The Noh Plays of Japan Read online

  TSUNEMASA

  And while they played the dead man stole up behind them. Though he could not be seen by the light of the candle, they felt him pluck the lute-strings...

  GYŌKEI

  It is midnight. He is playing Yabanraku, the dance of midnight-revel. And now that we have shaken sleep from our eyes...

  TSUNEMASA

  The sky is clear, yet there is a sound as of sudden rain...

  GYŌKEI

  Rain beating carelessly on trees and grasses. What season's music* ought we to play?

  TSUNEMASA

  No. It is not rain. Look! At the cloud's fringe

  CHORUS

  The moon undimmed

  Hangs over the pine-woods of Narabi† Hills.

  It was the wind you heard;

  The wind blowing through the pine-leaves

  Pattered, like the falling of winter rain.

  O wonderful hour!

  "The big strings crashed and sobbed

  Like the falling of winter rain.

  And the little strings whispered secretly together.

  The first and second string

  Were like a wind sweeping through pine-woods,

  Murmuring disjointedly.

  The third and fourth string

  Were like the voice of a caged stork

  Crying for its little ones at night

  In low, dejected notes."‡

  The night must not cease.

  The cock shall not crow

  And put an end to his wandering.§

  TSUNEMASA

  "One note of the phoenix-flute'†

  CHORUS

  Shakes the autumn clouds from the mountain-side."**

  The phoenix and his mate swoop down

  Charmed by its music, beat their wings

  And dance in rapture, perched upon the swaying boughs

  Of kiri and bamboo.

  (Dance.)

  TSUNEMASA

  Oh terrible anguish!

  For a little while I was back in the World and my heart set on its music, on revels of midnight. But now the hate is rising in me...*

  GYŌKEI

  The shadow that we saw before is still visible.

  Can it be Tsunemasa?

  TSUNEMASA

  Oh! I am ashamed; I must not let them see me.

  Put out your candle.

  CHORUS

  "Let us turn away from the candle and watch together

  The midnight moon."

  Lo, he who holds the moon,

  The god Indra, in battle appeareth

  Warring upon demons.

  Fire leaps from their swords,

  The sparks of their own anger fall upon them, like rain.

  To wound another he draws his sword,

  But it is from his own flesh

  That the red waves flow;

  Like flames they cover him.

  "Oh, I am ashamed of the woes that consume me.

  No man must see me. I will put out the candle!" he said;

  For a foolish man is like a summer moth that flies into the flame.†

  The wind that blew out the candle

  Carried him away. In the darkness his ghost has vanished.

  The shadow of his ghost has vanished.

  Footnotes

  * See p. 204.

  † Like Yukihira; see p. 205.

  * Atsumori must have done Kumagai some kindness in a former incarnation. This would account for Kumagai’s remorse.

  † Buddha.

  * I have omitted a line the force of which depends upon a play on words. t The Taira evacuated the Capital in the second year of Juyei, 1188.

  † The taira evacuated the Captial in the second year of Juyei,1188.

  ‡ Ichi no-Tani means "First Valley."

  * The name of so humble a thing was unfamiliar to the Taira lords.

  * Atsumori. This passage is mimed throughout.

  * A great preacher; died 1212A.D.

  * The name given to streams which flow through temples. In this case the River Kamo.

  † Tadasu means to "straighten," "correct." The shrine of Kamo lay in the forest of Tadasu.

  * Adapted from a poem in theShin Kokinshū.

  * Ikuta means "Field of life."

  * The relation between Tsunemasa and the Emperor is meant.

  * I.e. the wind sounds like rain; the sands appear to be covered with frost. A couplet from a poem by Po Chū-i.

  * Part of the poem which Tsunemasa gave to the Emperor before he went to battle.

  * Goddess of Music, who vowed that she would lead all souls to salvation by the music of her lute.

  * Different tunes were appropriate to different seasons.

  † A range of hills to the south of the Ninnaji. The name means the “Row of Hills.”

  ‡ Quotation from Po Chū-i’s “Lute Girl’s Song”; for paraphrase see Giles’ Chinese Literature, p. 166.

  § The ghost must return at dawn.

  † The shēng.

  ** Quotation from Chinese poem in Rōyei Shu.

  * He had died in battle and was therefore condemned to perpetual war with the demons of Hell.

  † "The wise man is like the autumn deer crying in the mountains; the fool is like the moth which flies into the candle" (Gempei Seisuiki, chap, viii.).

  THESE three plays deal with the boyhood of the hero Yoshitsune, whose child-name was Ushiwaka.

  Eboshi-ori is a genzai-mono, that is to say a play which describes events actually in progress. In Kumasaka these same events are rehearsed by the ghost of one who participated in them. There are two other well-known Yoshitsune plays, Funa-Benkei and Ataka. In the former the phantoms of the dead Taira warriors attack the boat in which Yoshitsune and Benkei are riding; in the latter occurs the famous scene called the Kwanjinchō, in which Benkei pretends to read out from a scroll a long document which he is in reality improvising on the spot. (See Mr. Sansom's translations of these two plays in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 1911.) The Kwanjinchō was borrowed by the popular stage, and became one of the favorite "turns" of the great Danjūrō (1660-1703) and his successors.

  KUMASAKA

  By Zenchiku Ujinobu (1414-1499?)

  PERSONS

  A PRIEST FROM THE CAPITAL

  A PRIEST OF AKASAKA (really the ghost of the robber KUMASAKA NO CHOHAN)

  CHORUS

  PRIEST

  These weary feet that found the World

  Too sad to walk in, whither

  Oh whither shall wandering lead them?

  I am a priest from the Capital. I have never seen the East country, and now I am minded to go there on pilgrimage.

  (He describes the journey, walking slowly round the stage.)

  Over the mountains, down the Ōmi road by a foam-flecked stream;

  And through the woods of Awazu.

  Over the long bridge of Seta

  Heavily my footfall clangs.

  In the bamboo-woods of Noji I await the dawn.

  There where the morning dew lies thick, over the Greenfield Plain,

  Green in name only—for the leaves are red with autumn—

  In evening sunshine to the village of Akasaka I am come!

  KUMASAKA

  (It is convenient to call him this, but he is the ghost of Ku-masaka, appearing in the guise of a priest.)

  Hey, you priest, I have something to say to you!

  PRIEST

  What is it you would say to me?

  KUMASAKA

  Today is someone's birthday. I beg of you to pray for the salvation of his soul.

  PRIEST

  I have left the World, and it is my business now to say such prayers; but of whom am I to think when I pray?

  KUMASAKA

  There is no need to know his name. He is buried in that tomb over there, among the rushes to this side of the pine-tree. It is because he cannot get free* that he needs your prayers.

  PRIEST

  No, no; it will not do. I cannot pray for hi
m unless I know his name.

  KUMASAKA

  Pray, none the less. For it is written, "All the creatures of the world shall be profited.

  There shall be no distinction."

  PRIEST

  From dying and being bom.

  KUMASAKA

  Deliver him, oh deliver him!

  CHORUS

  For he that taketh a prayer unto himself

  Even though his name be not named, if he receive it gladly,

  Is the owner of the prayer.

  Was not the promise made to the trees of the field,

  To the soil of the land? Though the heart that prays marks no

  name upon the prayer, Yet shall it be heard.

  KUMASAKA

  Then come back to my cottage with me and pass the night there.

  PRIEST

  I will come.

  (They go into the cottage, which is represented by a wicker framework at the front.)

  Listen! I thought you were taking me to where there would be a chapel, so that I could begin my prayers. But here I can see no painted picture nor carven image that I could put up. There is nothing on the wall but a great pike—no handstaff, but only an iron crowbar; and other weapons of war are nailed up. What is the reason of this?

  KUMASAKA

  You must know that when I first took the vows of priesthood I went round from village to village here, to Tarui, Auhaka, and Akasaka—there is no end to them, but I know all the roads— through the tall grass at Aono and the thick woods of Koyasu, night or day, rain or fine. For I was a hill-bandit in those days, a thief of the night, tilting baggage from mules' backs; even stripping servant-girls of their clothes, as they went from farm to farm, and leaving them sobbing.

  Then it was that I used to take with me that pike there and waving it in their faces, "Stand and deliver!" I would cry.

  But at last a time came when it was not so.* And after that time I was glad enough to find shelter even in such a place as this. I yielded my will and was content. For at last I had indeed resolved to leave the hateful World.

  Oh petty prowess of those days!

  CHORUS

  For hand of priest unfit indeed Such deeds and weapons had I thought; Yet among gods

  Hath not the Lord Amida his sharp sword?

  Doth not the King of Love*

  Shoot arrows of salvation from his bow?

  Tamon with tilted lance

  Outbattled demons and hath swept away

  All perils from the world.

  KUMASAKA

  Thoughts of love and pity

  May be sins fouler

  CHORUS

  Than the Five Faults of Datta;†

  And the taking of life for faith

  Be holiness greater

  Than the six virtues of Bosatsu.‡

  These things have I seen and heard.

  But for the rest, is it not Thought alone

  That either wanders in the trackless night

  Of Error or awakes to the wide day?

  "Master thy thoughts, or they will master thee,"

  An ancient proverb§ says.

  (Speaking for Kumasaka.)

  "But I must have done, or dawn will find me talking still. Go to your rest, Sir; and I too will doze awhile." So he spoke, and seemed to go into the bedroom. But suddenly the cottage vanished: nothing was left but the tall grass. It was under the shadow of a pine-tree that he+ had rested!

  (There is usually an interlude to occupy the time while Kumasaka is changing his costume. An inhabitant of Aka-saka tells stories of Kumasaka's exploits.)

  PRIEST

  I have seen strange things. I cannot sleep, no, not even for a while as little as the space between the antlers of a young stag. Under this autumn-winded pine-tree lying, all night long I will perform a service of chanted prayer.*

  KUMASAKA

  (Reappearing with a scarf tied round his head and a long pike over his shoulder.)

  The wind is rising in the southeast. The clouds of the northwest are shifting; it is a dark night. A wild wind is sweeping the woods under the hill.

  CHORUS

  See how the branches are heaving.

  KUMASAKA

  The moon does not rise till dawn tonight; and even when she rises she will be covered.

  Send along the order for an assault!

  (Recollecting himself.)

  The whole heart divided between bow-hand and rein-hand— oh the sin of it! Forever seizing another's treasure! Look, look on my misery, how my heart clings to the World!

  PRIEST

  If you are Kumasaka himself, tell me the story of those days.

  KUMASAKA

  There was a merchant, a trafficker in gold, called Kichiji of the Third Ward. Each year he brought together a great store, and loading it in bales carried it up-country. And thinking to waylay him I summned divers trusty men...

  PRIEST

  Tell me the names of those that were chosen by you and the countries they came from.

  KUMASAKA

  There was Kakujō of Kawachi, and the brothers Surihari that had no rivals in fencing.

  PRIEST

  Well, and from within the City itself among many there were—

  KUMASAKA

  There was Emon of the Third Ward and Kozaru of Mibu.

  PRIEST

  Skilful torch-throwers; in broken-attack

  KUMASAKA

  Their like will never be seen.

  PRIEST

  And from the North country, from Echizen

  KUMASAKA

  There was Matsuwaka of Asau and Kurō of Mikuni.

  PRIEST

  And from the country of Kaga, from Kumasaka

  KUMASAKA

  There was this Chōhan, the first of them, a great hand at deeds of villainy; and with him seventy men of the band.

  PRIEST.

  On all the roads where Kichiji might be passing, up hill and down dale on every halting-place they spied, till at last

  KUMASAKA

  Here at the Inn of Akasaka we found him—a fine place, with many roads leading from it. We set watch upon the place. The merchants had sent for women. From nightfall they feasted. They roystered the hours away—

  PRIEST

  And at last, very late at night,

  Kichiji and his brother, with no thought for safety,

  Fell into a sodden sleep.

  KUMASAKA

  But there was with them a boy of sixteen.* He put his bright eye to a hole in the wall. He did not make the least noise.

  PRIEST

  He did not sleep a wink.

  KUMASAKA

  Ushiwaka! We did not know he was there.

  PRIEST

  Then the robbers, whose luck was run out,

  KUMASAKA

  Thinking that the hour of fortune was come,

  PRIEST

  Waited impatiently.

  CHORUS

  Oh how long it seemed till at last the order came.

  KUMASAKA

  Dash in!

  CHORUS

  And, hurling their firebrands,

  In they rushed, each jostling to be first,

  More of them and more, in a wild onslaught.

  Not even the God of Peril had dared to face them.

  But little Ushiwaka showed no fear.

  He drew his belt-sword and met them.

  The Lion Pounce, The Tiger Leap, The Bird Pounce...*

  He parried them all. They thrust at him but could not prevail.

  Thirteen there were who attacked him;

  And now, done to death, on the same pillow head to head they lie.

  And others, wounded, have flung down their swords and slunk back weaponless, Stripped of all else but life.

  Then Kumasaka cried: "What demon or god can he be Under whose hand all these have fallen? For a man he cannot be!

  But even robbers need their lives! This is no work for me; I will withdraw." And slinging his pike, slowly he turned to go.

  KUM
ASAKA

  I was thinking.

  CHORUS

  He was thinking as he went,

  "Though this stripling slash so bravely,

  Yet should Kumasaka employ his secret art—

  Then though the boy be ogre or hobgoblin,

  Waist-strangled he would be pressed to dust."

  "I will avenge the fallen," he cried, and, turning back,

  He levelled his pike and sheltered behind the wattled door,

  Waiting for the urchin to come.

  Ushiwaka saw him, and drawing his sword held it close to his side,

  Stood apart and watched. But Kumasaka too stood with his pike ready.

  Each was waiting for the other to spring. Then Kumasaka lost patience. He lunged with his left foot and with his pike

  Struck a blow that would have pierced an iron wall.

  But Ushiwaka parried it lightly and sprang to the left,