Dragon Sword and Wind Child

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**Title** **Dragon Sword and Wind Child**

Author	Noriko Ogiwara
Cover artist	Dan Burr
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Series	The Jade Trilogy
Genre(s)	Fantasy Novel
Publisher	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Released	1988
Pages	340
ISBN	(ISBN 0-374-30466-1)
Followed by	Hakuchou Iden

Dragon Sword And Wind Child (ISBN 0-374-30466-1) is the first book of award-winning fantasy writer Noriko Ogiwara. The book, originally written in Japanese in 1988 as: Sorairo Magatama (空色勾玉 "Sky-colored Jade"; see magatama), won her several awards for children's literature and was later translated into English by Cathy Hirano in 1993 as Dragon Sword and Wind Child; the English version is now out-of-print in the United States of America.

Ogiwara later wrote two sequels, Hakuchou Iden (白鳥異伝 "Swan's Strange Legend") and Usubeni Tennyo (薄紅天女 "Pink Nymph"); these sequels have only been published in Japanese. These three books together are known as "The Jade Trilogy". So far there has not been any effort to translate the sequels.

1 Plot Synopsis
2 Book Covers
3 Availability
4 External Links

[edit] Plot Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Saya is a young maiden adopted by an elderly couple who found her in the forest when she was an infant and raised to worship and revere the God of Light and his two immortal children, the passionate and fierce Princess Teruhi and the subdued and melancholic Prince Tsukishiro. As she comes of age, she catches the eye of Prince Tsukishiro and the people of Darkness, those who continue to reincarnate and do not fear death.

Tsukishiro, enchanted by Saya's beauty, invites her to become one of his handmaidens at the Palace of Light where he and his sister reside. Before she leaves, she discovers that she is latest reincarnation of the Water Maiden, the Princess of the People of Darkness and a priestess capable of stilling the Dragon Sword, a weapon that contains the rage of the Fire God when he was killed by his father, the God of Light, for burning his mother, the Goddess of Darkness, to death. The Dragon Sword and the Water Maiden are linked and the sword is the only weapon which can slay a Child of Light. It is this aspect, Saya discovers, of her that intrigues and attracts Tsukishiro and infuriates and causes Teruhi to despise her since she resembles her previous reincarnation, the Princess Sayura.

Saya, despite having worshiped the Light all her life and looked down on the People of Darkness, finds that she cannot escape her destiny as the Water Maiden, symbolized the magatama shaped jewel that was clutched in her hand when she was born. She ends up escaping the Palace of Light with the third Child of Light, Chihaya, the effeminate younger brother of Teruhi and Tsukishiro who was stilled by Teruhi to act as a surrogate Water Maiden for the stolen Dragon Sword and revealed to be the Wind Child, the only entity capable of wielding the Dragon Sword.

Together, they join the People of Darkness to stop the fanatical and merciless Teruhi and the indifferent Tsukishiro from destroying the gods of nature and the People of Darkness.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Book Covers

There are several different covers of the original fantasy novel. When the book was first published in Japan in 1988 it had a traditional Japanese painting for a book cover. When it was translated into English in 1993 by Cathy Hirano, it was given a drawing of a young Asian girl wearing traditional Japanese clothing, while holding a long sword, with a very traditional Japanese background (similar to the traditional atmosphere of the Japan of the Warring States Period). This change was necessary since the editors felt that the original cover was not going to be found interesting with a western community of readers. Later when the book was reissued by another publishing company in Japan the cover was changed because it was felt that the original cover was not going to be popular with young readers.

Sky-blue Jade, the 1996 Japanese cover.

Dragon Sword and Wind Child, the 1993 English cover.

Sky-blue Jade, the new 2005 cover.

[edit] Availability

English-language copies of Dragon Sword and Wind Child are considered very rare while Japanese copies are much easier to find due to its popularity in Japan. PDF formats of the novel are available in English on the internet. Copies of Sky-blue Jade and its two sequels are available in Japanese and remain in print.