Sakuya Izayoi | Touhou Project Character Guide

Overview

Sakuya Izayoi is the chief maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion and a human character who is not native to Gensokyo. She is a recurring playable character in the Touhou Project series, distinguished by her ability to manipulate time and her expertise in knife-throwing. First introduced as a boss in *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*, Sakuya has since appeared as a protagonist and incident resolver in multiple mainline danmaku shooters and fighting games.

Character Profile

Sakuya is a human residing in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, making her the only human living among the youkai there. Official documentation notes she is not native to Gensokyo. While she claims to be between 10 and 20 years old, sources imply her actual age is significantly older. Her time manipulation abilities are suggested to play a role in her appearance, as she can alter the aging speed of objects. Her occupations include serving as the head maid, a youkai exterminator, and an incident solver.

Abilities and Gameplay

Sakuya's primary ability is manipulating time. This power allows her to stop time, move at high speeds, and alter the aging process of targets. In gameplay, her combat style centers on throwing knives combined with time manipulation effects.

Here is the short version:

* **Time Manipulation:** Sakuya can stop time, enabling her to act while the environment remains frozen. She uses this ability to position knives and perform maid duties efficiently. According to in-game dialogue, Sakuya claims her time stop is actually her moving at extremely high speeds with no mass, though this may be a deflection. She can also accelerate or decelerate aging, demonstrated by instantly blooming bamboo flowers that typically require sixty years to bloom. * **Knife Throwing:** She wields knives as her primary weapon. Her attacks often involve scattering an infinite quantity of knives by stopping time, arranging them, and resuming time to launch the projectiles.

Game Appearances

Sakuya is a frequent presence across the Touhou Project library, appearing in mainline shooters, fighting games, and spin-offs.

Here is the short version:

* **Mainline Shooters:** Sakuya is a playable character in *Perfect Cherry Blossom*, *Immaterial and Missing Power*, *Imperishable Night*, *Phantasmagoria of Flower View*, *Scarlet Weather Rhapsody*, *Double Dealing Character*, and *Unconnected Marketeers*. She serves as a boss in *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil*, *Shoot the Bullet*, *Impossible Spell Card*, *100th Black Market*, and the *Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (New Classic)* remaster. * **Fighting Games:** She is playable in *Touhou Hisoutensoku* and appears as a background character in *Hopeless Masquerade*. * **Other Appearances:** Sakuya features in the ending of *Fossilized Wonders*.

Personality and Role

Sakuya presents an elegant and serious demeanor consistent with her role as a maid, though she occasionally exhibits a spaced-out or unreliable side. She is loyal to her mistress, Remilia Scarlet, and maintains a polite relationship with mansion residents like Patchouli Knowledge.

As the head maid, she oversees fairy maids but performs most of the work herself, relying on time manipulation to manage tasks. Sakuya has been characterized as cold toward humans and lacks friends in the Human Village, a behavior that drew criticism from Eiki Shiki. Despite this, she acts as an incident resolver when necessary, cooperating with Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame to address threats relevant to the mansion. In *Double Dealing Character*, she shows a willingness to adopt a more aggressive approach after her knives are influenced by the Miracle Mallet's magic.