Grand Valley State University ScholarWorks@GVSU Honors Projects Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice 8-2018 Tales of Cherry Blossom Dreams Kelly Dykstra Grand Valley State University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the Japanese Studies Commons Recommended Citation Dykstra, Kelly, "Tales of Cherry Blossom Dreams" (2018). Honors Projects. 700. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects/700 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice at ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Kelly Dykstra 1 1 In his old age the emperor was blessed with a son by one of his highest-ranking consorts. In the days of her youth she had been a favorite of the emperor, but it had been many years since she had last born him a child, and her beauty had begun to fade with age. In vain she made efforts to improve the quality of her salon, gathering many talented ladies in waiting around herself to draw the emperor’s attention. However, the emperor was seduced with the fresh beauty and childish charm of some of his younger consorts, and this lady was left to resign herself to remembrances of what had once been. There was a younger man at court who had desired this lady for years. He was generally agreed to be a highly desirable and most handsome gentleman, though this lady had stayed faithful to the emperor for years despite this man’s advances.