死(し)への恐怖(きょうふ)から逃げ出し(にげだし)、裏山で(うらやまで)「生きよう(いきよう)」と決意(けつい)した

In the early morning of July 2, 1950, Mizoguchi set fire to the Golden Pavilion. Staring at the fiercely rising flames, he was supposed to die with the pavilion, but ran away out of fear of death, choosing to survive on the mountain behind. Looking at the burning pavilion from afar, puffing a cigarette and swearing in his heart to 'live,' the ending leaves a profound resonance as a strange affirmation of life at the end of destruction.