In the Japanese countryside, not far from Nara, Machiko, a nurse with a sad and worried look on her face, begins a new job in a retirement home. There, she meets Shigeki, an older, somewhat eccentric man who cannot seem to get over the death of his wife, Mako, thirty-three years before. The Mourning Forest (2007) begins with a long shot of dense foliage, with the sound of bells in the background. In the next shot, a procession, at first hidden by tall grass, slowly makes its way through the fields. A group of men take down a tree, then carefully prepare and assemble chopsticks and wooden rings that will serve as offerings. The films cross-cuts back to the procession, which reaches its destination at the edge of a tea field. Then, the camera enters a dark and humid forest. A few minutes later, Machiko, back at work at the retirement home, lights an incense stick using the flame of a candle. Nearby, the photograph of a smiling young child can be seen. In ascetic silence, she prays before the altar for the child she has lost. Right from the start, The Mourning Forest presents the issue of loss. In respectful silence, it raises the question of getting over the death of the Other, of going on without them. As Jacques Derrida said:

The first part of The Mourning Forest shows bodies that are uncomfortable, but does not insist on the pain inflicted by sorrow. Naomi Kawase favours long shots of rice fields, with the forest, on the horizon, as a natural barrier. The retirement home is set in a remote area, surrounded by the generosity and harmony of nature.