The Crane Wife

The men looked dapper in their suits, colorful ties worn just for the occasion. The women were glamorous in their dresses, a few kimono scattered through the crowd. At promptly 1800 the lights went down, a hush settled over the people, and the spectacle began. The audience was transported to a simpler time; the next three hours seemed to pass with hardly anyone noticing.

I was invited to go see the Sagami Hara Municipal Opera. They presented “The Crane Wife.” It was so beautiful and so sad. Of course, they were singing in Japanese, but I had been made aware of the storyline prior to the performance. The costumes and scenery were terrific, but what I found most engaging was the movements of the performers. They were so graceful. The main characters were an old farmer, played by a young man with a beautiful tenor voice, and the crane wife, played by a young woman with graceful, willowy movements.

This is the basic story – a poor, lonely old man finds an injured crane and nurses it back to health. When it is well again, he sets it free. A few days later, a lovely woman comes into his home to be his wife, and they are very happy. All of the children of the village come to visit them. The man is still very poor, though. So, out of love, the wife works hard to create an amazing cloth called cloth of a thousand feathers. It takes considerable effort and leaves her exhausted. The old man is grateful and sells the cloth. He gets a reasonable price, and the couple lives comfortably for a while. Eventually, the money runs out. The wife agrees to make more cloth, but on one condition – the old man must promise to not watch her making the cloth. Unfortunately, curiosity gets the better of him, and he peeks. It is with much sorrow that she resumes her crane form and flies away from him forever.