Red Dragon Flute

Kimiko lived in a small village on the eastern side of Sadness Mountain. She lived a poor but happy life with her husband, a fisherman.

One morning, a terrible storm arose from the eastern sea. Thunder galloped around the small village and echoed out to sea. Lightning flashed so brightly the women thought the mountain was erupting. Rain poured upon the mountain and rushed down to the sea, carrying away many small plants and animals. All the village fishermen were lost that day.

Kimiko mourned her husband for the year of sorrow. At the end of the year, she did not stop mourning, but continued to weep and offer prayers. The Sadness Mountain god felt her sorrow adding to his, so he decided to send her an offer of comfort. He appeared before her tiny house as an old man asking for a meal. The widow gladly shared her meal, and told him the story of the terrible storm, and how she lost her husband. The old man was so moved by her tale that he gave her the Red Dragon flute.

“Play this flute when you are feeling lonely. A flower will blossom in your garden to keep you company.”

Kimiko was overwhelmed at the kindness of the old man, and thanked him profusely. She tried her new flute that very afternoon, and sure enough, a peony bloomed on a bush in her garden, even though it was the month of frost.

The bright red peony delighted Kimiko so much, she forgot her sorrow for some days. She admired the peony, and sat in the garden watching it in the sun, thinking of happy times she had spent with her husband. When she smiled, the god of Sadness Mountain felt only his own sorrow, so he was pleased.

On the western side of Sadness Mountain was another small village. In this village lived a family with five daughters. The father, Takashi, felt so blessed by his beautiful daughters that his happiness filled the village and wafted up the side of Sadness Mountain. This happiness did not sit well with the god of Sadness Mountain. He devised a scheme to end the happiness and restore his sadness. He placed a curse on a bamboo flute, painting it with a red dragon. Then he delivered the flute to the widow Kimiko. Every time a peony in her garden bloomed, one of the daughters died.

When Takashi’s first daughter died, he mourned and filled the air with his sadness. This pleased the Sadness Mountain god and all was well. Over the next several years, all of Takashi’s daughters died, one by one, until all were just memories. Takashi’s wife, so deep in mourning, seemed as if she would also die. Takashi decided he would try to plead with the mountain god to spare the life of his wife. He set out on foot, up the side of Sadness Mountain.

When Takashi reached the top of the mountain, there was no sign of the mountain god. Takashi made camp for the night, and vowed to search again in the morning. During the night, sweet musical notes drifted to Takashi’s ears. He was so taken with the music that, at the dawn, he packed up his things and headed down the eastern side, searching for the source of the music.

The first house he came to belonged to Kimiko. Takashi explained to her about his quest to find the source of the music, and to find the Sadness Mountain god. He told her about his five daughters, and the great sorrow of his wife. Kimiko gasped when he told her the months the girls had died, as they were the same months she had played the Red Dragon flute.

Takashi asked her to destroy the flute so he would not lose his wife too. Kimiko promised to honor his request, but it had brought her so much peace and joy that she could not destroy it. She buried it in the garden under the peony bush that bloomed at any month of the year, not just summer.

Takashi set out over Sadness Mountain to see if his wife had recovered from her grief. He rejoiced when he found her smiling. He rejoiced when he found she was also pregnant, and he asked the gods for another daughter. They lived quite happily for several months, then one night both the wife and infant died. Takashi wept for one year, and then set out to visit Kimiko and make sure the flute had been destroyed. He did not want the sadness to spread to another family.

Kimiko assured him the flute had been destroyed, but when he told of the loss of both his wife and infant daughter, she broke down and told him the truth. She had not wished to anger the Sadness god, who she believed sent the flute to her, so she buried it. One night her sorrow became so great that she dug up the flute and played only long enough for the peony bush to grow a bud, and then she buried the flute again. Takashi wept, and Kimiko wept with him. Takashi’s anger grew. He dug up the flute, and broke it into a thousand pieces, then scattered the pieces out to sea.

The Red Dragon painted on the flute was dashed on the rocks where the mountain joined hands with the sea. He roared his anger, and thunder echoed from the mountain. His tears fell on the small village causing a flood even greater than the one when Kimiko’s husband was lost at sea. Kimiko and Takashi felt the anger unleashed and grew afraid. When the Red Dragon saw them together, he grew angrier and left that area. To this day, the small village lives peacefully with only small storms, and prosperous fishermen.