<SPAN name="ubazakura"></SPAN>
<h3> UBAZAKURA </h3>
<p>Three hundred years ago, in the village called Asamimura, in the
district called Onsengori, in the province of Iyo, there lived a good
man named Tokubei. This Tokubei was the richest person in the district,
and the muraosa, or headman, of the village. In most matters he was
fortunate; but he reached the age of forty without knowing the
happiness of becoming a father. Therefore he and his wife, in the
affliction of their childlessness, addressed many prayers to the
divinity Fudo Myo O, who had a famous temple, called Saihoji, in
Asamimura.</p>
<p>At last their prayers were heard: the wife of Tokubei gave birth to a
daughter. The child was very pretty; and she received the name of
Tsuyu. As the mother's milk was deficient, a milk-nurse, called O-Sode,
was hired for the little one.</p>
<br/>
<p>O-Tsuyu grew up to be a very beautiful girl; but at the age of fifteen
she fell sick, and the doctors thought that she was going to die. In
that time the nurse O-Sode, who loved O-Tsuyu with a real mother's
love, went to the temple Saihoji, and fervently prayed to Fudo-Sama on
behalf of the girl. Every day, for twenty-one days, she went to the
temple and prayed; and at the end of that time, O-Tsuyu suddenly and
completely recovered.</p>
<p>Then there was great rejoicing in the house of Tokubei; and he gave a
feast to all his friends in celebration of the happy event. But on the
night of the feast the nurse O-Sode was suddenly taken ill; and on the
following morning, the doctor, who had been summoned to attend her,
announced that she was dying.</p>
<p>Then the family, in great sorrow, gathered about her bed, to bid her
farewell. But she said to them:—</p>
<p>"It is time that I should tell you something which you do not know. My
prayer has been heard. I besought Fudo-Sama that I might be permitted
to die in the place of O-Tsuyu; and this great favor has been granted
me. Therefore you must not grieve about my death... But I have one
request to make. I promised Fudo-Sama that I would have a cherry-tree
planted in the garden of Saihoji, for a thank-offering and a
commemoration. Now I shall not be able myself to plant the tree there:
so I must beg that you will fulfill that vow for me... Good-bye, dear
friends; and remember that I was happy to die for O-Tsuyu's sake."</p>
<br/>
<p>After the funeral of O-Sode, a young cherry-tree,—the finest that
could be found,—was planted in the garden of Saihoji by the parents of
O-Tsuyu. The tree grew and flourished; and on the sixteenth day of the
second month of the following year,—the anniversary of O-Sode's
death,—it blossomed in a wonderful way. So it continued to blossom for
two hundred and fifty-four years,—always upon the sixteenth day of the
second month;—and its flowers, pink and white, were like the nipples
of a woman's breasts, bedewed with milk. And the people called it
Ubazakura, the Cherry-tree of the Milk-Nurse.</p>
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