"On the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse"
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It is said that of the Yomotsuki family mask makers, Souetsu used the most extreme techniques.
After the Day Without Suffering, Souetsu's mask ominously disintegrated into ash.
The remains were enshrined beneath the Hall of the Conscious Mind so that the mask could be studied.
The basic form of the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was probably created in that shrine.
Souetsu would sit before the shrine carving the mask. His high level of skill would bring him to a serene, meditative state.
Souetsu spent many long hours before the shrine, gradually nearing a polished technique, but it was not yet enough.
Recently the Director showed me a photograph, in which the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse appears.
Dr. Kunihiko Asou once visited this island to take some photographs of the Rougetsu Kagura and saw the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse made by Souetsu.
This Mask of the Lunar Eclipse that Souetsu made.
Others would not understand its truth, but I do.
I cannot understand why the photograph captured the lost Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.
Did that camera capture the past, a shadow of Souetsu?
The photo is slightly blurred, but the importance and power of the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse comes through clearly enough.
I must overcome this masterpiece.
Achieve Souetsu's most earnest wish - to complete the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.