Layer I · Graphic Novel
The Encounter
面影に逢ふ
after a structure attributed to Zeami · eight panels · read slowly
Late autumn. A monk walks toward a province whose name has changed three times.
Monk —"I will rest. The light is already going."
At a fork in the road he stops. There is a stone here that was a gate.
A woman is gathering reeds at the river. She has been gathering them for some time.
Woman —"You are a traveller. You will not stay. That is convenient."
She does not look up.
She tells him about a battle that was lost here. About a husband who did not come back. About waiting that became a body.
Monk —"Who is the woman you are speaking of?"
The river is louder now, or the rest is quieter.
She turns. The face is the same. It is not the same.
By morning there is no river. There is no woman. There is a monk reciting a sutra over a stone that was a gate.