Yoshimura writes in a sparse almost haiku style, moving from season to season; showing the life cycle of the people and nature around them.

“Shipwrecks” is the story of a medieval Japanese fishing village where the inhabitants are just trying to survive from the sardine season to the squid season to the salt making season during which they use the night time fires under the enormous salt cauldrons to lure foundering ships onto the deadly reefs where the cargos can be captured. Without the loss of the merchant ship owner, the villagers would starve, the fishing and salt making would stop and the trade to the inland villages would cease. Everything and everyone is connected through birth and death, loss and gain, feast and famine.