On October 14, 2026, Japanese duo Yorushika released the music video for "Kumo wo Nuke Kazashita e Watashi Dake" ("Only I Through the Clouds and Downwind"), and fans immediately noticed something different: the visual narrative draws directly from Chinese mythology, specifically the ancient creature known as Hundun. For those of us who've followed Yorushika's poetic, often literary approach to their work, this latest collaboration with animator Takashi Kato opens up a rich new layer of meaning that goes deeper than typical anime tie-in singles.
The song serves as the opening theme for the third season of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries), and the pairing makes sense when we understand what Hundun represents and how the music video translates that mythology into a deeply personal journey about sensation, loss, and rediscovery.
The Quick Version
- Yorushika released the official music video for "Kumo wo Nuke Kazashita e Watashi Dake" ("雲を抜け風下へ私だけ") on October 14, 2026
- Animator Takashi Kato directed the MV, drawing on the Chinese mythological creature Hundun (渾沌) as its central theme
- The video depicts a creature without senses gradually recovering hearing, taste, smell, and sight during a journey
- The song serves as the opening theme for Season 3 of The Apothecary Diaries anime
- Composer n-buna incorporated the sound of the erhu, a traditional Chinese two-stringed instrument, into the track
Who or What Is Hundun in Chinese Mythology?
To understand what Yorushika and Takashi Kato are working with here, we need to look at Hundun itself. In ancient Chinese thought, Hundun represents primordial chaos—the formless, undifferentiated state that existed before the cosmos took shape. The creature appears in several classical Chinese texts, most famously in the Zhuangzi, a foundational Taoist philosophical work from around the 4th century BCE.
In the Zhuangzi parable, Hundun is described as a faceless being, a creature without the seven openings that humans possess: no eyes, no ears, no nostrils, no mouth. Two emperors, representing the ordered world, decide to "help" Hundun by boring these seven holes into him—one opening each day. On the seventh day, after receiving all seven apertures and thus all five senses plus the abilities to breathe and eat, Hundun dies. The parable is typically read as a warning about the violence of imposing order and differentiation onto natural wholeness, or about how consciousness and sensory experience can be a kind of loss of original unity.
What makes Yorushika's interpretation compelling is that they've inverted the tragedy. Instead of a creature dying from gaining senses, the music video follows a being who has lost them and gradually recovers them—a journey toward wholeness rather than away from it.
The Story Inside the Music Video
Takashi Kato's animation for "Kumo wo Nuke Kazashita e Watashi Dake" follows a creature that begins its journey deprived of the five senses. As the narrative unfolds across the video's runtime, we watch this being travel through painterly, dreamlike landscapes—grasslands that stretch endlessly, skies filled with dramatic clouds—and slowly reclaim what was lost.
The senses return in a specific order: first hearing, then taste, followed by smell, and finally sight. Each recovered sense is portrayed not just as a functional restoration but as a moment of profound joy and reconnection with the world. Kato's visual style, which fans of his previous Yorushika collaborations will recognize, leans heavily into hand-drawn, almost watercolor-like textures that give the whole piece a storybook quality—fitting for a tale that's essentially a fable about perception and experience.
According to production details, n-buna and Kato worked closely together on the story and structure of the music video, ensuring that the mythology and the song's emotional arc aligned. N-buna has said that the song originated from the phrase "kumo wo nuke kazashita e watashi dake" appearing in his mind, along with an image of vast grasslands. That openness—both literal and metaphorical—carries through the entire piece, and the addition of the erhu's distinctive, slightly mournful tone adds a layer of cultural specificity that ties the sound to the Chinese mythological inspiration.
Why This Collaboration Matters for Yorushika Fans
This isn't the first time Takashi Kato has brought Yorushika's songs to life visually. He previously directed music videos for some of the duo's most beloved tracks: "Tsuki ni Hoeru" ("月に吠える"), "Daiichiya" ("第一夜"), "Aporia" ("アポリア"), and "Kai" ("櫂"). Each of those videos demonstrated Kato's gift for turning abstract emotion and literary reference into concrete, moving images, and his work has become inseparable from how many of us experience Yorushika's music.
What sets "Kumo wo Nuke Kazashita e Watashi Dake" apart is the ambition of the mythological framework. While Yorushika has always engaged with Japanese literature—their name itself references a line from a poem—this marks a more explicit engagement with Chinese tradition, both musically (through the erhu) and narratively (through Hundun). For a band whose entire aesthetic revolves around the interplay of sound, image, and literary depth, this expansion feels like a natural evolution rather than a departure.
The song's role as the opening for The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 also adds context. That series, set in a fictionalized ancient Chinese imperial court, deals constantly with themes of knowledge, perception, and the ways people navigate a world where what you can see, taste, or smell might be the difference between life and death. A protagonist who recovers her senses one by one makes for a potent metaphor in that setting.
The Fragility of Life and the Joy of Sensation
One of the most resonant aspects of the music video is how it balances two seemingly contradictory emotional registers: the joy of regaining sensation and the ever-present awareness of life's fragility. Kato's animation, with its delicate brushwork and shifting, impermanent landscapes, never lets us forget that what is gained can also be lost. The creature's journey is triumphant, yes, but it's also tinged with the knowledge that existence—sensory, embodied existence—is always temporary.
This duality runs through much of Yorushika's work. N-buna's lyrics often circle around themes of memory, loss, and the bittersweet beauty of transient moments, while suis's vocal delivery manages to sound both hopeful and heartbreakingly aware of impermanence. "Kumo wo Nuke Kazashita e Watashi Dake" continues that tradition, asking us to consider what it means to experience the world fully, knowing that the experience itself won't last forever.
In a way, the inversion of the Hundun myth becomes even more poignant when we think about it this way. The original parable warned against the violence of creating distinction and consciousness; Yorushika's version celebrates the return of those very things, while acknowledging that they come with their own kind of ending built in. It's a deeply human—and humane—way to engage with an ancient story.
What People Are Saying
"The way the MV shows the creature slowly opening its eyes and seeing color for the first time broke me. Takashi Kato understands how to make abstract concepts hit emotionally, and pairing it with this song was perfect."
— Fan reaction on social media, October 14, 2026
"I didn't know anything about Hundun before watching this, but now I've gone down a whole rabbit hole reading about Chinese mythology. This is what I love about Yorushika—they make you want to learn more."
— Listener comment on YouTube, October 14, 2026
"The erhu in this song is gorgeous. It's subtle but it completely changes the texture of the track, and it ties so well into the Chinese mythology theme. N-buna's attention to detail never misses."
— Music review comment, October 14, 2026
"Every time Kato and Yorushika work together, I know I'm going to cry. This one got me with the moment the creature finally hears the wind. Just beautiful storytelling through animation."
— Fan post on music forum, October 14, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I watch the music video for "Kumo wo Nuke Kazashita e Watashi Dake"?
The official music video was released on October 14, 2026. While the specific platform details haven't been confirmed in available sources, Yorushika typically releases their official videos on YouTube and major streaming services.
What is Hundun in Chinese mythology?
Hundun is a creature from ancient Chinese philosophy and mythology representing primordial chaos. In the most famous telling from the Zhuangzi, Hundun is a faceless being without sensory openings who dies after being given eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Yorushika's music video reimagines this myth, showing a creature recovering these senses rather than losing its life to them.
Who is Takashi Kato and what other Yorushika videos has he made?
Takashi Kato is an animation director who has created music videos for several of Yorushika's most iconic songs, including "Tsuki ni Hoeru" ("月に吠える"), "Daiichiya" ("第一夜"), "Aporia" ("アポリア"), and "Kai" ("櫂"). His painterly, emotionally evocative style has become closely associated with Yorushika's visual identity.
What anime is this song the opening for?
"Kumo wo Nuke Kazashita e Watashi Dake" serves as the opening theme for the first cour of Season 3 of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries), an anime set in a fictionalized ancient Chinese imperial court.
What instrument gives the song its distinctive sound?
N-buna incorporated the erhu, a traditional Chinese two-stringed bowed instrument, into the composition. The erhu's expressive, slightly melancholic tone complements both the Chinese mythological theme and the song's emotional arc about loss and recovery.
A Journey Worth Taking
Yorushika's "Kumo wo Nuke Kazashita e Watashi Dake" stands as one of the duo's most ambitious visual projects to date, bridging Japanese musical storytelling with Chinese mythological tradition in a way that feels organic rather than forced. Takashi Kato's animation gives the ancient Hundun myth new emotional weight, transforming a parable about the danger of differentiation into a celebration of sensory experience and the joy—however fragile—of being fully alive in the world.
For those of us who've followed Yorushika's work, this release confirms what we've always known: n-buna and suis are deeply committed to creating art that asks us to think, feel, and see differently. The music video for this song invites us on a journey through grasslands and clouds, through silence and sound, through blindness and sight—and in doing so, reminds us what a gift it is to experience anything at all.
The song premiered as part of The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 on October 14, 2026, and the music video is now available for fans worldwide. Whether you come for the mythology, the animation, or simply the achingly beautiful music, there's something here worth discovering—one sense at a time.
