Even the old Empress Genmei, who had no love for the Fujiwara clan, sent Hirotsugu a gift fit for royalty: a sword replica modeled after Kusanagi the Grass Slasher, the sacred imperial heirloom of the Yamato Emperors. Gifts poured through the gates for weeks, coming not only from the greatest families living in the land of Yamato, but also from as far away as Silla and Tang.

Servants from the palace went down the mountain to offer rice, fish, and sake to the poor in Heijo-kyo. Yet in celebration of Hirotsugu’s birth, his father, Umakai, sent an order to his bailiff to decree half a day off for all workers. These were the days when finishing the paddy field work was paramount, lest next year’s crops be affected.

It was late May, close to the final days of planting the rice. The uguisu sang from dusk until dawn, and a crane appeared in the palace garden and didn’t leave for five days. On the day Fujiwara no Hirotsugu was born, Mount Kasuga was covered in golden shimmering kagerō rising from the ground to cloak the mountain in mist. Kagerō: The quivering appearance of the mist rising from the hot surface of the ground” The story is set during the Nara period of ancient Japan and will expand over a period of 25 years (715-740). While he battles to find his own path in life, Hirotsugu finds solace in a boy who will first become his secret friend, then his salvation, then, as they become adults together, the love of his life. The human world meets the yōkai world in a power struggle for the fate of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu. Shinigami | Xia Xia Lake Takamagahara Monogatari #2Ī coming of age love story between the heir of the richest family in the Land of Yamato and an orphan.

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