| “ | In place of my lost Mask of Hope, a new hope awaits. I have nothing against you personally. However, I will claim all the hope in Gensokyo! For the sake of all human emotion! | „ |
| ~ Hata no Kokoro |
Hata no Kokoro is a character from Touhou Project who debuts in Hopeless Masquerade as the final boss. While not really evil, her naïveté, along with her manipulation of the emotions of the Human Village in her debut, both strictly for good reasons, both count her as somewhat of an anti-villainess. Kokoro is a Menreiki composed of a humanoid girl body with several masks floating around her, becoming a youkai after a long time from these masks that were used by Hata no Kawakatsu, the father of Saragaku performance. She returns as a playable character in Urban Legend in Limbo.
History[]
Backstory[]
Hata no Kokoro is a youkai of menreiki, and she holds a total of 66 masks. She became a youkai after a long time from these masks which were used by Hata no Kawakatsu.
When Prince Shoutoku was in war against Soga no Moriya, Prince Shoutoku ordered that Kawakatsu perform 66 types of play for ancient ritual with 66 masks given by Prince Shoutoku. After the plays, the war ended and there came peace.
Hopeless Masquerade[]
In this game, Kokoro lost her mask of hope, which was stolen by Koishi Komeiji. This caused her power to control emotions to go berserk, causing the humans in the Human Village to lose hope as well and become enthralled in a religious popularity contest that came to be known as the "dueling fad". She controlled the humans through the masks placed on them into looking for her mask of hope.
Reimu and the others participated in this contest and are eventually guided by Mamizou to the Human Village at night, where Kokoro searched in vain for her lost mask. Most of the characters who try to stop her come up with their own solutions to her hopelessness, including Byakuren teaching her Buddhism to control her own emotions and Miko making her a replacement mask of hope, but none of them completely work until Mamizou notices the contradictory actions Kokoro is taking and offers her own advice, which is to stop relying on the masks and discover her own, true emotions through meeting (and fighting) a variety of people. In the process of doing so she discovers her own anger at the religious leaders who are taking advantage of the situation, and Reimu, Byakuren, and Miko team up to stop her. Byakuren and Miko both claim that their solutions solved the problem, and Kokoro is invited to the Hakurei Shrine to perform Noh plays as an offering to the gods.
Appearance[]
Kokoro has long, pink hair and pink, empty eyes. She wears a blue blouse with plaid pattern. Her skirt is in a pumpkin shape, depicting several faces on it. She carries a total of 66 masks with her, which all holds a different emotion and face. However, she mainly uses the masks holding the emotions joy, anger, pathos and humour.
Personality[]
Kokoro, a rather lifeless and emotionally devoid person, had to rely on her masks to properly communicate her emotions. All of her masks are in harmony with one another; when she lost the Mask of Hope, it caused a severe imbalance and she would go berserk. Through the story of Hopeless Masquerade, she strengthened her own emotional capacity and became more lively toward her surroundings.
Relationships[]
- Toyosatomimi no Miko (Known)
- Mamizou Futatsuiwa (Known)
- Koishi Komeiji (Enemy)
- Satori Komeiji (Enemy's Sister)
Gallery[]
Merchandise[]
Theme Music[]
Trivia[]
- A silhouette of Kokoro occupies the front of Hopeless Masquerade's jewel case.
- Kokoro resembles Satori Komeiji in some ways, and both are closely related to Koishi Komeiji in story and abilities.
- A popular gag is having her with masks of other known things, such as Kamen Riders (particularly Wizard, who frequently talks about hope), The Stone Mask, due to the frequent popularity of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure within Touhou, Majora's Mask, due to its own popularity, and so forth as opposed to her normal ones.
- Fans have noticed similarities with expressionless but attractive characters such as Yuki Nagato or Rei Ayamami, though with the liveliness Kokoro shows, she ends up developing her own charm.
- Due to the ambiguous situation with her either talking or the masks doing the talking, various artists have either Kokoro herself talking without masks, the masks doing the talking, or all of the above.
- Due to the close ties with Koishi, she is sometimes shown with her. At others it's Mamizou as she helps Kokoro out.
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 Villains
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PC-98 Embodiment of Scarlet Devil Perfect Cherry Blossom Imperishable Night Phantasmagoria of Flower View Mountain of Faith Subterranean Animism Undefined Fantastic Object: Ten Desires Double Dealing Character Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom Hidden Star in Four Seasons Wily Beast and Weakest Creature Unconnected Marketeers Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost Official Spin-offs Other | ||