To Master Thread

To the extent of creating earthliness...
Stage EXTRA~
—Boss; BGM: Native Faith
Spell Card: Native God "Froggy Braves the Wind and Rain"
The one behind the scenes~
The Highest of Native Gods

"Since you made it into the shrine, you'll have to do
like you did with Sanae and Kanako...
You'll have to have a danmaku festival with me!"
~Moriya Suwako
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Since you dare to battle here in the underground
where I hold a natural advantage,
you've grown up a little too,
haven't you, Sanae?
If you beat me here, maybe we won't have to worry
about always helping you with your trouble-solving trips anymore!
[...]
I felt that Kanako was getting worried.
Thinking "Would she know the way back home?" and such.
Well, then! Awe me, creator of these lands,
with your marvelous, god-like miracles!"
~Moriya Suwako

"Feel free to discuss stuff like character design, head canons, theories, opinions and the sort.
Also, feel free to post favorite fan art or character specific themes, or whatever so long it's relevant to the topic.
Cut and paste bit for anyone else who wants to do this
To spread these out so we has some steady discussion, each new character thread will be made 2-3 days from the last one(rule not set in stone. Flexible if needed) Feel free to bump up old threads.
Fan Art: Try and make it SFW as far as content and hosting site, though if you need to just add (Gore), (NSFW) or whatever is needed. Safebooru is an alternative to danbooru. if you want to find a particular piece on another site, Go Here, Click on the camera and paste the direct image link , hopefully another link to it should turn up."
Copy Paste: end"

I've seen speculation that the true Suwako is actually the hat and just controls whoever is wearing it.

Also since Sanae is a decedent of hers, it means that she has actually had kids. Which would mean that she is the only Touhou character that has been confirmed to have had sex (though gods are weird so it is possible she reproduced through some other method).

An ancient and beloved goddess who once ruled the land, and the woman behind the scenes. Blesses and curses as is appropriate.

Species: God
Ability: Creating earth
The true god of the Shrine of Moriya(守矢). She is the God of Mountains, and was once the leader of the many gods that lived in the Mountains.
During ancient times, she was a god in control of "Mishaguji". Mishaguji were curse gods who had obtained enormous amounts of faith, cursing birth, harvest, military, and many other things. Making light of these fearsome gods would lead to divine punishment. The only one able to tame these gods was Suwako. Because of this, she gained an extraordinary amount of faith, and cultivated a kingdom as its ruler while still being a god.
However, many other gods of Yamato (ancient Japan) invaded her kingdom. One of those gods was Kanako. The many gods of Yamato continually conquered the small kingdom for themselves. They said that ultimately, they would unify all countries and create a single country called Japan.
Naturally, Suwako resisted and fought with the finest iron weapons of the time. However, Kanako held out a thin vine, and Suwako's large iron arsenal instantly rusted. Suwako realized the difference in their divine powers and her defeat. She valiantly forfeited and relinquished her kingdom.
And so, Kanako attained the kingdom of Moriya(洩矢).
However, the people of Moriya(洩矢) could not forget the fear of their native gods, Mishaguji, and were unable to accept their new god.
Kanako thought she could not gain the faith of the people, and gave up on making the kingdom hers. Instead, she called forth a new god and combined it with Moriya's(洩矢) god. Within the kingdom, this new god was called Moriya(守矢), but was called by a different name outside of the kingdom. This way, it seemed as if it was ruling the kingdom. Moriya(守矢) is, of course, Moriya(洩矢). And thus Kanako borrowed Suwako's powers, and silently ruled as the God of Mountains.
The new god that was said to have reigned over the kingdom was a god only in name, existing only to preserve the legend of Yamato. In reality, Suwako continued to rule over the kingdom. Although the gods of the modern world have mostly been replaced by the Yamato Legends, she is still in her original form discreetly gathering faith.

However, the faith she has gathered throughout the eras is slowly fading with the introduction of the era of science.
Suwako didn't mind so much, but Kanako panicked and moved the whole shrine to Gensokyo.
Suwako didn't know how well she could get by in Gensokyo, but she decided to enjoy it as her final amusement. The reason she didn't argue with Kanako for deserting the kingdom and coming to Gensokyo was because she had no regrets left in the outer world. There were few people that knew her name.
After all, even the closest human to Suwako, Sanae, doesn't know much about her.
Sanae is currently Kanako's Shrine Maiden, but the reason she can create miracles is because she is Suwako's distant descendant. Despite this, she does not seem to understand why there are two gods within her own shrine.
Suwako didn't care whether or not she was fated to be forgotten anymore. She's actually thankful to Kanako as it seems she'll be able to enjoy a second life in Gensokyo.

Now, Kanako is the God of wind, but why is a snake-patterned rope her trademark?
There are two reasons.
The first is because the snake symbolizes reincarnation. It was to oppose the fear of Mishaguji.

And the second reason is because... She wanted to casually stress the fact that she won against Suwako.
Why, you ask? Suwako is a god that takes the form of a frog, and snakes eat frogs. Rituals of the new kingdom included sacrificing frogs to state that "The Snake now rules this kingdom in place of the Frog."

This is one reason why Suwako and Kanako argue a lot.
They share common interests and are actually very good friends.