After the quake blind willow, sleeping woman dance dance dance

Air Chrysalis
to Azami. Is that 
correct?” 
“As I said before, Eri and Azami would always shut themselves in their room at 
night, and I didn’t know what they were doing. They had their secrets. It does seem, 
however, that at some point, Eri’s storytelling became a major part of their 
communication. Azami would take notes or record Eri’s story and then type it into the 
computer in my study. Eri has gradually been recovering her ability to experience 
emotion since then, I think. Her apathy was like a membrane that covered everything, 
but that has been fading. Some degree of expression has returned to her face, and she 
is more like the happy little girl we used to know.” 
“So she is on the road to recovery?” 
“Well, not entirely. It’s still very uneven. But in general, you’re right. Her recovery 
may well have begun with her telling of her story.” 
Tengo thought about this for a time. Then he changed the subject. 
“Did you talk to the police about the loss of contact with Mr. and Mrs. Fukada?” 

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135
“Yes, I went to the local police. I didn’t tell them about Eri, but I did say that I had 
been unable to get in touch with my friends inside for a long time and I feared they 
were possibly being held against their will. At the time, they said there was nothing 
they could do. The Sakigake compound was private property, and without clear 
evidence that criminal activity had taken place there, they were unable to set foot 
inside. I kept after them, but they wouldn’t listen to me. And then, after 1979, it 
became truly impossible to mount a criminal investigation inside Sakigake.” 
“Something happened in 1979?” Tengo asked. 
“That was the year that Sakigake was granted official recognition as a religion.” 
Tengo was astounded. “A religion?!” 
“I know. It’s incredible. Sakigake was designated a ‘Religious Juridical Person’ 
under the Religious Corporation Law. The governor of Yamanashi Prefecture 
officially granted the title. Once it had the ‘Religious Juridical Person’ label, Sakigake 
became virtually immune to any criminal investigation by the police. Such a thing 
would be a violation of the freedom of religious belief guaranteed by the Constitution. 
The Prefectural Police couldn’t touch them. 
“I myself was astounded when I heard about this from the police. I couldn’t 
believe it at first. Even after they showed it to me in writing and I saw it with my own 
eyes, I had trouble believing it could be true. Fukada was one of my oldest friends. I 
knew
him—his character, his personality. As a cultural anthropologist, my ties with 
religion were by no means shallow. Unlike me, though, Fukada was a totally political 
being who approached everything with logic and reason. He had, if anything, a 
visceral disgust for religion. There was no way he would ever accept a ‘Religious 
Juridical Person’ designation even if he had strategic reasons for doing so.” 
“Obtaining such a designation couldn’t be very easy, either, I would think.” 
“That’s not necessarily the case,” the Professor said. “True, you have to go through 
a lot of screenings and red tape, but if you pull the right political strings, you can clear 
such hurdles fairly easily. Drawing distinctions between religions and cults has 
always been a delicate business. There’s no hard and fast definition. Interpretation is 
everything. And where there is room for interpretation, there is always room for 
political persuasion. Once you are certified to be a ‘Religious Juridical Person,’ you 
can get preferential tax treatment and special legal protections.” 
“In any case, Sakigake stopped being an ordinary agricultural commune and 
became a religious organization—a frighteningly closed-off religious organization,” 
Tengo ventured. 
“Yes, a ‘new religion,’ ” the Professor said. “Or, to put it more bluntly, a cult.” 
“I don’t get it,” Tengo said. “Something major must have occurred for them to 
have undergone such a radical conversion.” 
The Professor stared at the backs of his hands, which had a heavy growth of kinky 
gray hair. “You’re right about that, of course,” he said. “I’ve been wondering about it 
myself for a very long time. I’ve come up with all sorts of possibilities, but no final 
answers. What 
could
have caused it to happen? But they’ve adopted a policy of such 
total secrecy, it’s impossible to find out what is going on inside. And not only that, 
Fukada, who used to be the leader of Sakigake, has never once publicly surfaced since 
they underwent their conversion.” 

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136
“And meanwhile, the Akebono faction ceased to exist after their gun battle three 
years ago,” Tengo said. 
The Professor nodded. “Sakigake survived once they had cut themselves off from 
Akebono, and now they’re steadily developing as a religion.” 
“Which means the gunfight was no great blow to Sakigake, I suppose.” 
“Far from it,” the Professor said. “It was good advertising for them. They’re smart. 
They know how to turn things to their best advantage. In any case, this all happened 
after
Eri left Sakigake. As I said earlier, it has no direct connection with Eri.” 
Tengo sensed that the Professor was hoping to change the subject. He asked him, 
“Have you yourself read