Fanart is by Syurii22.
Toyosatomimi no Miko is a character in the Touhou Project series introduced in its 13th installment, Ten Desires.
Miko was once Prince Shoutoku, a Japanese leader in the 600s known for promoting Buddhism and streamlining the Japanese government. In the Touhou lore, she was visited by Taoist hermit Seiga Kaku, who had heard about Miko’s longing for immortality. Seiga introduced her to Taoism, but she rejected it as a religion unfit for placating an entire country. She was intrigued by its promise of immortality, however, and privately converted to it, advocating for Buddhism to keep Japan stable. After drinking an “immortality elixir” (mercury sulfide), however, she was forced to let go of her body and become a supernatural hermit like Seiga, notably taking on the form of a woman, making her a canonically trans character (
).
After convincing a hermit from a rival clan (Mononobe no Futo) to sleep without decaying, Miko followed in suit, waiting for a time where a Taoist Japan would revive her in search of guidance. However, Buddhist monks were able to keep her mausoleum sealed, and the legends surrounding her were slowly brushed off- which led to her transportation into Gensokyo, where the folklore of old is a reality of everyday life.
When she awoke in Gensokyo, it was right after Buddhist monk Byakuren Hijiri opened her own temple, however, leading to a surge of divine spirits across the realm, setting up the events of Ten Desires.
What look like headphones on her are canonically earmuffs- Shoutoku was allegedly able to discern between ten questions asked at once, an ability carried by Miko (although with her enhanced abilities, she can also analyze each person and determine their inner desires (thus the title of the game))- although it means her hearing is highly sensitive and has to be muffled to prevent pain.
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CW: Alcoholism, dysphoria posting
I’m doing pretty fine on booze right now. I’ve let myself have a few guinnesses off the tap after work because they’re not good for getting drunk off of. I’m not using it to hide from my feelings of dysphoria or a shitty life. To be more comfortable with the effects of aging, growing more facial hair and the like. If I hadn’t used alcohol to cover up those feelings, I would have gone through the efforts to be on hormones years ago. I was a late bloomer physically, I still had time to stop a lot of first puberty. Luckily anti-psychotics have also slowed this process down, otherwise I’d be in much worse shape.
Now I’m sober and just beating myself up for not doing it sooner. I had other circumstances other than my alcoholism that made the medical decision harder (shitty ex, inconsistent income due to shitty ex, ect.) but alcohol kept me complacent in all of those and kept me from feeling the pressure I needed to get fix them. I’m excited to be starting DIY soon (something my ex never would have let me do) and I think it’ll really improve my outlook on things
The cure to that dysphoria has been this. I’ve also recently met a transfemme friend who is pretty old. She didn’t start transitioning until she was in her 40s and she looks fantastic. There’s part of me that’s scared that I’m starting estrogen too late and she’s really proving to me that there is no such thing as too late. It made me realize how few old trans people I had met or even seen. She’s a lib, but she’s become a really great friend over the past month.