garments and Chinese fabric over them. over her head she wore a scarf of
glossy silk. Though her eyes were swollen and red with tears, the princess
looked beautiful as she left the home of her birth.
A greedy man of little imagination, this samurai neither thought nor
cared much for the moral distinction between right and wrong. He lifted
the princess onto his broad back, piggyback style, and ran through the alleys
and mountain roads until he arrived at his house. “Listen,” he said curtly to
his wife, “this girl has incurred the lord’s displeasure, and I was ordered to
abandon her wherever convenient. Strip off her clothes. It’s a pity to waste
them.” The princess was appalled to hear this.
“I am not to be blamed. What is happening? Is this a dream or reality? I
wish my nurse were here. How hateful this world is.” She felt as if she were
about to faint.
Seeing the princess’s utter despair, the man’s wife felt pity for the girl;
she approached the princess and tried to console her. “Don’t grieve so
much. If only you are alive, the end will be happy. They say a tortoise that
completes its life goes to an enchanted land. I wish I could let you keep your
clothes, but my husband strictly forbids it.”
“Even if you kill me, please let me keep this undergarment. Please don’t
shame me until I die,” the princess begged her. The samurai’s wife was so
moved to pity for the princess that she let her keep the undergarment in
spite of her husband’s orders. “Put my clothes over your under-things.” So
saying, the wife took off her light hemp garment and covered the princess’s
undergarment. She then trussed up the princess’s beautiful long hair and
hid her face with her hand towel. Finally, the wife put a sedge-woven hat
on the young girl’s head to hide her from people’s eyes. The samurai’s wife
indeed felt deep pity for the princess. “I wish I could accompany you till
your destination,” she said, “but since this whole thing is to be carried out
quietly, I cannot do that.” So saying, the wife put her sleeves to her eyes
to wipe her tears and begged her husband, “Leave her in a far field or on
the other side of a mountain, but please save her life.” She seemed to be a
compassionate woman.
The princess did not know what to think and hoped this was a bad
dream. The man again took the princess up on his back. He carried her
through fields and over mountains until at last they entered a deep moun-
tain valley into which nobody traveled. He stopped on a little hill where he
dropped the princess. “You can go deeper into the valley than here,” he said
coldly, “but do not return. on the other side of this mountain, a samurai
will be waiting. Don’t blame me.” Not knowing what to do, the princess
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prostrated herself and simply cried. The man’s heart was like a stone. He
abandoned her there and returned to his home without ever looking back.
He went directly to the stepmother’s place. She came out onto her veranda
and met with him.
“Have you completed your task?” she asked. The man replied, “I
went through mountains and entered a mountain called Ubagamine [old
Women’s Peak] where nobody goes. I left her in the deep valley of the
mountain. She will soon be the wild beasts’ prey. She will not last the night.”
“Well done!” The stepmother was delighted and sent him home with
many gifts.
When the princess’s nurse and her entourage returned home, the place
was quiet. When they realized that the princess was nowhere to be found,
the nurse became suspicious and asked the lady of the house what had
happened. Through feigned tears the lady cried, “Just as I thought, a ter-
rible thing happened while you were away. Around noon the day you left,
the princess went out onto the veranda, then she disappeared. I looked
everywhere, but nowhere could I find her.” The nurse and the others were
appalled to hear the news. “Why did we ever leave her?” they thought. They
looked for her in her quarters again and again in vain. The nurse had never
been away from the princess since her birth, not even for a moment. on
that day, too, the nurse returned from the temple at a quick pace, worrying
that her princess would be anxiously waiting. “Could this be real or is this a
nightmare? What will become of my princess?” The nurse grieved, looking
up to the sky and prostrating herself on the ground.
Moritaka, unaware of what was happening in his absence, took leave of
his mother-in-law the following day. on his way home, he met an express
messenger from his house and heard the news of the princess’s disappear-
ance. Moritaka did not believe it but hurried his horse homeward. Arriving
at home, he did not see the princess. Instead, everyone in his household was
crying in great confusion. When Moritaka inquired about the situation, the
nurse tearfully reported what had happened. The lady of the house gave
her version of affairs, all the while shedding crocodile tears. It is painful to
imagine the father’s heartache. Separation from an unsightly child among
many children is sad, let alone this princess who was his only child, excel-
lent in both appearance and character. Moritaka’s fatherly love for her was
unparalleled. Upon being told that the princess had vanished into thin air,
he was so heartbroken that he wished to end his life.
“But then, who will pray for her in the afterlife?” he thought. He pulled
himself together as best he could and started to look for his daughter. His
search party went through the trees and grasses at the foot of Mt. Fuji,
Blossom Princess
179
looking for her in every nook and cranny. Even if her body could be dis-
covered, his servants thought that at least that could be presented to their
lord—but nothing was found. Not a trace. The party dejectedly reported
their failure, and, unable to come up with an alternative, Moritaka ordered
that a funeral be held for his Blossom Princess. Various memorial services
were held for her. Moritaka’s pain deepened all the more as nothing of her
remains existed. The nurse felt the same as her lord and said, “If I were with
the princess even in the fire or at the bottom of the sea, I wouldn’t be so
distressed. Rather than surviving woefully in this fleeting world, I wish to
drown myself and visit her.” Seeing her so agonized, everyone wept.
At this moment, the wife of Isobe Saemon Tadahuyu, Moritaka’s adjunct,
pulled at the nurse’s sleeve and took her to a place where no one could hear.
She whispered, “How can you be sure to meet the princess even if you enter
the water? I know a reliable diviner [ miko].26 I suggest you meet her and see
whether the princess is still alive and then decide what you should do. I will
take you to her myself, but tell no one.” The nurse was heartened to hear this.
She told the people around her that she was going to a temple to pray for the
princess’s happiness in the afterlife and quietly left the house with a set of
the princess’s quilted sil
k garments. Arriving at the house of Isobe’s wife, the
nurse met with the diviner. The diviner asked the nurse to tell her all about
the princess, so the nurse told the diviner everything about the girl, from the
princess’s age to the dream the child’s mother had at her conception to
the girl being named Blossom Princess because of the plum blossom. The
diviner listened carefully and consulted various fortune papers.
Finally she said, “This is a propitious fortune. I see a happy ending.
First, having a dream of a plum blossom signifies the child was born with
an auspicious omen. People use plum blossoms more than any other flow-
ers because of their fragrance. It indicates prosperity because after the pet-
als scatter, it bears fruit and doesn’t waste anything. The princess’s life is
safe. Though she is suffering right now, she will find happiness next spring.
So you have to be strong. You will be happy to meet your princess at the
beginning of next autumn. The princess’s character is currently buried
underneath some dust, but spring wind will blow the dirt off and her real
worth will be exposed. You have to be patient, though, and strong as well,
because there will be no sign of her, not even a whisper, until early autumn.
There is no mistake; if there were one, Myōō [ vidyaraja, Buddhist deities
who protect Dharma and eliminate evil and ignorance] would lose his cred-
ibility, so rest assured.” The nurse was so delighted that she gave the diviner
the princess’s silk garment. The diviner declined it, saying she would take it
after her fortune came true. But as the nurse insisted that the garment was
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an offering and that other gifts would be bestowed when the fortune came
true, the diviner at last accepted the garment.
The nurse, happy and hopeful, returned to her master’s house, went
directly to Moritaka’s room, and told her lord quietly and carefully what
the diviner had told her about the princess’s fortune. Moritaka’s mind
cleared a bit, but now knowing that she was alive, he was anxious about
her hardships: “Why am I given a child with so many worries and cares?
I feel like blaming even Kannon. If my daughter is really still alive, please
let me see her just as she used to be once more.” So he prayed and put
down his head on a pillow. In his dream, Moritaka was praying before
Kannon. There was a piece of paper in front of him. He picked it up and
found a poem on it:
Tada tanome
Earnestly rely on [Kannon]
hana 27 wa kuruma no
a blossom is within the wheel
wa no uchi ni
meeting [her] in this world again
meguri au yo no
like on the turning wheel
mizu wa tsukiseji
water running endlessly.28
This was an auspicious and hopeful poem indeed. Moritaka prayed for his
long-standing desire all the more strongly to Kannon, offering material gifts.
People believed Moritaka was praying for the princess’s afterlife. Moritaka
had visited his present wife on occasion at the beginning, but the situation
quickly changed. Now he would not even cast an eye on her. The lady lived
only with her own grumblings.
While all this transpired, the abandoned princess was all alone in the
unknown mountains. She was in a state of stupor first, but after awhile she
came to herself and realized that the sun was about to set. Since the time
was about the middle of the ninth month, fog was thick and the wind blew
hard in the mountains. The princess felt all the more helpless: “What kind
of crimes have I committed to be like this? How bitter this fleeting world is
and oh, how I miss my father. There must be wild beasts in the mountains.
Alas, I will be their prey.” She was frightened to the point of despair. “If
I am destined to die,” she prayed, “please take my life without [my] being
prey for wild beasts. Would my mother have known my fate? What a hateful
ending to my life. God of this mountain, please take pity on me and save
me. I am without sin.” So saying, she composed a poem:
Chihayafuru
Please, the mighty god
kami mo aware o
of this mountain
kaketamae
Have mercy on me
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181
shiranu yamaji ni
on this strange mountain path
madō wagami o
I am so lost.
Then she recited a sutra and prayed, “May Great Compassionate
Kannon, if you please, help me and let me see my beloved people once
again.” When she opened her eyes and looked around, the moon shone on
the mountain peak, but where the princess was, all was still dark. When she
turned in the direction of the valley, she saw a hint of a bonfire in the dis-
tance. “There must be someone there, or there would be no bonfire. I’ll go
there.” She got up tearfully and trod the mountain path with the bonfire as
her guide. She reached a bamboo field, and as she pushed her way through
it, her clothes became soaking wet. Through her tears and the fog the prin-
cess could barely see, and she nearly fainted. When she looked in the direc-
tion of the light, she discovered that it was not a house but a cave in which
some fearful-looking creature was making a fire. This scary sight made her
hair stand on end, and she was again frightened nearly out of her wits. But
she had nowhere else to turn, so she simply stood there.
“Who is standing there? Come here,” called a hoarse voice from
inside the cave. The princess was petrified, but, resigning herself to the
idea that there was no way out, she went in. There she found an extremely
old woman—a yamauba—with a square face. Her eyes were sunk deep into
her head, but her eyeballs still protruded. She had a big mouth, and the
fangs from her lower jaw almost touched the edges of her nose. That nose
resembled a bird’s beak, and her forehead was wrinkled up; her hair looked
as though she had recently worn a bowl on her head. The princess could
not bear the sight of the woman and fell on the spot. The yamauba looked
at the princess carefully and said, “You must be human. Come here and
warm yourself by the fire. If you are wet, dry yourself. I’ll tell you a story.”
Hearing the hideous woman’s kind words, the princess pulled herself up
and walked toward the fire. Though frightened, she dried her clothes. Then
the yamauba began to talk. “How piteous,” the old woman said. “You must
be a fortunate person, and I’m sorry that you have unexpectedly lost your
way.” So saying, the yamauba began to cry.
“Ah,” thought the princess, “as the old saying goes: even demons some-
times cry.”
Then the old woman began the story of her past. “Listen, I was human
once. But I’ve outlived all my children. After that, my grandchildren and
great-grandchildren were taking care of me, but they hated me and would
not let me in their house. So I made the mountain my home, picking up nuts
for food. one day an oni came and felt affection for me. He usually journeys
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Figure 6.1. Blossom Princes encounters the yamauba. Courtesy of Hroshima University
Library.
from the peak of Mt. Fuji and sleeps in this cavern at night. During the day
he cuts firewood and piles it at the cavern’s entrance, and during the night I
make a fire and warm myself by it. Even now when I have the mind of an
ordinary human, I try to be compassionate.”
“So, this is an oni’s cave,” the princess thought, and her fear increased
all the more.
Blossom Princess
183
The yamauba then said, “My head is itchy. Would you kill the worms
on my head?” The princess was stricken with terror, wondering what they
were. The yamauba gave her iron tongs, red with fire, and said “pin down the
worms with the tongs.”
S C R o L L T W o
When the princess looked at the old woman’s head closely, her hair was as
red as the fur of a yak’s tail that is colored crimson,29 and on her skull were
fourteen or fifteen small horn-like bumps around which worms resembling
small snakes had coiled. As the princess put the scorching tong on the
worms, they fell from the woman’s head one by one. Pleased, the yamauba
picked them up and ate them, saying “ah, yummy.” The princess was still
scared but spent the night in the yamauba’s cave. Soon the dawn broke, and
the yamauba thanked the princess for killing the worms on her head. “You
are a fortunate person but [you] meet hardship like this because someone
hates you,” the yamauba said. “Still, in the end, you will be happy. Come here.
I’ll give you this small bag because you’ve done something for me. open it
when you marry a young man. I see you haven’t eaten much recently. These
are hanayone,30 rice grains offered to the Great Bodhisattva of Mt. Fuji. One
grain will keep you strong without food for twenty days.” So saying, the old
woman put three grains into the princess’s mouth. “I want to let you go
now,” the yamauba continued, “but my oni-husband has come. If he sees
you, you will be eaten. I’ll hide you in a pit at the back of this cavern.” The
princess didn’t feel like she was alive in the pit.
Soon, an oni came with a wild wind. When the oni peeked at the
cavern, his eyes sparkled like lightning. “It smells fishy,” the oni com-
Seven Demon Stories from Medieval Japan Page 28
