The Waterfalls Along Shugakuin Sabo

Here we are, at the foot of Hiei-Zan, along the wooden dams from Shugakuin Sabo, somewhere near Kyoto (or within Kyoto, who knows? there are many surprising places in this city, as I know it from some scenes in Ozu's movies).

The waterfall seems to communicate some terrible story: it looks like it keeps chained a giant from ancient times, maybe one of those Niō from Kamakura period; but, wait a little, if this is a Niō, then he's guarding the gate at a temple, as this is his reason to be, to make us trembling with great fear when we enter the shrine: we are common mortals, they are gods. And, it is true, as you're approaching the waterfall, it seems that there is something behind, a gate to another world.



The images appear like cut from a movie by Kurosawa: but, no, look! a girl in kimono has just arrived on a motorbike, and she is now walking on the wooden dams.


The sounds she's making as she's stepping on the wood seem to me weird and familiar altogether. Oh, yeah, they come from the universe of Teiji Ito (do you remember Meshes of the Afternoon?): the great composer who kept his strong Japanese accent in New-York for all his life.

And all that follows takes place there, on the thin line where the worlds of Kurosawa and Ito collide. The girl is now advancing toward waterfalls, she's stopping some place on the narrow beach and gives us one of the most fascinating images ever. Is it Kurosawa or Tarkovsky, or both? A hallucinatory image: the girl's become a witch, and she's saying a spell while playing with the fire, to keep us bound for thousand years!


But if she's a witch, it seems that she's a nice one: and after saying the spell, she's too tired and she's resting there, in the small river, to gain forces, from the water and from the stones.



Eventually she'll arrive at the waterfalls, where she will say an incantation that comes from sacred times, when gods and mortals were together: is she a mortal or a Kami?


Well, HANAFUBUKI could be a Kami, I wouldn't be surprised. You should watch her video, it's a great work of art!


(The Thousand faces of HANAFUBUKI)