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embodies the Lotus Sutra’s teaching that plants too, can attain enlightenment, reflecting a vision of the harmony and equality of humans and the natural world. ‘Bashō’, is performed first time outside Japan in history.

In the mountains of ancient China, a monk lives quietly in a small hut. Lately, he has felt the strange presence of someone nearby. One day, a woman appears. She says she has come to form a spiritual connection and follows the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, which says that even plants and trees can reach enlightenment. The monk tells her that the beauty of flowers is a form of the Buddha’s truth. The woman is happy to hear this and hints that she is not human before disappearing.

Later that night, she returns. This time, she reveals that she is the spirit of a plantain leaf. She says she is thankful to be touched by the Buddha’s compassion, and that all things—soil, plants, and people—are true just as they are. Unlike flowers that bloom brightly in spring and autumn, she has lived a quiet life in the shadows. Under the moonlight, lost in thought, she begins to dance slowly. As the wind blows through the garden, the flowers fade away, and only a torn plantain leaf remains.