Pathway to Japanese Literature

Husband

Wife

Wife

Husband's Colleague

Morning in the living room

Wife (arranging dishes on the tea table) "You really must get up now."

Husband (from the back room) "I am awake."
"What time is it anyway?"

"You know perfectly well every morning."

Husband: "That time already?"

Wife: "Really now—what time did you imagine it was?"

Husband: (with a springing-up motion) "Ah."
(Pause) The mantis likely hasn't arrived yet.

Wife (lowering her voice) "Do keep your voice down..."

Husband (appearing): "Last night I had a dream that wasn't particularly wonderful but was quite interesting."

Wife (not engaging): "The toothpaste tube is torn, so be careful with it."

Husband (heading to the kitchen): "Any mice last night?"

Wife (still preoccupied with the meal tray): "Where did you put it yesterday morning? And you didn't take a bath last evening either..."

Husband (using a toothpick): "Maybe I'll take a bath today."

Wife: "The burdock root from two days ago is no good anymore..."

Husband: "Well..."
"I've had all sorts of dreams before, but never one as strange as this."

(Pause)

“It was a truly delightful dream.”

“Was the hand towel there?”

Husband: It was there.

"You can't write off dreams as nonsense."

"When I say things like that, you immediately retort, 'Can you really rely on dreams?'"

"Now listen—just because someone gets rich in a dream doesn't automatically mean they'll become wealthy in reality."

"What fool would stake their hopes on something like that?"

(Pause)

"A dream remains fundamentally a dream."

"And that's precisely how it should be."

"But let me tell you—this thing we call a dream is different from mere fantasy."

"Dreams are actual events that properly occurred within the span of a lifetime."

"They truly happened while I was sleeping."

"I won't know if the onions get overcooked."

Husband: "Onion... So today's soup is onion..."
"I see."
(The sound of washing a face.
Before long, he appears while wiping his face with a hand towel.)

The wife came from the kitchen carrying a pot as they passed each other.

"We'll need to buy another rice tub, won't we."

The husband hung the hand towel on a nail and sat before the long hearth. "I'd like to have a puff of a cigarette."

"Fine," said the wife, "but mind the clock."

Husband (lighting a cigarette): "I'm still fine."
(Looking outside) "What nice weather."

(Pause)

"In other words, my interest in dreams lies in the inherent fascination of the dreams themselves."

Wife (serving rice)

Husband: "Dreams save me from boredom."

"Dreams teach me where life's trees cast their shade."

Wife (ladling soup)

Husband: "Between yesterday and today... today and tomorrow... in those intervals, I take trips that cost nothing."

"They're delightful trips."

"For me, dreams are part of reality."

"They’re not empty things like hopes or ideals…"

Wife (picking up chopsticks): "You often have such dreams, don’t you."

“Are you jealous?”
“So about last night’s dream…” (takes up chopsticks)

“Before that—go collect that travel allowance from last week.”

“Ah right-right.”
“Nine yen seventy sen… Even if this feels like a dream… Thinking that’d be wrong. Must go collect it today.”

(Silence)

“No eggs this morning.”
“Why?”

“I forgot to buy them.”

“Alright… If that’s how you want to put it…”

“Forgot.”

"What a marvelous phrase that is," he mused.

"A word that conceals all ugliness, all darkness, all suffering, all terror."

"Forget it... forget... just let everything be forgotten."

Wife shifted awkwardly. "Oh, but I truly did forget."

"Even better," he declared.
After a pause, he added, "And today's rice is perfectly cooked."

Wife forced a smile. "The charcoal..."

Husband met her gaze. "Ah, yes, you're right."

"Is that so?"
Her eyes glistened.

Husband: "Silly,silly... It's because you don't dream that things go wrong."

"If you do occasionally see them,your dreams remain trivial."

Wife: "But I don't even know what makes dreams interesting."

Husband: "True enough—that previous dream proved too tangled for your grasp."

"Without understanding,couldn't find interest there."

*She'd comprehend last night's.*
"I'll shape its telling for your mind."

"You exist as my wife."
"The nature of dreams I've carried—"

"You should at least know that much."

Wife (taking her husband's bowl and serving rice): "Put plenty in."

Husband: "Hey, hey."

Wife: "You'll just get hungry again before lunch."

Husband (receiving the bowl): "That seems to be from when I was still little."

"Though I say 'little,' sixteen or seventeen…"

"It was a time when the world felt strangely desolate."

(Pause)

“As I always say,”
“I had no friends.”
“When it came to play,”
“Alone,”
“Catching dragonflies,”
“In winter,”

On the sunlit slope of the back mountain,
the distant forest—
day after day,
I drew pictures—
that was my delight.

"No, don’t put so much soy sauce on it!"

"When I was a kid, I often poured soy sauce on my rice and ate it."

"That’s poison."

"You turn everything into poison, don’t you?"

"So there was that dream."

"I wandered aimlessly,"

"and entered into that forest."

"That forest I painted every day."

"It was night, you see."

“Rather than that, these are pickled just right.”

“It was night.
“That...”

When I went deeper inside and looked,

The forest—the forest I’d painted—

It was an unimaginably vast forest.

Russia or South America...

The sort that might exist in such places—

An untrodden primeval forest, I tell you.”

Wife (tries to speak)

“Oh, just hush and listen.

It was night, I tell you. That...

I didn’t feel afraid.

Didn’t feel afraid at all.

Just—overwhelmed with sorrow.

Then suddenly, I resolved to kill myself.”

“That’s enough of that talk…”
“It’s all right… you taking your time like this…”

“Just be quiet and listen to the end! I resolved to commit suicide. And then—I found a tree branch. I looped the sash over it. Above my head, I tied both ends together. Finally, I tried to hang myself.”

Wife (turning her face away) “You...!”

“Listen.”

“Then, you see...”

“Then someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind.”

“There was someone there.”

“A person? Don’t be absurd! A girl—a cute one about twelve or thirteen...”

“She was laughing while staring right at my face.”

(Pause.)
The wife took back the rice bowl her husband had set on the tray and made him hold it properly.

“She kept watching me.”

“I felt like I’d seen her somewhere before—”

Though I tried to remember, it wouldn’t come back.

“I realized it later.”

Husband: Wait, wait.

(hurriedly shoveling down his food)

Then from across the way, she sidled over with presumptuous familiarity—

“What are you doing?” she asked.

"I said I was making a swing,"
"—Then let's ride it together and play— she said, so..."
"I told her, 'The sash—like this—is too short.'"
Wife (bursts out laughing): "That’s…"
Husband (seriously): "That's exactly what she said."
(Pause.)
"Then,"
"—Then shall we connect mine?— she said."
"She undid the red merino sash."
Wife (laughing): "Oh, stop it!"

“She undid it, you see.”

(Pause.)

Since there was no other way,

I constructed a swing.

We rode it together.

(Pause.)

The tree trunk swayed unsteadily with a creak.

Just as I thought I heard a sudden shrill flapping overhead... all the birds in the forest began crying out raucously all at once.

The two of them

Without thinking, they held onto each other on the swing.

Wife (her expression darkening slightly): "Is it time for tea already...?"

Husband: "It's tea."

(Pause.)

"It's tea, but..."

"And then what comes next—the interesting part is..."

Wife: "Then save the rest for tonight."
"It's time to put on your shoes."

Husband: "Today I'll wear the Bulldog pair."
"They've been polished."

Wife (stands up and takes out the suit)

Husband (glancing subtly at his wife): “That was when I really looked closely at her face—that girl’s.”

I couldn’t tell.
She… resembles someone.

Had I seen her somewhere? Met her? Spoken with her…?

Wife (examining his socks): “You won’t be going anywhere today, will you.”

“I don’t… intend to go.”
“Hmm… Wait… Alright—I won’t go.”
“Anyway—”

She's a woman I must have encountered somewhere, sometime—something happened between us.
Who could she be?

"I do understand such matters, but really—it would be too cruel to make you wait again."

"Who do you think she is?"

"It could be anyone at all."

"You could do it anytime... but you always choose the busiest morning hours for that sort of thing."

"In the evening, we could take our time with it."

"We'll take our time."

"But now, the impression has lost its freshness."

"A morning mood where the back of my head still feels steeped in dreams…"

"This won’t last till evening."

When I inhale the dusty air of the office, it’s already over.

It's terrifying.

When I come home and see your face—that's when my spirits lift.

My spirits lift... but that's all there is to it.
You come through too clearly.

(Pause.)

However，he began changing clothes.

"That mantis fellow’s late today，isn’t he?"

(Downs his tea in one gulp，stands up，and begins taking off his kimono.)

Wife (helping him): “This has gotten too warm now，hasn’t it?”

Husband (chanting in a strange voice from deep in his throat)

Tara ra ra ra ra raa

Tara-ra Tara-ra Tara-raa

Tara-ra ra ra

Tara-ra ra ra

_Tara ra ra ra ra raa_

Wife (brushing dust off clothes with a gentle toss)

“What nonsense are you singing!”

“Nonsense?”
“So any song I don’t know gets called nonsense?”

(Pause.)

“Now then—you said you understood.”
“That girl—the woman she resembles—who is she?”

Isn't that strange...

"But when I first saw you—how old were you?

Nineteen...

No—twenty...

That's right.

When you were twelve or thirteen—what face you had back then—there’s no way I could’ve known that, is there?"

“You must have seen the photograph.”
“I see……”

“Ah, I see.”

“You’re being remarkably composed again, aren’t you.”

“It’s exhilarating… but…”

“When even doubts have vanished to that extent—”

“I want you to believe just how happy I am.”

“I too…… am happy.”

Husband: "Good, good—keep that rhythm……."

(Pause.)

“Listen.

That girl resembles you in some way, I tell you.

No—rather, she looks exactly like you.”

“In other words—it was you.”

“But that’s precisely where dreams get interesting, you see.”

I realized this, yet felt neither surprise nor confusion.

The sixteen-year-old me,

embracing twelve-year-old you,

calmly,

spent the night on the swing.

“Here, the toothpaste cap.”

The swing—

I could swing with ease without any effort.

(Pause.)

Your bushy hair would tangle around my face every time you leaned forward.

You said it was amusing and deliberately brought your face closer.

Wife: (laughing) “Oh...”

The swing—

It seemed to sway on its own...

(Pause.)

The pale light filtering through the leaves

Each time we looked up,

This time—

The pale light would tinge your face silver.

I...

I gazed at your eyes as though devouring them.

......You were still laughing.

Wife: (resting her head against her husband’s shoulder)

Eventually you began drifting into a light sleep.

I too began to drift into a light sleep.

(Long silence)

"From there on, it's just as you know."

"Of course, the world is entirely different."

(Pause.)

"Oh right—do you remember…"

"That next morning, we moved into this house right away."

What on earth... (looking around the room)

"Is this even a house where humans live…"

"Is this a house where humans who love each other live?"

(Pause.)

However, last night wasn't like that.

What I thought was a forest turned out to be a palace.

What I had taken for a swing turned out to be a soft, warm velvet hammock.

“What’s a ‘hammock’?”

“You don’t know what a hammock is? A hammock, you see… It’s like a cradle for grown-ups to sleep in.”

“Is it a palace...?”

“Yeah…”

“That palace was by no means some commonplace, fairy-tale-style palace.”

(The sound of the lattice door opening outside)

“Hey, you still not ready?”

Wife: (flustered, moving away from her husband’s shoulder) “See? You’re late again.”

Husband: (flustered while fastening his collar button) “No no, I won’t be late.”
(loudly) “What? So you’re going after all?”
“I thought you were taking the day off today.”

Voice: “Hey...”

(The owner of the voice sticks his head into the living room)

“Oh dear, you mustn’t come into a place like this...”

Colleague: “Oh, you’re back already?”
“Ah, Mrs., good morning!”

Wife: “No matter how much I hurry him along, this is as far as we get.”

Husband: “Perfect timing.
Well, do listen to the rest of the story.
That palace I speak of was no commonplace fairy-tale palace.”

Wife: (while helping him into his jacket) “That’s not right there.
Higher up…”

Husband: “Perhaps ‘palace’ isn’t quite the word.
All decoration existed solely as adornment for its dwellers.”

Colleague: “That’s interesting, isn’t it.”
“But can such decorations even exist?”

Husband: “They can exist.”
“First of all, the hammock’s strikingly original.”
“That swing, you see…”

Katagiri: “Which swing...?”

Husband: “Which one do you mean...?”

Wife: “Oh, you dreadful Mr. Katagiri, taking him so seriously.”
(To husband) “Do stop now, really.”

Katagiri: “What in heaven’s name are you two discussing?”

Wife: “It’s his dream again...”
“You know—the usual sort.”

(Hands the husband a handkerchief, watch, purse, and other items.)

Colleague: “Oh, I see. So that’s what it was.”

Husband: “But you’re a man who understands the charm of dreams, aren’t you? Though you yourself never seem to have any.”

Colleague: “I don’t. Now then, Mrs…”

Husband: “Have you ever ridden a swing?”

Colleague: “Nope. Actually…”

“Alright, alright, I’ll hear that story later.”
“The dream I had last night goes like this.”

(While lighting a hand-rolled cigarette)

"When I was sixteen or seventeen... when the world felt strangely, achingly lonely."

(Heading toward the entrance)

And yet, it was an age when he came to remember various things without consciously knowing them.

(He disappears from view)

Colleague: "Actually, you see, I've gotten myself into a bit of trouble."

Husband's voice: "No need to get worked up about it."

(Wife goes to the entrance)

Colleague: (remaining seated, words aimed at Husband but sentiment toward Wife) Well, you see—suddenly my old man’s coming from back home. “I don’t mind him coming, but…”

Husband's voice: Come on, let’s go, let’s go.

Katagiri: “I’m coming.”
“So, how about it, Mrs.—just for tonight….”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. It’ll work out somehow.”
“Come on…(seemingly pulling his colleague’s hand) At least hear my dream first.”

Colleague: (rises and disappears from view) “You see, Mrs…”

Husband’s voice: “Alright, alright. This isn’t his concern. Out! Out!”

“Oh my…” came the Wife’s voice, startled by something. “Take care now.”

(The lattice door closed with a clatter.)

Wife: (Appeared.
She faced the long brazier and rested her cheek on her hand.
A smile formed unbidden on her lips.)

“And there I am—a boy of sixteen…” came the husband’s voice, somewhat distantly.

The world...

Was strangely…

“Hey—where do you think you’re going?”

“Wait a second… It’s urgent.”

“Damn you… Hurry up and finish this.”
“Someone’s coming!”

(Without either beginning first, the two men's out-of-tune whistles entwined discordantly for a moment.)

―Curtain―