Dreams: The Peach Orchard

Hina Matsuri – The famous festival of dolls celebrated in the shroud of pink peach blossoms. During the doll festival, dolls represent the peach trees – without the peach trees, the dolls would represent nothing. A similar event happened in the life of a young boy who lost an orchard of peach trees after being cut down, one after another, by his own family. The boy felt a sense of loss during this, supposed to be, an enthusiastic and very memorable day. The young boy got scolded after providing six servings of a particular food, when there are only five people to be served. The boy, however, did see a sixth person. It was a young girl in pink dress or kimono, which he followed soon after towards the orchard. Eventually, he saw the dolls from his sister’s collection brought to life in the peach orchard. They first speculated on the boy’s innocence and they found out how the boy loved the peach trees and the orchard. The dolls, being moved by the boy’s tears and sympathy, performed a slow graceful dance. The dance was accompanied with gagaku music and after the dance the boy saw an illusion of the peach trees in full blossom. However, it was only momentarily. The truth eventually came out, where the scene shows the chopped peach trees in the orchard. Nevertheless, a glimpse of hope was provided for the boy after seeing that there is a new peach tree in the orchard and it was just about his height. The young girl who ran to the orchard may be the representative of/ or doll symbolizing the new peach tree. The movie ended showing the young boy sadly looking at the new peach tree as the scene fades to black (Kurosawa, 1955). Reference Kurosawa, Akira (1955) Dreams: The Peach Orchard. Warner Bros.