In a time long, long ago
In the cold waters of the ancient sea that surround Japan
Lived a youkai princess beneath the waves
Chiyokohime, she was called
For this title turned name told of what she was
But her name was not thus
Shachi born was she
A child of the sea birthed beneath the waves
A living legend for Kujira was she
Born unto a powerful line
A culmination of all that was
The thousandth daughter of a thousand generations
In time, she would rise
A leader foretold to the pod she called family
To lead them into a new era
The strength of a thousand generations encompassed in her alone
Her power complete
But unrevealed until her two-hundredth year
Ruled by her mother
A Queen so cruel
Chiyokohime was told to never leave the sea
‘Your home is here beneath the waves
Your power is too strong for such a small form carried on two-feet
To live upon land is to die’
The youngest of ten
Her elder sisters knew what had never been said
They existed only so that Chiyokohime would be born unto their mother
Never knowing, never told
Chiyokohime retained her innocence
Realizing not the cruelty of the Queen
Beneath the waves
The Queen ruled absolute
Shachi followed her command
Born only with her blessing
A child without was a child defiant
A child refused
Deaf to its mother’s call
The child defiant was taken by the Queen
Sent to live on the land
Pushed down to the rocks below and tossed upon the waves
A child defiant
Was left to rest on the sands beneath the sun
Never knowing, never told
Chiyokohime did not understand
‘Sisters, why do some children go to live on land?’
‘There are families that have naught
And we have so many
The Queen rules absolute’
And still, she did not understand
Never knowing, never told
The Queen ruled absolute
Curiosity was her friend
And the sea, her ally
But it was the moon, Chiyokohime looked to as a guide
To know her kingdom, was her task
She was sent alone to travel the seas
Made to learn what she did not understand
She swam far, and wide beneath the waves
Following the path of sun and moon
Seeking to discover and understand
In her absence
The Queen ruled absolute
And one from the southern seas she did select
He would come from far away to make Chiyokohime his bride
For this was the will of the Queen
And the Queen ruled absolute
Her travels did take her far
The world she traveled ‘round
Until one day she swam up on land and smaller she became
It took her time to learn to walk in the form so strange
To feet and balance naught
But the brightness of her eyes remained
And there she saw him standing proud
His face turned to the sky
Lonesome was he who stood alone and she could understand
She watched him from afar
Never knowing, never told
Until one day he came to her, her form he did not know
She stayed close to the shore, her body cradled by the sea
And waited as he petted her
His touch serene
The Prince of the Forest am I
They call me Hayashioji
And for his proof he created a tree as tall as she
She watched him in the sunlight and under the cover of moon
But still she had a choice to make
One that was not so fair
To be with the Prince as she longed to be
The sea she must leave behind
For once the choice she made, forever it would bind
And on the night of the thirteenth moon she swam upon the shore
With her song, she did call to him as she waited beneath the stars
And beneath his watchful eye, smaller did she become
“My shachi, my Kujira!” did he cry
“I dreamed about a princess from the sea
And at long last you have come to me”
“My choice is made, my home is here
Upon the land, forever I shall be
My Prince I shall be your Queen.”
Spoken beneath the moon, on the shore they stood alone
But for the watchful eyes of the water
The sea it did pitch and moan
“I am the Queen, not she!” declared Chiyokohime’s mother
“My rule is absolute
Defiance I will not allow”
The Queen she was not alone
Her raged shared on land
For Hayashioji’s father did not understand
“There is one for you to marry, a Child of Water I have chosen
Be done with the sea and come with me”
But the Prince, he did refuse
“My heart belongs to Chiyokohime and with her I will stay
The bride to be, set her free
For her I will marry not.”
The Forest King roared in rage
And the Queen of the Sea, she screamed
The blame they did cast upon the other, and to war they did go
The Prince he ran with the Princess in hand
To the mountain they called home
But the Child of Water, oh did you hear, was sacrificed to the sea
For the Queen commanded and her numbers obeyed
And with their mighty bodies did they ram
The cliffs did fall as The Forest King raged and a war cry he released
“’Twas my son you were to marry
‘Tis the Sea you have angered”
And to the depths she was cast
In one great moment, her heart did break
The Child of Water fell deep
But ‘twas the prince from far away who brought her to the land
She met his gaze and cried she did
When he stepped upon the land
And with her hand she gave him her heart and together did they flee
“Let them fight, for they know not else
And let us now be free
And ‘twas the Prince of Sea who set her free upon land
And to the mountain did they run
And two families they became
But balance there must always be
Prince of Sea and Child of Water
Three children did they have
Like their mother, were they born
Prince of Forest and Princess of Sea
A child did they have
Born of her mother and lost too soon, for the air she could not breathe
Again, they tried, a decade later
And lost to them was he
And in mourning did they weep
Eight more souls they brought to be
Eight more souls did leave
Until one so rare came to them beneath a moon so red
Of her father, born was she, and stronger than his might
But in the darkness, in the shadows,
There were those who sought her light
And for her protection, her truth did they hide
The rarest form, the rarest seen
A Child of Earth and Sea.
Freedom in Words 