The Small Utopia and The Cats
"Small Utopia and the Story of Cats"
by Sayoko Yajima
A long time ago, we and the world of "cats" were one. Humans and cats spoke the same language, and lived a peaceful and prosperous life surrounded by flowers, spirits, and small creatures. However, one day, humans could no longer coexist with them, and left their beautiful homeland behind. Since then, the road to it has been tightly closed and hidden...
The History of the Small Utopia
History of "Small Utopia"
Once upon a time, there was a small island surrounded by calm sea called "Small Utopia".
A lot of flowers and various creatures live,In an eternal little utopia,One day, seven humans and seven cats were born.
*Small Utopia is a small, small but endless world of eternity. That eternity is a "moment" stretched outIt may be the eternity of the micro world.It might be bigger than the universe, or it might be smaller than the tip of a needle.Small utopias can appear anywhere at any time.
Both cats and humans were creatures that were good at "creating the world". They were curious and interested in new things. People with excellent abilities have made use of their excellent technology, and Small Utopia has grown into a richer and more sophisticated world.
Cats and humans understand each other's differences and cooperate with each other, leading a peaceful life.
Around the time when various things necessary for a small utopia were completed. One day, humans said, "Let's build a tall tower."
He said he could look out over the world, and maybe even see the other side of the sea that surrounded the island.
The cats knew that the other side of the sea was nothing.
However, I thought that a tall tower would certainly be convenient, and that it might be good to have one.
The cat and the human worked together as usual to build a tall tower. When it was completed, it was actually very convenient. We all felt that we had created something wonderful.
However, after a while, the human being looked at the finished product and said, "This is still not high enough, I can't see beyond the sea."
From around this time, humans began to strongly believe in the "invisible". His strong curiosity was directed toward the ends of the world beyond the sea. "To see beyond this world, we need to make the tower taller."
The cats could no longer build a tower together.
For humans, the goal is not to "know" the end of the world, but to "believe and adore" the end of the world.
Before long, the language they spoke was different from that of the humans who had not returned from the heights of the tower for a long time. The amount of time we spend has decreased, and it has become difficult to convey our thoughts to each other.
One day it suddenly happened. The tower, which rose high above the clouds, collapsed at once, unable to withstand its own weight.
The crumbling tower created a black hole in the earth, and humans were sucked into the deep darkness.
Due to the impact of the hole, the earth shattered like a whirlpool.
The cats were sad. Because there was a big hole in the world and I lost a dear friend.
But the cats knew. Sooner or later, they would no longer be able to stay in this closed "eternal world."
Then, beyond the darkness, "I thought we'd go to create our own world.
The cats have decided to take responsibility for protecting the big hole that has opened up in this world and their world that continues beyond it.
"Perhaps they will come back here," some thought, though they didn't say it.
The seven cats first created a new small island around this hole, and then divided their roles in order to keep their world and their world coexisting, and to watch over their world forever. Did.
One decided to build a maze around the hole and then surround it with a garden to hide and watch over the hole.
Gardener/Guardian
Gardener / Maze Keeper
One designed a passageway called the worm-eating corridor so that cats could come and go in an emergency.
Architect
architect
One decided to use a spiral cloud to hold the scattered earth together so that it would not be sucked into the black hole.
Cloud Keeper
Guardian of the Spiraling Clouds
One decided to hand down this true history not in words but in “embroidery”.
Embroiderers
embroiderer
One decided to recreate this true history in his ears by collecting and directing fragments of "sounds" instead of words.
Conductor
musician
1.By looking at the "movement of the stone" to see if there are people who have strayed into the depths of the hole (the human world) or who have drifted from the other side, they can predict and track them. Did.
Stone Gazer/ Tracker
Iwami Prophet / Tracker
One decided to set up a barrier in the "boundary area" that exists on the way to the hole and stop those who tried to go to the other side at the water's edge.
The Judge
decision-maker
In this way, the cats, called the seven founders, built a palace around the "black hole" leading to the human world, and set up their own workrooms.
And from generation to generation, only cats with talents suitable for that room secretly took over the work.
It's been so long since the Founding Cats left the Palace that most people in Small Utopia don't even know what's going on on the Palace Island.
Of course, the existence of the human world beyond the black hole.
It's been a long time since humans left Small Utopia.
Unlike Small Utopia, in the world of humans, where time flows at a frightening speed, everything quickly perishes, disappears, is born again, and perishes again.
Before long, there was no one among the humans who knew the cats.
The cats decided to watch over the human world in a certain way. There are no creatures in the human world like those in Small Utopia. Instead, creatures called "kemono" lived.
The cats transformed themselves into four-legged "animals" and decided to visit the human world as "cats" and quietly observe them.
On the other side, the cats continued to love the humans who lived their short lives like burning candles, even though they felt that they were ephemeral.
Humans also deeply loved cats as "animals" as friends, companions, and family members. It may have been a memory of a long time ago when we spent happy times together.
Among the cats, only those with the talent can go to the other side.
Only cats that were led by fate came and went quietly. And while I was sleeping in the human world, I was able to return to Small Utopia.
The reason why cats sleep all the time is that they are spending their "life over there" while they are sleeping.
The lifespan of a "Kemono" in the human world is only a short time.
When the cat ends its life, it hides itself and returns to Small Utopia. Humans were deeply saddened by the missing cat.
Eventually, the cat will come to think that it wants to end its life by cuddling with humans in its final moments.
A cat that has done so can no longer return to Small Utopia as a "cat", but can be reborn as a "kemono cat" in the human world.
It seems that even those who have become cats in the human world may one day come to Scout from Small Utopia if they have the talent.
Your cat or the cat that has disappeared may actually be living happily in that world.
This short film is
A long time has passed since the worlds of cats and humans parted.
The main character is a 14-year-old cat who is an apprentice in the Gardener's Room, one of the rooms that took over the work of seven cats.
She is still unaware of the existence of the human world. However, while tending the maze in the garden every day, I developed a strong interest in the "something" hidden in the center of the maze. Eventually, unable to resist his curiosity, he sets out on his own to the end of the black hole.
This story is a story that depicts the first visit to the human world by that one cat.