Poppy - Gubijin

She was the favorite concubine of the hero Xiang Yu in the late Qin Dynasty of China. She was also called Yu Ji. The battle between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang was drawing to an end, and Xiang Yu was surrounded on all sides at Gaixia (southeast of Lingbi County, Anhui Province). Xiang Yu held his final drinking party. Yu Ji was by his side, as was his beloved horse Sui. "I am powerful, my spirit is strong. When there is no profit, I will not ride. If I do not ride, I will not ride," Xiang Yu sang, and Yu Ji agreed. This is the story that appears in the "Annals of Xiang Yu" in the "Records of the Grand Historian," and the fate of Yu Ji after that is unknown. Furthermore, the Chuhan Spring and Autumn Annals states that Yu Ji wondered how she could live after Xiang Yu's death, and the later Song dynasty poem "The Poppy" by Zeng Gong (there are other theories as well) states that Yu Ji's blood transformed into the poppy, but these are not historical facts.

[Isamu Ogata]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、秦(しん)朝末期の英雄項羽(こうう)の寵姫(ちょうき)。虞姫(ぐき)ともいう。項羽と劉邦(りゅうほう)の戦いも終末を迎え、項羽は垓下(がいか)（安徽(あんき)省霊璧(れいへき)県の南東）に囲まれて四面楚歌(しめんそか)となった。項羽は最後の酒宴を開いた。かたわらに虞姫がおり、また愛馬騅(すい)がいた。「力山を抜き、気は世をおおう。時に利あらず騅ゆかず。騅ゆかずしていかんせん」と項羽は歌い、虞姫もこれに和した。これが『史記』「項羽本紀」にみえる話であり、その後の虞姫の運命は不明である。なお『楚漢春秋(そかんしゅんじゅう)』には、虞姫が項羽の死後どうして生きていけようかといったとあり、また後の宋(そう)代の曽鞏(そうきょう)（異説もある）の詩「虞美人草」に、虞姫の血が化して虞美人草となったのだとあるが、これらは史実とは別のことである。

［尾形　勇］

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