TADASHI: Oblige your father. Come now. I’m anxious to try this tea you’ve prepared.
KEIKO: (Reluctantly) Please, make yourselves comfortable. I shall go change. (KEIKO
bows and goes to her room.)
(TADASHI and OTOYA engage in an undistinguishable conversation.)
(In her room, KEIKO rearranges a brush, two perfume bottles, and a makeup jar and applicator repeatedly in front of her mirror reenacting and changing the order of the ceremony unsuccessfully. She knocks some items from her
vanity in frustration and cries.)
(A cold draft is heard and felt. KEIKO wipes her tears, picks up the items
from the floor, and applies her make-up slowly.)
GHOSTS: (echoing softly in the wind) Let water flow.
(KEIKO briefly stops applying her make-up to look around as if she hears
something. She continues to get ready.)
SCENE IV
(In the tea room, KEIKO sits in the middle wearing a white, lavish funerary kimono. OTOYA
sits to her right and TADASHI to her left. The strings of a long zither strum slowly and
gain momentum as KEIKO performs the ritual using the water poisoned with Wolf ’s Bane.
OTOYA, being the shokyaku, or main guest, is served first followed by TADASHI. After both
men drink, they close their eyes and sit still in a meditative pose. KEIKO slowly rises, walks
to window and sits. She hears a flock of wild geese flying above. She then returns to her position at the table between the men, and she drinks slowly. She bows and closes her eyes joining
OTOYA and TADASHI in their meditative repose. A bleak gust of wind blows bringing with
it snow and fallen cherry blossoms. The OLD WOMAN enters and sweeps from one side of
the stage to the other against the current of the wind.)
OLD WOMAN: (Shaking her head) You should let water flow.
CURTAINS
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