Sometime after six o'clock in the morning, with the temperature just five or six degrees centigrade even though it is still early winter, Takeuchi Kazuo rises. He first opens the doors to the Temple of the King of the Underworld and burns incense for the spirit tablets in Reliquary Hall, and then takes a bamboo broom and begins sweeping under the dark sky, now hinting blue.
早上六點多，雖只是初冬，氣溫卻只有攝氏五、六度，竹內一男習慣在這時候起床，先打開地藏王廟門，給安骨堂的牌位上香，然後拿著竹帚子，在暗中透藍的天色下打掃。