Voie lactée, Ontarakusowaka

This work was inspired by the fantastic and tragic world of Night on the Galactic Railroad a short story by Kenji Miyazawa, an early 20th century Japanese writer. The story evokes both Buddhist philosophy and Christianity, in which Miyazawa took a keen interest.
The protagonist, a poor and lonely child, takes this night train with his dead friend and other dead people to the Milky Way station until he returns to the present world. The end of the work is imbued with a powerful energy: that of a train travelling at high speed through dreamlike, spiritual landscapes.
Hoshimeguri-no-Uta, one of the songs composed by the Japanese writer, is freely quoted in this piece.
Sanae Ishida