Influenced by Ōkami, Shita-kiri Suzume or Tongue-Cut Sparrow is a Japanese tale about an elderly couple and a sparrow. It tells of an old man who was walking through the woods one day to find an injured sparrow. He takes it home and nurses it back to health, feeding it rice to his wife's dismay. She is told to care for it one day in his place, but she leaves instead only to come back to find the sparrow ate all of her starch. Angered, she cuts out the sparrow's tongue and scares it off back to the mountains. The old man goes back to look for it and finds an inn within a bamboo forest that houses the Sparrow Clan. He is given the choice between a small or large basket. He takes the smaller one and goes home, later finding treasure in it. The wife hears of this larger basket and climbs up the mountain to retrieve it. She is told not to open it until she is safe at home, to which she scoffs at and opens said basket anyway. Inside there are monsters, and this frightens the old woman. She runs down the mountain, but ends up falling to her death in her recklessness.

This was my first time using watercolor paints, and I can safely say that they are not something I can fully enjoy. Regardless, it was a neat experience and hopefully I will come back to them sometime.