Six-year-old Mako picked rape blossoms and gave them to her favorite grandmother, Miyo. The smell of the rape blossoms reminded Grandma Miyo of Sato-saa, a blind female she met shortly after the end of the war. Satosaa was a blind female goze (blind female travelling entertainer) who came to Miyo-chan's village in spring and lived off the rice she received. Before the spread of television, once a year she would come to the village to perform shamisen music and songs, which was an irreplaceable source of joy for the people.

The culture of goze (blind women), who left their parents to undergo rigorous training as blind girls, is a benevolent culture that remained in Niigata Prefecture until the 1970s. The picture book “Goze-sa no Haru” was adapted into a film by Rena Masuyama, daughter of the author Yoshiko Masuyama, as part of a cultural assistance project by Niigata Prefecture in 2024.

Naoko Kayamori, who was taught by Haru Kobayashi, the last blind female goze, played the role of the goze master, while Rieko Hirosawa, Kayamori's pupil and a blind blind blind female goze singer, played the role of Satosaa in her own image. The songs of that time remain deep in the recesses of her 70-year old grandmother.

（ストーリー）

6歳になるマコちゃんは、大好きなみよおばあちゃんに、菜の花を摘んで渡した。菜の花の香りを嗅いだみよばあちゃんは、戦後間もないころ、であった瞽女さのサトさあを思い出す。サトさあは、春になるとみよちゃんの村にやってきて、お米をもらうなどして暮らしていた盲目の女性旅芸人、瞽女だった。テレビが広まる前、一年に一度村で三味線演奏や唄を披露してくれる瞽女の存在は、人々にとってかけがえのない喜びだった。

目が見えない少女時代に親元を別れて厳しい修行をしていた瞽女文化は、1970年代まで新潟県に残っていた慈悲深い文化だ。令和6年新潟県文化補助事業として絵本「瞽女さの春」を原作者ますやまよしこの娘、増山麗奈が映像化。最後の瞽女小林ハルさんに指導を受けた萱森直子が瞽女の親方役を演じ、萱森の弟子であり盲目の瞽女唄うたいの広沢里枝子がサトさあ役を自身の姿に重ね熱演した。その時の唄が、７０過ぎたみよばあちゃんの奥深くに残っている。