[Seiga Kaku Cosplay] Touhou Project: Yūgen and Chinese-Style Fantasy Between Life and Death

From the moment I received the concept for Seiga Kaku this time, I was constantly thinking about how to capture that subtle sense of yūgen floating between life and death within this set of ancient-style costume filled with Eastern fantasy flavor. Collaborating with Sakuya Sakuya this time was a deeply immersive visual creation process, through which we hoped to materialize that unique, mysterious aura belonging to Touhou Project via Ancient style photography.

The entire set took quite a long time to prepare, especially in polishing the hairstyle and makeup. The blue-green long wig was styled with highly recognizable double looped buns, adorned with metal and glassy bead strings, not only to recreate Seiga Kaku's visual characteristics, but also to complement the overall cool-toned, ethereal Xianxia atmosphere. To highlight the skin's translucent texture, I specifically matched green contact lenses with matching eyeshadow blending, hoping to accurately convey that otherworldly coolness and sense of mystery to the viewer through the lens.

A lot of care was also poured into the fabric selection and craftsmanship of the costume. While retaining the wide-sleeved silhouette of traditional Hanfu, we integrated modern light gauze and lace textures. The white outer robe intersects with the blue-green inner skirt, with gold thread and bead details embroidered along the chest and hem. Under cool-toned dark light, this material reflects an extremely subtle luster, perfectly fitting the hazy quality carried by the theme of "the cycle between life and death."

The studio set design on the day of the shoot was amazing. Dark wooden grilles constructed a sense of ancient time and space, while hanging semi-transparent white gauze, frost-defying white branch floral art, and a white fluffy carpet on the floor jointly built a space detached from daily life. What surprised me most was the smoke effect on site, meticulously prepared by Sakuya Sakuya. The smoke served not only to enhance visual mystery, but also became a concrete embodiment of the word "flow." As light filtered through the mist onto the fabric and skin, the incredibly soft outlines truly created the illusion of standing amidst a hazy cloud ocean of immortals.

In terms of pose design, we tried several sets of plans to showcase Seiga Kaku's depth. The shots holding the pipe and flower branches required special control over prop weight and body inclination angles to keep poses relaxed and ethereal; in the seated composition holding a dark cup, we cleverly utilized the interplay of backlighting and smoke to make a subtle combination of lower body lines and skirt dynamics, which is also a personal favorite composition of mine (and used as the cover photo); the later top-down lying poses blurred abundant flowers in the foreground, using lens perspective to present a narrative feel of gazing at the outside world through layers of floral shadows.

Every cosplay photoshoot is a process of pulling a 2D character into 3D reality. The character of Seiga Kaku possesses the mystery of a Taoist hermit while carrying an unhidden willful gentleness. Combining traditional Chinese garments with this Eastern fantasy setting this time was not merely a recreation of original settings, but an aesthetic exploration completed together by the photographer and me.

Looking through the RAW photos after finishing was truly emotional. From wig and makeup to costume, props, full scene structure, and the application of light and shadow, not a single detail could be slacked on. I hope everyone can feel the unique charm of Touhou Project in this set filled with subtle profundity and aesthetic beauty, which is also the visual emotion I wanted to express most under this theme of "life and death flow."