Nazrin
Nazrin is a mouse youkai appearing in the Touhou Project series, introduced in Touhou Seirensen ~ Undefined Fantastic Object. While acting as a subordinate to Toramaru Shou, she is actually a high-ranking disciple of Bishamonten sent to assist and monitor Shou's work. Known by titles such as the Little Dowser General, she operates as a skilled treasure hunter who utilizes dowsing instruments and swarms of mice to locate lost items.
Overview
Nazrin is a mouse youkai appearing in the Touhou Project series, introduced in Touhou Seirensen ~ Undefined Fantastic Object. While acting as a subordinate to Toramaru Shou, she is actually a high-ranking disciple of Bishamonten sent to assist and monitor Shou's work. Known by titles such as the Little Dowser General, she operates as a skilled treasure hunter who utilizes dowsing instruments and swarms of mice to locate lost items.
Appearance
Nazrin features dark grey wavy hair and deep red eyes, with round mouse ears atop her head and a long mouse tail extending from her waist that carries a small basket of mice at its tip. She wears a long-sleeved white shirt underneath a grey vest and a grey medium skirt featuring unique cutouts near the bottom, complimented by a light blue capelet over her shoulders. Around her neck hangs a pendulum, and she wields two L-shaped dowsing rods marked with directional letters for West, North, East, and South. When she gets an idea, a block of Swiss cheese visually floats above her head.
Personality
Nazrin speaks with a somewhat boyish tone and often adopts a condescending, haughty demeanor around others, emboldened by the authority of her backer Bishamonten. Beneath this proud front, however, lies a naturally cautious and timid temperament, causing her to back down when firmly confronted. She possesses sharp intellect and cunning, prioritizing quick retreat whenever a situation becomes dangerous. Compared to many other youkai, she remains relatively sensible, highly intelligent, and dutiful in executing her assigned responsibilities.
Abilities
She possesses the ability to find lost objects. Using her dowsing rods and pendulum alongside her command over wild mice, she sends small rodents into narrow or deep spaces to pinpoint item locations by sound. Her searching methods have clear limitations; items that are too large, living animals, things incomprehensible to mice, or edible foods—which the mice consume before retrieving—cannot be effectively located. Because her dowsing accuracy is not absolute, she must still rely on physical footwork, and activating her mice tends to increase rodent activity in the surrounding area.
Background
Sent under the orders of Bishamonten, Nazrin assumed a role as both an assistant and a monitor for Toramaru Shou. During the events of Touhou Seirensen, she was tasked by Kumoi Ichirin and Murasa Minamitsu to locate the flying storehouse fragments required to unseal Hijiri Byakuren, while simultaneously searching in secret for the Jeweled Pagoda that Shou had lost. She successfully tracked down the pagoda at an antique shop and reclaimed it. While maintaining a small hut near Muenzuka for digging treasures, she primarily resides at Myourenji Temple, assisting with daily chores.
Relationships
Nazrin acts as a direct subordinate to Toramaru Shou, though her true status is a disciple of Bishamonten assigned to monitor her. Shou relies heavily on her, entrusting her with sensitive tasks such as locating the misplaced Jeweled Pagoda. Although she resides at Myourenji Temple under Hijiri Byakuren, Nazrin does not share the intense personal devotion to Byakuren that other members possess. She cooperated with Murasa Minamitsu and Kumoi Ichirin during the fragment search, and maintains a strong aversion to cat youkai, including her old acquaintance Kaenbyou Rin from the underground.
Trivia
Nazrin holds the distinction of being the first Stage 1 boss in the Touhou Project series to be directly involved in the overarching plot of a game. In Touhou Juuouen, she explicitly denies being a Tetsu-so (iron rat youkai). Her character theme songs include A Tiny, Tiny, Clever Commander from Touhou Seirensen and At the Harbor of Spring from Touhou Juuouen. Although she mentions that her command mice prefer human meat over dairy, cheese remains heavily associated with her character iconically.
