Yukari yakumo

[ edit ] Main Profile
An often seen and referenced character, Yukari is the youkai of boundaries. She was first introduced in Perfect Cherry Blossom as the sleepy mistress of Ran. During Imperishable Night Yukari teams up with Reimu to find those responsible for the fake moon. In Immaterial and Missing Power she actually sings her way from battle to battle stealing everyone's sake, wine, and brandy. Even right from the shrine's altar... however, this is all part of her strategy to save the day. Somehow.

Over a thousand years ago, Yukari organized an army of youkai and led them in an invasion of the Moon. The youkai were subsequently routed by the Lunarians, who possessed superior technology and magic, and forced to retreat to Earth. Since that time, no youkai have attempted to expand their territory beyond Gensokyo. While some speculate that Yukari organized the invasion out of selfish hunger for territory and power, others believe she did it to teach the youkai a lesson about starting wars of conquest; namely, that it was a bad idea.

About a thousand years ago, Yukari met and became friends with a human girl named Yuyuko. After Yuyuko died, Yukari continued to be friends with Yuyuko's ghost, although Yuyuko gradually forgot who she had been and why she had died. When Yuyuko requested that Yukari use her power to weaken the border between the Netherworld and Gensokyo, Yukari obliged. She knew Yuyuko's plan to make the Saigyou Ayakashi bloom could never succeed, but was too busy sleeping to say or do anything about it, or to put the border back to normal after everything was finished, which put her on a collision course with the heroines.

Yukari is known for being a very youkai-like youkai who sleeps all day and lives for the enjoyment of life. Though she rarely leaves her house she's well-connected and is acquainted with most of the most powerful youkai (such as Suika and Yuyuko) as well as anyone having anything to do with the Hakurei border or outside world (Reimu and Rinnosuke). She's possibly the most powerful youkai in Gensokyo and has a tendency to toy with her opponents rather than use her full power from the start. If anyone is suited for the role of "mastermind" it's Yukari, and she often has a great deal of insight and understanding about whatever happens in Gensokyo, and possesses considerable intellectual prowess, as well. Though she seems flaky and unreliable most of the time, when the safety or security of Gensokyo is at stake, she won't hesitate to get involved, even if it means using others to do the work for her. For example, in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, she treats Tenshi Hinanai with much hostility after finding out the plot of the Heavens. She could easily be either a villain or a heroine, depending on her whims.

[ edit ] Fun Facts
Yakumo tatsu / Izumo yagegaki / Tsuma-gomini / Yaegaki tsukuro / Sono yaegaki wo
 * The characters for Yakumo literally mean "eight clouds" (but can also mean "countless clouds"), and Yukari "violet". All of the Yakumo family are named after colors. The light frequencies (energies) of the colors are proportional to their powers: Chen (orange) << Ran (indigo) < Yukari (violet). The energy of violet light is the highest in the visible spectrum, and violet light is the boundary between visible and invisible light. Red light (the symbolic color of Remilia Scarlet or Reimu Hakurei ) is another boundary, but they are stronger than Chen. Fittingly, when Reimu and Yukari team up in Imperishable Night, they are called the "Boundary Team". In addition to maintaining the Hakurei Barrier, their colors form the two boundaries between visible and invisible light. In addition, the word "yukari" is uncommonly used to mean "border" or "edge", albeit with a different character.
 * "Yakumo" also comes from the first ancient poem written in what would become the Japanese "Tanka" form:

Definitely in keeping with the character's origin/age in the storyline. The translation into English is: "Eightfold rising clouds/ Build an eightfold fence / An eightfold Izumo fence / Wherein to keep my bride-- / Oh! splendid eightfold fence." This poem was attributed to the god Susanoo. Interpretations vary as to the meaning of the poem. Spell Card 222*Occasionally, double rainbows form after rainfall—there's the rainbow one usually sees (red on the top, and violet at the bottom), and another, larger, fainter one above it. The colors on the second rainbow are reversed—red on the bottom, and violet at the top. In other words, the outside edges of the rainbow are violet—or, put another way, violet forms the boundary between the sky and the rainbow. Thus, Yukari's given name strongly signifies the idea of boundaries.
 * When Rinnosuke had an iPod in his shop, only Yukari knew how to actually use it, and further knew that it was considered a trendy item in the outer world. She similarly knew about the Nintendo Game Boy and DS. (source: Curiosities of Lotus Asia #11 and #11.5, respectively.)
 * Because of her understanding of technology from the outside world, there are rumours that she lives in the outside world from time to time.
 * Marisa once stated that Yukari uses a small box to talk to her shikigami when they are far away from her, which led Rinnosuke to believe that she owns a cell phone (at least two, really).
 * The title of the BGM for Yukari's stage in Perfect Cherry Blossom is "妖々跋扈　〜 Who done it?". The term, "who done it" (or whodunnit) is "a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is paramount". (See also Flandre Scarlet )
 * Popular fan-nicknames for Yukari include "Sukima" ("gap"), "Yukarin" (a contraction of "Yukari-chan"), and "Babaa" (roughly, "old hag"). This latter is because she is known as one of the oldest youkai in Gensokyo.
 * In some fanworks, Yukari insists on being 17 years old. Usage in fanworks is possibly a parody of Kikuko Inoue, who claims that she is 17 years old despite being way over that age. Musou Kakyou: A Summer Day's Dream casts Kikuko Inoue as the narrator (probably Yukari), in a nod to this in-joke.
 * A silhouette of Yukari occupies the front of Perfect Cherry Blossom 's jewel case.
 * The outfit Yukari wears in IaMP, IN , and SWR has two groups of solid/broken lines called trigrams on the front. A solid line represents Yang and a broken line is Yin. The top trigram (☱) is "dui" or "tui" (open) and is associated with west and water. The bottom trigram (☷) is "kūn" (field) and is associated with southwest and earth, as well as Yoni (divine passage). The two trigrams together in that order form the hexagram for "clustering," "gathering together," and "finished." Sounds more fitting for Suika in a way...
 * More on the hexagram, the hexagram "Ts'ui" formed by the combination of "tui" and "kun" results in a meaning of gathering together to persevere towards a destination. This hexagram signifies also great wisdom which is necessary for leadership when directing an assembly together to create overall prosperity for everyone (for example a ruler). Yukari herself can be seen as an overseer of Gensokyo. Her ability to create borders would definitely give her the ability to bring everyone together (perhaps by force) while maintaining the harmony of the "created" world. Maybe this design was a critique on her abilities?
 * For some reason, Yukari's appearance in spell card 222 in Imperishable Night, is different from other characters. Instead of using the new image in Imperishable Night , a modified image from Perfect Cherry Blossom is used (she has blue ribbons instead). What is more strange is that the background used in the spellcard, which is also from PCB , uses Yukari's original cut-in image with red ribbons. Yukari's sprite in StB also sports blue ribbons.
 * There are several running gags involving her in fan works. One plays on the fact that she sleeps a lot and leaves most of her work to her shikigami Ran . Another plays on her relatively old age compared to most of the characters in Gensokyo, with other characters calling her "old hag". (See above.)
 * Although not expressly stated, Yukari is commonly considered one of the most powerful—if not the most powerful—youkai in Gensokyo, although a few other youkai like Yuka Kazami and Suika Ibuki have been considered to be around her level. However, she might still lose spellcard battles to humans or youkai.
 * Yukari is sometimes seen riding on top of a train in fan-made videos, likely due to her most powerful spellcard in SWR, in which she summons a train to run over her opponent.

[ edit ] Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

 * Main article: Article and Interview: Yukari 

After hearing a fox's cry, Aya Shameimaru went to investigate. She found Yukari beating Ran Yakumo over the head with an umbrella, which Yukari claimed was only for disciplining her. Because Aya is a crow tengu she feels animal rights are important and was upset by Yukari's "animal abuse."

During the interview Yukari insisted that it was not animal abuse because Ran is a shikigami, which Yukari considered to make her no longer count as being an animal. Yukari explained that as long as a shikigami follows its master's will then it will be as strong as its master. Ran had apparently disobeyed Yukari by doing something she hadn't been ordered to do. Because of that Ran wasn't as strong as she could be and ended up putting herself in danger while relying only on her own strength. This discipline was meant to remind Ran just who her master is so that Ran won't needlessly be in danger by fighting at less than full strength. Aya didn't think that excused it at all.

Yukari also called the Bunbunmaru Newspaper a shoddy paper and offered to make Aya her shikigami too, which Aya refused.

[ edit ] Perfect Memento in Strict Sense

 * Main article: Perfect Memento: Yukari Yakumo 


 * Although Yukari's appearance is identical to a human she is not one, does not think like one, and cannot be expected to be friendly toward humans.
 * She has no weaknesses, but fortunately seems to rarely attack humans.
 * She sleeps in the day and is awake at night, like most youkai, and wears extravagant clothes.
 * At the very least she is 1,200 years old and has been involved in various major events in Gensokyo 's history.
 * She is extremely intellegent and good at mathematics, as well as being very experienced due to her long life.
 * She's eager to tell people about herself and Gensokyo but no one knows if she's telling the truth.
 * Her house is supposed to be on the Hakurei Border but no one knows exactly where, or if it's even in Gensokyo at all.
 * Yukari sleeps so much that much of her work is left to her shikigami Ran Yakumo instead.
 * Yukari's power to manipulate boundaries gives her power over all sorts of things and is comparable to the powers of the gods.
 * Her manipulation of boundaries even affect illusion and reality, or the fictional and the actual.
 * She can travel anywhere through gaps in space and cannot be followed through them, and can freely travel through the Hakurei Border.
 * She could also simply reach a hand through a gap in space and steal people's food from a distance.
 * Because Gensokyo itself exists due to the boundary around it, Yukari could supposedly destroy Gensokyo if she wished.
 * Over 1,000 years ago Yukari invaded the Moon with an army of youkai for unknown reasons but was defeated.
 * Yukari apparently had a hand in the creation of the Hakurei Border as well as encouraging youkai to immigrate to Gensokyo.
 * Originally not all youkai supported the creation of the Hakurei Border but hardly any are against it now.
 * Yukari is thought to have weakened the border between the world of the living and the Netherworld for an unknown reason.

[ edit ] The Grimoire of Marisa

 * Main article:  The Grimoire of Marisa: Yukari Yakumo's Spell Cards 


 * Insert Summary Here