Adventures of the Cherry-Blossom Princess

Despite being horrified by the things that have been happening in Japan recently, in this post I want to focus on a different aspect of the Japanese culture: their gardens.

 Like a real tourist, I went to the Japanische Garten in Hamburg's Planten un Blomen park on an autumn day and ate sushi. I love the salty soy sauce dense as ink and the juicy pink ginger and the tangy seaweed.

I even wrote a short story about a Japanese princess, which turned out sort of weird but was fun to do. I didn't know what names to use in the story. The princess I called Sakura (which I'd heard means flower, or more precisely cherry-blossom, and was the brand of some crayons I used to own and love). Then I remembered two friends who were not Japanese at all but were named Masumi and Hanako, and used those too.

On another note: I learned that Hanako is a very common name and is also the name of a female ghost who haunts school toilets, probably the original version of Harry Potter's Myrtle. One of my colleages looks just like Myrtle. Anyway, if you knock on the stall door three times asking: "Hanako-san, are you there?" she will appear, apparently dressed sort of like an anime schoolgirl, or so they say. For more on the urban legend of Toire no Hanako-san (Hanako of the toilet) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanako-san

Now the story. I can't believe I made my little sister go through years of telling her incoherent stories like this one every night, making them up as I went along. But she seemed to like them, at least she didn't complain - and probably they helped her get to sleep. I remember that one of them was about a tiny cow that lived in a guy's ear.


The Adventures of the Cherry-Blossom Princess
Once, in the faraway kingdom of Japan, there was a princess named Sakura, which means blossom in Japanese. She was lovely to look at and kind at heart. Her skin was the pinkish white of the lotus blossom, and her eyes were like sparkly black stars. Her father, the King, and she lived alone in a great palace surrounded by gardens of dwarf pine and ponds of water lilies. Sakura was her fathers’ greatest treasure.

One day as Sakura played alone by the pond, the terrible dragon Kobayashi captured her and locked her away in her castle tower. Many years ago, as he slept, the King had stolen his fire, and he wanted it back. So he told the King that to return his daughter, he must give back his fire. The King was distraught. When Kobayashi had had fire, he had used it to terrorize the people of his kingdom. But he also did not want to lose his only daughter.

The King was restless for many nights until he decided to look for someone who could help him: His wife had left him many years ago to follow the calling to become a Sorceress of the New Moon. He had been heartbroken and Sakura was only a baby. The Order of the New Moon lived at the top of a very high and sharp mountain, and the only way into their monastery was to walk behind a waterfall. The King took the journey of many days, only to find hat the waterfall had turned into a curtain of ice that covered the entrance to the cave. The King could see figures moving inside, but the ice was hard and thick as a wall.
When the King returned to his palace, he summoned the dragon and proposed to him a deal. If the dragon helped him open the way to the convent and gave him his daughter, he would give him his fire back. The dragon agreed and carried the King on his back to the cave, where he melted the entrance with the fire the King gave back to him. The dragon released Sakura, who had been locked in a basket on his back. When the waterfall melted, the cave door opened and the most beautiful, mysterious women were seen, wearing shimmering robes in all the colors of water and moonlight. Their leader was Queen Hanako, Sakura’s mother. She cried out in joy when she saw them and embraced her family. She and her order had been locked in the caves for seven years, as the sping had not grown warm as usual.

Hanako spoke to the King in private, and they made a plan. She told her Sorceresses to invite the dragon Kobayashi to join them for a meal. While he was not looking, Hanako sprinkled a magic gingko potion in his glass. As he drank it, his fire became cool and beautiful alike. As he spit fire, everyone admired its’ flames of color with awe and admiration, but were not burned. The dragon was wrathful at first, but saw how his fame and belovedness grew as it had never been, and forgave the King’s trick. Queen Hanako had learned all she could in the Order and had longed to return for many years. Now, she accompanied her King and Princess Sakura home to their palace.

I hope you enjoy the pictures - to me, an example of how total peace and beauty can coexist so seemingly effortlessly alongside horror in this strange world.
                                                              
Pics copyright M.S. 2011