Beautiful story, heart-breaking as usual.
Originated from: Tsuru Nyōbō
In "The Crane Wife", a man marries a woman who is in fact a crane disguised as a human. To make money the crane-woman plucks her own feathers to weave silk brocade which the man sells, but she become increasingly ill as she does so. When the man discovers his wife's true identity and the nature of her illness, she leaves him. There are also a number of Japanese stories about men who married kitsune, or fox spirits in human form (as women in these cases), though in these tales the wife's true identity is a secret even from her husband. She stays willingly until her husband discovers the truth, at which point she abandons him. (Wikipedia)
This is "The Crane Wife". There's another one which involved an elderly couple instead of a man, called "Crane's Return of a Favour". Not as touching as the wife but hey, it reaches your heart.
(Photos from YouTube)
