The Tale of Kiyohime & Anchin
The tale of Kiyohime and Anchin is one of Japan’s most beloved love stories, appearing in everything from literature to Noh Theatre, and enduring for over a thousand years.
Near the Dojo-ji temple, there once was a well-to-do family who would lodge monks on their pilgrimage, giving them a place to stay before they crossed the Hidaka river to the temple. One such monk, Anchin, was quite handsome, and the family’s young daughter, Kiyohime, developed a crush on him. Anchin jokingly told her that, “Well, if you’re good, I suppose I’ll marry you someday.”
Of course, Kiyohime took this seriously, and waited patiently over the years. Finally, she came of age, and Anchin’s yearly visit… when the same as any other. He stayed the night with the family and then went on his way. Kiyohime got rather angry and chased him down to the shore, fuming about how he hadn’t kept his promise.
When Anchin saw her and realized why she was angry, he said, “Uh… Anchin who? I don’t know anybody named Anchin. WHo are you? I’ve never met you before! You must be talking about, um, some other really awesome monk named Anchin, and… uh… oh, look at the time! I’ve got to go! OH BUDDHA PLEASE SAVE ME!!!”
And wouldn’t you know it, Buddha did rescue Anchin by knocking Kiyohime unconscious (there’s a mental picture for you). Anchin quickly boarded a boat and began to cross the river.
BUT… Kiyohime woke up, and realized that he was escaping her. So she jumped into the river and swam after him. And, in fact, she got so angry that she turned into a fire-breathing snake monster! Which is something that happens, apparently, When women get angry, they turn into fire-breathing snake monsters. Don’t blame me, this story is over a thousand years old.
Anchin saw the Kiyohime-monster swimming after him, and panicked to the boatman, who also saw her. Thus, they paddled faster than they had ever paddled before, and made it to shore. Once there, Anchin ran into the temple screaming, “Help me! There’s this girl, and she likes me and I rejected her, so she got reallyangry and turned into a giant fire-breathing snake-monster (which is totally normal thing that happens all the time)!”
And the monks of the monastery said, “Well, that sounds like a perfectly normal sequence of events that happens all the time. Here, hide under our big iron bell so she won’t find you.”
So, they hid him under their gigantic iron bell. Kiyohime slithered into the monastery, breathing fire, and sniffed out Anchin’s location. She wrapped her coils around the bell and breathed fire all over it, until it turned white-hot and Anchin died.
And thus, now that she had turned into a giant fire-breathing snake monster (happens all the time) and murdered the man she had been obsessively crushing on for over a decade, Kiyohime promptly plunged herself into the river and drowned.
And that’s the whole story. Sometimes it is titled, “How a Monk of the Dojo-ji in the Province of Kii copied the Lotus Sutra and Brought Salvation to Serpents,” which is not what happens in the story at all.
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2016/05/25/life-in-plastic-yokai-part-5-yes-...
The Tale of Kiyohime & Anchin
The tale of Kiyohime and Anchin is one of Japan’s most beloved love stories, appearing in everything from literature to Noh Theatre, and enduring for over a thousand years.
Near the Dojo-ji temple, there once was a well-to-do family who would lodge monks on their pilgrimage, giving them a place to stay before they crossed the Hidaka river to the temple. One such monk, Anchin, was quite handsome, and the family’s young daughter, Kiyohime, developed a crush on him. Anchin jokingly told her that, “Well, if you’re good, I suppose I’ll marry you someday.”
Of course, Kiyohime took this seriously, and waited patiently over the years. Finally, she came of age, and Anchin’s yearly visit… when the same as any other. He stayed the night with the family and then went on his way. Kiyohime got rather angry and chased him down to the shore, fuming about how he hadn’t kept his promise.
When Anchin saw her and realized why she was angry, he said, “Uh… Anchin who? I don’t know anybody named Anchin. WHo are you? I’ve never met you before! You must be talking about, um, some other really awesome monk named Anchin, and… uh… oh, look at the time! I’ve got to go! OH BUDDHA PLEASE SAVE ME!!!”
And wouldn’t you know it, Buddha did rescue Anchin by knocking Kiyohime unconscious (there’s a mental picture for you). Anchin quickly boarded a boat and began to cross the river.
BUT… Kiyohime woke up, and realized that he was escaping her. So she jumped into the river and swam after him. And, in fact, she got so angry that she turned into a fire-breathing snake monster! Which is something that happens, apparently, When women get angry, they turn into fire-breathing snake monsters. Don’t blame me, this story is over a thousand years old.
Anchin saw the Kiyohime-monster swimming after him, and panicked to the boatman, who also saw her. Thus, they paddled faster than they had ever paddled before, and made it to shore. Once there, Anchin ran into the temple screaming, “Help me! There’s this girl, and she likes me and I rejected her, so she got reallyangry and turned into a giant fire-breathing snake-monster (which is totally normal thing that happens all the time)!”
And the monks of the monastery said, “Well, that sounds like a perfectly normal sequence of events that happens all the time. Here, hide under our big iron bell so she won’t find you.”
So, they hid him under their gigantic iron bell. Kiyohime slithered into the monastery, breathing fire, and sniffed out Anchin’s location. She wrapped her coils around the bell and breathed fire all over it, until it turned white-hot and Anchin died.
And thus, now that she had turned into a giant fire-breathing snake monster (happens all the time) and murdered the man she had been obsessively crushing on for over a decade, Kiyohime promptly plunged herself into the river and drowned.
And that’s the whole story. Sometimes it is titled, “How a Monk of the Dojo-ji in the Province of Kii copied the Lotus Sutra and Brought Salvation to Serpents,” which is not what happens in the story at all.
Featured on Life In Plastic: nerditis.com/2016/05/25/life-in-plastic-yokai-part-5-yes-...