"Hey, Kenji's been really strange lately, huh?" "Who?" "You mean Professor Kenji?" "Yeah." "He starts singing out of nowhere in the middle of class." "He talks about a fourth dimension." "And last full moon night, he did a strange Hyotan dance in the schoolyard." "That's not all!" "Some say he can hear the voices of ghosts!" "Are you serious?" "Yeah, I tell you." "In the temple, he can hear the voice of a girl's ghost!" "Quiet!" "We should study when our teacher's not here." "Shut up, you goody goody." "Whoa?" "What's going on?" "Sorry, I was late." "Outside, it's so nice and warm." "The marigolds and I were enjoying a sunbath." "I forgot about time." "Spring is really here!" "Do you understand why you feel warmth?" "Warmth?" "Do you know?" "I don't know." "Ummmm..." "You can close your textbooks." "And close your eyes, too." "Close our eyes?" "That's right." "Close your eyes, everyone." "Okay." "Sure." "Even with your eyes closed... you can feel it, can't you?" "The warmth of spring sunshine... the breeze blowing in like a song, filling up your body." "Our bodies are a collection of tiny, tiny molecules you cannot see." "Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon." "Air, wind, water, marigold petals-- they are all made of molecules, just like us." "And even when we are standing still, molecules are racing around inside our bodies." "Guess how many times hydrogen molecules smash into each other every second?" "1 0 billion times!" "1 0 billion times!" "In one small second, they collide over 1 0 billion times!" "!" "This wild and chaotic molecular movement generates heat and temperature." "Everybody, when you're having fun, excited... thinking of that special someone... don't you feel the warmth inside?" "It's because your heart stirs up your body's molecules, creating heat." "The human body is truly a bunch of molecules having a wild festival!" " A festival?" " A festival?" "Huh?" "Hey, isn't that Miyazawa's oldest boy?" "How can he teach when he acts like that?" "Seriously, I think Kenji's really weird." "He says our bodies are just molecules." "So we go outside and pretend we're "a bunch of molecules having a wild festival"?" " Come on!" " What a weirdo!" "What's going on?" "What's he got?" "Shh!" "It's coming!" "A long... extended blue voice." "A bird's blue path of string." "String... the blue string of..." "I failed." "What?" "!" "Get it off me!" "What do you think this looks like?" "What do you mean?" "It's just a rock." "That's right." "But is that all?" "Huh?" "Doesn't it look like someone's face?" "A face?" "This rock is limestone." "It's smooth and pretty, just like a movie star." "This one is quartz." "It feels rough, and looks stubborn, just like our school principal." "Yeah, it's true!" "Hey!" "This one looks just like you." "This one's Kasuke." "That one's Saburo." "There are many kinds of rocks." "If you think about it, rocks and people are the same." " Yeah." " Sure." "Okay, so, why don't we try and talk to them?" " That's impossible." " They're just stones." "Our teacher's really strange." "What's he doing?" "Here... listen carefully." "When we tap on rocks like this... we can hear all the different voices." "That's the rock's-- the Earth's-- voice talking to you." "Six Years Earlier" "Meadows, as far as you can see." "Sweet smell of grass." "The fresh breeze washes away the grime." "The world is filled with light." "Standing here in this place," "I feel I'm a part of God's world." "Let's go." "Okay." "Side by side." "Red." "Arm in arm." "Telegraph poles." " Sketching again?" " Yes." "Coming here, images come to me one after another." "Someday, I'm gonna build a farm like heaven." "We'll have plays and festivals." "I want to create new art of the countryside." "What's your dream?" "My dream?" "Mine is to uncover the mystery of the invisible force pulsating behind our world and to follow the path it takes." "That's a wonderful dream." "But, how will you find that path?" "I haven't found the way yet." "But, I'm sure you'll find it someday." "You really think so?" "Yes." "I hope we can walk the path together." "Kanai..." "A dinosaur!" "Over there!" "In the amber sky a floating creature from the Jurassic Era." "I can't do that." "Isn't there something you can do?" "If I can't buy bullets for this rifle, how can I make it through the winter?" "Yes, but it is just an axe and some old clothes." "But this is all that we have left." "My mother is sick, and she needs medicine." "62 at the most." "I really can't let you borrow any more." "I don't have any choice." "Kenji!" "You spent the night wandering around again collecting junk." "How about helping out the family business a little?" "Why can't you lend him more?" "He's really in trouble." "Our family won't survive if we lend money out of sympathy." "The whole economy would collapse." "But..." "why that business?" "Then what kind of business would you be in?" "Well, I'll-- Well, I'll sell..." "Ukiyo-e paintings." "You're naive." "Who'd buy it here in the country?" "What if I go to America and start a business?" "Such big dreams." "Where would you get the money?" "Well, I'll..." "That's it!" "I'll make costume jewelry." "How about that?" "I'll craft beautiful gems with my own hands, work hard half the month, and write stories during the rest." "Nothing but fantasies." "Your stories make no sense." "No one would read them." "And you don't actually plan to tell customers your gems are synthetic, will you?" "What's wrong with telling the truth?" "I'll make them through a genuine scientific process." "What is this "science"?" "How long will you keep on dreaming?" "It's not a dream." "A dream!" "It's not a dream!" "You need more discipline." "Why don't you try to learn to live with both feet on the ground?" "It's still warm because you showed it such tender care." "Your kind heart has warmed it up." "Toshi, you're back home." "Yes, I came back on the 8:00 train from Ueno." "I see you still collect rocks, like before." "Yep." "Yesterday," "I went all the way to Nametoko mountain." "That far?" "!" "Here." "Look at this stone closely in the light." "Ah... it's beautiful." "It's black mica." "It sparkles when you crack it open." "Ages and ages ago, this stone was a gas floating around the Milky Way, where everything was pitch-black, when they see the darkness turning into the deep blue sky, these little guys inside get so excited and surprised," "they sparkle with wonder and joy!" "What a beautiful song!" "That's "Hymn 391 ."" "I learned it at a club at college." "Really?" "Did you learn anything else?" "Lots of things." "Come on, open it!" "It's real Sheffield silver." "These must be expensive." "Soon, I am going to make a special cake for everyone." "When Tagore, the poet, visited Japan, his assistant taught me a genuine recipe." "Really?" "I can't wait!" "You've kept writing, haven't you?" "Did you read the poem "Azalea" I sent you?" "Of course." "Say, in that poem..." ""Side by side." "Red." "Arm in Arm." "Telegraph poles."" "That was about you and Kanai, right?" "What?" "Don't say that!" "I knew it!" "But..." "Kanai is amazing." "Unlike me, that guy really knows where he's headed and how to get there." "You and him are the only two who understand me." "You're like two lovers." "Hey, now!" "You're upset!" "Stop it!" "You know..." "I get the feeling" "I could walk on forever with him." "On and on... forever till the end." "Toshi!" "1923" "My depression was so unbearable" "I left my family's home in Hanamaki." "Since I moved in Tokyo six months have flown by." "I now work at a small publishing house." "I write, I write, and keep on writing." "Next Sunday, if it's convenient for you," "I'd like to meet you at the Ueno library for the first time in three years." "Let's talk into the night, about literature, theater... and our dream of walking the true path together... till the end." "Hosaka!" "It's me, Miyazawa!" "It's great to see you!" "Miyazawa?" "Yes?" "That path we spoke of?" "I don't think we can walk it together." "What?" "Toshi!" "Is she all right?" " Oh, Kenji!" " Brother!" "Toshi!" "You're early!" "What?" "Shoes." "Shoes." "Oops." "You're always in a hurry!" "Hey, don't get sassy." "This is Western style." " Kenji, hold on." " Oh, my." " What are you doing?" " That's just like you!" "You're okay if you can laugh that much." "Me?" "I've been worried about you." "Instead of having kids I was busy writing." "You wrote this much?" "There's so much I wanted to write." "My hand wouldn't stop." "The letters would jump off the page and bow to me!" "Kenji, that's just like you!" "Toshi!" "I'll get a light." "I..." "I don't want to die yet." "I want to keep teaching at school." "To fall in love" "How embarrassing." "I'm talking nonsense." "It's not nonsense at all." "You'll experience it all." "Falling in love-- everything." "Stop it." "Kenji, tell me a story." "One of the stories you wrote." "Read one to me." "Okay." ""While we may not be blessed, with all the candy we want, we can eat the fresh, clear breeze and drink the beautiful, peach-colored rays of morning sun." "In the forest or fields, I have often seen torn, ragged clothes become the finest velvet, wool, or diamond-studded dresses." "These types of beautiful foods and clothes are my favorites." "My stories were written amongst forests, fields and railroads, gifts from the rainbows and moonlight." "Walking through the oak forest in the blue twilight, trembling in the mountain breeze of November, this emotion overwhelms my entire being." "Feeling the absolute reality of these stories," "I wrote them exactly as they seemed."" "Nobody read your book." "How much do you think it cost to print all these?" "Please, forgive me." "You might want to go to the bookstore and find out what kind of books sell." "But I don't write to sell books." "Then help out with the family business." "I take that back." "If I left the business to you, you'd ruin it in an instant." "Continue with your teaching, and devote your energies to that." "Poetical Works "Spring and Chaos"" ""I am as a phenomenon, one hypothetical blue light, an organic..."" ""...the scenery and all the pieces together, intensely flickering"?" "Hey, what's "phenomenon"?" "I don't get any of this." "What's all this stuff mean?" ""Compound translucent ghosts"?" " Professor?" " Yes?" "I don't get it." "I know there may be parts that are difficult to understand." "But those parts are even difficult for me to understand." "Why not?" "Why can't we search together?" "If there really is one great life force driving this world... why do people fight?" "Why do living beings kill each other, even eat each other?" "That's because... that's-- because such may be the will of the life force." "Can't we search together for the answers we need to find?" "You seem... as if you are walking upon the clouds," "the clouds of idealism." " Professor!" " Professor!" "Oh, it's you guys." "Professor, are you sick?" "I'm okay, but why are you all gathered here?" "We found out who the thief is." " Thief?" " Yeah, my cap was stolen." "And the light bulb from the dorm is gone." "It's Takagi." "Narao saw him stealing in school late at night." "Till the end." "What?" "Till the end..." "let's walk onward." "What?" "What?" "Walk onward till the end?" "If you're gonna punish me, why don't you just do it!" "What's going on?" "!" "Till the end..." "You didn't run away." "On this earth among the billions living here the fact that you and I became teacher and student was led by some kind of invisible force." "Right?" "We could well have been father and son, or even brothers." "Indeed, from now on, let's become brothers." "We'll be true brothers." "By the way, why do you steal from others?" "If you want money, or if you want things, as your older brother" "I'll give you anything, my little brother." "My monthly salary is only 90 yen, but if you need it, I'll give it all to you." "If that's not enough, you just tell me." "I will borrow money and give it all to you." "Now, my younger brother," "Let me hear about your dreams." "What will you do after graduating?" "I want to work in the city, get a job at some government office, or a bank." "Won't you take over your family's farm?" "You can't make much money from farming." "I" " I have to earn more." "Earn money, and" "Professor-- I mean, brother," "I want to help my mom and my dad to live happily, without any more pain." "Hey, did you hear?" "About Professor Kenji quitting school?" " Is it true?" " Yeah." "Someone heard them talking in the teacher's office." " But why?" " I don't know." "Because you guys are such troublemakers." " What?" " No!" "But if he quits, school won't be any fun at all!" "Yeah." "That's terrible." "Oh, it's Professor!" "There, in the schoolyard!" "Professor!" "Professor!" "Professor!" "Don't quit!" "You'll find me down in the fields." "What an amateur!" "It's just the hobby of a spoiled rich boy." "He'll soon cry and quit anyway." "In the new age the world will be united as one consciousness and become a single living creature." "Understand?" "He's always partying all night." "He says it's art." "Farmers don't need art." "It's only for people of leisure." "Free Fertilizer Consultation" "You think farmers can live on flowers?" "This is very tasty." "Go home." "But why?" "Mom went to all this trouble." "I..." "I will not eat better than those who live here." "But, Kenji, you're so thin." "I'm so scared you'll end up weak and sick like Toshi." "Go home!" "Oh, no!" "What an impostor!" "What happened to his "science"?" "Amateurs don't know about fertilizers." "And he says he'll pay us all back." "He's mocking us." "His family is rich." "He thinks everything can be settled with money." "That's what he thinks." "Professor!" "Oh, it's you guys." " Let's go, Takagi." " All right." "I'm down in the field." "They pulled them out!" "I went to Miyamori village to develop a new fertilizer." "When I got back..." "Damn!" "It must be the people downstream." "I'd like to go beat them up." "But, I don't have the guts." "Instead, putting up these markers will calm my emotions." "I don't know." "It doesn't make any sense." "Even if you work diligently to cultivate the soil, even if you carefully grow the vegetables, when we eat them, we steal the vegetables' lives." "Is it any different from anything else?" "By the way, Tetsuo, it's just you today?" "he had to take a job in Tokyo." "His father got sick and collapsed." "He can't pay back the family debts by farming." "He felt-- he felt he couldn't show his face to you." "Hey." "Good morning." "Sorry I kept you studying overnight again." "Ah, what a beautiful morning." "Professor?" "Let's give up." "No matter how long we keep at it, no matter how hard you try, nothing will change!" " What is this?" " It's tea." "I tried using pine needles to make it." "Professor, you really are weird." ""While we may not be blessed with all the candy we want, we can eat the fresh, clear breeze and drink the beautiful, peach-colored rays of morning sun."" "Farmwork is really grueling." "That's why we should at least try to enjoy it." "Professor..." "I couldn't even make it as a simple farmhand." "My body's heavy." "I'm sinking to the bottom of the Earth." "I tried to eat the same food... pretending to sacrifice myself to the rain god." "But... maybe that isn't what's it's all about." "Deep in my heart, I truly believed... that something good would come out of it." "I'm hallucinating again." "Is this the end for me?" "Within a pitch-black cloud that clings to the ground..." "Within a pitch-black cloud that clings to the ground..." "Is it impossible?" "Am I unable to move that huge dark thing?" "Flickering... is it me?" "Or the world?" "The light remains... but the lamp... is lost." "Will this change?" "It'll change." "Will this change?" "It'll change." "How about this one?" "It won't change." "No." "It will change!" "It will change!" "After all... they were right." "Oh, Toshi!" "I can't do anything right." "Please, bring me fresh snow." "Please, bring me fresh snow." "Please, bring me fresh snow." "Please, bring me fresh snow." "Here!" "I brought it!" "So cold!" "So cold, yet, so warm." "Because you got it for me, this snow's so cold, yet warm." "Toshi." "So cold, yet warm." "So cold, yet warm." "Toshi." "Copernicus of the new age, take this unbearable weight of gravity, and liberate this galaxy!" "Till the end, the search for true happiness..." "I'll give it another try..." "A meteorite?" "A stone from another world?" "Maybe not." "Spring's almost here." ""Provoked by anger's bitterness and immaturity," "Beneath the golden April sky," "I spit, gnash, and pace..." "I am..." "Chaos.""