We start the musical with Kei welcoming home her little brother Sammy, and helping with the Wishing Tree celebration. The first time we see Kei sing is in the song, “Wishes on the Wind”. In which her family celebrates the harvest and each of them hang wishes upon a Wishing Tree.

For my brother I wish

For great journeys and adventures

To see the world

Till he finally misses home

-Kei Kimura, Wishes on the Wind

Here we see Kei wishing, not for herself, but for her brother. Although she loves her brother, she dislikes having to act a mother to him because theirs died in childbed giving birth to him. She reinforces this with her next line in the song;

I wish that I didn't have to play the mother

Though it would tear Papa apart

-Kei Kimura, Wishes on the Wind

This song serves as our introduction to the Kimuras and their community. But for Kei that means we learn where she starts, who she was before Heart Mountain. We know that she feels contempt for her stillness and her current situation, but also feels that she cannot leave to pursue greater things because she feels she is the only thing keeping her family together.

Now that we know where Kei comes from at the beginning of her story and her journey, we can look at who she will become, what that means, and why by choosing herself and standing up she did the right thing. In order to understand why Kei has “Women’s Courage”, we must look at where that term comes from.

I first heard the term “Women’s Courage” in the way I am using it in A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. The phrase refers to the kind of courage that a mother has, protecting her children by any means necessary. It refers to the courage of a young woman rescuing her lover from her own father’s dungeons. The kind of courage it takes to be a woman and survive in a patriarchal society. But not the kind of courage that is a woman rebelling and being more masculine, a woman having courage and nerve while also being feminine and proud of her womanhood gives her woman’s courage. The term in the novels originates from a passage in A Clash of Kings.

Perhaps I did not want to be the only one who knew the dark truth of what had happened there, Catelyn thought. "Brienne, I have taken many wellborn ladies into my service over the years, but never one like you. I am no battle commander."

"No, but you have courage. Not battle courage perhaps but . . . I don't know . . . a kind of woman's courage. And I think, when the time comes, you will not try and hold me back. Promise me that. That you will not hold me back from Stannis."

Catelyn could still hear Stannis saying that Robb's turn too would come in time. It was like a cold breath on the back of her neck. "When the time comes, I will not hold you back."

-Catelyn V, ACOK

I firmly believe that Kei has always had this courage deep within her all along, and that her journey in Heart Mountain is not about gaining courage through Frankie, through Oji-Chan, or anyone else. But learning and finding courage that she has always had within her.

Next she shows us that, even if she may not know it yet, she has the courage to not only be a force of light for others but also lead them and lift them up.

It will all be alright

There’s a way through this night

Stay strong

On this long road

Gaman, Gaman

Sturdy and sure, keep faith and endure

Gaman, Gaman

Hold your head high and carry on, Gaman

-Kei Kimura, Gaman

As she sings the people around her in her community join her naturally, showing that she may not be as flashy or charismatic as Frankie when getting people to join her, or as loud and proud as Sammy, but people naturally flock to her leadership anyways. Her journey was never about gaining courage. She has always had it. People naturally flocking to her lead proves that even if she cannot see that courage in herself yet, others do.

We see this trust in Kei again in “Get in the Game”. Sammy starts singing, but people only join in and agree with him once they see Kei is behind him. At this point in the story Kei still believes that she must still herself and hold her family together, not truly putting her effort into anything but peacemaking and family. Excluding herself.

Keiko, always think of other. When you mommy die you grow up so fast. Take care Sammy. Help with farm. Why, you no go to dance? Have fun.

-Oji-Chan Kimura, Ishi Kara Ishi

It’s not until Oji-Chan points out that she never focuses on anyone but herself does she realize that maybe she does deserve to do something fun once in a while. Oji-Chan makes a paper flower out of his loyalty oath and gives it to Kei. This symbolizes Kei herself blossoming, and finally starting to become who she wants to be. She goes to the dance, Kei has budded. She has started to find the courage she has always wanted, but never realized she already had. Finally, when her brother seemingly isn’t at the dance can she focus on herself. Do what she wants for a change. So she dances with Frankie.

The only way to move forward is to first look back. Kei does this in her solo song, “Higher”. She realizes that she is finally becoming who she wanted to be as a child. That she can become the person she set aside to help raise Sammy. To be herself. Her true self.

There once was a little girl playing on a swing set

That her grandpa built by the sycamore tree near the rusty farmyard gate

While her mama pinned the laundry the little girl would cry out loud

"Push me higher, push me higher, push me I can't wait"

Her mama would push a couple times but there was laundry still to do

So she learned to use her own strength, pull her own weight, push on through

-Kei Kimura, Higher

The girl would push a couple times but there was laundry still to do

-Kei Kimura, Higher

I believe that this is the song where Kei realizes she’s falling for Frankie. That what she wants, is her, is him. What I said before, “The only way to move forward is to first look back”, goes along with the kind of changes that Kei goes through as a person at Heart Mountain. When Sammy is leaving, she is finally free to stop for a moment. To stop the constant flow of her life that is moving so fast yet never going anywhere, and look back at her past.

How the years passed quickly by that girl's a woman still afraid to try.

Is it too late to start again, get back that feeling I had then?

But now my life is upside down

There's no more farm, there's no more town, and no use asking why

But I won't let it pass me by

Life won't pass me by

-Kei Kimura, Higher

And then, at last, take a step forward. In the direction she wants to go in. Her life has taken a new turn, new opportunities arise. And maybe this time, with her newfound courage.

In John Truby’s The Anatomy of a Story, he states that he believes that there are, at minimum, the same 7 steps in every story. Weakness and Need, Problem, Desire, Opponent, Plan, Battle, Self-Revelation, and New Equilibrium. The self-revelation of the hero can come before or after the final battle in the story.

By going through the crucible of battle, the hero usually undergoes change. For the first time, he learns who he really is. He tears aside his façade he has lived behind and sees, in a shocking way, his true self. Facing the truth about himself either destroys him or makes him stronger.

If the self-revelation is moral as well as psychological, the hero also learns the proper way to act toward others. A great self revelation should be sudden, for better dramatic effect; shattering for the hero, whether the self-revelation is positive or negative; and new— it must be something the hero did not know about himself until that moment. Much of the quality of your story is based on the quality of the self-revelation. Everything leads to this point.

-John Truby, The Anatomy of a Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

Kei’s self-realization is that she has always had courage within her. Her self-realization is positive, her journey has changed her for the better. Kei begins her self-revelation in “Higher” but finishes in “Our Time Now” with her verse near the end.

It's my time to live a life of my own

But that doesn't mean I will spend it alone

I won't be bound by what others allow!

My choices are mine alone to define

It's my time

My time now!

-Kei Kimura, Our Time Now

The first two lines in Kei’s solo verse in “Our Time Now” originally refers to her choosing Frankie and choosing to spend the rest of her life with him. She chooses women’s courage, she chooses bravery, and she chooses herself in her self-revelation. But when Frankie is taken into government custody, Kei's life is once more thrown upside down. But this time she must make a choice. People flock to her lead now more than ever. Kei’s strength and courage is finally seen by everyone around her. While the battle of Heart Mountain is still fully underway, the “Battle” portion of Kei’s story is done. Her moral decision is here.

Once the hero learns the proper way to act in the self-revelation, he must make a decision. The moral decision is the moment when he chooses between two courses of action, each of which stands for a set of values and way of living that affects the other. The moral decision is the proof of what the hero has learned in the self revelation. By taking this action, the hero shows the audience what he has become.

-John Truby, The Anatomy of a Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

Now in her moral decision she is using the leadership position that people naturally give her to carry out that decision. Helping Frankie and the others to get out of jail. She and the other women who were left behind write letters to newspapers, to get their story out there and in the local news. Kei’s moral decision is about herself and fully coming into the leadership position her people have given her, but it is also done out of love. Where lots of women's courage comes from. By choosing Frankie over her family she chooses what she wants to choose.

What am I supposed to do,

Pick up the pieces without you

The world is upside down

And they have come and torn my heart away

I'm done with standing by,

Now it's time to do or die

I will fly

-Kei Kimura, Resist(Reprise)

“Resist” was Frankie’s song, but “Resist(Reprise)” is Kei’s. Frankie’s rebellion is a failed one, but Kei succeeds. She is stronger now. Stronger than he was. She has to be. She uses a version of his refrain “Resist. We’ll face the fire.” in her reprise, but hers is more sturdy. Kei’s goes as follows: “Resist. Let’s face the fire.” She has always been less flashy than Frankie, but more trusted. Their rebellion songs reflect that.

As Kei and the others prepare to enact their rebellion the women around Kei start to sing while she finishes the song.

Resist, let's face the fire

Resist, we're climbing higher

(Resist, resist, resist, resist)

(Gaman, gaman, gaman, gaman)

(Gaman, gaman, gaman, gaman)

-Kei Kimura and Allegiance Ensemble, Resist(Reprise)

This loops around to the song “Gaman” at the start of the musical where Kei becomes a beacon of light and hope for her community by rising above and trying to help everyone stay calm during a situation of great strife. Thereafter the refrain “Gaman” becomes a symbol of Kei’s womanly leadership in the musical.

I wish I could say that Kei’s new equilibrium comes in “Stronger Than Before” but it doesn’t. While that song is important in Kei’s story I believe that it’s main purpose in the 7 step story is Hannah’s self-revelation. Kei’s true new equilibrium comes only after the song “Itetsuita”.

At the new equilibrium, everything returns to normal, and all desire is gone. Except there is now one major difference.

-John Truby, The Anatomy of a Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

That major difference in Kei’s story is in herself, but it is also in her world. The world was never the same after the bomb on Hiroshima was dropped. Although Japanese-Americans were let out of internment camps because the war was over.

At 8:15 AM Tokyo time, the B-29 bomber, Enola Gay...

Itetsuita (it was frozen)

A single atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima...

Sugoku natsui (too blisteringly hot)

Described as incomprehensible devastation...

Dozo miyou (here, look)

And we pray this promises a quick end to the war

Kaze o miyou (look at the wind)

Itetsuita (it was frozen)

Itetsuita (it was frozen)

-Allegiance Ensemble, Itetsuita

Life has technically returned to normal, but there is now a major difference.

SAMMY HOLDS BABY HANAKO