entry to his inherited fief. It was a serious matter. The Middle Councilor’s
party rode a long way with Moritaka’s entourage. However, at last Moritaka
urged them to return as the distance they had ridden together was already
too far—thus being polite and respectful to each other, both entourages
parted ways” ( MJMT 10: 557). This, again, seems to show the author’s
knowledge of customs and manners.
Earlier I described a close relationship between Blossom Princess, one of
the three Cinderella-type stories of the otogizōshi genre, and three mukashiban-
ashi with similar plots or related situations. The association of Blossom Princess
with mukashibanashi is close, especially in terms of the yamauba who has a
dichotomous role of destruction as well as a bringer of wealth. The yamauba
of Blossom Princess also represents an old woman who is abandoned in the
mountain, as the story of “obasute” portrays. The story of Blossom Princess
also introduces some interesting contemporary customs at great length.
The elaborate accounts of such customs as shūto-iri make one speculate that
the author, be it aristocrat or preacher, wrote Blossom Princess not only for
entertainment and religious or moral edification but also as an instruction
for affluent provincial lords to emulate certain customs. Blossom Princess, a
Cinderella-type story of the late medieval otogizōshi, is an entertaining and
instructional tale.
transLatiOn Of hanaYO nO hiMe
This translation is based on a book print published in volume 10 of
Muromachi jidai monogatari taisei ( MJMT, 515–59). I also consulted Shimazu
Hisamoto’s edition of Hanayo no hime (Shimazu, “Hanayo no hime”).
Blossom Princess
S C R o L L o N E
When one meditates on human vanity, rapid shifts and fleeting moments
in the rhythm of human life echo the way of the world. Sometimes good
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ebbs and evil flows. In this transitory world, icicles in the valley melt first
in spring, and flowers begin to blossom. Yet, while flowers in the beautiful
richness of full bloom enchant people, their moment is fleeting. Soon the
deutzia flower and cuckoos start to sing their sweet songs in the mountains.
The cicadas drone loudly in the trees. In the heat of summer it is delightful
to be at the foot of spring water; but soon, the first autumn wind visits pine
trees and the moon shines brightly in the clear sky. Almost imperceptibly,
the crickets’ chirpings dwindle in the evening at Sagano (a place of scenic
beauty in Kyoto), and the sky of the Tenth Month is all a drizzling mist. It is
hard to pass a long, cold night in only one’s thin clothes, but life is difficult
to abandon. Days and months go by while people lament an all too brief
and wretched life.
Now, an exceptionally wealthy man lived in a mountain village near
the foot of the famous Mt. Fuji in Suruga Province (present-day central
Shizuoka prefecture). His name was Bungo no kami Moritaka22 of the Wada
clan. He had all the abundant treasures any man could desire; nothing was
missing except for one thing—he did not have a child. The man and his
wife lamented this fact, each thinking in his or her turn, “What is the use
of building treasure houses in every direction if we have no child to whom
we can leave this wealth and who will pray for our happiness in the next
life?” Nevertheless, the couple was deeply religious and compassionate.
They enshrined an image of Shō Kannon [Aryavalokiteśvara], the patron
of those who suffer, in the hall of their great house. Every morning and
evening when they burned incense, offered flowers, and chanted sutras for
the Kannon, they prayed for a child, a boy or a girl, who would hold memo-
rial services for them. But there was no sign thus far that Shō Kannon had
heard their prayers.
one day while Moritaka’s wife walked about Kannon Hall, she saw a
sparrow lovingly playing with its baby birds on a plum tree in the garden
and felt deeply envious of the birds with their babies. “What kind of retri-
bution leaves us childless?” she said through her tears and went to Kannon
Hall, prostrated herself before the image of Kannon, and grieved. That
night, she had a dream that she was chanting a sutra as usual. Then a plum
blossom in front of the Kannon was thrown onto her knees. When she
picked up the plum blossom to look at it, the color and fragrance of it were
unparalleled. The flower was at the height of its beauty. So enchanting, rare,
and delightful was the blossom that she put it into her right sleeve. When
she awoke from the dream, she thought it so extraordinary and unusual that
she woke her husband, Moritaka, who was lying beside her, and told him all
about the dream.
Blossom Princess
173
Moritaka said, “This is indeed an auspicious dream. The Kannon must
have pitied us and given us a child. It must be a girl since you put the blos-
som into your right sleeve.23 Regardless of the child’s gender, this dream is
indeed propitious.” The couple was delighted by the dream. on the follow-
ing day, Moritaka and his wife went to the hall and worshiped the Kannon
all the more.
Soon, the lady started to feel unwell and her monthly courses stopped;
indeed, it appeared that the lady had at long last conceived a child. Their
attendants and servants, who had lamented their masters’ childless state,
were very happy to see the lady’s symptoms. The months passed quickly, and
in due course the lady safely gave birth to a beautiful, jewel-like baby girl.
As this was what the couple had always wanted, their rapture was beyond
description. Moritaka and the lady carefully selected appropriate nurses and
assistants for their priceless princess.
Thus, they led a happy life and soon the princess became nine years old.
That spring the lady started to feel unwell. “Could it be another auspicious
sign?” people wondered, but that was not the case. The lady’s body gradu-
ally weakened, and her chances of recovery looked less and less promising
with each passing day. Moritaka was heartbroken—he prayed and had the
priests in the temples and shrines pray for her recovery. But as days and
months passed, her state only deteriorated.
The lady called her husband to her bedside and said, “It seems there is
no sign your generous prayers will be answered. I don’t care what becomes
of me, but since you won’t stay single after my death, my pity goes to our
princess. Would you please raise her well, marry her to someone appropri-
ate, and have her succeed you? That is the only concern I have.” Moritaka
looked helpless. She then called her princess.
Stroking her hair, the lady said, “oh, how I regret to leave you behind.
After I’m gone you can only rely on your father. Be mature and don’t let
people hate you. I have named you ‘Blossom Princess’ because when I con-
ceived you I had a dream of a blossom given to me. As the prime of flow-
ers is momentary, your well-being weighs heavily on my mind. My only joy
among much grief is tha
t I am leaving this world first. You must succeed
your father. Nurses, do attend to her well, I beg you.” So saying, she closed
her eyes on thirty-three short years of life like a dewdrop in the morning.
The grief of Moritaka and the princess was indescribable. They ago-
nized and wished to go to the other world with the lady, but that was all in
vain. Since they could not hold on to her forever, her body was taken to the
field for burial. Various memorial services were held for the lady, but there
was no end to their tears.
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While they toiled with their grief, three years passed and the princess
became eleven years of age.24 The New Year had come and gone, and when
Moritaka’s relatives gathered together they repeatedly recommended that
Moritaka take a new wife and comfort himself, for being single forever
could not make his late wife come back to this world. For a long time,
Moritaka did not listen. The relatives did not give up, however. Saying that
the princess would be lonely without a mother, the relatives made arrange-
ments with a certain lady and urged Moritaka to marry her. Since Moritaka
could not persist in his refusal of his relatives’ decision, he grudgingly got
married. However, Moritaka prayed morning and evening for his late wife’s
peace in the afterlife, just like his princess, and he rarely visited his new wife
in her quarters.
Thus, years went by and the princess became fourteen years old. The
older she grew, the more superior both her character and appearance
became. Moritaka was pleased with the princess’s fine growth and sum-
moned her nurse: “Listen. My princess has already become fourteen years
of age. I wish to have her marry an appropriate man. But that makes me
miss her mother again, for with whom shall I consult about an appropriate
husband for my princess?” So saying, he shed tears.
The nurse was of the same mind and cried, too. She then offered an idea:
“It will be difficult for the princess to succeed you and maintain this house
all by herself. If you ask your former mother-in-law, there may be some
appropriate suitor in her clan to marry our princess and succeed this house
with her.” Moritaka agreed. So one day he summoned his adjunct, Isobe
Saemon Tadafuyu, and told him to prepare for a journey because Moritaka
was going to visit his former mother-in-law in the west for some business
the following day. Tadafuyu immediately prepared a large oblong chest into
which he put various gifts. on the following day, Moritaka summoned the
princess’s nurse named Akashi, her assistant Kojijū, and Kochōnomai—
the princess’s constant attendants—and said carefully, “As the princess has
grown up, I am going to my mother-in-law to discuss the matter of her
marriage. I will be back in two or three days. In the meantime, don’t let the
princess feel lonesome, as I will be home soon.” He then left. As for the
princess, who had never spent a day without her father, she was moved to
tears in parting with him. Her tears could not have been more prophetic.
Among the people of Moritaka’s household, Akashi, Kojijū, and
Kochōnomai were particularly intimate with the princess. At the time of
the princess’s auspicious birth, Moritaka was exhilarated to find a nurse for
his daughter and said, “Lady Akashi in the Tale of Genji had a most fortunate
daughter with many august children.25 I will call you Nurse Akashi.” Usually,
Blossom Princess
175
she is simply called Akashi. Kojijū was a little older and discreet; she was
hired as Akashi’s assistant to attend to the princess and raise the child care-
fully with the same mind as Akashi. Kochōnomai was Akashi’s daughter. She
was raised at her grandmother’s home until she was five years old, when she
was called to Moritaka’s mansion to be the princess’s playmate. Since then,
she had always played with the princess and had never left her household.
In the meantime, the princess’s stepmother was convinced that if the
princess stayed in the house, her husband’s neglect of her would only inten-
sify. She consulted with her main nurse as to how to get rid of the princess
while Moritaka was away. “My lady,” said the nurse, “that is easy. I have a
cousin who is a samurai. He is a smart fellow. I will ask him to come and take
the princess away from this house and abandon her somewhere.” Moritaka’s
new wife was delighted to hear this and thought up a plan to dupe the three
people close to the princess. The new wife courteously invited the three ser-
vants to her chambers, saying, “Why don’t you come to this quarter tomor-
row to play, for the lord is away on business.” Unfortunately, the princess’s
three servants were taken in by the new wife’s ruse, and, considering her
invitation to be genuine, they fell into her trap. only one of them would
later realize their mistake.
The following morning the stepmother feigned shock and told the
princess and her three servants, “It sounds presumptuous, but I must tell
you nonetheless. Last night I had a particularly ominous dream about the
princess. Why don’t you three make a wish to the gods and Buddhas for her
safety? I would not say this if the dream were not so terrible.”
Hearing this, Akashi had a vague apprehension and was moved to tears.
“But I am not so sure because the lord is not here.” Then she cried.
The stepmother said, “That’s no problem. Just do as I say. I will enter-
tain the princess here today, so you need not worry about her.” As the step-
mother threatened and coaxed the three to act as she schemed, they reluc-
tantly took everyone who served the princess, from eight ladies-in-waiting
to lowly maids, to a temple to pray for the princess’s safety. The stepmother
had her own nurse’s younger sister accompany Akashi’s party to mislead
their way and trick them into spending a night away from the house. After
they left, the stepmother pretended to entertain the princess, but the young
girl was not amused. Quite the contrary—she was doleful and lonely. Since
her birth, the princess had never been away from her three servants, so she
was anxious about them and longed for their quick return.
In the meantime, the princess’s grandmother was delighted at Moritaka’s
rare visit. Moritaka told her how beautiful the princess had grown and that
he wanted to consult with her about the princess’s future. While talking,
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both Moritaka and his mother-in-law could not help thinking about their
beloved wife and daughter, and tears welled up.
The grandmother then said, “I understand that a middle councilor
of the capital, who lives in the south of this house, is a splendid lord and
has a number of lordly sons. Among them, the third son is seventeen or
eighteen years of age and is still single. I hear that he excels in appearance,
talent, and character. I was just thinking about sending a word about him
to you. How timely is your visit.” “Wonderful!” Moritaka replied, truly
thrilled by the information. T
he grandmother entertained Moritaka for
several days, and they did not have the slightest idea what was going on
at home.
At Moritaka’s house, while entertaining the princess, the stepmother
pretended to look distracted, sometimes whispering to her nurse. Then she
came to the princess’s side and said, “I really don’t want to tell you this but
I have to, because this is not something we can hide forever. It’s about your
father. I don’t know what devil enters his mind, but he has a mistress some-
where. Yesterday when he left he didn’t go to your grandmother’s house as
he told you. Instead, he is visiting his mistress. His servant has just arrived
to take you somewhere because your father has decided to bring his mis-
tress here tomorrow and give your room to her.”
Not knowing whether what her stepmother said was true, the prin-
cess wept bitterly nevertheless. She begged her stepmother to wait until her
nurse returned. But the stepmother refused, saying her father’s attendant
would not wait that long, and she urged the princess to go meet the servant.
The princess returned to her room for one last time, feeling as if she would
drown in her despair. Again she broke down crying. “My father cannot
possibly be doing this,” she thought through her tears. The princess missed
her nurse woefully as her stepmother kept remonstrating with her to leave
immediately, saying, “The attendant is waiting impatiently.” The princess
put her valuables in a small embroidered bag: a charm of the Chinese bro-
cade sutra her mother used every day, a gold jar, a small silver water drop-
per, and a lacquer comb—all mementos of her mother’s. The princess was
determined to carry them with her as long as she was alive. She tearfully put
them into her sleeve and left the room.
The stepmother told the princess to be silent and led her to a backdoor
at a veranda, where the man was waiting. The attendant quickly explained to
the princess, as the stepmother had planned, that her father wanted her to
leave. The stepmother turned to the princess, saying, “I will send your nurse
to you as soon as she returns.” The stepmother then ordered the samurai
to accompany the princess until she met with the nurse. The princess was
Blossom Princess
177
wearing a quilted glossy silk undergarment with layers of scarlet and purple
Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan Page 27
