Tradition: Japanese Mythology
Alternative Names: Seigen, Seigen Ajari, Jikyūbō
Category: Ghost
The Myth
Seigen was a Buddhist monk whose forbidden love and tragic death made him a restless spirit who relentlessly haunted Sakurahime, a beautiful princess. In the tale Sakurahime Azuma Bunshō, Seigen was originally known as Jikyūbō, a monk at Hase-dera Temple. In his former life, he had fallen in love with a young acolyte named Shiragikumaru. The two attempted to die together by throwing themselves into the sea at Chigogafuchi on Enoshima Island. However, when Shiragikumaru leapt into the swirling waters, Seigen hesitated and became too frightened to follow. He alone survived, carrying the memory of their tragic love for seventeen years.
Seigen eventually became a high-ranking priest at Shin-Kiyomizu Hase-dera Temple. There he met Sakurahime, a seventeen-year-old woman who had come seeking ordination after the murder of her father and younger brother. She had been born with a left hand that could not open, a deformity that had prevented her from marrying. When Seigen prayed for her, her fingers finally opened, revealing a small incense-box lid inscribed with his name. It was the very object Shiragikumaru had clutched when he drowned, and its appearance revealed that Sakurahime was the young acolyte reborn. Their connection was therefore bound to a love that had crossed the boundary between life and death.
Sakurahime soon abandoned her plans to become a nun after encountering Tsurigane Gonsuke, the man who had assaulted her in the past. She chose to marry him, while Seigen became consumed by his renewed feelings for her. Accused of violating his vows, he was expelled from the temple and punished with a hundred lashes. His suffering drove him into madness and obsession. He began confusing Sakurahime with Shiragikumaru and resolved to marry her, even though she rejected him. When Sakurahime’s child was kidnapped and abandoned during a violent confrontation, Seigen rescued the infant and pursued her while dressed in ragged clothing, carrying the child with him.
Seigen later fell ill and took refuge in a hermitage, where a jealous priest named Zangetsu attempted to poison him. Seigen struggled with his attacker and was drenched in the poison, turning half his face purple before he was beaten unconscious. A sudden storm and lightning strike eventually revived him. When Sakurahime tried to flee, Seigen confronted her and revealed the truth about their previous lives. Desperate to unite with her in death, he pursued her with a knife, but accidentally fell into a grave and stabbed himself in the throat. He died at last, yet his vengeful ghost immediately rose behind Sakurahime and continued to follow her.
Even after Sakurahime became a courtesan known as Furin-hime, Seigen’s ghost haunted her bedside night after night, frightening away her customers and ruining her livelihood. He appeared and vanished like a shadow, glaring at her with resentment and refusing to leave her alone. Sakurahime eventually learned from the spirit that the child she had been separated from was her own, and that Gonsuke was involved in a conspiracy against her family. The revelation set in motion a final chain of violence in which Sakurahime killed Gonsuke and her own child before reclaiming her former status. Seigen’s tale became one of Japanese theatre’s enduring stories of passion, reincarnation, forbidden love, and a dead man’s spirit unable to release its hold on the woman he believed was destined to be his.
Sources
“清玄 (Seigen).” 新版TYZ 妖怪図鑑 (New TYZ Yokai Encyclopedia). https://tyz-yokai.blog.jp/archives/1067067896.html