Matsukaze (Breeze through the Pines) : PhotoStory

On an autumn evening, a traveling monk learns that a pine tree in Suma Bay (modern-day Hyogo Prefecture) marks the graves of two sisters who were shell divers, Matsukaze and Murasame.

The monk holds a memorial service for them and then goes into a hut for salt-making. Two young women who draw water from the sea appear.

The evening moonlight is reflected in the seawater that is put into the barrel.

The moonlight can be seen in the barrel as well. With the moon on board, the path for transporting the seawater doesn’t seem so hard.

The priest tells them about the memorial service for Matsukaze and Murasame, and the shell divers return. The two women are the ghosts of the sisters.

The nobleman who loved them both was Ariwara no Yukihira. Matsukaze hugs a piece of his clothing she has for a keepsake and weeps.

Matsukaze wraps herself in the clothing of Yukihira and is lost in madness, seeing a pine tree as Yukihira. She moves toward it, but Murasame restrains her.

The pine is him! When he left for distant lands, he said he would return soon when he was told we were waiting.

My darling is here, the one I have missed so much! Carried by waves of a love she cannot escape, Matsukaze dances.