At the waterline, Urashima Taro steps between a threatened turtle and the children surrounding it, turning an ordinary walk along the coast into the beginning of an extraordinary voyage.

A cluster of children has gathered at the shore, their sticks angled towards a turtle on the sand. Urashima approaches in fisherman dress and places himself between them and the animal. Behind the figures, blue shallows meet dark rocks, keeping the rescue rooted in the working coastline from which his journey begins.

This opening print treats the encounter as a decisive interruption rather than a grand heroic pose. Broad black contours organise the figures, while deep indigo water and warm paper tones lend the contemporary composition a weathered surface. It begins the six-scene series with a small human gesture: a fisherman choosing to return a vulnerable creature to the sea.