Touhou Project (東方Project, lit. “Eastern Project”) is a large collection of Japanese works centered around a danmaku video game series by the doujin circle, “Team Shanghai Alice” (上海アリス幻樂団),¹⁾ though it's often credited to “Jun'ya Ōta” (太田順也) or “ZUN” instead.

It began development in 1995, but wasn't shown to the public until 1996.²⁾ The series receives significant praise for its music, fascinating visuals, unique stories, and having an absurdly huge cast of human and humanoid characters with plenty of supplemental lore in the print works.

For the most part, Touhou Project is set in a fictional, closed off land hidden within the mountains of Japan called “Gensōkyō” (幻想郷, lit. “Fantasy Land”) and most of the games are about resolving incidents or shenanigans caused by supernatural beings in their universe. However, this isn't a strict formula and some of the works simply try to expand on daily life in Gensōkyō.

While attending Tokyo Denki University, ZUN joined a doujin circle called “Amusement Makers” and he'd use “ZUN Soft” as his brand name. In order to differentiate these works from the later works, they're often referred to as the “old works” (旧作, kyūsaku) or “PC-98 version” (PC-98版, pīshī kyūhachi ban) in Japanese discussions, while the English community simply uses “PC-98 games” instead.

After a long pause, ZUN would resume activities under the doujin circle, “Team Shanghai Alice”, and start to work with Microsoft Windows computers, thus the term: “Windows version” (Windows版, Uindouzu-ban). In addition, he'd collaborate with the doujin circle, “Twilight Frontier” (黄昏フロンティア, Tasogare Furontia), for fighting games and other non-standard works.

• Touhou Kourindou ~ Curiosities of Lotus Asia (2004-2007, 2015–)
• Touhou Sangetsusei
  • Touhou Sangetsusei ~ Eastern and Little Nature Deity (2005–2006)
  • Touhou Sangetsusei ~ Strange and Bright Nature Deity (2006–2009)
  • Touhou Sangetsusei ~ Oriental Sacred Place (2009–2012)
  • Touhou Sangetsusei ~ Visionary Fairies in Shrine (2016–2019)
• Touhou Bunka/Gumon
  • Touhou Bunkachou ~ Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red (2005)
  • Touhou Gumon Shiki ~ Perfect Memento in Strict Sense (2006)
  • Touhou Gumon Kuju ~ Symposium of Post-Mysticism (2012)
  • Touhou Bunka Shinpou ~ Alternative Facts in Eastern Utopia (2017)
• Touhou Shikoubana ~ Seasonal Dream Vision (2005)
• Touhou Bougetsushou
  • Touhou Bougetsushou ~ Silent Sinner in Blue (2007–2009)
  • Touhou Bougetsushou ~ Cage in Lunatic Runagate (2008–2009)
  • Touhou Bougetsushou ~ Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth (2007–2009)
• The Grimores
  • The Grimoire of Marisa (2009)
  • The Grimoire of Sumireko (2019)
• Touhou Ibarakasen ~ Wild and Horned Hermit (2010–2019)
• Touhou Suzunaan ~ Forbidden Scrollery (2012–2017)
• Touhou Gairai Ihen ~ Strange Creators of Outer World (2015–)
• Touhou Chikireiden ~ Hansoku Tantei Satori (2019–)
• Touhou Suichouka ~ Lotus Eater-tachi no Suisei (2019–)

• ZUN stated that Touhou Project is “not a series” in the past, but later admits that it kinda is one.³⁾⁴⁾
  • I would interpret this as ZUN trying to make each game “standalone” and avoid continuity so it'd be easy for newcomers to simply join in without needing any prior knowledge.
• While Touhou Project is copyrighted by Team Shanghai Alice, it's well known that Touhou Project is fairly generous with somewhat loose guidelines when it comes to derivative fan works.⁵⁾
• The alternate English name, Project Shrine Maiden, is seen on the cover art of the first few Windows games, but it was changed to “Touhou Project” starting with Touhou Kaeidzuka (Phantasmagoria of Flower View) in 2005. Most foreign communities borrow the “Touhou Project” notation, but certain ones have their own variant of the name in their own language.
  • In Chinese, it's called “东方Project” (Dōngfāng Project) for “Eastern Project”.
  • In Korean, it's called “동방 프로젝트” (Dongbang Project) for “Eastern Project”.
  • In Thai, it's called “โทโฮโปรเจค” (Thoḥo Porcekh).

• Team Shanghai Alice - The archaic website for the doujin circle behind Touhou Project.
  • Touhou Yomoyama News - The official Touhou Project news portal since 2020.
    • Hakurei Gensō Shofu (Hakurei's Fantasy Books) - The old blog from 2005 to 2020.
  • Hakurei Kannushi (@korindo) on Twitter - ZUN's Twitter account. It's mostly personal posts about beer and public/radio appearances, but he does post about Touhou Project once in a while.
  • ZUN (@shanghai-alice.com) on Bluesky - After his Twitter account was hacked.
• Touhou Wiki [JA] - This wiki is a bit lacking, but it does exist for those curious.
  • Touhou Project Popularity Poll - A poll that has recently split off from the wiki. See article.
  • Touhou Mononeta Wiki - This wiki tries to extract the meaning of things. Volunteer-run.
• THBWiki [ZH] - This wiki is extremely detailed and visually pleasing. I can't stress this enough.
• Touhou Wiki [EN] - This wiki is a bit of a mess. It's mostly good for trivia and stuff.
• Touhou Project on Niconico Encyclopedia [JA]
• Touhou Project on Pixiv Encyclopedia [JA]

;　" " ヾ　; " ; " ; ; ヾ
"ゞ ; ; ; ゞ ; ;ヾ ; ; ヾ ;ゞ　　　　　⊂⊃
ヾ ; ;";;/" ; ;ヾ　;ヾ ""
; "i "; ;ヾ; ;ヾ; ;ﾒヾ　　　　　　　　　ﾞ　　　　　　　　⊂⊃
ii;, メｿ　ヾ; ;ゞ　"　　　ﾞ
|i;, |ｿ　　______　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　ﾞ
Il;: |　　´>　　｀ヽ、　　 ）ノ　　　　　　　i^ヽr,／^'i
!ｉ;: |　 _,.'-=[＞＜]=.,_ (( 　　　　　　　,i '"⌒｀"' Y､
|!;; |　 ヽi <ﾚﾉλﾉ)ﾚ〉'_,,　　　　　　　 L(!ﾉハル」 iゝ
IＩ;; | 　 ﾉﾚ§ﾟ ヮﾟﾉiゝ(ノ　　. 从　　　　i!､ﾟヮ ﾟ [!ノﾊ
从 ゝ,,　 し iＨiヽ⊃/　 　 .ﾉ;; 人 　　 O旦⊂」,ﾍﾘ
"""" 　 く/'ｎ_　ｎ> 　　　（;;( ;;);;）　　　《 《　＼⊃
　　　''""" ""''"""''　　''""""""''　　''""" """"''