Masayume

After losing mental and physical balance at 34, the filmmaker trains at a Zen temple. Through Zen, she reconsiders eating, sleeping and breathing, seeing body and mind as a ‘bag of flesh’. Inspired by Noguchi Taiso, she imagines the body as fluid — organs and bones floating, expanding and contracting freely.

Yoshigai Nao: ‘The title Masayume is a Japanese word meaning that what we see in a dream happens in real life. In Zen, there is no narrative promising salvation through belief; instead, true power arises from the tangible reality felt by the mind and body through practice. One vital lesson I learned was to value direct experience rather than depending on stories.

Yet in filmmaking — even documentaries — we cannot fully avoid shaping a narrative from the creator’s perspective. By editing and reconstructing past footage as a story, I realised clearly that film is a kind of dream. At the same time, within that dream, I was able to observe what had happened to me exactly as it was, free from judgement. Living and making this film, together with that year’s weather, converged in an unexpected way — like “masayume”. I hope this film offers healing to someone beyond myself, and that in the end it might heal the earth, even just a little.’