Japanese legends in F. Hadland Davis’s English retellings (1912)
Kikuo and the Chrysanthemum Spirits
Kikuo follows his defeated lord Tsugaru into mountain exile and grows chrysanthemums to comfort him. After Tsugaru dies, the retainer plants a broad border of the flowers around his grave. In old age, Kikuo falls ill and sees children on his veranda who identify themselves as the spirits of his chrysanthemums. They thank him for his care, announce that he will die within thirty days and promise that they will die too. When his death comes, the flowers disappear; later plantings fail, and the story closes with the child-spirits playing beside Kikuo’s spirit. Davis identifies R. Gordon Smith’s collection as the source adapted for this and the following flower stories.
Also known as Chrysanthemum-Old-Man
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In the sources
Gardening as remembrance
DocumentedThe chrysanthemums first comfort the exiled lord and then surround his grave.
A visit from the flowers
DocumentedThe childlike spirits connect Kikuo’s care for them with their promised shared end.
Context & interpretation
The story’s prediction, plant spirits and reference to extraordinary longevity are legendary motifs. They are not botanical findings or claims that chrysanthemum dew extends life. This entry follows Davis’s historical English retelling, rather than establishing a universal Japanese belief or an independently verified event.
Original passages
Source 1
Myths and Legends of Japan
Chrysanthemum-Old-ManOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 165
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0185
- Original scan leaf
- 209
- Recorded leaf number
- 209
- Current Reader position
- 184
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Myths and Legends of Japan
the spirits of your chrysanthemumsOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 166
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0186
- Original scan leaf
- 210
- Recorded leaf number
- 210
- Current Reader position
- 185
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 3
Myths and Legends of Japan
the spirit of KikuoOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: F. Hadland Davis, Myths & Legends of Japan (London: George G. Harrap, 1912), printed p. 167
Actual scanned prose page and complete named story inspected in the public Reader. Printed pagination checked visually; plate-placement numbers are not used as prose citations.
- Edition
- IMJ-0052-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0052-E001-P0188
- Original scan leaf
- 213
- Recorded leaf number
- 213
- Current Reader position
- 187
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
The Violet Well
A rescue at a flower-covered well becomes a tragic love story shaped by social exclusion in Davis’s anthology.
Same subject and traditionThe Pine-tree Lovers of Takasago
Matsue rescues Teoyo beside a pine-tree, and their lifelong companionship continues as a moonlit legend in Davis’s retelling.