Original subtitles

"Mushi-shi"

"Sunrise Serpent"

So peaceful...

I'll say...

But when it's this sunny and nice every day, people grow lazy.

These days, my old lady stays in bed all morning... Won't even fix breakfast.

I wonder if that's what they mean by "spring nights know no dawn"...

On top of that, she's gotten very forgetful, too.

The other day, she left our kid at the market.

That's pretty bad.

Hope she still remembers what you look like when you get home.

Actually, that might be a good thing.

She isn't unable to sleep at night, is she?

Huh? She sleeps well, snores loud too.

Good...

No, it's not. She's so loud that I can't get any sleep.

I have medicine for her snoring.

Does it work?

Thanks.

Uhm, about what you said earlier...

Hm? About the snoring medication?

No, about being forgetful...

Is it bad when someone can't sleep at night?

You know someone like that?

I'm home.

Mom?!

Oh! Help me, Kaji! There's a strange creature in here!

Strange?

You mean this crab? You forgot this, too?

They come up from the river every year around this time.

W-was that so?

Oh, you're Kaji's friend... right?

No, I just met him. This is Ginko-san, the mush-shi.

Mushi-shi?

Mind if I come in?

Please. I'm Kaji's mother, Sayo.

That's how she usually is.

She was always the laid-back type and would forget things a lot,

but from about last spring, she's had some weird memory lapses.

One day, I had an unusually large number of customers,

so I bought Mom her favorite dumplings.

These sweets are so good... I've never had anything like this before.

What're you talking about? You have them from time to time.

No, I don't. Are you saying I eat them behind your back?

Mom had completely lost her memory of dumplings.

On another day...

I'm thinking of selling the ones I don't wear much...

What's the matter?

Did I own one like this?

You cherished it because it was expensive.

I did?

Oh... I remember this one...

It didn't look good on me, so I never wore it much.

Among the kimonos she rarely wore, she forgot only the ones with prints.

It's cold today.

Yeah.

Boy, you scared me! Don't do a strange thing like that suddenly!

Strange?

It was just a sneeze.

A sneeze?

She had forgotten what a sneeze was.

And when we went to visit our relatives for New Year's...

Kaji... Who are those two over there?

Uncle Masa and Aunt Mitsu.

And who's that next to them?

Your younger sister!

Even her younger sister? That's strange, indeed.

That's more than just forgetfulness. It's progressive amnesia.

You see? And she stays up day and night, working.

Before, she'd often take naps in-between chores under that tree.

Something's definitely wrong with her.

Dinner's ready. Please join us, Ginko-san. It's nothing special, though.

Kaji.

Afterwards, I want you to write down everything you can recall

that your mother forgot.

Huh? Who's that for?

Oh, don't mind that... It's a setting for my husband who's away on business.

A setting for your husband?

Yes. He's a peddler who travels around throughout the year.

They say doing this keeps him from going hungry during his travels.

Well, it's just for peace of mind.

I sure hope he didn't die or anything and she's forgotten it...

Thanks for the food.

I told her to stop it because it's wasteful.

It's not that much.

You reduce your serving to make it.

For whose sake do you think your father is away on business?

He gets much hungrier than I do here at home.

For all the time he's away, he doesn't make much money.

He should take a job nearby.

Kaji...

Usually, he would've come home by now...

He hasn't even written once.

Mom, you've become absent-minded because Dad always makes you worry...

Stop it.

Kaji!

Stuffing his face and running off like that...

I'm so sorry. I think he just wants his father to be here with him.

His kind heart is about the only thing my husband has going for him.

I'll bet he got lost somewhere.

His father is not the only one he's worried about, it seems...

I know...

You came because he asked for your help, didn't you?

Yes. I've heard most of the story.

Then, did you figure out something?

I'm afraid not yet.

I see... For his sake, too... I'd like to ask for your help, as well.

If this keeps on, one day, I'll... forget even my husband and son.

And then, I'll even forget that I've forgotten.

That frightens me more than anything...

Are you done?

Yeah, just about.

"Sake. Bucket. Watermelon."

What're you doing?

Hmm...

"Fog, Thunderbolt, Rainbow."

"Fog, Thunderbolt, Rainbow." I thought there might be a common thread among the memories she's forgotten,

"Sake, Rice cakes." I thought there might be a common thread among the memories she's forgotten,

"Bucket, Watermelon, Ginko nuts." I thought there might be a common thread among the memories she's forgotten,

"Persimmon, Snail." but I don't see any tendencies.

Say, do the relatives she forgot have anything in common?

Yeah, they all live across the river, so we don't even see them at the market.

She simply forgets things that she has the least frequent contact with first?

No, if that was the case, she should have forgotten her husband long ago.

It's very late, but it doesn't look at all like she's going to sleep.

Yeah. She says she can't sleep even though she tries.

That's why, as she works the loom all night like that,

she thinks about Dad over and over so that she won't forget him.

Huh?!

So that's it...

If only she could at least sleep... it'd make the waiting easier...

The warm breeze, the fragrance of flowers, the sound of the loom...

Normally, a night like this...

draws people into a deep, deep slumber...

She's finally beginning to nod off...

She's already awake?

Oh, it's already morning...

Breakfast... breakfast...

What's the matter?

That's... just as I suspected...

A mushi that eats memories?

Yes. It's called kagedama.

It's a dark, translucent, curtain-like mushi

that likes to hide by blending in with the shadows of large, old trees.

There, it waits for people and animals to rest,

and as they begin to fall asleep, it enters their brain through their ears.

The host becomes unable to sleep much and gradually loses its memory.

And that's in the shadow of the cherry tree in our yard?

Most likely.

Once it feeds on enough memory, it divides,

and sends its clone out when its host is asleep for a moment

The clone then hides in the shadows of trees. That's how they reproduce.

By nature, they are fragile and vanish if the sun strikes them for too long.

But if they hide in the body, they go deep inside the brain,

and there's nothing we can do.

You mean it's incurable?

Sunlight is the only known weakness of kagedama.

We can't cast a light inside the head.

But you may be able to protect the memories you don't want to forget.

For example, suppose memories are stored in a series of drawers inside your head.

Dumplings, far-away relatives and sneezes...

They're categorized and stored in countless different drawers.

Kagedama pull them out along with the drawers.

The order has nothing to do with your interest, and appears to be random.

However, there is one set of memories that the kagedama hasn't attacked.

The things you do repeatedly every day, see every day and think every day...

How to cook rice, weave on the loom, memories of your son...

and the husband in your memory...

Kagedama may be leaving memories of the basics of daily life for last

in order not to kill its host...

Then, I won't forget those memories?

Yes, although it's only my conjecture...

And if your memories start becoming depleted later,

it might prey on those memories, as well.

So what I can suggest you do to deal with it

is to store up as many memories as possible,

and recall the things you don't want to forget over and over again.

I understand. I'll do that...

That's right, Mom. You should go out rather than wait quietly at home.

You're right... maybe I will.

Maybe I'll go find your father instead of waiting for him at home.

What?

Stop making such a silly face.

I've been actually thinking about doing that for a long time.

But I was afraid of finding out what happened to your father.

But I've had enough of waiting.

But how do you plan to?

Your father often talked about a city to the west...

Maybe I'll start from there.

Will she be okay?

You'll come with me, won't you, Kaji?

We'll let you off here.

Okay.

Thanks for everything.

Thank you.

Have a safe trip!

Yes. You take care.

It was about a year later that I learned...

...whether or not that decision was the right one for the two of them.

Hey. So you're back...

Oh, Ginko-san!

Welcome! What will you have?

"Teahouse" Welcome! What will you have?

"Teahouse" Let's see...

Let's see...

Your mother's looking good, too.

Yeah.

Did you meet your father?

Yes. He was in the city to the west...

living there with another family...

Yes, I know him. Try the house up ahead.

There you go. You like that?

Does it feel good?

Mom! Why didn't you say something?!

Mom!

On our way back, Mom kept walking, without saying a word.

She walked without eating or sleeping until...

Mom? Let's rest a litt...

Mom! Mom!

She must've been completely exhausted...

After she collapsed, she slept without waking for several days.

It's morning...

Something just left here...

Mom!

Why're you looking at me like that?

Boy, I slept like a log. Time to fix breakfast...

Where are we?

Mom...

Why're we in this place?

We're on our way back from vacation.

We are?

What was that sound?!

Don't worry. It's nothing... Have something to eat.

Good idea. I'm starving.

After that...

Let's... let's hurry back home...

That morning, other than me, things at the house, and a few personal effects...

Mom had lost her memory of everything she knew.

During the time she was depressed,

nearly all of her memories might've been eaten away...

But she hasn't forgotten how to cook rice or about me, just like always.

Maybe it's because, as you suggested,

she began going out and experiencing many things every day.

She forgets most of it the next day, but she enjoys herself every day.

Does she still get hardly any sleep at all?

Yes, she works the loom all night, just like always.

I see... Sounds just like always.

Yeah...

Just like always.

I'm home.

Welcome back. Dinner is almost ready. Go wash your hands.

Okay.

Mom, you set an extra setting again.

You're right... When I only need to set places for you and me...

Why in the world did I feel I had to do that?

But somehow, doing this makes me feel better...

Why is that?

I wonder why that is?

"Sunrise Serpent"

"Sunrise Serpent" "Pickers Of Empty Cocoons"

"Pickers Of Empty Cocoons" "Pickers Of Empty Cocoons"

"Pickers Of Empty Cocoons"