The Noh Plays of Japan (25 page)

She set out for the mountains, carrying fruit and wine. Having seduced the Rishi, she persuaded him to follow her to Benares. Just outside the town she lay down, saying that she was too tired to go a step further. "Then I will carry you pickaback," said the Rishi.

And so Shanta fulfilled her promise.

In the Noh play (which is by Komparu Zembo Motoyasu 14531532) the Rishi has overpowered the Rain-dragons, and shut them up in a cave. Shanta, a noble lady of Benares, is sent to tempt him. The Rishi yields to her and loses his magic power. There comes a mighty rumbling from the cave.

CHORUS

Down blows the mountain wind with a wild gust,
The sky grows dark,
The rock-cave quakes,
Huge boulders crash on every side;
The dragons' forms appear.

IKKAKU

Then the Rishi in great alarm—

CHORUS

Then the Rishi in great alarm
Pursued them with a sharp sword.
And the Dragon King
Girt with the armor of wrath,
Waving a demon blade,
Fought with him for a little while.
But the Rishi had lost his magic.
Weaker and weaker he grew, till at last he lay upon the ground.
Then the Dragon King joyfully
Pierced the dark clouds.
Thunder and lightning filled
The pools of Heaven, and fast
The great rain fell; the wide floods were loosed.
Over the white waves flying,
The white waves that rise,
Homeward he hastens
To the Dragon City of the sea.

YAMAUBA
(THE DAME OF THE MOUNTAINS)

Revised By Komparu Zenchiku Ujinobu
from an original By Seami

Y
AMAUBA
is the fairy of the mountains, which have been under her care since the world began. She decks them with snow in winter, with blossoms in spring; her task carrying her eternally from hill to valley and valley to hill. She has grown very old. Wild white hair hangs down her shoulders; her face is very thin.

There was a courtesan of the Capital who made a dance representing the wanderings of Yamauba. It had such success that people called this courtesan "Yamauba" though her real name was Hyakuma.

Once when Hyakuma was traveling across the hills to Shi-nano to visit the Zenk
ō
Temple, she lost her way, and took refuge in the hut of a "mountain-girl," who was none other than the real Yamauba.

In the second part of the play the aged fairy appears in her true form and tells the story of her eternal wanderings—"round and round, on and on, from hill to hill, from valley to valley." In spring decking the twigs with blossom, in autumn clothing the hills with moonlight, in winter shaking snow from the heavy clouds. "On and on, round and round, caught in the Wheel of Fate.... Striding to the hill-tops, sweeping through the valleys...."

CHORUS

On and on, from hill to hill.
Awhile our eyes behold her, but now
She is vanished over the hills,
Vanished we know not where.

The hill, says a commentator, is the Hill of Life, where men wander from incarnation to incarnation, never escaping from the Wheel of Life and Death.

HOTOKE NO HARA
By Seami

G
I
Ō
was the mistress of Kiyomori (1118-1181), the greatest of the Tairas. One day there arrived at his camp a famous dancing-girl called Hotoke. Kiyomori was for sending her away; but Gi
ō
, who had heard wonderful stories of Hotoke's beauty, was anxious to see her, and persuaded Kiyomori to let Hotoke dance before him.

Kiyomori fell in love with the dancer, and after a while Gi
ō
was dismissed. She became a nun, and with her mother and sister lived in a hut in the wilds of Sagano.

Hotoke, full of remorse at her rival's dismissal, found no pleasure in her new honors, and saying "It was I who brought her to this," fled in nun's clothing to the hut at Sagano. Here the four women lived together, singing ceaseless prayers to Buddha.

In the play the ghost of Hotoke appears to a "traveling priest" and tells the story, which is indeed a curious and arresting one.

MARI
(THE FOOTBALL)

A F
OOBALLER
died at the Capital. When the news was brought to his wife, she became demented and performed a sort of football-mass for his soul. "The eight players in a game of football," she declared, "represent the eight chapters in the Hokke Scripture. If the four goal-posts are added the number obtained is twelve, which is the number of the Causes and Effects which govern life. Do not think of football as a secular game."

The play ends with a "football ballet."

The
Journal
of the great twelfth century footballer, Fujiwara no Narimichi, contains the following story: "I had brought together the best players of the time to assist me in celebrating the completion of my thousandth game. We set up two altars, and upon the one we placed our footballs, while on the other we arranged all kinds of offerings. Then, holding on to prayer-ribbons which we had tied to them, we worshipped the footballs.

That night I was sitting at home near the lamp, grinding my ink with the intention of recording the day's proceedings in my journal, when suddenly the football which I had dedicated came bouncing into the room followed by three children of about four years old. Their faces were human, but otherwise they looked like monkeys. "What horrid creatures," I thought, and asked them roughly who they were.

"We are the Football Sprites," they said. "And if you want to know our names—" So saying they lifted their hanging locks, and I saw that each of them had his name written on his forehead, as follows: Spring Willow Flower, Quiet Summer Wood, and Autumn Garden. Then they said, "Pray remember our names and deign to become our
Mi-mori,
'honorable Guardian.' Your success at
Mi-mari,
'honorable Football,' will then continually increase."

And so saying they disappeared.

TORU
By Kwanami or Seami

T
ORU
was a prince who built a great palace at Rokujo-kawara, near Kyoto. In its grounds was a counterfeit of the bay of Naniwa, which was filled and emptied twice a day in imitation of the tides. Laborers toiled up from the sea shore, which was many miles distant, carrying pails of salt water.

In the play a priest passing through Rokujo-kawara meets an old man carrying salt-water pails. It is the ghost of Toru. In the second part he rehearses the luxury and splendour of his life at the great palace Rokujo-kawara no In.

MAI-GURUMA
*
(THE DANCE WAGGONS)
By Miyamasu (Date Unknown)

A
MAN
of Kamakura went for a year to the Capital and fell in love with a girl there. When it was time for him to return to Kamakura he took her with him. But his parents did not like her, and one day when he was not at home, they turned her out of the house.

Thinking that she would have gone towards the Capital, the man set out in pursuit of her. At dusk he came to a village. He was told that if he lodged there he must take part next day in the waggon-dancing, which was held in the sixth month of each year in honor of the god Gion. He told them that he was heart-sore and foot-sore, and could not dance.

Next day the villagers formed into two parties. The first party mounted the waggon and danced the
Bijinzoroye,
a ballad about the twelve ladies whom Narihira loved. The second party danced the ballad called
Tsumado,
the story of which is:

Hossho, Abbot of the Hiyeizan, was sitting late one summer night by the Window of the Nine Perceptions, near the Couch of the Ten Vehicles, in a room sprinkled with the holy water of Yoga, washed by the moonlight of the Three Mysteries. Suddenly there was a sound of hammering on the double-doors. And when he opened the doors and looked—why, there stood the Chancellor Kwan, who had died on the twenty-fifth day of the second month.

"Why have you come so late in the night, Chancellor Kwan?"

"When I lived in the world foul tongues slandered me. I am come to destroy my enemies with thunder. Only the Home of Meditation
^†
shall be spared. But if you will make me one promise, I will not harm you. Swear that you will go no more to Court!"

"I would not go, though they sent twice to fetch me. But if they sent a third time..."

Then Chancellor Kwan, with a strange look on his face, drew a pomegranate from his sleeve, put it between his lips, crunched it with his teeth, and spat it at the double-doors.

Suddenly the red pomegranate turned into fire; a great flame flickered over the double-doors.

When the Abbot saw it, he twisted his fingers into the Gesture of Libation; he recited the Water-Spell of the Letter Vam, and the flames died down.

And the double-doors still stand before the Abbot's cell, on the Hill of Hiyei.

When the two dances were over, the master of ceremonies called for a dance from one of those who had been watching. A girl stepped forward and said she would dance the "Dance of Tora Parting from Sukenari." Then they called across to the man who had lost his wife (he was over by the other waggon). "Come; you must dance now." "Forgive me, I cannot dance." "Indeed you must dance." "Then I will dance the 'Dance of Tora Parting from Sukenari.'"

"But this dance," said the master of ceremonies, "is to be danced by a girl on the other side. You must think of another dance."

MAN

I know no other dance.

MASTER OF CEREMONIES

Here's a pretty fix! Ha, I have it! Let's set the waggons side by side, and the two of them shall dance their dance together.

When they step up on to the waggons, the man finds that his partner is the wife he was seeking for. They begin to dance the "Dance of Tora," but soon break off to exchange happy greetings. The plays ends with a great ballet of rejoicing.

There is one whole group of plays to which I have hitherto made no reference: those in which a mother seeks for her lost child. Mrs. Stopes has translated
Sumidagawa,
and Mr Sansom,
Sakuragawa.
Another well-known play of this kind is
Miidera,
a description of which will be found in an appendix at the end of this book (p. 250).

A few other plays, such as
Nishikigi, Motomezuka,
and
Kinuta,
I have omitted for lack of space and because it did not seem to me that I could in any important way improve on existing versions of them.

Footnotes

*
The love-adventures of Narihira (825-880
A.D.
) in 125 episodes, supposed to have been written by Narihira himself.

†
The husband puts up the bride's hair.

*
Reigned 507-531.

†
In this play as in all the part of Emperor is played by a young boy or "child-actor."

*
A Chinese Emperor of the Han dynasty and his concubine.

*
The time before his accession.

*
Ominabeshi
(or
ominameshi, ominayeshi
),"Ladies' Meal," but written with Chinese characters meaning "ladies' flower," a kind of patrinia.

*
Ceremonial white vestments,
hakuye
.

†
For "Zen" see Introduction, p. xxxi.

*
Lit, Kikenjo, one of the Buddhist paradises.

*
Priest.

†
Acted by a hy
ō
gen or farce-character.

*
Sayohime who, when her husband sailed to Korea, stood waving on the cliff till she turned into stone.

*
The headquarters of the Tendai sect of Buddhism.

*
The sasara (split bamboos rubbed together) and yatsubachi, "eight-sticks," a kind of vulgar drum.

†
A sort of maypole set up at the Gion Festival.

*
Literally "waking."

*
"Il apercut un cerf et une biche qui s'accouplaient. La passion impure s'excita en lui... La biche...se trouva grosse." Péri,
Les Femmes de Çakyamouni,
p. 24.

*
Sometimes called
Bijin-zoroye
or
Bijin-zoroi
.

†
The cell of the Zen priest.

PERSONS

YAMA

Yama the King of Hell comes forth to stand At the Meeting of the Ways.
^†

(Shouting.)

Yai, yai. Where are my minions?

DEMONS

Haa! Here we are.

YAMA

If any sinners come along, set upon them and drive them off to Hell.

DEMONS

We tremble and obey.

(Enter the bird-catcher,
KIYOYORI
).

KIYOYORI

"All men are sinners." What have I to fear

More than the rest?

My name is Kiyoyori the Bird-Catcher. I was very well known on the Terrestrial Plane. But the span of my years came to its appointed close; I was caught in the Wind of Impermanence; and here I am, marching to the Sunless Land.

Without a pang
I leave the world where I was wont to dwell,
The Temporal World.
Whither, oh whither have my feet carried me?
To the Six Ways already I have come.

Why, here I am already at the meeting of the Six Ways of Existence. I think on the whole I'll go to Heaven.

DEMON

Haha! That smells like a man. Why, sure enough here's a sinner coming. We must report him.
(To
YAMA.
) Please, sir, here's the first sinner arrived already!

YAMA

Then bustle him to Hell at once.

DEMON

"Hell is ever at hand,"
*
which is more than
Can be said of Heaven.
(Seizing
KIYOYORI.
)
Come on, now, come on! (
KIYOYORI
resists.
)
Yai, yai!
Let me tell you, you're showing a great
Deal more spirit than most sinners do.
What was your job when you were on the
Terrestrial Plane?

KIYOYORI

I was Kiyoyori, the famous bird-catcher.

DEMON

Bird-catcher? That's bad. Taking life from morning to night. That's very serious, you know. I am afraid you will have to go to Hell.

KIYOYORI

Really, I don't consider I'm as bad as all that. I should be very much obliged if you would let me go to Heaven.

DEMON

We must ask King Yama about this. (
To
YAMA.
)
Please sir—!

YAMA

Well, what is it?

DEMON

It's like this. The sinner says that on the Terrestrial Plane he was a well-known bird-catcher. Now that means taking life all the time; it's a serious matter, and he certainly ought to go to Hell. But when we told him so, he said we'd entirely misjudged him.

What had we better do about it?

YAMA

You'd better send him to me.

DEMON

Very well. (
To
KIYOYORI.
)
Come along, King Yama says he'll see you himself.

KIYOYORI

I'm coming.

DEMON

Here's that sinner you sent for.

YAMA

Listen to me, you sinner. I understand that when you were in the world you spent your whole time snaring birds. You are a very bad man and must go to Hell at once.

KIYOYORI

That's all very well. But the birds I caught were sold to gentlemen to feed their falcons on; so there was really no harm in it.

YAMA

Falcon" is another kind of bird, isn't it?

KIYOYORI

Yes, that's right.

YAMA

Well then, I really don't see that there
was
much harm in it.

KIYOYORI

I see you take my view. It was the falcons who were to blame, not I. That being so, I should be very much obliged if you would allow me to go straight to Heaven.

YAMA
(reciting in the Noh style.)

Then the great King of Hell—
Because, though on the Hill of Death
Many birds flew, he had not tasted one,
"Come, take your pole," he cried, and here and now
Give us a demonstration of your art.
Then go in peace.

KIYOYORI

Nothing could be simpler.
I will catch a few birds and present them to you.
Then he took his pole, and crying
"To the hunt, to the hunt!"

CHORUS

"To the bird-hunt," he cried,
And suddenly from the steep paths of the southern side of the Hill of Death
Many birds came flying.
Then swifter than sight his pole
Darted among them.
"I will roast them," he cried.
And when they were cooked,
"Please try one," and he offered them to the King.

YAMA
(greedily)

Let me eat it, let me eat it.

(Eats, smacking his lips.)

Well! I must say they taste uncommonly good!

KIYOYORI
(to the
DEMONS
)

Perhaps you would like to try some?

DEMONS

Oh, thank you!
(They eat greedily and snatch.)
I want that bit! No, it's mine! What a flavor!

YAMA

I never tasted anything so nice. You have given us such a treat that I am going to send you back to the world to go on bird-catching for another three years.

KIYOYORI

I am very much obliged to you, I'm sure.

CHORUS

You shall catch many birds,
Pheasant, pigeon, heron, and stork.
They shall not elude you, but fall
Fast into the fatal snare.
So he, reprieved, turned back towards the World;
But Yama, loth to see him go, bestowed
A jewelled crown, which Kiyoyori bore
Respectfully to the Terrestrial Plane,
There to begin his second span of life.