The Woman Beneath the Cherry Blossoms

A past life reading story set in old Japan, about a celebrated performer who discovers a world of beauty beyond the stage.

A grove of cherry trees stretching as far as the eye can see
Cherry blossoms at night
A storm of falling petals
A woman, deeply moved as she looks at the night blossoms
Should her face not be shown?
She has a dark cloth draped over her head so the other people out viewing the blossoms won’t see her face.

Japan... not extremely ancient,
maybe the Edo period?

I think she is someone who performs some kind of art.
A hugely popular and famous person,
someone whose face everyone knows.

She came out in secret to see the night cherry blossoms,
and why is she so moved, as if she is seeing them for the very first time in her life?

...Because she had a childhood where she was rarely allowed outside.

Every day was practice, practice, practice.
Some kind of traditional performing art done by the entire family line.
They were constantly traveling for the stage,
and she grew into adulthood without ever really being able to make friends.

In her early twenties, for the first time, with the help of one of her attendants, she slipped away from the house
and came to see the night cherry blossoms.

Ah, how many wonderful things I have gone through life without ever seeing.

Knowing nothing of this country, so beautiful as it is, what could I possibly hope to convey to the people watching me on stage?

That is what she is thinking.

She doesn’t seem to hate her work at all.

For the sake of showing her audiences an even more wonderful performance, she wants to see many more beautiful sights.

That is what she is thinking.

The young girl who attends her.

A girl born into poverty, recently hired into her household while still young,
and who became something like her personal attendant.

An attendant who is not beautiful at all.

And yet, a mysterious attendant.

She knows where beautiful scenery can be found.

When they travel to different regions for performances, during little bits of free time, the attendant says, “Let’s go.”

Even though it is the attendant’s first time visiting that place too,
she walks ahead without hesitation
and shows her breathtaking scenery.

Birds gather around the attendant.

They do not perch on her shoulders or anything, but before you realize it, there are always birds flying in the sky.

As the attendant walks through nature to guide her to beautiful places,
she is not supposed to be beautiful, and yet she appears very beautiful.

Because this attendant came into her life,
she was deeply moved by many wondrous landscapes,
and she went on to create even more magnificent performances.

After retiring, she became something like a master, perhaps,
and to her own children and grandchildren who would go on stage,
she taught them to see many things.

When she grew old, and the attendant girl died of illness before she did,
she walked alone along a mountain path.

It was a road she had never taken before,
and yet somehow she knew which way to go to encounter beautiful scenery.

I thought, surely I must be wearing a very beautiful face as I walk now.