Shirahime-Syo

(Tokyopop, 2003-2004)
™ and © 1992 CLAMP

In Japan, falling snow is attributed to the crying of Princess White. However, when a villager encounters this wintry maiden in a snowstorm, she tells him three tragic love stories that explain the true origin of the existence of these icy tears.

The first concerns how a young woman vows to kill the wolf responsible for the death of her father. But why does this beast save her life when she is attacked by a pack of wild dogs? In the second, a woman promises that she will wait faithfully and “unchanged” for the return of her husband. Will he find her again after 30 years? Finally, a soldier must fight in a battle to be allowed to marry his lover. Now lost and alone, can he allow the love of two herons to survive while his own hope dies?

Originally published in 1992, CLAMP took an unusual departure from its typical SF shojo stories with this collection of melancholy folktales set in the Japanese Middle Ages known as the Heinan period (794-1185). Monochrome watercolors and ink strokes appropriately paint stark emotions and cold realizations.

— Oliver Chin

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