Flower and Corpse – Story

1. At the zenith of the HEIAN-era’s prosperity, Hikaru Genji lives in brilliant colors. One day, the capital HEIAN-KYO is suddenly struck by an unfortunate disease. Hikaru Genji leaves the capital on a quest to find out the cause of the disease that has fallen on his people.

2. Continuing on his search Hikaru Genji follows the trail of the disease and he arrives at a village. The village is holding a festival of thanks and gratitude to nature for its benevolence.

3. After the festival, the village starts to return to normal life, and the people live bravely and courageously even though there is still the threat of disease. They fell trees and work hard to continue to develop the civilization. Nature rewards the people with its benevolence and the people live good and peaceful lives.

4. The village people are requested to cut down more and more trees by the capital governor, in order to construct more buildings in the city. The village people plan to cut down a big tree from a forest deep in the mountains. After cutting down the big tree, suddenly, a YAMATANOOROCHI (*1) appears. The dragon burns with anger, and lets loose heavy rains that flood the village.

5. The YAMATANOOROCHI carry on rampaging and destroying the houses of the village. Then the forest gods come down to the village and take out their anger on the people in the village.

6. When the plight of the village is reported to the governor, he sends a group of Samurai to drive out the YAMATANOOROCHI and forest gods. The Samurai go to the village and start to fight the dragons with flaming arrows. After bitter fighting, the Samurai finally win the battle and kill the YAMATANOOROCHI and forest gods.

7. After the fight there is desolation, the ground is scorched and the houses are wrecked. The village loses nature’s benevolence and the people begin to suffer the torments of hunger.

8. Hikaru Genji is stunned as he stands surrounded by the dead YAMATANOOROCHI and forest Gods. In a state of bemusement Hikaru Genji tries casting seeds over the corpses. After a while, Shoots comes out from the bodies of the dead and flowers begin to blossom from them. Those flowers grow up trees and the forest comes back to life. The village people who have survived start to feel once again the benevolent forces of nature. They realize that whilst they make progress and start to develop civilization they must live in harmony with the forest. Finally, the festival is held in the village again.

*1 Yamatanoorochi is a legendary creature from the "Chronicles of Japan; A Record of Ancient Matters". He has 8 heads and 8 tails, his eyes are bright red, he has moss and trees growing on his back, his stomach is inflamed with blood, and it is said that his body is big enough to cross 8 valleys and 8 peaks. Yamatanoorochi's stomach being inflamed with blood is thought to be symbolic of a river that has become murky or polluted with iron. The making of iron required the felling of large trees and this in turn caused flooding.

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