the perfect tilt of his head and the perfect frame of his shoulders, the emotion is portrayed and the story is carried along.

While this pageantry is revealing itself, the townsfolk continue to arrive, further squeezing into the tight audience and arranging themselves with polite gestures so as not to block their neighbor’s view. The newcomers delight me: families with school-age children, a mother and young sons, toddlers in pajamas, a group of men in yukata who appeared as if they’ve just emerged, cleansed, from the nearby onsen (having sipped a sake somewhere along the way here). The audience has swelled to twice its original size, spilling out beyond the shōji to the veranda. And this dynamic flow of ordinary people arriving after dinner, after bath time, after the week’s work, is for me the big surprise of the night: a seemingly spontaneous gathering of truly appreciative participants and supporters.