Original subtitles

"The compassion of Yonaguni is just as it is told"

"Let us keep one another company as long as we are alive"

Thank you.

SOS (in Morse code)

You and I are completely different and also the same.

Being born as a human, I don't understand anything.

I wonder if the future me will remember...

... that I live here now

... and that I'm talking to you.

I doubt it.

It's easier to forget than we think.

Yet even if we want to keep as much as possible in both of our hands,

The passing of time leaves us with little.

"God of Toyama Utaki, we are in front of you"

"Please give us rainfall"

"The island withers from drought"

"Please give us rainfall"

"Our people are on the brink of death"

"Please give us rainfall"

"My request, from tonight"

"Please give us rainfall"

"This request, from tonight"

"Please give us rainfall"

"Oh, God of water for a bountiful harvest"

Forever and ever...

They'll get burned if you put them in the icebox right after catching them.

What happens if you shower in cold water right after sweating from exercise?

The outside of your body cools, but the internal heat remains, right?

So, you'll fall ill.

Fish have heat towards the core while their surface is cold.

They'll get burned if you cool them down rapidly from the outside.

A temperature gap between the internal and external heat

makes their flesh cracked and blistered.

If you want to sell them for even 1, 2 or 10 yen more,

you should handle them properly.

It's not only about catching the fish. Post-catch processing matters too.

Well, they're fine because they're for Sashimi.

But Marlin and such alike needs to be processed much quicker and more efficiently.

(Broadcast by Yonaguni Town hall)

We are fragile, aren't we? You and I both...

I wonder if you will remember us.

In the past,

Elites from Yaeyama stationed in the local government office.

They bullied and oppressed the peasants in our island.

Households with five or six children...

They had to pay poll tax for those older than 15 or 16 years of age.

They owed 7 or 8 straw sacks per person.

Households that couldn't afford to pay struggled to survive

by transferring at least one or two of their kids to another household.

That's what our parents used to tell us.

Women had to pay tax with a textile called Kanai Irimono Guyufu.

Three reels per person...

They'd get in trouble if they didn't deliver three reels per person of the Kanai textile.

Since they didn't have a lamp, they made a torch with bound bamboo...

to continue spinning hemp and weaving textiles all night long.

Even if they couldn't wear those textiles,

they had to deliver them, otherwise they'd be punished.

It was such a hardship, my mother said.

"The island withers from drought"

"Our people are on the brink of death"

Elders went up Mount Urabu with a stick like this.

That path towards the paddy fields over there is called Nichikagan.

This path is towards Kantabaru, and that one is Nichikagan.

If you go along the path, you'll find a narrow creek.

We take a tray and a pot there,

spin the tray filled with water,

and offer a prayer.

We beg for the rainfall,

Otherwise, we suffer from drought, and the rice won't grow.

Rainfall brings abundant harvest.

That's why we put our hands together to pray to the God of rain.

When we go to Mount Urabu to pray...

This path comes from the street with the town hall...

A grandma who lived there

filled the tray with water and sprinkled water on everyone

with a bundle of straw, saying "it's rain, it's rain!"

"it's rain, it's rain!" Like this?

Yes, it means it's raining.

Everyone's clothes would get soaked when she sprinkled water,

saying "it's rain, it's rain!", you know.

That was just nice because it was hot, not cold, in summer.

So, everyone offered a prayer in soaking wet clothes.

That path is Nichikagan, and that path is Haikagan.

Your grandfather knows them.

By the way, where is the well mentioned here?

"Hmm... the well used for collecting water during the prayer for the rainfall"

I wonder where it was.

Don't you know?

No, I don't know.

It should be the well for the prayer for the rainfall.

There, we pray to the God of water.

It means "Oh, God, please help us as we human beings don't know anything"

"Please help us with the rainfall. We need food as we are born human"

We can grow rice and vegetables, but it will not work without rain.

Rainfall makes it happen.

Yonaguni's traditions will change from now on.

Some may continue the practice, but others may not.

More people abandon the practice nowadays.

We can't do them when we get old. We used to do everything when we were young.

It's difficult to walk when we get old.

So, being invited by the God of our garden, Bidiri,

we offer incense and burn papers as a prayer for health.

You know? That's how we do it.

That's how we have come to do it in Yonaguni.

My great-grandfathers and grandfathers used to all practice rituals together,

but my grandfather thought he should seal the rituals by greeting the God of his garden.

because none of his children are familiar with the traditions of Yonaguni anymore.

He recited the end of the rituals to his God while he was still in good health,

so that his children and grandchildren wouldn't have to bear the burden anymore.

After the grandfather of Kuga passed away...

and Uncle Kempei passed away,

he asked Masae to attend the ritual,

thanked the God, and completed it.

See? That's how we are here now.

What can we do after we get so old?

Your grandfather is great because he can sit and work.

So, he is a solid person.

So, he is not an outlier. He is a solid person.

That's why I'm telling you he is wonderful.

Only one grandfather is left in the Kubura Family.

No one else. All his siblings departed to the other side.

That's why I think it's great that he's working so hard on his own.

"Why are you making a wish?"

"For what are you making an offering?"

"Please bless us with children"

"After the children, what do you wish for next?"

"Please bless us with wealth"

Do you understand the meaning?

The reason they wished for children was

because their top priority was to have a large family.

"Please bless us with a safe journey"

They used to travel to many different places.

Therefore, they used to pray for the safe return of their family members.

Hey, do you happen to know that taste?

Maybe they don't have it here.

Yeah, I thought so. They don't have it here.

Oh, turtle, I'm sorry!

Let's go home, shall we?

"Remember that road has holes and gravel"

We have no choice but to walk.

Oh, the class is finished.

Oh, I should go and buy lunch.

Supper

Umm

Supper

Umm

Supper

What?

Supper

Oh, do we have supper?

Mark it so that you can see it.

Can you see it properly?

Yeah, I can.

Here you go!

Oh, now Shuhei doesn't have to do anything.

Okay, give me four.

Leave a fingerwidth.

If you want to complete it quickly, you can make it wider.

Hold it here with your fingertips.

From where it's tied here and the middle of where it's tied here,

Insert the needle into the centre while pulling this string down.

This is threading, so you only need to do it once.

This is something we don't have in Japan.

The diameter is large, but the culm shell is thin.

So, it's buoyant.

The bamboo itself is quite heavy, isn't it?

This variety produces edible bamboo shoots (Menma).

De-oiled bamboos are hard to break.

I see, they don't want shrunk or bent ones.

Yeah

When I built a bamboo raft with the Amis people in Taiwan...

We peeled the skin off...

and buried them in the sand?

Yeah

They bury them for a year or so.

You mean the bamboo?

Yeah, if buried in the sand after the skin is peeled,

they don't crack, it is said.

A lot of thought is put into this.

It's so straight.

I will never forget anything, any of this.

"You are my dearest person, my darling."

"The compassion of Yonaguni is just as it is told"

"Let us keep one another company as long as we are alive"

"The cup I hold at Nanta beach down there"

"Cannot be emptied due to my overflowing tears"

"If they tilt the sails to one side,"

"I think deeply of you If they raise the full sails, tears fall from my both eyes"

"Crossing the sea of Yonaguni is like crossing the waters"

"of a pond May you cross it peacefully"

"For today's good day wish" x 2

"What do you wish?" x 2

"Please bless us with longevity" x 2

"Please bless us all with happiness" x 2

"By saying what word?" x 2

"I never forget"