Image by Freakland – フリークランド via Flickr

Kiku of Himeji-jo*

As we walk along stone walls

with leafless cherry trees,

a rainy Himeji rises white,

in fog and mist, with grey

flowered tiles glistening

like tear-stained cheeks of

legendary Kiku, mourning

the imagined loss of a

tenth earthen dish which she

thought she broke and didn’t,

and was sentenced to death

for her imaginary carelessness.

How Himeji’s dark and wooden

walls must have closed in

on beautiful and tearful Kiku!

But when heaven itself comes

to earth during season of

cherry blossoms, Himeji-jo

will float in fragrance like

a great white heron bearing

Kiku’s spirit to Paradise.

Kiku’s name means Chrysanthemum and the castle she lived in means White Heron. We visited this castle during my one-year’s stay in Japan while teaching at Osaka University.