Events

This was the first piece directed by Yoshito Ohno after Tatsumi Hijikata's sudden death in January 1986. From this point on, Yoshito directed all of Kazuo Ohno's works. The performance consisted of a solo by Kazuo, a solo by Yoshito, and a duet inspired by Claude Monet's Water Lilies. It premiered at Theater der Welt 87 (Theatre of the World 87) in Stuttgart in June 1987. It then premiered in Japan in August of the same year at the Ginza Saison Theatre, as part of the Memorial Performance for Tatsumi Hijikata: Yameru Maihime (Ailing Dancer). With some changes, it was performed 87 times up until 1997.

Yoshito Ohno recalled that he decided to use a few tunes from Annie Locke's album Portraits as a core and created the piece around it. In Kazuo Ohno's essay about the last scene Morning Greeting, he wrotes: I believe that the garden of Monet's Water Lilies is his portrait.
Several songs from Annie Locke's album Portrait were used in the work. Yoshito Ohno later recollected that he used these songs as the base, creating the rest of the work around them. In Kazuo Ohno's essay on the final scene - Morning Greeting - he wrote, ‘I believe that Monet's Water Lilies are a self-portrait of himself'.

Scene breakdown of Water Lilies as performed in Toronto, Canada in September 1990:
1) A Woman Floating in Halley's Comet
2) Is This Flower a Baby, a Youth, or an Old Man?
3) The Bridge of Heaven
4) Unfinished Thoughts
5) Pollen of Life
6) Morning Greeting