Innocent Oguri Hangan: Mountain Sake Tragedy, Earth Cart, Demon Ami, and Terute's Journey

Inspired by Chikamatsu Monzaemon's Noh play "Toryu Oguri Hangan" (1698)
A period piece by Chikamatsu Monzaemon.

The "Legend of Oguri Hangan" has been passed down since the Middle Ages.

Oguri Hangan, a young man from a distinguished family, is nearly killed after being given poisoned sake.
He survives, but the poison transforms him into a gruesome figure (a living corpse, a monster) known as "Gaki-ami" (Gaki-ami), blind, deaf, and mute, with his limbs rotting away. Princess Terute, unaware of his true identity, pulls him on a small earthen cart and sets out on a rugged journey to the Yunomine Hot Springs in Kumano, where he will be cured of his illness.
This story contrasts the grotesqueness of a beautiful young man reduced to a lump of flesh with the devoted love (melancholy) of the princess who pulls it.
The rhythm of pulling a cart is at the heart of the story.

The Yokoyama family of Sagami Province. Judge Oguri is forced to drink poisoned alcohol. The poison spreads throughout his body, and his handsome appearance quickly crumbles. His hair falls out, his skin becomes raw, and he loses his ability to speak. He emerges from the depths of the underworld, but he is no longer human, but rather the terrifying "Gaki-ami."

A earthen cart is brought to Princess Terute, who is sunk in suffering. Inside is an unknown, pathetically ill person (Oguri). Thanks to the mercy of the monk Yugyo Shonin, a sign is attached that reads, "Whoever pulls this cart is guaranteed enlightenment after death." Out of pity, Terute, unaware that it is her beloved Oguri, decides to pull the cart. "Should I pull, or not...?"
"One pull, a thousand monks pay their respects. Two pulls, ten thousand monks pay their respects." The sound of heavy wheels crunching on the muddy road. Rattling, clanging. Rain or wind, Terute pulls the cart. Oguri tries to scream something deep in his throat, but no sound comes out (Lo-Fi Noise). All that remains is the sound of the wheels, beating in odd rhythms like the two of them. At the end of their long journey, Terute suddenly realizes. This changed lump of flesh is Oguri Hangan, the man she once loved. "How pitiful. Is this Lord Oguri?" With a mixture of despair and love, she cries, but still continues to pull the cart.