Seasons of New Leaves: Chapter 1[]
| List of Novel Chapters | Part I: Chapter 02 |
This articles contains a summary of the first chapter of part 1 of the novel Shin Sekai Yori, "Seasons of New Leaves: Chapter 1". This chapter is 11 pages long.
Summary[]
- The chapter starts with an introduction to the memories of Saki Watanabe, the protagonist and narrator of the story, who is writing down her life experiences for future generations to read, as she and her own generation worry about repeating mistakes from the past as time passes. Saki monologues about blank spaces in her memory, as more than ten years have passed since the end of the tragedy she wants to write about, and although she went to ask people who were there at the time about the details she found to lack, many parts of their memories seemed to contradict each other. Due to this, Saki eventually came to the conclusion that there does not exist a single person whose memory is not distorted to hide their own faults, which she promptly writes down, amused but also concerned about the fact that she cannot exclude herself from this discovery. She apologizes in advance to the reader as she believes her writing will be distorted by unintentional self-justification. Furthermore, she plans to bury a copy of her writings in a time capsule underground, the draft being written on a kind of paper which claims to be anti-oxidizing paper that can last a millennium. Three copies will be left for future generations. Saki also instructs the reader to keep the record a secret as she fears that the government, whether a future one or her own, will want the record to be censored or destroyed.
- Saki then introduces herself. Saki was born in Kamisu 66 on December 10th 210. Saki's birth was unexpected as her mother was in her late thirties and this was considered to be a late pregnancy. Saki's mother, Mizuho Watanabe, held the position of librarian and far greater responsibilities then Saki's father, Takashi Sugiura, who was still quite busy in the role of mayor. When Saki was born with her umbilical cord around her neck scaring a new birthing assistant who ultimately saved Saki from suffocation. Two weeks after Saki's birth Maria Akizuki was born with the help of the same birthing assistant and with the experience for Saki's birth helped Maria through a much more serious case of the same condition. This situation of Saki's birth directly saving Maria's life first make Saki elated but later leaves her with complex feelings as she laments that if Maria was never born there would never been such a huge loss of life.
- Saki describes Kamisu 66 as consisting of seven villages and spread over a fifty kilometer circumference. Surrounded by a thick straw rope with zigzagging streamers called the Holy Barrier, Kamisu 66 is separated from the outside world. The purpose of this rope is to shield the town from impure things. Saki remembers asking her father what impure things were kept out by the rope. Her father responded with queerats, copycats, and blowdogs. Acknowledging that the last two may be fake, Saki's father warns her that while queerats are tasked with helping the villages with various chores they are not allowed around children because the adults fear false obedience from them. Saki's father also adds that the barrier keeps out karma demons and fiends noting that neither have been seen in the late hundred and fifty years and telling Saki never to go out of the barrier.
- She then tells the tale of the fiend and the tale of the karam demon noting both stories are the adult versions told to those in Sage Academy.
- [to read the summary of these tales go to Stories within Shin Sekai Yori]
- Expanding on the description of Kamisu 66 Saki states that the seven villages are Waterwheel, Hayring, Pinewood, Whitesand, Outlook, Gold, and Oakgrove. Hayring is located on the eastern bank of the Tone River, which cuts thou most of Kamisu 66. Pinewood is to the north in the middle of a forest and consists of mostly big houses. Whitesand is on the coast to the east where the forest opens up. In the northwest is Outlook which is on the other side of the Tone. Oakgrove is the westmost part of Kamisu 66. In the south are three villages Gold, Waterwheel and Hayring. Gold lined with rice paddies. Hayring only mentioned as next to Waterwheel. Waterwheel is Saki's home village. Her village is covered by dozens of canals off springing from the Tone, these canals have several uses. Saki notes that water is clean enough to bathe in but not drink and the canals are the primary mode of transportation. The canals power all the water wheels in Waterwheel. Thou all the villages have water wheels to alleviate mundane work like hulling rice and milling wheat Waterwheel has a significant amount more then the others. Electricity is also generated by some water wheels, the use of the electricity is heavily regulated by the Code of Ethics. One of the only uses for the electricity is for powering loudspeakers to place "Going Home" which is from Dvorak's "New World Symphony". "Going Home" plays every day just before sunset as a signal to the children playing in the fields to return home. This song also has lyrics which saki includes as:
- [English Version]
- The sun sets over the distant mountains
- Stars stud the sky
- Today’s work is finished
- My heart feels light In the cool evening breeze
- Come, gather around
- Gather around
- The bonfire burning brightly in the darkness
- Now dies down
- Sleep comes easily
- Inviting me to disappear
- Gently watching over us
- Come, let us dream
- Let us dream
- Saki then recalls a memory from her childhood where quite a few other children and she were playing a game of capture the flag. The other children Saki named as being there were Satoru, Maria, Ryou, Reiko, and Shun (Shun's dog, Subaru, was also present). The children had been playing all day and when "Going Home" started playing they began arguing which team would be the winner or if they would call it a tie. Shun being the referee was asked to declare the game a tie and after being distracted for a moment declared the game a draw. As everyone starts leaving Shun points out a minoshiro making it's way through a meadow. Saki says in this moment at sunset standing with Shun, though it may be a dramatized memory, was the first time she felt a "sweet yet painful feeling" in her chest. She refers to Shun as her first love and thinking of him still gives her a warm feeling. This was her final memory of life in a flawless world, saying everything would soon be swallowed by a bottomless void of sadness and emptiness.
Important Events[]
- Saki and Maria's birth
- Introduction and description of Kamisu 66 and the seven villages
- Telling of tale of fiend and tale of karma demon
- Introduction to several important characters
Characters[]
The following is a list of the characters mentioned in this chapter.
- Saki Watanabe
- Takashi Sugirua
- Mizuho Watanabe
- Maria Akizuki
- Satoru Asahina
- Ryou Inaba
- Reiko Amano
- Shun Aonuma
- Subaru (Shun's dog)
See also[]