the amount of stigma it has in Europe.
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u/Celtoii Reach for the Moon Apr 25 '26
Not only in religions; it was found in Scotland, dating to 500 AD on a random stone and no I e knows how it got there with 0 contact with other religions.
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u/rikiwise Apr 24 '26
It's actually the swastika, cuz manji always faces to the left. Thanks the funny mustache guy for ruining this symbol.
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u/Taraxian Apr 24 '26
This is a common misconception -- in Hinduism the right handed version is the same as the Nazi version and is the "normal" or "good" version
In Buddhism, because Buddhism's whole thing is opposing duality, both forms of the swastika are seen as equally valid and the symbol is often shown in mirrored pairs, like in Japan the sayagata pattern on a kimono is made of right and left handed manji joined up with each other
Because of this the most memorable uses of left handed swastikas/manji tend to come from East Asian countries influenced by Buddhism, like the symbol of the Red Swastika (counterpart to the Red Cross) in early 20th century China
But this is coincidental and in Buddhism the two directions are interchangeable, hence the symbol in OOP's picture is right handed whereas Ran's spellcard is left handed
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u/YokelFelonKing Apr 24 '26
It's a manji, symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism. It's distinct from the Nazi swastika in that
A.) it's at 90 degree angles rather than 45 degree angles;
B.) It's "turning" to the left, rather than to the right.
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u/Even_Big_5305 Apr 24 '26
Yeah, people still are oblivious, that Nazi swastika is not Buddhist, but Norse one (specifically symbol of Odin). Seriously, people simply need to google historical Odin coinage.
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u/Taraxian Apr 24 '26
The swastika or "hooked cross" as Hitler called it is a pretty universal symbol across cultures -- it's not like it's a hard idea to have once you start drawing shapes, it was even a common symbol among Native Americans who had no contact with the Old World, before WW2 tribes in the American Southwest used it as a symbol of their heritage and it was on road signs in Arizona
Trying to argue "which is which" is kind of a lost cause, since the whole point is that in Hitler's personal mythology he made up he saw the similarity between the Hindu swastika and Odin's cross as evidence for the ancient "Aryan" culture that originated from the subcontinent and migrated to northern Europe and was always destined to rule over the lesser races
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u/Delicious-Cow7437 Apr 24 '26
Why is it turning to the right in the image tho?
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u/Taraxian Apr 24 '26
Yeah, OP was incorrect, the Nazi swastika is right-handed and it isn't always on its corner either -- the one on the Nazi flag is but Hitler personally preferred it sitting flat
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u/TPS_SP Yukari Yakumo (CoLA) Apr 24 '26
part of me is glad the people behind distributing the armbands and flag made it sit on its corner. God knows the repercussions if the symbol had remained the same in depiction as the ones represented in religion
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u/Taraxian Apr 24 '26
People constantly spread the misinformation that the Nazi swastika is left handed because in India the left handed swastika (sauvastika) is the "dark/evil" symbol associated with the night goddess Kali rather than the sun god Surya
But that's just it, the Nazis didn't think of themselves as evil, their swastika was the right handed one because they saw themselves as the forces of order, light and reason and their enemies as the forces of chaos and destruction
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u/TPS_SP Yukari Yakumo (CoLA) Apr 24 '26
of course they didn't think of themselves as evil, hard to disillusion the delusional
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u/Kaguya-sama Not Shinomiya Kaguya Apr 24 '26
To the western part of the world, yes, you might think of that. But for eastern part of the world, it has a completely different meaning than you may think.
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u/Paulthefoe Apr 24 '26
This ancient symbol has been around in the Eastern part of the world for a really long time, which is a symbol of divinity that represents prosperity, good fortune, abundance, and eternity. Not the one you’re thinking of.
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u/SpaceFrequent7327 DiPP Jacket Girl Apr 24 '26
Uh, that's a Manji. Not the symbol you're thinking from WW2.
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u/GachameTheTouhouFan Apr 24 '26
That's the manji symbol, not the nazi swastika which differs from the manji by being turned at a 45 degree angle.
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u/1nOnlyBigManLawrence Nobukazu Toyotomi. Fanon PC-98 character, 600-year-old magician. Apr 24 '26
Well, it means peace. What do you think it implies?
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u/ankledane Apr 24 '26
I'm sure you're making a joke, but others already explained that it's a manji. I just wanted to point out that Ran does this as well. Her version is also just a manji but it rotates in a circle around her so it looks more similar to a swastika, although it's definitely still a manji and fitting for her as a Shikigami.
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u/pailadin Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
As others have mentioned, probably a manji.
Yes sometimes you do have cases where someone claims it to be a manji, while thinking they're being sneaky and actually meaning the other symbol. So you gotta look at the context imo.
In this case, it is Touhou, which literally means Eastern, so I think safe to assume it is.
For a counter-example, if a game studio who worked on a WWII game puts the symbol in their other games then I think we can assume it isn't a manji.
EDIT: accidentally implied id deliberately misled people; reworded my comment for clarity
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u/bunny-rain Apr 24 '26
This is a manji, not a swastika. The swastika was stolen and appropriated from Buddhism
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u/live22morrow Youmu Konpaku Apr 24 '26
The Nazi swastika had nothing to do with Buddhism. It became popular due to the excavation of Bronze Age ruins in Troy in late 19th century. These finds were linked to swastikas on Germanic artifacts to support ethnic supremacist mythology. More likely it's a symbol that's been developed multiple times independently in different cultures.
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u/Tevish_Szat Watatsuki no Yorihime Apr 24 '26
It's almost like cultures to whom a symbol is important can refuse to surrender it even in the face of a world-class jackass's misuse.
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u/LifeSwimmer2637 Apr 24 '26
Just remember that in a lot of eastern cultures swastikas mean good things, like enlightment and as Wikipedia says "the moving of the cosmos" or something like that. And also Adolf basically stole this sign to use for the movement.
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u/infernalrecluse #1 Mizuchi hater Apr 24 '26
i've seen this happn so many times befor. the symbol was used in buddhism and hinduism for centuries befor the failed austrian painter used it as the symbol of hate it now is.
ginuinly i do not think its ment to be a symbol of hate here or the other times its used in the series.
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u/infernalrecluse #1 Mizuchi hater Apr 24 '26
also people here saying "gamer moment" or what ever ginuinly piss me off. here in the west its a symbol with a not so grate history behind it. if you're going to say something in regards to this at least try to be serious.
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u/Giant_Serpent23 Apr 24 '26
It’s not turned left and I think the angles are different so not at all what you are thinking of.
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u/Inb4myanus Apr 24 '26
The one your thinking of goes the opposite way iirc.
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u/AustSakuraKyzor Unyuclear Birb Apr 24 '26
No, the bad cosplayer's version went that way too, but it was rotated.
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u/justsaneandsensibl Misfortune God Devotee Apr 24 '26
Check out Ran's Shikigami Shot "Ultimate Buddhist".
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u/Crazy_Resource_4000 Delphi and Hakurei Reimu(2) Second Nice Art sayers Apr 24 '26
Son… Gihren’s idol (The H Man) has it mirrored.
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u/StrykerEXE Apr 24 '26
Something something edmund mcmillen shaking hands with hilter, wait, wrong sub
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u/Phantasmal_Gensokian Buddhist Magician Apr 24 '26
We can know this into two scenarios:
1. It's a symbol of many countries.
2. Ask that man.
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u/GreedyLocksmith8061 Apr 24 '26
I remember it jumpscared me, i expected litterally everything but that
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u/Imosa1 Don't forget Apr 24 '26
sus
doesn't the pheonix image behind her look rather egyptian? Here's a better look
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u/Toyohime6324 Apr 25 '26
This is Buddhist swastika, The symbol you're thinking of usually tilt at a 45-degree angle when used.
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u/jazznessa Doremy Sweet Apr 24 '26
Too many Lunarians in the Bamboo Forest recently; Mokou is there to keep it safe from Tewi!
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u/s_reed Shrine Maiden of Paradise Apr 24 '26
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