Tree of Promise

Tree of Promise
Name
Kanji	約束の樹
Romaji	Yakusoku no Ki
Information
Air Date	February 2, 2009 (JP) December 18, 2022 (US)
Episode	18
Adapted From	Special 06
Opening Song	Ano Hi Time Machine
Ending Song	Aishiteru
Episode Guide
Previous A Chick Hatches	Next The Maiden's Circle
List of Natsume Yuujinchou Episodes
Episode Gallery

Tree of Promise is the fifth episode of the second season and the eighteenth episode overall of the Natsume Yuujinchou anime series. It first aired on February 2, 2009.

Summary

Natsume encounters a spirit who was enslaved by his grandmother Reiko 50 years ago by writing his name on a torn page from his grandmother's Book of Friends, and tying to a tree in a forest. Can Natsume help locate the torn page? And what was Grandma Reiko's intention of tying it to a tree?

Plot

Natsume is standing at the end of a bridge with his classmates, Kitamoto and Nishimura. They tell him he looks sick when he spots a little green-haired boy standing in the middle of the bridge. The boy runs away after Natsume and his friends look down the bridge.

Natsume is checking his temperature at home and finds out he is sick. The little green-haired boy is seen outside the window and Natsume brings him in to talk. The boy whose name is Kirinoha, doesn't talk until Nyanko-sensei yells at him behind.

Kirinoha explains that half a century ago, he met Reiko and asked her about the ocean. After claiming his name, Reiko ties the contract high up a tree, telling Kirinoha that if he tries to get it before 50 years time, the world will be destroyed.

Natsume, Madara and Kirinoha search for the contract in the forest. Tanuma helps along with Jun, Satoru and Atsushi though they don't know it belongs to a youkai apart from Tanuma. Hinoe also shows up after hearing about it when Natsume collapses soon after.

Natsume's friends say goodbye to Touko after dropping him off by the house. While Hinoe is looking after Natsume, Kirinoha blames himself for Natsume's sickness. Hinoe tells him to not put Natsume's efforts to waste, remembering how Reiko used to be reckless too.

Characters in Order of Appearance

• Takashi Natsume
• Satoru Nishimura
• Atsushi Kitamoto
• Kirinoha
• Madara
• Reiko Natsume (flashback)
• Kaname Tanuma
• Jun Sasada
• Hinoe
• Touko Fujiwara
• Chukyuu (A and B)

Trivia

• The story of Kirinoha only occurs in the anime, while the part when Hinoe telling the others about her first meeting with Reiko was adapted from Special 6 in Volume 6 of the manga series.
• The episode itself is "The Promised Tree."