The Finest Poet

The Finest Poet is a short fiction.

Annotated Story


Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates beauty and elegance, and the finest women of the Empire come to the Emperor's garden to watch the cherry tree's shed their blossoms. On one such occasion two samurai fell into an argument about the beauty of the maidens present. The Doji and the ronin's argument became so heated the ronin demanded a duel to determine who was right. The Doji was claiming a Doji maiden present was the most beautiful, but the ronin claimed an unknown maiden wearing a scarlet veil was. The entire court became fascinated with the affair, and the ronin Rezan was known to be a very fine duelist. The Doji however determined the duel would be settled with poetry. Shortly before it began however it was revealed the scarlet-veiled maiden was in fact the daughter of the Emperor, and the Doji could not win as Rezan's loss would shame the daughter. The Crane conceded that Rezan's poetry was teh finest in the land, and the Doji took his life in shame. The Emperor rewarded Rezan with his daughter's hand in marriage, and Rezan joined the Miya family. Since then his poetry was considered the finest in the Empire. As he was the son-in-law of the Emperor he was under the Emperor's protection, and as such his humble poetry became the whispered subjects of court. Rezan was heralded as the greatest ronin poet to ever live, and even to this day many samurai would hide their works behind Rezan's name claiming they found some of his lost work,

Characters
n/a

Not Present, But Mentioned

 * Rezan