Baba the Mountain from Japan

By Ahmad Nurhasim

The child wishes not to leave behind, but Baba has been yearning to be 'cast away' in a mountain.

A young man carried a basket on his back. He walked slowly as to balance himself. Baba (the name given to old ladies in Japan) stood on top of the basket. The light was dim. The atmosphere was quiet and still.

The sound of kecapi music broke the silence. Baba was lifted on to a mountain. Nearing the peak of the mountain, things got even sadder. The child wished not to leave Baba on the mountain, but since a long time, Baba has been yearning to be left there. In the middle of the way Baba told her son to go back to the village. And with all reluctance, for the sake of tradition, Baba was left in the mountain.

The heart-breaking scene is a significant part of the ancient Japanese show of Obasute. Obasute is an old time Japanese tradition that happened in poor villages by the mountains that obligated the act of leabing the Babas in the mountain. The goal was to save food consumption. The mountain was named Obasute Yama.

The Jakarta Art Institute along with Yayasan Peduli Indonesia Makmur and Japanese Hapon Theatre performed it, involving players from Indonesia and Japan/ From Japan, the main character and script writer Hara Tomohiko (also played the Baba), Ando Ayuko, Wakiyama Yasutaka, Chiku Toshiaki, and Owaki Kaoru. From the Jakarta Art Institute, Gatot GP played Baba's son, and there were others such as Asri Mery Sidowati, Nursekreningsih, Deswita Hermawan, and Nana Sunarsasih.

This performance showed another side of Japan. Hara did the story from the 'casted away' side. He elaborated the phases of separation and encounter as parts of life. It was summer then, and the Tsubaki flowers were blooming red and large. It is then that the Babas should be brought up to the mountain. Babas have it in their minds that any implemented customs will bring good luck to the families in the village.

After Baba's few days on the top of the mountain, at the village the red-blood Tsubaki flowers falls down the head of her grandchildren. This is the sign that the life tasks of the Baba will now be carried on by them. At the top of the mountain, the moon shines bright glowing at the smiling Baba.

"At the time a human is being cast away, what is interesting to be left behind for the society? I would like to leave a beautiful dance and the best theatrical art," said Hara Tomohiko.

This is the separation story of a grandmother with her children, grandchildren, and nature. The eternal story of encounter and goodbye, in the path of tradition.

source: arti magazine 31 edition