Kiyohime
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Kiyohime (清姫?) (or just Kiyo) was a beautiful waitress who, according to Japanese folklore, worked in a teahouse on the Hidaka riverbank. A visiting priest named Anchin fell in love with her but after a time he overcame his passions and refrained from further meetings. Kiyo became furious and sought revenge. She went to the temple of Kompera to learn the art of magic. After studying for some time she turned herself into a dragon and flew to the monastery where the priest lived. He saw her coming and hid himself under the temple bell. With a great belch of fire, the dragon melted the bell, thereby killing the priest.
There is also a version of the story called "The Bell of Dojoji", in which the priest meets Kiyohime at the edge of a marsh, and she seems already to have some sort of supernatural power, perhaps as some sort of obake or youkai. When he later meets her for the second and final time at the marsh, she chases him to the temple of Dojoji, turns into a dragon and, instead of breathing fire, lashes with her tail until the monk is dead.
[edit] Cultural References
- The character Shizuru Fujino from My-HiME has a guardian beast (called a Child in the series) named Kiyohime who takes the form of a huge purple serpent with multiple heads. Like in the legend Shizuru becomes psychotic when the object of her affections, Natsuki Kuga, rejects her romantic advances. The struggle culiminates in a battle taking place in a church during which Natsuki is trapped under a bell in an obvious allusion to the original myth.
