Crazed by grief, a mother searches for her kidnapped child, only to discover that he died a year earlier at the spot beside the sumida river that she has just reached. Brought to a grassy mound by a willow tree, under which the child was buried, she is asked by the villagers to lead their prayers to amida buddha. While they are chanting, the child repeatedly appears before her eyes. Mother: is it you, my child?
ghost: is it you, my mother?
chorus: and as she seeks to grasp it by
the hand,
the shape begins to fade away;
the vision fades and reappears
and stronger grows her yearning. Day breaks in the eastern sky. The ghost has vanished;
what seemed her boy
is but a grassy mound
lost on the wide, desolate moor. Sadness and tender pity fill all hearts,
sadness and tender pity fill all hearts! Date: 1899 (Meiji). Place of creation: Tokyo, Japan. Dimensions: height: 24.7 cm (9.7 in); width: 37.1 cm (14.6 in). Medium: pigments on mulberry paper. Collection: Walters Art Museum. Matsuke Heikichi - Nogaku zue - Walters 95256
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