冒頭、映画は東日本大震災の津波の映像（国土交通省協力）で始まる。この映画のクライマックスで誕生する吉増剛造の新作「惑星に水の木が立つ」は、詩人の長い苦闘を経て完成した。吉増は2011年の東日本大震災以降、詩が書けずにいた。「人間のいのちの始まりに羊水があり、産湯があり、終わりに唇をしめら す末期の水がある（吉増談）」人間にとって命の源でもある「水」は古今東西、詩人にとって重要な題材となってきた。しかし大津波の爪痕を直に見た詩人は、すべてをはぎ取っていく「水」の衝撃に自らの言葉を失う。吉増は、詩を書く代わりに昭和の哲人・吉本隆明の詩を米粒大の文字で写経のように毎日書き写し始める。その不思議で魅力的な現場をカメラは捉える。本人が「怪物くん」と呼ぶ４年がかりで書かれた「詩の傍らで」は、 700枚近くに達した大作である。そこでは日本の代表的歌人・与謝野晶子（1878〜1942）の肉声が響き渡り、サヌカイトが鳴り、ついにはアクション・ペインティングの創始者ジャクソン・ポロック（米・ 1912〜1956）のようにインクを紙面にたたきつける異様な光景が広がって行く。書くという原稿を逸脱して一枚の紙に時間が堆積しオブジェのような状態を呈するのだ。それは長い時間の「手習い書」となり、新作への胎動へとつながった。あるとき、「京都には琵琶湖（日本一広い湖）と同じ水量の地下水がある」と知った詩人は京都の水脈に新たな詩の創作の活路を求める。詩人の触手は巨大な水のゆりかごをぶらさげている京都の水に届きはじめる。そこで吉増の前に現れたのがノーベル文学賞を受賞した川端康成の幻影だった。京都に逗留し創作活動に励んだ川端康成、その幻を見る才能に詩人は共振し、自らの詩の創作の糸口を手探りで見つけていく。ついに詩人の触覚が触れたのは東洋の大精霊である水の神、龍だった。吉増は水の運命の声を聴き、筆をとる。この映画で描かれる吉増剛造の物語は、創作の絶望の淵に立った詩人が「新たな生命を得ていく」道筋を示してくれる。その背景を川端康成のノーベル文学賞受賞の理由となった傑作「古都」のように京都の四季の風景、禅寺、枯山水が艶やかに彩っていく。

　The film begins with images of the tsunami that struck Japan during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (courtesy of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism). Gozo Yoshimasu’s latest work, “Water Trees Stand On A Planet,” born during the film’s climax, is the product of the poet’s long struggle. “Life of human begins in amniotic fluid, and once born there’s the first bath, and in the end there’s the matsugo-no-mizu, or water of the last moment (by Yoshimasu)” “Water”, which is the source of life for humans, has been an important theme for poets of all places and ages. However, after witnessing the scars caused by the great tsunami, Yoshimasu was traumatized by the idea that water can strip away everything. He lost his words. Unable to compose poetry, Yoshimasu instead started a daily routine of writing out, in tiny characters, the poetry of Takaaki Yoshimoto, a leading philosopher of the Showa period. It was almost like copying a sutra. The camera captures the strange, yet fascinating scene.Yoshimasu’s work, called “at the side (côtés) of poetry,” took 4 years to write and consists of close to 700 pages. He calls it “Kaibutsu-kun” or Dear Monster. The work includes the voice of famous Japanese poet Akiko Yosano (1878-1942), sounds of sanukite, and the bizarre act of dripping ink on paper, reminiscent of the drip-and-splash style of painting by American artist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956). A clear departure from the act of writing a manuscript, the poet lets time accumulate on a single sheet of paper, which in itself becomes a work of art. The work served as a long period of practice, sort of like a prologue that would later give birth to his new work. One day, the poet learns that a body of water, whose volume is equivalent to that of Lake Biwa (Japan’s largest lake), lies underneath Kyoto. It inspires him to find a new source of creation. Yoshimasu starts to reach out for the waters of Kyoto, which suspends the giant body of water like a cradle. Then, appearing in front of Yoshimasu is the phantom of Yasunari Kawabata, the novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. The poet was deeply moved by Kawabata’s ability to have visions while he strolled in Kyoto on his way to work, and sought clues for his own poetry. Eventually, Yoshimasu finds the answer in the dragon, the water deity and Great Spirit of the Orient. He listens to the voice of the water’s fate and picks up his brush. The story of Gozo Yoshimasu depicted in this film shows the journey of a poet who once lost all hope of writing poetry, but regained a new life. And just like in “The Old Capital,” Yasunari Kawabata’s masterpiece that helped him later with the Nobel Prize for Literature, the film is colorfully shot with scenes from the four seasons in Kyoto, a Zen temple, and a dry landscape.