This is a long, long ago story of Hiroshi and Noriko.
Every spring, like a million stars, cherry blossoms sparkled on the Hakone hillside of Japan. Every spring, whole families came out for Hanami, as flower-gazing is called. To be there, with your family and friends beneath the trees was a rite of spring. But Hiroshi and Noriko preferred their solitude. They were in the autumn of their lives and the celebration of spring did not appeal to them. Being old and alone made them crusty and humourless.

Hiroshi was a woodcutter. He went every day into the forest, away from the chatter of happy people, while wife Noriko sat weaving at home.One day, Hiroshi trudged much further into the woods than usual. He was looking for a special kind of wood to build a chest with. Suddenly, he found himself at the edge of a little spring he had never seen before. The water was strangely clear and cold. Being a warm day, and after long hours of wood-chopping, he was tired and thirsty. Doffing his thatched hat, he knelt down and took a long drink. The water seemed to refresh him in a most extraordinary way.