Aoyagi, the willow-tree wife

Overview

Tomotada, a young samurai travelling on his lord’s business, takes shelter from a snowstorm in a remote cottage beside willow trees. The elderly couple who live there introduce their daughter Aoyagi. Her beauty, cultivated speech and quick poetic reply move him to ask for her hand. The parents consent to her departure but refuse his money. Hearn glosses her name as Green Willow and later makes her bodily existence inseparable from a particular tree.

After Tomotada takes her to Kyoto, Lord Hosokawa has her brought to his palace. Tomotada sends a poem expressing his distress, expecting punishment if the lord sees it. Instead, Hosokawa recognizes their attachment, authorizes their marriage in place of Tomotada’s own lord and arranges a splendid wedding. Hearn expressly acknowledges a break and inconsistencies in his Japanese source at this point, and says he has supplied explanatory details to connect the events. This retelling’s court episode should therefore not be mistaken for an independently checked earlier text.

Five happy years later Aoyagi suddenly cries out in pain. She tells her husband that she is not human: her soul, heart and life belong to a willow, and someone is cutting it down. She asks him to recite the Nembutsu. Her form sinks away, leaving only empty clothing and hair ornaments. Tomotada becomes a wandering Buddhist priest and eventually returns to the site of the cottage. The dwelling is gone, and he finds the stumps of two old willows and a young one. He erects a memorial and performs services for Aoyagi and her parents. The ending links this family to the three trees but does not show the felling itself or identify the person responsible.

Origins & earliest records

Japanese tales retold in English by Lafcadio Hearn

Records & interpretation

Entire named story and its separate notes read, with original and digitizer notes distinguished.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things

   Lafcadio Hearn · 1904

   The Story of Aoyagi; Project Gutenberg1210 transcription; original work1904, no scanned pagination assumed

Family & connections

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Primary records and illustrations

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical literary retellingHearn, Kwaidan, The Story of AoyagiResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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