The Princesses of Yokai Sealed in Hanafuda: The Fox Princess, the Phantom Butterfly Princess, and the Scarlet Gold Princess

In the capital of Heian, there were rumors of "Yokai Princesses" who appeared secretly every night.

On moonless nights, they would stand in alleys where the light did not reach, smiling sweetly and bewitching people's hearts.
It is said that those who saw them would follow as if enchanted, never to return to where they came from.

The Fox Princess. The Phantom Butterfly Princess.
And the Scarlet Gold Princess, who wears the dreams of the water's depths.

Princesses who were too beautiful and too bewitching.
That rumor eventually drew an Onmyoji into the darkness of the capital.

The Fox Princess. Emerald eyes that bewitch people.

On a night when the moon would not set, deep within a black palace, the Yokai Princess laughed while toying with a fox mask with her fingertips.
Those who approach me never return.

Greedy men, seeking treasure and fame, would pass through the gates to verify the rumor.
But the moment they were stared at by the princess's emerald eyes, their feet would stop, their voices would vanish, and only their souls would be sweetly ensnared.

The next morning, there was no one in the palace.
All that remained was a single hairpin dropped on the tatami and the white fox-fire that had increased in the garden.

Behind her mask, the princess softly parted her lips.
Who will come to comfort my night next?

The Phantom Butterfly Princess. The night that hides its name.

It is said that on a full moon night when the cherry blossoms bloom, a princess appears deep in the mountains.
With a red fan in her hand, and a white mask and the shadow of an ogre following behind her.

When a lost traveler asked for her name, the princess smiled quietly.

My name was hidden long ago. For if I am called, I must return.

Butterflies dance, and the moon bleeds red.
The next moment, the princess's figure had melted into the mist.

Only the scent of her fan remained.
As if to protect a name that no one would ever call.

The Scarlet Gold Princess. Forgotten thoughts.

At the bottom of a black pond lives a princess in a red kimono.

People called her the Goldfish Princess.
But in truth, she is not a goldfish yokai.

Forgotten wishes take the form of goldfish and swim around her.

Every time she cries, the rouge at the corners of her eyes dissolves into the water,
and another red goldfish is born.

Please, no one wish anymore.

The princess whispers this.
But every time night comes, people drop their wishes once again.

The goldfish flick their tails in the darkness.
The princess quietly lowered her eyes, as if to embrace them.

Those tears will never dry.
But the goldfish swimming beside her are always beautiful and bewitching—
bewitching people.

The Fox Princess steals people's names,
the Phantom Butterfly Princess lures people to the boundary between dreams and reality,
and the Scarlet Gold Princess sinks unfulfilled wishes to the bottom of the water.

There was one person who pursued that presence, which was too beautiful and too bewitching,
alone in the darkness of the capital.
His name was—Keiki.

To protect the capital and its people, Keiki chose the art of sealing the three princesses into Hanafuda cards.

Keiki released a talisman into the air and quietly formed a seal with his fingertips.
On a night without wind, white cards fluttered and danced upward.

Eventually, he chanted a spell in a low voice.

Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen—

As if responding to his voice, the three Hanafuda cards began to glow faintly.
A fox's tail swayed, a blue butterfly flapped its wings, and a red goldfish swam in the waterless sky.

The next moment, the bewitching presence of the princesses was sucked into the depths of the cards along with the light.

Keiki quietly applied the final talisman.
The seal was complete.

The three princesses were sealed into Hanafuda cards.
But it is said that on moonlit nights, deep within the cards, the fox laughs, the butterflies dance, and the goldfish swim.