Blue Literature
Aoi Bungaku
In the Woods Beneath the
Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom
Sakaguchi Ango published "In the Woods Beneath the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom" in the 22nd year of Showa (1947).
Host Sakai Masato
Actually, Ango's personal experiences gave birth to this work.
Ango Sakaguchi
Photo: Shigeru Tamura
During the war,
beneath the cherry blossoms in Ueno,
Ango saw people being burned to death in the bombing of Tokyo.
Scenes of people burned to death
He recorded what he felt at that time in his essays.
This is what happened
when the dead were brought to Ueno Mountain and burned.
Just then, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, a forest without people.
Only the wind whipped through.
The frozen silence made you want to run away.
What did Ango think of them,
the cherry blossoms that bloomed so beautifully?
They are evergreen because they are masterpieces.
They are
evergreen
because they are
masterpieces
"In the Woods Beneath the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom," final chapter.
What Happened Last Time
Shigemaru was a bandit who was stronger than anyone else.
He feared the cherry blossoms in full bloom. He couldn't help it.
A beautiful woman appeared in front of Shigemaru.
He fell in love with her at first sight.
But, amazingly, she told him to kill all his wives.
Shigemaru, weakened by love, agreed to her demand.
Starting today, you are my wife.
If I'm your wife, carry me.
I can't walk on this mountain path.
Who is that woman?
Where did he find her?
Who are these women?
If I close my eyes like this, I thought that all those women might just vanish.
Go and kill them.
There's no need to kill, is there?
Even though you killed my husband, you won't kill your own wives?
If you won't kill them, I won't become your wife.
It's the same as that place in the woods, beneath the cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Hey, Shigemaru. Let's move to the city.
If you really are a strong man,
take me to the city.
Do you know what the winds in the city are like?
Do you understand how I feel without those winds?
Wait three days.
Three days?
What happens in three days?
The cherry blossoms will bloom.
Half a year has passed since we moved to the city.
Just as I fear the magical powers in combs and hairpins,
I'm afraid of the people in the city.
It's not terror,
but shyness and anxiety about unfamiliar things.
I'm afraid of everything I can see, and that makes me shy.
Now that I think of it, when I was in the mountains,
I never had to think about where the city skies were.
The idea of being fearful and shy never occurred to me.
But now, the only thing I feel is the hostility
of the many hundreds and thousands of travelers in the city...
It's noisy! There are too many cows here!
What's going on in the city?
The cows are taking over!
This has got to be fake!
Hey, come back.
Use the normal pictures, the normal ones.
That's right. This is the city.
It's a boring place.
Everyone is always pretending.
They put on masks as they talk.
Even though I say it,
and as pitiful as it sounds, that's how I am now.
I can't borrow money, and I have no knowledge of business.
My clothes let me pretend that I'm a city person,
but really, everyone knows I'm from the country...
Excuse me.
Let me pass.
Excuse me.
Grandpa!
Huh?
Why?!
I smell my dead grandpa!
The smell of the country!
Stop it, you fool.
Smell it.
Somebody come quick!
There's a rube here!
A country rube!
How lame!
Hey!
What, a rube?
Let me see, let me see!
Where, where?
This guy is great.
It looks like he came from the mountains.
How dare you come here?
You came from some uninhabited mountain?!
You're not human!
Do you know what the winds in the city are like?
Do you understand how I feel without those winds?
If you don't understand, Shigemaru,
I won't become your wife.
I do understand one thing.
People in the city are noisy.
The beasts on the mountain are quieter.
Welcome back.
Don't you want to go back to the mountains?
Huh?
Well, it's okay.
Do your best.
You!
Well done.
However...
what about this?!
What was that?
Hey, would you die? Please?
Why?
Because you don't bring anything back!
Even though we're finally in the city, it's just like the mountains.
But you know,
we should find some way to make money before leaving.
What are you talking about?
Could you at least do what I say, you fool?
No, it's how you ask...
Use that and go get them.
Yeah, that.
You're asking me to kill again?
I didn't say that.
Well, I'll leave it to you.
Anyway, Shigemaru.
Got it?
The combs, hair clips, hairpins,
and other finery are always inside people's houses.
You just have to bring them here.
What are you afraid of?
You can do it, right?
Ah, princess, I'm sorry.
Even though I want to embrace you in my arms,
I don't have a body to do that.
Ah, my dear husband, I'm impatient.
Let me have a kiss.
Here.
Poor guy.
So pitiful.
You're being considerate,
bringing these toys back to me.
Might as well.
Then next time, bring me a scoundrel too.
A scoundrel?
I want the head of someone who's hated.
That's right...
The head of a bald monk.
You can do it, right?
When I strike them with my sword, the heads fall off just like that.
That's just how it goes.
I started collecting heads at night.
The wind from far away heralds the arrival of the beautiful, the noble you.
banri no fuurai yuubi no tourai kouki na anata ima
My heart sways and sways with the birth of love.
watashi no shinzou yureni yure mebaeta koigokoro
Our faint dreams together form entangled burning flames.
futari no awai yume to yume karamari moyuru honoo
She plays a game with her heads every day.
This head is in love.
That head is sulky and tells lies.
This head is sad and choked with tears.
It's foolish.
A woman's desire is like a bird flying in the sky.
Light and darkness repeat forever.
There's no end to it.
Wings dancing in the skies show dimly in the spring rain.
harusame kemuru soramau tsubasa
This moment surpassing infinity, where does it lead?
mugen no toki koe ittai doko e
Love is realized after dissolution in melancholy.
yuuutsu tokete satotta bojou
The temptation of illusions is closing in.
gensou no yuuwaku semaru
I should go to the woods of the cherry blossoms,
mukau beki wa sakura no mori
but the shadows interfere with us.
keredo futari wo jamasuru kage ga
I will draw my sword and cut them up.
yaiba mukidashide guchagucha ni suru
The sky is falling.
The infinite light and darkness are falling.
Will this cycle stop if I kill her?
But if I kill her, I'll die too.
Is that woman me?
Why does the sky have to fall?
What am I thinking about?!
I'd totally forgotten about him,
and I asked him, "Who are you?"
It was really embarrassing!
Welcome back.
Where did you go?
I was waiting for you.
This time I want the head of a shrine maiden.
A shrine maiden or a nurse.
A mind and body overflowing with the will to serve,
or a body wrapped in pure clothes...
It'd be great!
You'd like it too, right?
All guys like cosplay. Oh my, that's so perverted.
I don't want to do it.
What did you say?
I said that I don't want to do it.
Did you stand in some cowardly breeze?
You're such a weakling.
That's not it.
I don't want to do it because there's no end to it.
There's no end to anything.
There's no end to eating meals every day.
There's no end to sleeping every day.
Those things are different.
How are they different?
Well, it's okay.
I'm going back to the mountains.
Are you leaving me behind?
I hate the city.
But I'm here.
You can't live without the city, right?
I can't live without the mountains.
I'm not in the mountains!
Since when did you become such a cold-hearted person?
That's not it.
I just don't want to live in the city.
Do you hate me now?
How did you come to have such cruel thoughts in your heart?
It's not my fault.
If anything, it's the city's fault.
If you bear a grudge, take it out on the city.
Hey, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad!
What are you doing?
What... are you doing?
While you were gone, I thought about you the whole time.
Is that right?
I felt lonely, so that's why I tried to force you...
Is that right?
I'm sorry.
If you're going back to the mountains,
I'm going back to the mountains with you.
Really?
I can't live without you,
even for one single day.
But...
the mountains won't have the heads you like.
If I have to choose between you and those heads...
I'll give them up.
I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Get on.
No. I can walk by myself.
It's okay.
All right.
The weather's nice today too.
Yeah.
You also carried me on the day we met.
I was just thinking about that as well.
There, you can see it, right?
All of this is my mountain!
Don't laugh.
Understand?
This entire mountain —
all the trees, all the valleys,
from the bottom to the clouds — it's all mine.
We'll be back soon. Wait for us.
Where are these petals falling from?
You see,
all of these flowers in full bloom
are spreading out high in the sky.
Yet not a single petal has touched the ground.
He immediately realized
that the woman is a demon.
meikai sa
冥界さ
Hell...
attakatta
会ったかった
I wanted to see it.
aimai
曖昧
Ambiguously,
koasobi wa yume
小遊びは夢
small games become dreams.
sakura wa
桜は
Cherry blossoms are...
Still, no one understands the secret of the woods
beneath the cherry blossoms in full bloom.
Maybe it's the thing called "loneliness".
bokutachi wa nanika wo sagashite mitsukedasu tame ni
In order to find something,
osoku okita asa demo
we open our eyes every day,
mainichi me wo samasu da
even if we wake up late.
it's not too late
It's not too late.
we say hello
We say hello.
chotto demo waratte
Smile, even for just a bit,
itsudatte konosekai wa anataga hitsuyou dakara
because this world will always need you.
it's not too late
It's not too late.
we say hello we say hello
We say hello. We say hello.
Next Time
Kokoro
Summer