Original subtitles

Risshun - February Year beginning

Tsutomu!

Tsutomu?

Are you OK, Tsutomu?

Hi, Machiko. It's freezing, isn't it?

Go and get warm.

- OK. - I'll join you.

Are you warm?

Yes.

Yum!

They're at their best.

You dried so many persimmons last year.

You're quite a man.

You bet!

The draft?

Hold on.

Have your tea first.

I'm in heaven!

You have time to stick around?

Some sake?

Yes, a hot one.

The usual?

Have this too.

Thank you!

What now?

I'm peeling fresh taros like how I learned to do as a novice monk.

Ah! I bet they taste good.

I'm warm all over...

This is delicious! It's different every time.

It's become too sour...?

I love it when it's pickled longer.

It's the last of December's batch until next year.

Oh no! That's too bad.

Taros are ready.

Oh that's hot!

Take it easy.

It's delicious! I love the skin too.

That's right.

You don't want to throw away the best part.

It's a waste.

So good!

You love eating, don't you?

Thanks!

What an aroma...

It's the earth... Is this the smell of the earth?

The draft?

Not yet.

So...

Drink up.

You had a deadline!

Would more taros get me off?

I appreciate them but work is work.

You're strict.

No, you don't!

Just a title so the editor-in-chief won't yell at me...

Go on.

The Zen Diary

Keichitsu - March The underground awakes

My mountain life

in Suge village, Shinshu, got the attention of an editor.

She wanted me to write about it for a magazine.

I became a novice monk at a Zen monastery when I was 9

where I learned to cook Zen food.

I'm an amateur farmer and an amateur chef.

I ran away from the monastery when I was 13, so I felt unqualified.

But I decided to try it.

"Instructions to the Cook"

As Zen Master Dogen instructed in his writings

"Instructions to the Cook"

the monk in charge of meals

should rinse rice and prepare vegetables

with his own hands at all times.

Give your full attention

to the ingredients and treat them carefully.

Not neglecting them for a moment.

Be consistent and immerse yourself in every process.

Don't see the preparation as an ordinary function.

Changing your heart or words depending on a situation

won't lead to enlightenment.

See how strict Master Dogen is!

Oh it's hot!

I was told at the monastery

to ask the vegetable field what you should cook.

Zen cookery is about making the most of the kitchen.

The monk in charge of meals connects the kitchen with the field.

Selecting from a limited crop is like "eating" seasons.

Which is eating the earth... That was the unspoken lesson.

The root crowns of spinach are hard to clean.

Me, the novice, discarded them.

The priest saw me do it but didn't get upset.

He said, "Don't throw out the best part," and picked them up.

Sorry, Prickly-ash, I burned it.

Go ahead.

With thanks.

Seimei - April Spring is enjoyed by all

The snow meltwater is so cold it feels as if

it bites my skin through my rubber boots.

As I splash across the soggy field

water celery suddenly appears among the aquatic plants.

I found it here a year ago so it's like it's been waiting for me.

When the snow melts and buds appear on plants both tall and short

I'm at my happiest.

Ostrich ferns by the water.

Bracken in the sun.

Udo from the slopes.

The earth is so festive with things awakening from a long winter.

Hello.

Nice! This is the time for angelica-tree shoots.

You're so knowledgeable!

Nothing beats a walk in the hills.

I feel alive!

You want the awning fixed?

Yes, thank you!

The local carpenter taught me about the hills.

He showed me where and how to find wild vegetables.

I have nice associations with carpentry.

The sound of hammering reassures me probably because Dad was a carpenter.

What are you doing?

This is how dad cooked angelica-tree shoots.

Try my dad's method.

It's hot!

That's delicious! I've never eaten it like this.

When dad went to work in the hills he took rice and soybean paste.

He picked and cooked wild vegetables for lunch.

It was the resourcefulness of a poor man.

People knew how to make things more delicious!

The wandering Monk Saigyo wrote a poem.

"My wish is to die in spring, under the flowers

When it's the second full moon of the year"

His wish was fulfilled as he died

under a blossoming cherry tree and a full moon.

Rikka - May "Sweet flag bath" keeps evil away

Living in the hills, working in the fields and cleaning the house

I learned through my body that movement is life.

With the changing season there's more to do in the field.

Daily life involves physical labor and that makes you hungry.

Hunger improves the taste of food.

My unconventional mother-in-law doesn't get on with her son's family.

So she lives alone and tends her land.

Prickly-ash, stay here.

Hello, Chie! It's Tsutomu.

In here.

Your field?

I was weeding this morning.

Have you eaten already?

Not yet.

Yaeko's early death really disrupted your life.

Thank you.

With gratitude.

Eat all the pickles.

How about you?

I'm OK. I don't want any.

I have this. This is all I need.

Prickly-ash.

It looks delicious.

May I have some?

This is not good enough for a refined man like you.

Yaeko... She loved prickly-ash.

Right.

She loved it from when she was little.

That's why she named our dog "Prickly-ash".

That silly dog!

Have you made a grave for Yaeko?

No, I haven't.

It's been 13 years. It's time you made her a grave.

Yes, ma'am.

It's not good to have her ashes lying around, bury her...

What did you come for?

May I have some bean paste?

Sure, take as much as you want.

Take the whole barrel. I won't need it.

Take this for the monthly observance of Yaeko's death.

For her shrine.

On the barrel.

Goodbye.

Go now! The silly dog's waiting for you.

Let's go.

Shoman - June Everything is livelier

Bamboo reminds me of my time at the Zen monastery.

My parents sent me there when I was 9 because they couldn't feed us all.

When I arrived in Kyoto

I resented my father for separating my mother and I.

But I soon found the resolve to be on my own.

Ignore the shoots above the ground.

Find the ones breaking the surface, they're edible.

OK.

I found one.

The peel nourishes the earth.

I see.

Humans are strange animals.

Tastes and scents can unexpectedly trigger memories.

The food we eat comes from the soul of the earth and over time

the earth and the tastes intertwine.

What a heavenly scent... Bamboo? Is it bamboo?

Prickly-ash, how are you?

Bamboo shoot...!

You followed the smell?

Nobody can throw you off a scent.

Ready, Machiko?

Hold on!

Go now!

With gratitude.

I surrender!

May I have more soup?

Sure.

Thank you.

This is huge!

Now, Machiko! Sow the seeds!

Not one plant came out of the seeds I put in last year...

Because the pigeons ate them all!

They came back!

Boshu - June Nourishment from the rain

Hello.

Hi, you came again!

How are they?

The rain this year was good for them.

Plums are also my great teachers.

You tempt fate if you miss the annual pickling-plum ritual.

I use the priest's technique. The outcome is very tasty.

Hello.

This is he.

A TV producer asked me to be on a talk show.

I asked them to look for the priest's widow, Chizuko.

When the priest died, she had to take her child and leave the temple.

I'd lost touch with them.

The TV people found out that Chizuko had passed away.

I turned down the TV show.

Priest Chikuan never failed to pickle plums.

He always had 50 or so jars of plums in storage.

Pickled plums are integral to Zen.

They have medicinal value and are a staple food.

The monks valued the plums and stored them.

Shosho - July The sun comes out after the rainy season

Hello?

How have you been?

I'm Fumiko from the temple.

Is that you, Fumiko?

I apologize for not visiting you...

Go ahead.

Ah! Plum vinegar reminds me of my childhood.

Priest Chikuan showed me how to make it.

But he didn't let me drink it.

My father was strict with novice monks...

I heard that Chizuko passed away.

Last year. She was 82 years old.

I missed the chance to thank her for all that she did for me.

I'm sorry for that.

My mother was so happy that you became a writer, Tsutomu.

These pickles

were made by my parents when they got married 60 years ago.

When we left the temple we made sure to take the plums.

Mother told me before she passed away,

"If you meet Tsutomu give him some of these plums."

I rolled a pickled plum on my tongue.

At first I just tasted the salt on its surface.

But it stimulated my saliva glands on my tongue.

The plum swells, its taste rounder and sweeter.

The plum's makers had gone but the plum was alive.

It was a flavor to cry for.

Risshu - August The twilight call of cicadas

Shosho - Late August Ripened grains for harvest

My brother-in-law and his wife arrive for a rare visit.

I guess they have a favor to ask.

Um...

Tsutomu. Can you go and check on Mother?

Why's that?

I went to do a welfare check yesterday but no one answered.

Try again.

It's kind of spooky!

You get along with her, right? Please go...

Please.

Thank you!

Chie, it's Tsutomu!

I found her dead inside.

Her son wanted the funeral at my place because their house is too small.

It made no sense to me

but I agreed because I wanted her to have a funeral.

Tsutomu.

Tsutomu?

My condolences...

Forget formalities. I need your help.

With what?

To prepare food for the wake tonight.

Oh no! For how many people?

She was reclusive so just relatives, I guess.

I harvested these sesame seeds. Can you hull them?

But how?

Try it.

Tsutomu, are you home?

Good, you came!

You need an altar and a coffin.

By tonight.

- Leave it to me. - Thank you.

They're hulled.

Dry them in the sun.

Right away.

I'm from the photo studio!

Use this one.

Are you sure?

Yes. By tonight.

How about the size?

You can decide.

And the frame?

I trust your choice.

It's too grand...

Don't be silly. Everyone wants a grand send-off.

And the coffin...

Chie is light.

She made it easy for us to carry her.

I'm from the photo studio!

Let yourself in!

It's so grand...

The grander the better, sir!

A common sentiment!

Can you grind them like this?

Okay.

It smells great!

My turn.

Pour in the stock, Machiko.

Ready?

Mmm, this is good.

It's so thick!

I'll finish it up. Can you go get 2 yugao?

You mean the flowers?

No, it's a squash this big. Do you mind?

Not watermelons!

I can tell them apart!

Peel them and quarter them.

1-inch thick.

I cut them.

Now cook the noodles.

Pass the sake.

So many visitors! There's not enough food.

What then?

I'll find something. Prepare the rice.

Myoga makes you stupid, so they say...

Tsutomu. You used to live in a temple, right?

Can you read a sutra?

Where's the monk?

I didn't ask for one so...

I only know the Heart Sutra...

That'll do. Can you do it?

I'll leave you to it, Machiko.

But... wait!

I'll be back.

Take this.

This is delicious! Do you know what it is?

Oh... that's uh...

It's sesame tofu.

You made it so delicate and refined! What did you do?

Tsutomu! Hello!

Yes?

How did you make this?

It's ground sesame seeds set with arrowroot powder.

Oh, arrowroot!

I wouldn't have thought of that!

- You made this? - Yes.

I used to cook when I was a novice monk at a Kyoto temple.

Did you hear what he just said? This is sesame tofu!

He learned to cook at a Kyoto temple when he was a novice monk!

We don't usually eat fancy Kyoto dishes like this.

You'd better relish it!

I'd take this with me when I die!

I believe you knew my mother well...

She was quite a woman, you know!

Thanks to her, we have our soybean paste.

Do you realize how great she was?

Do you understand?

Here's some more delicious food!

Sit down.

You need a break.

This is Chie's bean paste, right?

Yes.

She showed us how to ferment soybean paste.

I'll give you some when this year's batch is ready.

You used myoga ginger, where's it from?

It's from the garden.

Myoga is delicious...! But it makes us stupid!

People used to say that myoga makes you stupid!

Try a myoga rice ball!

I wish Chie was here to eat one...

But then she'd become stupid too!

She's giving us the eye.

We upset her!

Rest in peace, Chie!

This is silly!

We're monk wannabes!

Watch out, you'll upset her more!

So...

Yes?

Well...

Tsutomu. Can you keep the ashes?

Why should I...?

Please.

You were close to her so it seems right.

You have Yaeko's ashes so why not have her mom's ashes, too?

Please.

You must be tired. Thank you.

I'm okay.

It was hard work!

I never met Chie but it felt like she was my Grandma.

This one's for you, too.

Thank you.

We picked so many chestnuts.

Machiko... Would you like to live here?

Are you sure about that?

You'd get nice food every day.

That sounds good but what about work?

You can commute.

- It's a bit far. - It isn't!

Thanks.

Let me think about it.

It's been 13 years...

Yaeko taught me all there is to know about publishing.

Hakuro - September Dew on the leaves

Red earth, it's as if the Earth is bleeding.

It triggered a memory for me.

My parents' house was in Wakasa by the graveyard entrance.

My father was a coffin builder.

I used to pray for the dead as a novice monk

so I was familiar with death.

The incinerator at the crematorium had 2 doors and only one was ornate.

It seemed silly that even in death, class played a role.

After they were cremated, everyone had the same white urns.

As a kid, I was bothered by those generic urns.

So now, decades later

I decided to make an urn for my own ashes.

Tsutomu, I brought you some nice tofu!

Are you in there?

Tsutomu!

A man in his 60s. A possible heart attack.

I'm in the ambulance. I hear the wee woo of its siren.

The paramedic can't find an available doctor.

I hear him click his tongue.

Hang in there! You'll be okay.

Tearful Machiko comforts me.

This is the end. I want to ask her to look after Prickly-ash but

my mouth is numb.

I just keep thinking, "This is annoying."

You're awake!

You're in hospital. You had a heart attack 3 days ago.

Only 1 in 10,000 patients survives myocardial necrosis.

Shubun - Autumnal equinox Return from the Other Side

Tsutomu!

You saved my life.

I'm glad you made it.

I made sure to stir it sometimes.

You made nice pickles!

Thanks.

How was I in the ambulance?

You held my hand.

Did I say anything?

You kept saying, "I don't want to die."

I see. I thought so.

You remember?

Kind of... vaguely.

I was just so frightened.

I'm quite pathetic, aren't I...?

I gave it a lot of thought...

and decided to move in.

I appreciate that.

But I don't want you to live here.

Why is that?

It appears that I like living alone.

You might die alone!

If so, that's the way I go.

You said you didn't want to die.

That's right, I'm scared of death. I don't want to die.

So I've decided to confront my fear of death.

And write about it.

I may not come back.

I'll have to accept that. We'd travel alone, after all.

We are born alone and we die alone.

You're selfish.

Kenko Yoshida wrote in "Essays in Idleness"

that Death would sneak up from behind and snatch you away.

I can feel Death an inch away from my toes but

when it's my turn I don't want to die.

I am scared.

If death is inevitable why do I dread it so much?

My obsession with life is hard to deal with.

Once you are born death is inevitable.

Therefore living your life equals dying.

If I am to eventually die I shouldn't have been born at all.

But I'm able to think that

because I'm right here, alive.

Once I'm dead, there's no thinking about anything.

There's just death.

"To overcome death"

My thinking led me to wonder if I could befriend dreaded death.

I might be able to accept death and find it less scary.

Like a friend who is always by my side.

"Death is your friend"

Kanro - October The clear air is chilly

Zen teaches you to abandon all obsessions.

Anyone who's born eventually dies so

we should not resist how it ends.

But I can't help feeling sad to die for I am an ordinary man.

Running from death won't end my anguish.

I'll see what death is like in an attempt to get closer to it.

OK, let's die.

So long everyone.

Strangely, the day breaks even if I'm dead.

I'm not dead. I'm alive.

Life becomes complicated when you anticipate the upcoming days.

I should be content to live each day.

The scent of petals mesmerize but eventually fall

Who in this world lives for eternity?

But today I cleared the trying hills of life

I have awoken from a dream and attained enlightenment

Soko - Late October Frost on the ground

Tsutomu!

Great timing, Machiko!

Let's pick mushrooms.

I called you a few times.

Oh? I had no idea.

Can you pull over?

Come on, Machiko.

Take a look, Machiko. The mushrooms are beautiful.

They look delicious!

Mushroom hotpot tonight.

Mushrooms in the woods, what do they watch as they grow?

They watch chocolate vines by the stream!

Stop!

What's wrong?

Why are you doing that?

Because nothing beats eating with a person you like.

I'm going to get married.

Really. That's good news.

Who is he?

Shoji Murata.

I know of him.

Do you like his novels?

Thank you. Do you want to take some chestnuts?

No, thank you.

I've always wanted to ask you something.

What's that?

What about your wife's ashes?

Sorry, never mind.

Off I go.

Take care.

The mushrooms!

Thank you.

Ritto - November Cold northerlies blow

So long, everyone.

Touji - Winter solstice Eat well and pray for good health

Thank you so much.

Prickly-ash, go ahead.

In humble gratitude.

Kenji Sawada

Takako Matsu

Naomi Nishida

Toshinori Omi

Fumi Dan

Shohei Hino

Tomoko Naraoka

Based on the âDays of Soil: My 12 Months with Blessing of the Earthâ

published by Shinchosha, and "Tsuchi wo Kurau Hibi Waga Shojin Jyuni ka getsu"

originally published by BUNKA PUBLISHING BUREAU, by Tsutomu Mizukami

Food Coordinated by Yoshiharu Doi

Music by Yoshihide Otomo

Written and Directed by Yuji Nakae