鶴女房, つるにょうぼう
The rare red-crowned crane, or Japanese crane, is seen as a sign of good luck, longevity, and faithfulness. The tsuru nyōbō are crane-human shapeshifters and repay those that have taken care of them. The story is told where a poor man helped the tsuru nyōbō from an injury by a hunter. The tsuru nyōbō revisits the man in human form on a snowy day and asks to spend the night. She takes care of the house, brings bountiful amounts of rice, and later asks to be his wife; the man agreed. She requests the man to build a loom so she can make a stunning brocade to be sold to the lord of the town for a hefty amount of money. It will take her a week, but the tsuru nyōbō implored the man to not look in the room as she makes the woven fabric.
Clearly exhausted after 7 days, the brocade was made and sold. The lord demanded another and the man's life was at risk if another isn't made. Reluctantly, the tsuru nyōbō decided to make one more with the same request of having total privacy.
The man's curiosity grew the best of him as he wondered how she was weaving such amazing clothing without a single thread in the house. He peaked open the door and saw a crane with almost all of her feathered plucked; the feathers were being fed into the loom. She bled and finished the brocade exhausted. Mournfully, she knew the man spied on her which meant she can no longer stay by his side. She left the brocade for the man, said goodbye, and left without being seen again.
13+ hours of drawing