Kazashi no Himegimi
Encyclopedia
, also known as , is a Japanese
Muromachi period
story. It is one volume in length, and the text is accompanies with illustrations. The author is unknown.
The story belongs to the otogizōshi
genre and is sub-classified as a kaikondan, a story dealing with marriage between different species, specifically in this story, with the spirit of a chrysanthemum
flower, which is rare.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
Muromachi period
Muromachi period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...
story. It is one volume in length, and the text is accompanies with illustrations. The author is unknown.
The story belongs to the otogizōshi
Otogizoshi
refers to a group of approximately 350 Japanese prose narratives written primarily in the Muromachi period . These illustrated short stories, which remain unattributed, together form one of the representative literary genres of the Japanese medieval era.-Overview:This type of short prose narrative...
genre and is sub-classified as a kaikondan, a story dealing with marriage between different species, specifically in this story, with the spirit of a chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums, often called mums or chrysanths, are of the genus constituting approximately 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae which is native to Asia and northeastern Europe.-Etymology:...
flower, which is rare.
Story
Princess Kazashi is the daughter of the Middle Counsellor Minamoto. She loves flowers, and at the age of 14 meets a man named Shōshō in a dream and they exchange marriage vows. He secretly visits the princess each night. One day the father is commanded to present chrysanthemums for a ceremony. That evening, Shōshō appears in a weakened state and tells the princess that this will be his final visit. He leaves a gift and tells her to remember him through their child and leaves. The gift was a poem and chrysanthemum, and she realizes that he was the spirit of the chrysanthemum flower that her father had plucked. She later gives birth to a daughter, but the princess dies after childbirth. The daughter is raised by the princess's parents, and at the age of 13 becomes a lady of the court. The emperor loves her and she soon gives birth to a son and daughter.Manuscripts
The text survives in four manuscripts located in:- National Diet LibraryNational Diet LibraryThe is the only national library in Japan. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the in researching matters of public policy. The library is similar in purpose and scope to the U.S...
- Keiō UniversityKeio University,abbreviated as Keio or Keidai , is a Japanese university located in Minato, Tokyo. It is known as the oldest institute of higher education in Japan. Founder Fukuzawa Yukichi originally established it as a school for Western studies in 1858 in Edo . It has eleven campuses in Tokyo and Kanagawa...
Library - Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Fogg Art MuseumFogg Art MuseumThe Fogg Museum, opened to the public in 1896, is the oldest of Harvard University's art museums. The Fogg joins the Busch-Reisinger Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum as part of the Harvard Art Museums.... - Ono Hisashi collection