A drama unfolds; but unlike most dramas this one does not take place on stage or a set. There are no actors or lines or lights to be processed, cut and edited for broadcast at some distant point in time and space. This drama takes place in front of the stage, right in front of the spectators; and here they come face to face with a once forgotten legend: the storyteller.
The kamishibai performer presents picture scroll upon picture scroll, each picture telling a unique story of their own. His stories may us lend a clue about the nature of the rising wind and its plan for the tomorrow’s WMDF – but we won’t know until the last board has been drawn.
His craft too tells a wondrous story of its own. The simple yet sophisticated technique with which he spellbinds his audience is practice which belongs to the past just as much as it does to the present.
Night five and the music is still running from the park and into the streets of Hakodate.　We’ll soon know if it does tomorrow as well.