This piece harkens to a Japanese folk character known in legends as well as plays as the Yamauba or Yamamba (Mountain Hag). This specifically references the Noh play in which a lovely courtesan plays the role of the Yamauba. She decides to travel over a dangerous mountain, the very mountain where the Buddha was said to have traveled. She faced many dangers on the mountain and in one part of the journey, she meets a hospitable old woman who offers to take her in. The old woman turns out to be the very youkai (fey) that the courtesan portrayed: the Yamauba and the play ends with the Yamauba doing an entrancing dance.
 
Another story about the Yamauba (likely invented by the sake industry) that one winter day a year the Yamauba descends from the mountain in order to buy up, tons and tons of sake!