Original subtitles

Presented by Tenjo Sajiki

Shintokumaru

Note from the translator: This play contains many cultural,

historical, and language-related references and themes that might be

lost in translation or hard to understand without prior knowledge.

If you would like to learn more, please visit anguraresearchcenter.wordpress.com

A gaze, taking flight

as it flaps away, beyond

transforms into a butterfly;

the mirage of a mother.

Written on the palm of my hand

my mother's name, a hundred times;

my hand becomes

an eulogy for the living.

Pardon me, isn't there a railway near?

I heard the whistle of a train some days ago, but I just can't seem to find it.

Has my train already left, or has it not come yet?

Hey you, do you think I've become a stray?

I've got to hurry... you see, my body is being consumed by leprosy.

I wish I could see the face of my birth mother, if only once before I die.

I've been looking for one nurse who is said to know her whereabouts.

However at the end of last year, that nurse ran away

from her in-laws with her three year old baby.

Just seeing her face would be enough I thought, so I asked for a picture...

Turns out... my mother doesn't even have a face.

Yearning so deeply, filled with grief;

time has passed, still the tears flow.

Remembering those days, a bell gently echoes.

Is this a dream, or is it real?

Present self, uncertain.

Still too young back then,

left alone, on the night of the 16th moon.

A mother tragically gone.

A mother tragically gone, A mother tragically gone.

There it is, the whistle! I have to see my train!

Bush clover, pampas grass, arrowroot, golden lace,

eupatorium, bellflower... one of the Seven Autumn Flowers(1), forgotten.

As the setting sun darkens the forests of Sedoyama,

The deserted circus starts tidying up for the day.

The two-faced dwarf folds the banner away.

The roaring laughter, applause and cheer, heard from behind the curtains

and all the way outside from the military base, are now but a distant rumor.

The spectators brought in by the blowing autumn wind

are nowhere to be seen.

The few neighborhood children

who once rushed in without paying

play hide and seek.

Bamboo mats removed, hung up.

The baby who once cried out, looking for comfort

Recognized by the cripple doorman, is now someone's spouse.

The shade grass now red and overgrown.

The backstage light workers' gossip say; she ran away in the night,

a little patterned bag under the arm.

A day like any other, and now...

Ah! Autumn once again,

said the troupe director.

The lotus loses its shape...

And yet, if we listen closely...

And yet, if we listen closely... And yet, if we listen closely...

Ah, yes, welcome, welcome! Come in, don't be shy!

What you see here is not a fabrication or an imitation!

This young woman really was born naturally!

This lady is ready for marriage, I say!

Her whole body is covered with scales, but we can't get enough! Look how beautiful.

Her head is human, her body is snake. Alas, she is the proud Snake Woman.

Right! Today our Snake Woman is coming out slowly,

here she comes, here she comes! There she is!!

Now now, what you see here is one specimen of Snake Woman.

Believe it or not, she will feast on a live chicken, starting from its head!

Whether she likes it or not, she'll devour it every day.

No lie, no nonsense here. This is an authentic Snake Woman.

Now, yes, yes, come, come closer...

Here, little by little the light is getting dimmer.

When the light goes off, Snake Woman will use her snake lower-body

From one end of the stage to the other, she gently starts to undulate

Here she goes, using her snake body, she stands up tall!

Look carefully! Her beautiful scales glitter in the dark,

an ominous sound like spring rain can be heard...!

That was the great Snake Woman everyone! Cheers and applause please!

Measuring a way out

by the length of a kimono's belt(2).

Marrying into hell, into hell,

a fabric shop hell...

A struggling circus troupe started selling women to make a living.

A specialty from Tokyo, Dog Women who crawled on all fours then walk on two,

or Snake Women who shed their scales and put their hair up,

using a double mirror(3) they adorn their hair with a single carnation flower,

happily leaving their little huts behind.

Their sales pitch is more or less a doctrine dressed as selfless charity:

"We give a mother to each motherless child".

That said, their customers include a carpenter

from Komeyamachi whose wife ran out on him,

or a drunk rickshaw man without children.

And occasionally a policeman or a teacher whose former wife had passed away,

bring their child along to purchase a second wife.

What do you think, Shintoku? About this woman in a knotted hairdo?

Dad quite likes this one, her face may be thin but her nose bridge is straight.

She is far more beautiful than your dead mother!

That's a Snake Woman, father!

The father laughed, and without a care, replied

Where is the fool deceived by a fraud from a circus show?

and thus chose a beautiful sleeping woman as his new wife.

Suddenly, as if woken from a dream, the new step-mother arose.

Glancing around,

she untied her hair,

and retrieved a carnation hidden in her long black hair.

At school, the teacher said,

"Those without parents, raise your hand!"

Among the 49 students

one boy raised his hand.

The friends he went home with,

My dick got stolen!

made fun of him for it. My dick got stolen!

By who? - My dad. made fun of him for it.

Liar, he's dead! made fun of him for it.

He's in heaven. He took it from there.

Don't say it like he's just a carpenter who fell through the roof! - Say something!

Go on, anything's fine! - Evening Star!

It's gone, erased! The evening star is no more!

If you erase it like that... - Easy! I won't know my way home anymore.

Then I'll just erase your way home with this eraser.

I bought an eraser that can erase anything!

- What? - An eraser than can erase anything! - Let me see!

Don't wanna! If I show you, you'll steal it.

I won't, let me see!

I know what you're planning! You'll just erase me,

so you'll be the only one to get the teacher's love!

Our teacher this year's such a hottie!

So, even you think so?

I hate her... I hate that teacher!

I see someone has been smoking cigarettes in secret again.

It's not me! It's not me!

What's that? There's something in there, show me!

I see, it's a bottle with cigarette butts.

Show me. Show me right now!

A bug!

It shines like velvet and enamel, its antennae long like scissors.

Ma'am, it's a hair-cutting beetle(4).

Hair-cutting? - I heard it cuts and eats women's hair.

What a scary beetle!

Shintoku, why are you keeping this bug?

Ma'am! Shintoku, he's making it eat all of his mother's hair!

His mother's bald now!

Why would you do such a thing?

My mother's my step-mother...

A step-mother's a mother enough!

From what I've heard, your mother is very pious isn't she?

She loves Buddha, so she mistreats children

to keep the balance. - Oh, what a horrible thing to say.

Ma'am! Aren't you actually my step-mother in disguise..?

My real mother's hair was short and warm like sun-bathed grass!

Both you and my step-mother have long, jet-black hair.

Shintoku, are you scheming to drive away your mother,

who has been painstakingly trying to fit in this home?

Not only that, but you want to make her and your step-brother Sensaku both bald.

And then, it'll be divorce, tuberculosis, circus

snake, 5 dollars, resentment, rope,

guard rail, infant, newspaper article, picnic under the cherry blossoms.

Now, kids who don't listen get punished. Pay close attention!

Shintoku, lower those pants now!

There was once a cherry tree,

facing the front door of the village school, to the right,

It was planted by my child, who then died in war, long ago.

When he was twelve, by his fault, the tree remained small

And even know, we can see it peak through from the school's second floor window.

Now! If I really hurry I can make it home first!

I'll finally know the true identity of my step-mother disguised as my teacher!

Take flight, hair-cutting beetle!

The shortcut way back from school

is one jump over the railway tracks,

a turn right on the alleyway behind the geisha house,

then at the tabacco store,

behind the second telephone pole

today too, someone hides...

a figure from the back,

in her hair a crimson comb.

The distant memory of a mother(5)

coming out of the bath.

No, there's no way!

muttered Shintoku, stopped in his tracks.

He would arrive in two, three steps but,

seeing he had the wrong person,

rushed home as fast as he could.

Wait, she's home already?

having said this, he unconsciously held his breath, thinking today, he'd arrive

home before his step-mother, who had been at school disguised as the teacher,

but somehow she had overtaken him,

had come home first, and even had time to make dinner.

Shintoku... you're home late,

she said.

Come eat diner.

Hurry, go wash your hands and feet.

Father,

Please hand over the mother from the Ieo Mamoru set.

I don't have it.

Mother,

Please hand over the child from the Kaneno Narukichi set.

One card for you.

Sensaku,

Please hand over the dog from the Kunio Mamoru set.

I don't have it.

Father,

Please hand over the mother from the Ieo Mamoru set.

I don't have it. I could've sworn I said that earlier.

Mother,

Please hand over the mother from the Kaneno Narukichi set.

Still not my turn. I have four of the same card, too...

Mother,

Please hand over the mother from the Kaneno Narukichi set.

Hand it over... Hand it over...

I have that card!

I don't have it. My turn.

Sensaku,

Hand over the child from the Kunio Mamoru set.

One card for you...

but no matter how many times we do this,

it won't be a game of Happy Families(6) without the four mother cards.

That means...

Someone is obviously hogging them.

Four identical card.

But if you only collect the four mothers...

Motionlessly, through oily hair,

Motionlessly, through oily hair,

the mother cards from the Happy Families game,

should they be thrown in a stream in the night?

Should they be buried in an empty plot of land?

Wanting to leave the city, alone

wanting to see the face of the one who left.

Temple, three years

Rice shop, five years

Fulfilling your duty or running away from home?

The clay dolls run after you, too.

Leaving the city makes you a person.

Ah! Mr Yanagita!

I see you remember me. Indeed it is I, Yanagita Kunio(7)!

You look awfully strange today, sir!

It's the fake mustache.

And this hat, of course.

Yesterday I was wearing these glasses. I change myself every day!

The day before you were an illustration from Shounen Club(8).

Sure enough, you had a black mask on! - Indeed.

And when we met before that, I was the Inflatable Man(9) in the bowler hat.

Before that, I was the projectionist from the cinema in front of the station.

And before that, I was the lunch vendor at the military academy.

And before that! I was the astronomer on the clothesline observing

the new department store flyers scattered from 3000m in the sky.

I've been with you for a long time,

you just never realized. - Aren't you selling lightbulbs today?

Oh, I've quit already. Electric lightbulbs light themselves,

but they don't light up a home. Moreover,

they can only light up a small spot; darkening the rest of the room.

In the darkness, dwarves turn over the tatami and plow the fields...

Good or bad harvest, lamp devils I say!

As of today, I've switched my business to these!

What is it?

A hole.

A hole? - Yes, a hole.

If you stick it on the wall like so, you can dive right in.

With one of these, you can create a door to anywhere.

Just like gum, it's elastic, enjoyable, easily malleable!

If you fold it small, it becomes a peeping hole,

and if you spread it on the floor, it becomes a pit!

I can't believe it! A hole-to-go!

Look here, just like this,

by placing it on the ground, it will lead you down to the underworld...

Sir, please give me that hole!

I can only lend it to you.

I can't possibly give it to you. It's still incomplete after all, a mere prototype!

I'm still thinking about ways to close it, for example.

So I can borrow it, right? - Just for one day!

Thank you!

So I can really go down there... ah, there's even a ladder attached.

No way, what if I fall as soon as I step in?

Ugh, it's so dark. It sparkles just like the stars in the sky.

Mr Yanagita is gone!

Alright, it's now or never!

A crying mother's kindness(10)

runs deeply.

In the dark,

knowing or not,

of Kannon's vow.

Prayers made

on a sacred visit.

The path of purple clouds

is a mother's Paradise.

A heart wishing for the next life, isn't it full of resentment?

A mother's black hair as she turns around.

If she turns around

she will destroy the world.

A sound is heard, she must not turn around.

A purple journey.

The mother who gives birth... the mother who raises...

the mother who bestows a name...

the mother who fulfills her duty.

Kagome kagome(11), mother in the basket

When, oh when when when will she come out?

In the night of dawn

Shintokumaru blew his flute

Who is standing behind him now?

An underdress crimson like blazing fire

Scattered inside, blurred letters like prayers

His mother does not tuck up the hem, but raises her skirt higher.

Gracefully showing from beneath the red lining, her bare ankle, white as snow

she beckons Shintoku to her.

Behind him, there appears the image of a real mother,

but alas Shintoku cannot turn around.

I've been told my real mother died while giving birth to me.

She prayed for good fortune, and instead suffered from the gods' hatred.

It was the night of the fire that it occurred.

As my bird mother held me against herself, engulfed by flames, my father told her

"As long as you live, you can bear another child"

but my mother to reply,

"nesting this little one may be the most pitiable thing in the world,

yet I shall never abandon him." and so,

she burned to death in the bush fire, saving my life.

This mother with the face of a Buddha, I want to see her.

I should not look behind myself, I want to see your face!

Shido Shido; Bosatsu Arareriuma.

Hairpin; falling cherry blossoms

Plover; little one; bloodstained

The step-mother mistreating her step-child, goes

Oh, how cute!

Ah, how cute!

Rattle drum and Sho flute

To the sound of the flute, get merry and dance!

The weather doll has no face!

Such a cute boy, shall we simmer and eat him?

Shall we roast and eat his devil face?

Shido Shido Bosatsu Arareriuma!

Damnit! I was tricked!

Hair-cutting beetle come out! Go cut some women's hair!

What are you doing?

Treasure hunting.

Treasure hunting?

Yes, I heard there's an Indian man's snakeskin wallet buried around here...

Liar!

You were burying something, weren't you?

So you saw.

If you saw why even ask?

Tell me honestly!

It's my eraser!

Oh... why would you bury it?

An empty lot in Cat Town(12).

The smoke from the chimneys of the public bathhouses vanishes,

the barks of the dogs can be heard in the distance.

Lit from the back by the pawnshop's gas lamp,

the shadow of an unknown woman grows and stretches.

Dreading the neighbours' gaze...

Don't tell anyone!

This is no ordinary eraser. I erased the evening star with it!

I erased the bulldog in the alley, I erased the retiree from the thrift store,

It's an eraser than can erase humans!

Look... look!

This spot is worn at an angle right? That's because I used it to erase my father.

He saw me smoking a cigarette, and he suddenly hit me.

So at night while he was asleep I scrubbed him off completely! Gone!

Did you start by the feet?

Or by the face?

I don't remember! I did it with my eyes closed.

And when morning came, his bed was empty!

Well!

Here! Those eraser scraps are my father!

May he rest in peace.

Say, boy,

Can this eraser erase one more person?

I won't lend it, I've buried it already. - I beg you, just one more!

There's one sick woman,

her hands are burning!

Where?

In front of your very eyes,

It's me!

It's me!

Stop it, you're creeping me out

Please, erase me!

No! Stay away!

With one hand, she retrieved from the knot at the back of her belt,

a small package she had tucked there, and from it, presented a few coins.

I'll give all of this to you, boy!

You can buy a hundred more erasers with that!

I've already made up my mind. I won't erase anything else ever again!

Even if I make a mistake when I write, I'll just leave it like that!

Ignorant child!

To have less mouths to feed, I've been selling myself for ten years.

I'm just a shameful prostitute,

in a three tatami room.

Selling myself for 2 dollars and 50 cents at sunset,

ever since I abandoned the countryside,

I have only worried about dying,

and just like that, I only have ten more years left to live.

Listen! The crickets are singing again, somewhere!

In the countryside, it's time for a festival...

In the countryside, it's time for a festival...

In the countryside, it's time for a festival...

Tuberculosis!

O autumn wind; an index finger; whose tomb is it?(13)

Writing sutras with; my index finger

Flying to; a distant country

May they rest in peace; fly away!

May they rest in peace; fly away!

Today too, my thoughts are nothing but sorrow.

I strike a straw doll with a nail.

I know it is someone dear, and so

I strike a straw doll with a nail...

Brother!

On the evening of

the eyebrow-like moon.

My hair will soon

grow past my shoulders.

Brother.

He's dead...

Getting married in a flowery village(14)

The skin of my child from a

lustful, confused dream,

the distance shall hurt, as always.

With knees pointing here,

to inviting eyes I nod but,

I cut the strings of the shamisen

throw away the nail pick, and run away.

My my, what's in here? The nails of my child!

A child who still reaches for his mother's breast,

Purple nail clippings, stored in a black box for twelve years,

still so soft, like the moon

of an early evening, I hold them between my fingers, consumed by worry.

You pitiful step-child.

Elementary school child, laughed at, bought from the circus.

Could this also be a punishment from Kannon's previous life?

What fate would befall the first-born son, in this new family?

Overshadowed by Shintokumaru, whom he calls big brother,

and unable to inherit the family name.

But don't you worry, Sensaku.

This Shintoku who disobeys me at every opportunity,

I'll have him die young from a mother's curse!

Look, Shintokumaru's posthumous name on this mortuary tablet, it's already 15 characters.

Thus, the Great Kannon of Mercy;

Until now, worshipped on its own;

My child shall worship too.

Like so, it spills from the palm of my hand like sand,

your nail;

As the new moon ascends, this nail pricks my throbbing breast,

and vanishes upon morning.

Sensaku, don't worry.

You brother Shintoku will soon

catch leprosy and die.

If only Shintoku would die, you'd be the family heir!

An order at the blacksmith and a room in an inn;

large nails delivered in the night.

As the sun comes out, spring water

for the crimson flowers on my way to hell.

Past the breadth of my chest, springtime haze;

A milestone at the end of the underworld;

Wishing for my mother, her calmness,

short hair mussed by sleep,

Would she find me? Could it really happen?

In such an unexpected place, the silhouette of a mother's back, alive and healthy-

Is that you, mother?

Surprised, the step-mother quickly hides the long nails she holds in her hand.

This smell...!

he says, approaching slowly, - I knew it!

and with a sigh of relief,

At last! I've found you here, in the underworld!

he exclaims, clinging to his step-mother.

Due to the mistreatment by my step-mother, I spend full nights wide awake.

Mother! You've gone before me,

I resent you so!

Mother,

You've gone before me,

I resent you so!

and he cries, cries, cries.

Mistaken for his birth-mother,

Shintoku still holding onto her,

she maintains the charade.

Is she such a terrible step-mother?

Her voice fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake,

Yes, mother, she's a devil! Her voice fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake,

Her voice fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake,

Why did father get lost in Her voice fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake,

the beauty of such a woman, I wonder! Her voice fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake,

Her voice fake, fake, fake, fake, fake, fake,

Anger welling up to the surface...

However Shintoku, his body surrendered to the gentle touch

of a hand caressing like a wife, stays unmoving.

That woman loved and cherished you, didn't she?

Suddenly letting go, he sees the mirage of his mother

as it was, a woman.

His feet tripping over an object in the way,

Hey! What's that black box doing here?

he said, picking it up and, making to throw it away without a care,

Stop it! You can't touch that, Shintoku!

- she yelled. Stop it! You can't touch that, Shintoku!

Stop it! You can't touch that, Shintoku! - This voice...!

This voice is me.

For the sake of my sweet child Sensaku,

It's unfortunate but

with all this hate, I'll serve you something special!

For Shintoku's 18 years, I strike 18 nails!

It's a festival on the seventh day of the new moon, so for 7 days I strike 7 nails!

For the 7 shrines, 7 nails! For the palace, 14 nails!

Step-child on a skewer, 12 nails! For the mausoleum, also 12 nails!

Crushed eyes, 12 nails! Water god's raised scythe, 12 nails!

Mother's curse, 12 nails! Demon Pond(15), also 12 nails!

Curse, black hair, Nail Buddha.

Graveyard, red belt, 12 kilometers.

I'm his mother so of course, I strike a nail

and crush his eyeballs! Die step-child!

Die! Die! May your soul rest in peace! Die! Die! May your soul rest in peace!

Die! Die! May your soul rest in peace! Die! Die! May your soul rest in peace!

Words of prayer appearing,

and with a curse so powerful

the spots I strike with the 136 nails

is really quite unusual.

Suddenly, both his eyes are crushed!

Poor, pitiful Shintokumaru

you shall now become a leper.

Strangled to death, blood blooming on the straw doll,

bright red opium flower-like words.

Forensic medicine, circus show, Hototogisu cuckoo.

Autumn ends, then spring.

Spring ends and autumn comes again.

Through the tedious night, the blind masseurs listen to the sound of the wind,

and distract themselves by cutting up and sorting the 48 characters of the alphabet.

Colors; colorless; vanishing.

Ara dara ni, B, C, D,

Ara dara ni, B, C, D, a kidnapping.

The missing Shintoku, his face on the first page of the

Home's Light(16) magazine's New Years special issue,

where did he go? Where did he hide?

As the next heir, Sensaku cleans the altar and arranges

a bouquet of chrysanthemum, making his mother proud.

Although its scent still lingers on; the form of a flower has scattered away(17).

Scattered too; like a flower bud; a young child.

Although its scent still lingers on; the form of a flower has scattered away.

Scattered too; like a flower bud; a young child.

This child, whose is it? Let's catch him!

- The bag rips and water pours out! - Doesn't want to see his father;

Trampled on before being born;

Sleepy sleepy Cat Square

15 year old girl

tricked with compliments,

she cries and laments(18). - Gifted kimono belts

arranged by value;

Washed away! Washed away!

This child listens without crying, huh!

Well then, it's time

to grind him to death!

A Buddha's hand towel

dyes a brand new

straw doll

a red ochre color!

- Ah, there's something - stuck inside.

- A belt or an old short sleeve dress? - A baby's neck?

The child crying now, which is it?

One got a lump from his old man,

one got a birthmark from his old woman.

Powdered face, oiled hair

received flowers from an unknown father.

It's heavy all of a sudden!

You're right! Move it a little-

He's become this big!

No way! That's not your kid, it's someone else!

Someone else? Who are you then?

I'm nobody. I'm an erased person.

What did you say?

I cannot be seen by other's eyes.

I'm a man that has erased himself with an eraser.

You might have wanted to disappear but - we can see you clearly!

You got one star, so you're a private first class! - Not bad at all, Mr. Soldier!

Lies! There's not way you can see me!

I no longer exist in this place.

Alright, let's get a move on now!

It's no time to dawdle in such a place!

Lies! Nobody can see me. You can't see me!

I can go anywhere.

I'm not like you all!

I'm an erased man, an invisible soldier!

I've become eraser scraps.

Help me!

Hear hear! Karma's spinning wheel, its revolving mechanism a solitary journey

Shintoku the leper, where did he go? Where did he hide? Nobody knows...

Spin, spin, spin and bang!

Left behind, the step-mother, step-child and father,

clean the altar day and night.

A card from the Divided Happy Family(19),

flipped over by the wind. Autumn again, spin, spin, spin and bang!

Shintoku the leper, what he is doing now?

Ringing the bell of the path of sincerity,

he throws his body on the train tracks. May he rest in peace! Did he die?

Spin, spin, spin and bang!

Look... here's my home.

It'll be dusk soon, the lights turn on,

Sensaku comes back from school.

The kidnapper turns into a medicine seller again

waiting in the shadow of the telephone pole, for Sensaku on the way.

Movie posters lifted up by the wind,

Sensaku stands still...

Tranquility on a late autumn day...

This is real soil.

We'll build the structure here again,

shall we set up a circus?

Fatherless child in mustard flowers;

Like a young woman's bygone days;

Crying over the scales of a snake;

The quiet charm of my own madness.

Drip, drip, drop...

What is it Sensaku? You're home late today.

Sensaku?

Sensaku!

Sensaku!

So that's where you were, Sensaku!

You were so late coming home so mom came to get you!

Come down, quick!

Aren't you hungry?

Then eat!

Ah! It hurts!

Y- You!

Yes, it's me, your brother Shintokumaru.

Cursed by your mother I became a leper, my skin now melting and covered in spots.

I have the face of a man, but the body of a monster.

When the night comes, its beautiful scales glitter in the dark.

What did you come back for, Shintoku?

I thought I'd show you some love.

Wearing the face of the step-mother who cursed me,

I came back home, disguised.

Doesn't it suit me, this crimson dress?

Come Sensaku, come to me,

I'll teach you something great.

Yearning, dearly,

combing with a crimson comb,

plucking incessantly the feathers of a hawk-cuckoo(20).

No! Stay away!

That frightened expression is always so sweet, Sensaku!

Stay away! I'll catch your disease!

Yes...! Siblings share everything.

I'll share with you the joys of disease, then.

Sensaku!

Die!

Good evening, everyone.

So we meet again! It is I, Yanagita Kunio.

This time, I've disguised myself as the clerk of the Tokyo Lost and Found counter.

Indeed, for this occasion I have chosen a Colman-style mustache(21).

I've paired it with those pince-nez spectacles,

in the manner of Shounen Club's February special.

I set up a single desk and as I waited,

just like that, the lost items started coming in.

The lost and found items just keep piling up,

but not one person has come looking for them!

One's own lost item, a wandering monk's red hood

Forgotten, lost things have no eyes nor nose

they become faceless ghosts(22)!

I want to remember it, that red hood

from somewhere I will surely come.

The villain,

face illuminated by a 30 watt lightbulb

again hides in the autumn of Samsara.

Something lost, something erased, something forgotten.

Yes, this Lost and Found counter,

is the size of half a pitch black heart.

However, it's enough. It's enough indeed.

When all's said and done, it's a matter of perspective.

At times, all of this vast Tokyo Metropolis

is also a Lost and Found storehouse.

Furthermore in here, when just one person who lost something is absent,

we can thankfully maintain the system in place.

Welcome!

Oh, sir!

I am indeed, Shintoku's father.

That's a relief!

Oh my!

You've finally made up your mind. - What about?

About turning yourself in as lost and found.

Don't be stupid!

I'm only here to report a found item.

A found item?

Yes, a lost family register.

A register for Oguri(23), address Kameido, Koutou city.

That can't be, there must be a mistake!

There's no mistake.

It really is Oguri's family register.

But the registers of all 113 families of Kameido, Koutou city are in perfect order!

And of course, Oguri's name isn't in there.

All 113 registers are there?

Yes, not one missing.

Then if we add Oguri, he won't fit in.

The principle of Lost and Found is to make up for a loss,

it is not to add more to what we already have.

But then...

Then what?

Somehow; at dusk; the blue wheel of Samsara cries.

By fault of an unreliable father,

quite ugly, manipulated;

to a foreign place, gone far away(24),

my child, leaving; Trumpet Melody(25).

Day after day, in the circus

among the acrobats and plate spinners

there might be a child that fits in well...

Perhaps; I'd call out to him

The failure of the parents; the misfortune of the child

Every time I hear the pilgrim's bell,

the blue wheel of Samsara cries

somehow; at dusk.

Everyone!

Here are the directives for the Lost and Found.

There is still time!

If one of your lost items is here,

Come quick with your personal seal and bring it back home with you.

The storehouse is getting too crowded!

And now,

It seems it is also time for me to turn back to the true Yanagita Kunio.

I'll return to my office and continue writing The Legends of Tono.

Somehow; at dusk

the blue wheel of Samsara cries.

Every last one of them is a lost item.

The entire world is others' lost item.

A kidnapper at the telephone pole.

The path of sincerity is a paper theater.

Goodbye!

The flowing river's fate's loose hairdo's

comb's height's field of passion

Yearning for home

Again in the darkness, creaking sounds...

the sounds of the hair-cutting beetle cutting away!

Father,

Please hand over the mother from the Ieo Mamoru set.

I don't have it.

Mother,

Please hand over the child from the Kaneno Narukichi set.

One card for you.

Sensaku,

Please hand over the do from the Kunio Mamoru set.

I don't have it.

Father,

Please hand over the mother from the Ieo Mamoru set.

I don't have it.

I swear I said that earlier.

Mother,

Please hand over the mother from the Kaneno Narukichi set.

I have that card!

You!

Look, Sensaku.

I have all four cards. All the mother cards!

I can't believe it!

What happened, Sensaku? Your face is pale as a ghost.

Show me your cards!

These?

Unbelievable! All the mother cards.

Look Sensaku, outside, someone is coming.

Can't you hear the voice of your mother?

Father!

I can't see! I can't see anything!

A hair-cutting beetle, here again! What a terrible omen!

Shintoku has left it behind, perhaps.

Nevertheless, where has he vanished to?

Thought dead for so long, and yet the hair-cutting beetle is here.

Oh? And you are?

I'm Shintoku's step-mother...

Nadeshiko! - As I avoid people's eyes during the day,

I remember fondly

my Shintoku, whom I cursed to death.

Hiding my face with a parasol,

I pick thistle flowers in the cemetery.

Blooming red, devil flowers(26)

as my affection burns bright red.

The verse they sang together, halfway stained by a curse.

Shintoku!

Forgive me!

I really did love you!

It was already too late for me to become an adult

Too late for him to become an adult

Too early for him to be a child

Too late for lullabies

but too early to be held while he sleeps.

If only separated by death, after 80, 90, 100 years.

Mother and child, receiving forgiveness from the gods,

as few as the dew on a lotus dais.

Mother! Please put me in your belly once again!

Monster!

No need to be afraid.

You're now the only man in this household.

Shintoku... it's me.

Aren't I beautiful?

Shintoku! Shintoku!

Don't worry, Shintoku is already dead.

The successor is you.

Look, carp-shaped streamers.

I bought them just for you.

Shintoku! Shintoku!

One more time, two more times, three more times, I want to give birth to you!

I want to have you in my belly!

Not enough milk, not enough sleep.

Although its scent still lingers on; the form of a flower has scattered away.

Scattered too; like a flower bud; a young child.

Skin white as snow; without restraints.

One mother,

two mothers, three mothers,

four mothers, six mothers.

If this child cries, put him into a straw bag,

he will float away on Tosa's spring water.

Tosa's water is deeper than the ocean,

its bottom is boiling oil.

Mother; no face; singing bird.

Not enough milk, not enough sleep...

Timed and translated by AnguraResearchCenter.

Starring: Niitaka Keiko as Step-mother/Teacher Wakamatsu Takeshi as Shintoku

Ran Yoko as Narrator Salvador Tali as Father Shinozaki Kou as Sensaku

Fukushi Keiji as Yanagita Kunio Nemoto Yutaka as Circus vendor

and other Tenjo Sajiki actors, musicians, and singers.

Direction by Terayama Shuji and J.A. Seazer Music composed by J.A. Seazer

Shintokumaru, performed at the Kinokuniya Hall, June 24, 1978

Further reading at anguraresearchcenter.wordpress.com