Hiroi Michiaki: And what is this? Ahh! The Old Man Who Made the Dead Trees Blossom. Hm? The Old Man Who Made the Dead Trees Blossom?
Mrs. Hiroi: Yeah, it’s that.
Hiroi: Mm. Yeah. It’s The Old Man Who Made the Dead Trees Blossom.
Mrs. Hiroi: It spins around and around. If you spin it from the top.
Hiroi: Ummm, this is The Old Man Who Made the Dead Trees Blossom. When [the old man] saved an adorable dog, as thanks, um… it barked for him to dig [in this spot], and when he dug there large and small gold coins came out. And later, when he was pounding mochi, I think the mochi turned to gold. It turned to gold. And the wicked old man next door felt bitter towards him. So he burned the mortar and mallet [for pounding mochi]. And the [first] old man took the ashes and scattered them and flowers bloomed from the withered trees there. And he was praised by his local lord. It’s an old legend… that goes like that.
***
For Japanese, see this page.
For video, see this page.