Summary

On the day that Chiyo-chan learns that her mother will die within weeks, her father sends her to the village to get incense for the Buddist altar that rests on a crate at the entrance to their kitchen. It is the only item of any value in the house. Once in the village, she slips and falls on the wet roadway, giving herself a bruised lip. She is taken into the Japan Coastal Seafood company where Mr. Tanaka assures her she is okay before sending her home. She buys the incense and goes home to where her sister, Satsu, makes soup for dinner. Afterward, their father goes to the village to watch Japanese chess played by other fishermen. Chiyo tells her sister that she doesn’t want her mother to die, but Satsu doesn’t appear to hear her.

As a distraction the...