00:28Transcribed by ESO, translated by —
00:56Bitter Nabe
00:58A folk horror in ten chapters
01:01The recipe he failed to make
01:05Yosinabe for Hana
01:07The one mom made when snow took the town
01:11Broth six cups of waste dashi
01:15He used snow plus tea
01:17Three tablespoon yuzu kuchi soy sauce
01:21He stole one tablespoon
01:24Two tablespoon sake
01:27He had none
01:28One tablespoon mirin
01:31He had a sip
01:32Sold
01:34One hundred fifty grams cod
01:36Four shrimp he dreamed them
01:39One hundred fifty grams chicken thigh
01:42Replaced with eggs
01:43Ten napa leaves
01:45A half daikon
01:47Six shiitake
01:49One negi bartered for lies
01:52A half block firm tofu cracked in frost
01:56Finish ponzu
01:59Grated daikon shichimi
02:01He had none
02:03Result bitter
02:05Metallic
02:07Like winter
02:08Eating its own tail
02:11Eating its own tail
02:11Stolen, taken, imagined
02:13Chapter one
02:14Chapter one
02:15Fever snow
02:16They say the mountain keeps what you're trying to outrun
02:20By day six of the blizzard
02:23The shack had shrunk
02:25The walls leaned in to listen to Hana breathe
02:30Each inhale was a question
02:33Each exhale didn't answer
02:36The doctor in town
02:38The doctor in town had met his eyes through the door crack
02:41And said winter takes who it wants
02:45Before the bolt slid home
02:48That night Hana burned so hot the frost
02:52On the window
02:54Melted in the shape of a mouth
02:57She whispered
02:58Dad
02:59I dreamed mom's yosinabe
03:02It made the house warm
03:04Mom's pot had been buried with her
03:08Three winters ago
03:10He tied Hana to his back
03:13With the obai mom war at their wedding
03:16The knot was a sailor's hitch
03:19The kind that tightens when you pull
03:22He stepped into the white
03:25The snow did not crunch
03:28It sighed like it had been waiting
03:31The mountain accepts offerings
03:34The old women used to say
03:37He had nothing to offer
03:40But hunger
03:41Chapter 2
03:42The fish market's dead
03:44The sea was a grey animal
03:47Beyond the docks
03:49The market smelled of brine
03:52And copper
03:53Every stall had a small salt shrine
03:56A dish
03:58A coin
03:59A fish head facing north
04:02Pay the sea before you take
04:04Read the wooden plaque
04:07He had no coin
04:09The cod was behind glass
04:12On ice that looked like broken teeth
04:15The fish monger
04:17The fish monger argued
04:18With a tourist
04:19About price
04:21The man's shadow
04:23Fell across the case
04:25The father's reflection in the glass
04:28Was already reaching
04:30His hand moved like it belonged
04:33To someone else
04:35The cod was heavier than a child
04:38Colder than Hana's feet
04:41When he ran
04:43The gulls didn't cry
04:45They watched
04:47At the edge of town
04:49A salt shrine had toppled
04:52The coin was gone
04:54The fish head faced him now
04:57One ingredient
04:59One debt
05:01The wind carried a smell
05:03Wet rope
05:05Rust
05:06Drowned things
05:07Chapter 3
05:09Fox in the Hen House
05:11Farmer's land sat in a valley
05:14The maps called Kitsune Kyubo
05:17Fox Hollow
05:18They said a woman once starved here
05:22And the foxes fed her
05:24Their own livers
05:26She lived
05:27But her shadow learned to eat
05:30The dog's chain
05:32Was a spine of ice
05:34It didn't rattle
05:36When he passed
05:37The coop smelled of warm feathers
05:40And ammonia
05:41He didn't touch the hens
05:43He was here for eggs
05:46Life that hadn't chosen yet
05:49He took three
05:51In his palm
05:52They were heartbeats with shells
05:54The dog woke
05:57When he was at the fence
05:58It didn't bark
06:00It made a sound
06:02Like a man
06:04Trying to remember words
06:05By morning
06:07The farmer would find
06:09One egg cracked in the snow
06:11Frozen yellow
06:13Staring up
06:14An eye that didn't close
06:16Hana murmured into his neck
06:19The snow has a taste now
06:22Chapter 4
06:24The shrine of empty offerings
06:27The mountain shrine's torii
06:30Was strangled in rope
06:32And paper
06:33The zigzag shied
06:35Were yellow with age
06:37No one had climbed here
06:40Since autumn
06:41The donation box
06:43Was full of leaves
06:45The pilgrim kitchen
06:47Was locked
06:48But the gods
06:50Are not carpenters
06:51The window gave
06:54Inside
06:55Dust lived in the shape
06:58Of people
06:58On the shelf
07:00Mirren saw
07:02A bottle of sake
07:04With a crane on the label
07:05The crane's eye
07:07Was chipped
07:08He filled his bag
07:10He bowed
07:12Not to the altar
07:13But to the absence
07:15Where a god should be
07:17I'll bring it back double
07:19He told the air
07:21The air took the words
07:23And gave nothing
07:25He closed the window
07:27The latch stuck
07:29As he walked down
07:31He heard it slide shut
07:33On its own
07:34Or open
07:36He didn't look
07:38Some doors
07:39Only work once
07:41Chapter 5
07:43The root cellar widow
07:46Matsu's cabbage
07:47Was famous
07:48Because she sang to it
07:50She said
07:51Vegetables
07:52Remember voices
07:54Her house
07:55Had one light
07:56And two shadows
07:58She met him
08:00At the door
08:00With a shotgun
08:01And no shells
08:04Yoshinabe
08:05Won't cure mountain fever
08:06She said
08:08That's not sickness
08:10That's the mountain
08:12Calling her home
08:13He left
08:15He came back
08:17When the moon
08:18Was a bone
08:18The cellar hatch
08:20Was under snow
08:21That had no footprints
08:23But his
08:25He lifted it
08:27The dark down
08:28There was warm
08:29And smelled of earth
08:31And secrets
08:33He took two nop-aheads
08:35A daikon
08:37Carrots
08:38On the dirt shelf
08:40He left his wedding ring
08:42It wasn't payment
08:44It was a confession
08:46The soil would swallow
08:48When he climbed out
08:50The snow above the hatch
08:52Had a second set of prints
08:55Walking away from the hole
08:57Small
08:59Bare
09:00He didn't own those feet
09:03He ran
09:04Chapter 6
09:06The train pass
09:08The train
09:09Was the last
09:10Iron vein
09:11Into the city
09:13The ticket gate
09:14Was a row of teeth
09:16He had no ticket
09:18He walked through anyway
09:21When a group of school children passed
09:23Their laughter a shield
09:26He hid in the bathroom
09:28Hana burned
09:30Against his chest
09:32The metal room
09:34Smelled of disinfectant
09:35And old piss
09:37The smell
09:39Of civilization
09:40The conductor
09:42Knocked
09:42Once
09:44Twice
09:45The father
09:46Pressed his hand
09:47Over Hana's mouth
09:49Not hard
09:51Not soft
09:52Just certain
09:53She made a sound
09:56Like a kettle
09:57Before it sings
09:58The conductor's
10:00Shadow stayed
10:01Then slid away
10:03When the doors
10:05Opened in the city
10:06The platform
10:08Was too bright
10:09A poster
10:11On the wall
10:12Yoshinabe Fair
10:14All ingredients here
10:16The ink
10:18Was peeling
10:18The pictured pot
10:20Had no steam
10:22Chapter 7
10:24The tofu makers trust
10:26Her shop was steam
10:28And shadow
10:29She was blind
10:31But her hands
10:33Saw better than eyes
10:34You sound like my son
10:37She said
10:38He went to the mountain
10:40Three winters ago
10:41He asked for credit
10:44He said
10:45I'll work it off
10:47My daughter's sick
10:49The tofu maker's fingers
10:51Found his face
10:53They traced the scar
10:55On his chin
10:56The hollow
10:58Under his eye
10:59You're already
11:01Working something off
11:02She said
11:03She gave him a block
11:05Wrapped in cloth
11:06It was so hot
11:08It hurt
11:09Bring me the bowl
11:11When you're done
11:12She said
11:13He didn't answer
11:14The tofu froze
11:17Before he reached
11:18The station
11:19It split down the middle
11:21Like a fault line
11:23He carried both halves
11:25Now he was holding
11:27A broken thing
11:28That used to be whole
11:30Chapter 8
11:32The cave and the first boil
11:35The bear cave
11:37Was in the stories
11:39If you're lost
11:40The bear will let you
11:42Stay one night
11:42On the second
11:44It eats your name
11:46He was on night one
11:48He built fire
11:50With wood
11:51That hissed names
11:52He didn't know
11:53The Dunabe
11:55Was from the shrine
11:57Its glaze
11:58Had a hairline crack
12:00Like a river
12:01On a map
12:02He filled it with snow
12:05The snow
12:06Melted into water
12:08That tasted of sky
12:10He added the cabbage
12:12It wilted like a sigh
12:15The cod
12:16It turned opaque
12:18Like a lie revealed
12:20The cracked tofu
12:22Broke further
12:23The eggs he'd stolen
12:25He couldn't bring himself
12:27To crack
12:28They sat in his coat
12:30Three small moons
12:32The steam smelled of nothing
12:35The steam smelled of nothing
12:36No mob
12:37No home
12:38No forgiveness
12:40Just heat
12:42Pretending to be purpose
12:44Chapter 9
12:46The last ingredient hunt
12:49Dashie
12:50The soul of the soup
12:52He had no kombu
12:55No katsubushi
12:57No katsubushi
12:57The old books
12:59Said the sea
13:00Must agree to be in your pot
13:02He dug in his bag
13:04Found a salt packet
13:07From a gas station
13:08A black tea bag
13:10Bitten once
13:11A paper sugar
13:13He threw them in
13:15The water
13:17Turned the color
13:18Of a bruise
13:19He whispered to the pot
13:21Be broth
13:22Be enough
13:24The pot
13:25Whispered back
13:26In bubbles
13:27It sounded like laughter
13:30Or drowning
13:32He tasted it
13:34It was bitter
13:35Not plant bitter
13:37Act bitter
13:39It tasted like the fishmonger's shadow
13:43Like the dog's broken bark
13:45Like the tofu maker's trust
13:49Cooling in his hands
13:50It tasted like a man
13:53Eating himself
13:54Chapter 10
13:56Bitter like his deeds
13:58He woke Hana
14:00Her eyes were glass
14:02He cooled a spoonful
14:05On his breath
14:06It still steamed
14:08He touched it
14:10To her lips
14:11She sipped
14:12She swallowed
14:14She looked at him
14:16Really looked
14:17For the first time in days
14:19Her face worked
14:22Not a cry
14:23Not a smile
14:26Recognition
14:27Dad
14:28She said
14:29Voice clear as ice
14:31It tastes like the cold part of winter
14:35The part before you die
14:37He took a spoonful
14:39It was worse
14:41It was worse in his mouth
14:42Than in his head
14:43Every theft
14:45Had a flavor
14:46Every lie
14:48Had an aftertaste
14:50The cod
14:51Was the market
14:52The cabbage
14:54Was Matsu's cellar
14:55The tea
14:57Was his own cowardice
14:58Hana's fever
15:00Didn't break
15:01She turned her face
15:03Into his chest
15:04And slept
15:06And slept
15:06Or something like sleep
15:08The pot was still full
15:11The fire died like it
15:13Had been holding its breath
15:16Outside
15:17The blizzard sealed the cave mouth
15:20With new snow
15:21No tracks in
15:24No tracks out
15:26He held the bowl
15:28The tofu maker gave him
15:30Empty
15:31He couldn't bring it back
15:34He couldn't fill it
15:36The mountain
15:37Had taken his offering
15:39After all
15:40Not Hana
15:42Him
15:43The Nabe sat
15:45Uneaten
15:46In the morning
15:48It would be a block of ice
15:50And it would still taste
15:52Like what he'd done
16:20In the morning
16:25It would still be a block of ice
16:28And it would still be a block of ice
16:38And it would still be a block of ice
16:39And it would still be a block of ice
16:39And it would still be a block of ice
16:43And it would still be a block of ice
16:43And it would still be a block of ice
16:43And it would still be a block of ice
16:43And it would still be a block of ice
16:44And it would still be a block of ice
16:44And it would still be a block of ice
16:45And it would still be a block of ice
16:46And it would still be a block of ice
16:52Amen.
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