The Peach Orchard:
When we were first given this blog assignment, there was something familiar about the title of the film she was talking about. I realized when I started watching the clip that I had previously seen this film with my boyfriend some time last semester. I really enjoyed the film then because of the concepts it illustrated and the poetic way they were portrayed. I chose to watch "The Peach Orchard" section and compare it to the themes in Shinto. This was not too hard to do as some of the themes were quite obvious.
The little boy chases this mysterious woman into what used to be a peach orchard before his family chopped it down. Upon arrivng, he is met with some hostility by the nature spirits who resisded in the peach orcahrd. The belief in kami residing in nature and being embodied in nature is a core belief in Shinto. These nature spirits profess their disgust at his families actions and the boy weeps. It is thought that desecrating a shrine or a sacred place (in this case the peach orchard) is one of the worst offenses one can commit in Shinto because it causes the spirits to be angered and to leave. This almost happens until the boy expresses his love of the orchard as it was.
The boy asks where one can buy an entire orchard in bloom and says that he loved the orchard, not just the peaches. Having a deep love of and appreciation for nature in its pure form is a key belief of Shinto. This religion is focused on nature and maintaing a good relationship with nature and the kami embodied in it. The little boy is able to restore the peach orchard just a little bit (the single tree at the end) by his belief, but the rest of it is lost.
I didn't write about this video, however I did watch it though. And I definitely agree with you in it portraying some obvious Shinto points. I think its actually similar to the Sunshine through the rain video, in it's relation of Kami with humans, and how it is very important to keep the harmony with them. Good post!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like many of the themes that are portrayed in these videos have to do with kami found in nature, and the harmony between the kami and humans. This definitely seems to be the case in this video.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and you bring up a good point that one of the worst sins in Shinto belief is the "desecrating a shine or a sacred place". It was very unfortunate for the boy because he wasnt guilty for cutting them down and he truely loved the orchard(not just for the peaches).
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post. I also viewed this segment of the video, and thought that it perfectly demonstrated the Shinto idea that committing a sin against a sacred place is one of the worst things that you can do. The little boy gets a really rough time from the spirits just because his family (not even him!) cut down the orchard. I liked how the clip portrayed the young boy as being able to see the continuity of the spirits with nature, even though his older sister couldn't see it.
ReplyDeleteThe peach orchard section actually reminded me of the 1980's commercial of the native American looking at the landfills and turning towards the camera with a tear trickling down his face. Mainly because of how the land was and now it's filled with trash. Also the Shinto idea of protecting the land and committing a sin against it was not a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI watched the weeping demon, and it was a little harder to see what the relation was to Shinto. I really liked your explanation of the story. I watched a little bit of each segment, and from what I saw it definitely committed a sin to a sacred place.
ReplyDeleteI watched the weeping demon, and it also had the concept of humans messing with nature. I like that you point out that it is a pretty bad offense in Shinto, because the weeping demon in my video was upset because of his past of tampering with nature.
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