After giving birth to a son, the princess grew
ill, and despite Kyusuke's loving care, she quietly passed away after composing one last
poem:
My fleeting life is so like dissolving water foam -
From my eyes the waters of Shirataki overflow
Falling on the summit of Iwamoto.
Sometime later, to console the spirit of the princess, a shrine
was contructed in her honor in the northern mountain village of Kaminitta, Yamada
District, Kozuke County. This place is now called Kawauchicho in Kiryu City, Gunma
Prefecture. There, Princess Shirataki is worshipped as a Goddess of Weaving and Marriage.
Within the Shrine Compound there is a boulder, some 10 meters in diameter. It is said that
by pressing one's ear to a small hole in the boulder, one can hear the rhythmic sound of
Shirataki's weaving loom at work eminating from the very heart of the great stone. |