"The Peach Orchard" from Kurosawa's Dreams is a beautiful depiction of man's relationship with nature. According to Shinto belief, everything is spiritual and there is a deep connection between man, nature and the spirits/gods. Essentially, all physical entities also contain an element of the divine because spirit and matter are not divided; they are one in the same. This idea is apparent in this film as the little girl (humanity) is a physical manifestation of the last remaining peach tree (nature) and the peach trees are all represented by a Doll (spirits/gods). They are all interconnected.
We also see an element of Shinto worship in "The Peach Orchard". When the little boy is confronted by the Dolls in the spot where the peach orchard used to be, they first scold him and laugh at him. When they see that the boy is being sincere and that he truly cared about the peach trees, they perform a ritual and allow him to see the trees in bloom one last time. The Dolls play drums, as well as other instruments, and they bow, as is often done in Shinto rites of worship. This is all done as a way of communicating with the kami and it also connects the young boy with the spirituality of the Dolls, who are one with the peach trees, in turn connecting the boy with the trees themselves. Once again, the interconnectedness of nature, humanity, and the spirits is apparent. Within Shinto, rites are often performed as a means of purification. Once the spirits realize that the boy is not to blame for the cutting down of the trees, they perform this ritual to cleanse him of any impurity left behind by means of association with his family. In effect, the Dolls are saying that they believe in his innocence.
In my opinion, the central theme of "The Peach Orchard" deals with the Shinto belief that the gravest sin one can commit is a sin against a sacred object. Because all things are spiritual, the intentional and selfish desecration of anything might be considered a sin. In this case, the cutting down of the peach orchard was a careless, thoughtless act against spirituality. Instead of encouraging harmony among humanity, nature, and the gods, the boy's family stirred up a sense of discord and anger with the spirits. By destroying the peach trees, the family interrupted the continuity that unites all matter with the spiritual world. However, at the end of the film we see that the young girl has disappeared for good and that a young peach tree is alive where the orchard once stood. We can see that the young boy senses a connection with this new tree and we are left with the hope that balance has been restored and that, through him, nature, man, and spirituality are once again in alignment.
I agree that the Peach Orhard from Kurosawa's Dreams was a beautiful depiction of a relationship with nature. Kami says the ancient Japenese did not divide matter and spirit. They believed them to be inseparable. This was easily seen in the video clip, one of the dolls said they are the spirit in the trees so it makes sense that everything is spiritual. Therefore there is a continuity between humanity, nature and the spirit/gods. I thought it was interesting how you pointed out the different elements in the ritual done by the dolls. When the dolls played the drums and other instruments and bow, I didn't know that was a form of communication with the gods. Your blog really let me in on some more connections with the video clip and the Shinto religion. When I watched the Peach Orchard clip I was unaware that the dolls performed a purification ritual on the boy to cleanse him of any impurity left behind in association to his family cutting down the trees in the peach orchard.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the central theme in this video dealt with the Shinto belief that the gravest sin one can commit is a sin against sacred objects. I also agree that cutting down the trees in the peach or hard was selfish and careless.
In the video it was obvious the boy understood this relationship between nature and the spirits. Even though the dolls laughed at him at first, when he gave his reasoning they understood. I think that is why the decided to let him see the orchard blossom one last time.I would like to see the movie in it's entirety to see what happen to the Kami. And also to see what happened to the boys family, and to maybe get more insight on why they choose to chop down nature.