The White Tengu’s Sacrificial Bride: A Poisoned Lady’s Temporary Marriage

Summary

“I was offered as poison bait to a Tengu—but the one who appeared didn’t devour me…” Shino, a young girl living in a poor village in Joshu (modern-day Gunma Prefecture), is sold due to poverty. Just before her fate is sealed, she is "rescued" and taken in by a man named Takenouchi, who claims to be an onmyoji (spiritual practitioner). However, his true intentions are sinister—he secretly forces Shino to ingest poison, intending to offer her as deadly bait to a man-eating Tengu. Abandoned deep in the mountains at the brink of despair, Shino encounters a mysterious figure: a white-winged Tengu who calls himself Sakyo. Thus begins a Meiji-era romantic folklore tale of a sacrificed girl and a lonely white Tengu.