The author, who was twenty years old at the time and a student at a high school, traveled alone from Tokyo to Izu. He came to Izu because he felt lonely and depressed. During the trip, three encounters with a group of dancers and entertainers aroused his interest in them.
The first encounter was near the Yukawa Bridge on the way to Yushima. There were three young girls in the group at the time, the youngest dancer carrying a drum, and at the sight of them he felt a sense of travel seep into his heart.
The second time, on the night of Yushima, the group of dancers toured to the inn where the author was staying, and at that time he sat on the steps and watched intently as the dancers danced.
After that, he was counting the routes that the dancers would take, hoping to meet them again the next time. Sure enough, he met them for the third time in a rain-sheltered teahouse on a mountain road.
From a chance encounter to an intentional one, perhaps it was a student's freshness to the outside world, or the author's attraction to the beauty of the dancers. On his solitary journey, the author feels the warmth and it makes him follow their lead.
The group of traveling entertainers totaled **** five people, headed by a 40-year-old woman, three young girls and a young man. They came out from their native Big Island in the spring, and now that it's fall, they've been on the road, too.
At the time, itinerant entertainers were known as "street sellers," an unpopular profession that met with discrimination wherever they went.
The old woman at the teahouse on the mountain road had this to say:
The old woman's tone was one of contempt, and she was just an ordinary person.
Of the traders they met thereafter, some did not even look at them.
At every entrance to the villages they passed through, there was a sign that read, "Begging jugglers are not allowed to enter the village". Despite this hardship, the reward for getting a chance to perform is only a small amount of silver.
The dancers are also lonely people on the road because of their hard work and lack of understanding. After spending time with the author and feeling respected and kindness from a simple student, they all say, "He's a good man!"
The youngest dancer, named Kaoruko, is beautiful, kind, shy, and the one who touches the author the most. When we first met, the dancer's face was red, and the tea bowl she was carrying spilled tea.
She was the younger sister of the young man in the peer group, but no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, because of the old-fashioned hair sideburns and makeup, looks like seventeen or eighteen years old.
She was full of curiosity about the author, who was wearing a high school cap and carrying a school bag, and kept asking about this and that, while the author was also attracted by her simplicity and loveliness. In their encounters and encounters, a hazy and innocent love affair arose.
The 40-year-old woman is the "parent" and leader of the team, and she is both loving and strict with them. Once Kaoruko wanted the author to take her to a movie, but her request was not granted. It was also a chance for the two of them to be alone, so the author had no choice but to leave Izu with regrets.
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