WIFE.
That is a small thing to ask. But since the master is away, you cannot
lodge in this house.
PRIEST.
Then I will wait here till he comes back.
WIFE.
That must be as you please. I will go to the corner and watch for him.
When he comes I will tell him you are here.
(_Enter_ TSUNEYO _from the wing, making the gesture of one who
shakes snow from his clothes_.)
TSUNEYO.
Ah! How the snow falls! Long ago when I was in the World[76] I loved to
see it:
“Hither and thither the snow blew like feathers plucked from a
goose;
Long, long I watched it fall, till it dressed me in a white coat.”
So I sang; and the snow that falls now is the same that I saw then.
But I indeed am frost-white[77] that watch it!
Oh how shall this thin dress of Kefu-cloth[78]
Chase from my bones the winter of to-day,
Oh pitiless day of snow!
(_He sees his_ WIFE _standing waiting_.)
What is this! How comes it that you are waiting here in this great
storm of snow?
WIFE.
A pilgrim came this way and begged for a night’s lodging. And when I
told him you were not in the house, he asked if he might wait till you
returned. That is why I am here.
TSUNEYO.
Where is this pilgrim now?
WIFE.
There he stands!
PRIEST.
I am he. Though the day is not far spent, how can I find my way in this
great storm of snow? Pray give me shelter for the night.
TSUNEYO.
That is a small thing to ask; but I have no lodging fit for you; I
cannot receive you.
PRIEST.
No, no. I do not care how poor the lodging may be. Pray let me stay
here for one night.
TSUNEYO.
I would gladly ask you to stay, but there is scarce space for us two,
that are husband and wife. How can we give you lodging? At the village
of Yamamoto yonder, ten furlongs further, you will find a good inn. You
had best be on your way before the daylight goes.
PRIEST.
So you are resolved to turn me away?
TSUNEYO.
I am sorry for it, but I cannot give you lodging.
PRIEST (_turning away_).
Much good I got by waiting for such a fellow! I will go my way. (_He
goes._)
WIFE.
Alas, it is because in a former life we neglected the ordinances[79]
that we are now come to ruin. And surely it will bring us ill-fortune
in our next life, if we give no welcome to such a one as this! If it is
by any means possible for him to shelter here, please let him stay.
TSUNEYO.
If you are of that mind, why did you not speak before? (_Looking after
the_ PRIEST.) No, he cannot have gone far in this great snowstorm. I
will go after him and stop him. Hie, traveller, hie! We will give you
lodging. Hie! The snow is falling so thick that he cannot hear me.
What a sad plight he is in. Old-fallen snow covers the way he came
and snow new-fallen hides the path where he should go. Look, look! He
is standing still. He is shaking the snow from his clothes; shaking,
shaking. It is like that old song:
“At Sano Ferry
No shelter found we
To rest our horses,
Shake our jackets,
In the snowy twilight.”
That song was made at Sano Ferry,
At the headland of Miwa on the Yamato Way.
CHORUS.
But now at Sano on the Eastern Way
Would you wander weary in the snow of twilight?
Though mean the lodging,
Rest with us, oh rest till day!
(_The_ PRIEST _goes with them into the hut_.)
TSUNEYO (_to his_ WIFE).
Listen. We have given him lodging, but have not laid the least thing
before him. Is there nothing we can give?
WIFE.
It happens that we have a little boiled millet;[80] we can give him
that if he will take it.
TSUNEYO.
I will tell him. (_To the_ PRIEST.) I have given you lodging, but I
have not yet laid anything before you. It happens that we have a little
boiled millet. It is coarse food, but pray eat it if you can.
PRIEST.
Why, that’s a famous dish! Please give it me.
TSUNEYO (_to_ WIFE).
He says he will take some; make haste and give it to him.
WIFE.
I will do so.
TSUNEYO.
Long ago when I was in the World I knew nothing of this stuff called
millet but what I read of it in poems and songs. But now it is the prop
of my life.
Truly Rosei’s dream of fifty years’ glory
That he dreamed at Kántán on lent pillow propped
Was dreamed while millet cooked, as yonder dish now.
Oh if I might but sleep as he slept, and see in my dream
Times that have passed away, then should I have comfort;
But now through battered walls
CHORUS.
Cold wind from the woods
Blows sleep away and the dreams of recollection.
(_While the_ CHORUS _sings these words an_ ATTENDANT _brings on to
the stage the three dwarf trees_.)
TSUNEYO.
How cold it is! And as the night passes, each hour the frost grows
keener. If I had but fuel to light a fire with, that you might sit by
it and warm yourself! Ah! I have thought of something. I have some
dwarf trees. I will cut them down and make a fire of them.
PRIEST.
Have you indeed dwarf trees?
TSUNEYO.
Yes, when I was in the World I had a fine show of them; but when my
trouble came I had no more heart for tree-fancying, and gave them away.
But three of them, I kept,--plum, cherry and pine. Look, there they
are, covered with snow. They are precious to me; yet for this night’s
entertainment I will gladly set light to them.
PRIEST.
No, no, that must not be. I thank you for your kindness, but it is
likely that one day you will go back to the World again and need them
for your pleasure. Indeed it is not to be thought of.
TSUNEYO.
My life is like a tree the earth has covered;
I shoot no blossoms upward to the world.
WIFE.
And should we burn for you
These shrubs, these profitless toys,
TSUNEYO.
Think them the faggots of our Master’s servitude.[81]
WIFE.
For snow falls now upon them, as it fell
TSUNEYO.
When he to hermits of the cold
Himalayan Hills was carrier of wood.
WIFE.
So let it be.
CHORUS.
“Shall I from one who has cast life aside,
Dear life itself, withold these trivial trees?”
(TSUNEYO _goes and stands by the dwarf trees_.)
Then he brushed the snow from off them, and when he looked,
“I cannot, cannot,” he cried, “O beautiful trees,
Must I begin?
You, plum-tree, among bare boughs blossoming
Hard by the window, still on northward face
Snow-sealed, yet first to scent
Cold air with flowers, earliest of Spring;
‘You first shall fall.’
You by whose boughs on mountain hedge entwined
Dull country folk have paused and caught their breath,[82]
Hewn down for firewood. Little had I thought
My hand so pitiless!”
(_He cuts down the plum-tree._)
“You, cherry (for each Spring your blossom comes
Behind the rest), I thought a lonely tree
And reared you tenderly, but now
_I_, _I_ am lonely left, and you, cut down,
Shall flower but with flame.”
TSUNEYO.
You now, O pine, whose branches I had thought
One day when you were old to lop and trim,
Standing you in the field, a football-post,[83]
Such use shall never know.
Tree, whom the winds have ever wreathed
With quaking mists, now shimmering in the flame
Shall burn and burn.
Now like a beacon, sentinels at night
Kindle by palace gate to guard a king,
Your fire burns brightly.
Come, warm yourself.
PRIEST.
Now we have a good fire and can forget the cold.
TSUNEYO.
It is because you lodged with us that we too have a fire to sit by.
PRIEST.
There is something I must ask you: I would gladly know to what clan my
host belongs.
TSUNEYO.
I am not of such birth; I have no clan-name.
PRIEST.
Say what you will, I cannot think you a commoner. The times may change;
what harm will you get by telling me your clan?
TSUNEYO.
Indeed I have no reason to conceal it. Know then that Tsuneyo
Genzayemon, Lord of Sano, is sunk to this!
PRIEST.
How came it, sir, that you fell to such misery?
TSUNEYO.
Thus it was: kinsmen usurped my lands, and so I became what I am.
PRIEST.
Why do you not go up to the Capital and lay your case before the
Shikken’s court?
TSUNEYO.
By further mischance it happens that Lord Saimyōji[84] himself is
absent upon pilgrimage. And yet not all is lost; for on the wall a tall
spear still hangs, and armour with it; while in the stall a steed is
tied. And if at any time there came from the City news of peril to our
master--
Then, broken though it be I would gird this armour on,
And rusty though it be I would hold this tall spear,
And lean-ribbed though he be I would mount my horse and ride
Neck by neck with the swiftest,
To write my name on the roll.
And when the fight began
Though the foe were many, yet would I be the first
To cleave their ranks, to choose an adversary
To fight with him and die.
(_He covers his face with his hands; his voice sinks again._)
But now, another fate, worn out with hunger
To die useless. Oh despair, despair!
PRIEST.
Take courage; you shall not end so. If I live, I will come to you
again. Now I go.
TSUNEYO and WIFE.
We cannot let you go. At first we were ashamed that you should see the
misery of our dwelling; but now we ask you to stay with us awhile.
PRIEST.
Were I to follow my desire, think you I would soon go forth into the
snow?
TSUNEYO and WIFE.
After a day of snow even the clear sky is cold, and to-night--
PRIEST.
Where shall I lodge?
WIFE.
Stay with us this one day.
PRIEST.
Though my longing bides with you--
TSUNEYO and WIFE.
You leave us?
PRIEST.
Farewell, Tsuneyo!
BOTH.
Come back to us again.
CHORUS (_speaking for_ PRIEST).
“And should you one day come up to the City, seek for me there. A
humble priest can give you no public furtherance, yet can he find ways
to bring you into the presence of Authority. Do not give up your suit.”
He said no more. He went his way,--he sad to leave them and they to
lose him from their sight.
* * * * *
(_Interval of Six Months._)
TSUNEYO (_standing outside his hut and seeming to watch travellers on
the road_).
Hie, you travellers! Is it true that the levies are marching to
Kamakura? They are marching in great force, you say? So it is true.
Barons and knights from the Eight Counties of the East all riding to
Kamakura! A fine sight it will be. Tasselled breastplates of beaten
silver; swords and daggers fretted with gold. On horses fat with fodder
they ride; even the grooms of the relay-horses are magnificently
apparelled. And along with them (_miming the action of leading a
horse_) goes Tsuneyo, with horse, armour and sword that scarce seem
worthy of such names. They may laugh, yet I am not, I think, a
worse man than they; and had I but a steed to match my heart, then
valiantly--(_making the gesture of cracking a whip_) you laggard!
CHORUS.
The horse is old, palsied as a willow-bough; it cannot hasten. It is
lean and twisted. Not whip or spur can move it. It sticks like a coach
in a bog. He follows far behind the rest.
PRIEST (_again ruler[85] of Japan, seated on a throne_).
Are you there?
ATTENDANT.
I stand before you.
PRIEST.
Have the levies of all the lands arrived?
ATTENDANT.
They are all come.
PRIEST.
Among them should be a knight in broken armour, carrying a rusty sword,
and leading his own lean horse. Find him, and bring him to me.
ATTENDANT.
I tremble and obey. (_Going to_ TSUNEYO.) I must speak with you.
TSUNEYO.
What is it?
ATTENDANT.
You are to appear immediately before my lord.
TSUNEYO.
Is it I whom you are bidding appear before his lordship?
ATTENDANT.
Yes, you indeed.
TSUNEYO.
How can it be I? You have mistaken me for some other.
ATTENDANT.
Oh no, it is you. I was told to fetch the most ill-conditioned of all
the soldiers; and I am sure you are he. Come at once.
TSUNEYO.
The most ill-conditioned of all the soldiers?
ATTENDANT.
Yes, truly.
TSUNEYO.
Then I am surely he.
Tell your lord that I obey.
ATTENDANT.
I will do so.
TSUNEYO.
I understand; too well I understand. Some enemy of mine has called me
traitor, and it is to execution that I am summoned before the Throne.
Well, there is no help for it. Bring me into the Presence.
CHORUS.
He was led to where on a great daïs
All the warriors of this levy were assembled
Like a bright bevy of stars.
Row on row they were ranged,
Samurai and soldiers;
Swift scornful glances, fingers pointed
And the noise of laughter met his entering.
TSUNEYO.
Stuck through his tattered, his old side-sewn sash,
His rusty sword sags and trails,--yet he undaunted,
“My Lord, I have come.”
(_He bows before the Throne._)
PRIEST.
Ha! He has come, Tsuneyo of Sano!
Have you forgotten the priest whom once you sheltered from the
snowstorm? You have been true to the words that you spoke that night at
Sano:
“If at any time there came news from the City of peril to our master
Then broken though it be, I would gird this armour on,
And rusty though it be, I would hold this tall spear,
And bony though he be, I would mount my horse and ride
Neck by neck with the swiftest.”
These were not vain words; you have come valiantly. But know that this
levy of men was made to this purpose: to test the issue of your words
whether they were spoken false or true; and to hear the suits of all
those that have obeyed my summons, that if any among them have suffered
injury, his wrongs may be righted.
And first in the case of Tsuneyo, I make judgment. To him shall be
returned his lawful estate, thirty parishes in the land of Sano.
But above all else one thing shall never be forgotten, that in the
great snowstorm he cut down his trees, his treasure, and burnt them for
firewood. And now in gratitude for the three trees of that time,--plum,
cherry and pine,--we grant to him three fiefs, Plumfield in Kaga,
Cherrywell in Etchū and Pine-branch in Kōzuke.
He shall hold them as a perpetual inheritance for himself and for his
heirs; in testimony whereof we give this title-deed, by our own hand
signed and sealed, together with the safe possession of his former
lands.
TSUNEYO.
Then Tsuneyo took the deeds.
CHORUS.
He took the deeds, thrice bowing his head.
(_Speaking for_ TSUNEYO.)
“Look, all you barons! (TSUNEYO _holds up the documents_.)
Look upon this sight
And scorn to envy turn!”
Then the levies of all the lands
Took leave of their Lord
And went their homeward way.
TSUNEYO.
And among them Tsuneyo
CHORUS.
Among them Tsuneyo,
Joy breaking on his brow,
Rides now on splendid steed
To the Boat-bridge of Sano, to his lands once torn
Pitiless from him as the torrent tears
That Bridge of Boats at Sano now his own.
FOOTNOTES:
[76] Po Chü-i’s _Works_, iii. 13.
[77] Alluding partly to the fact that he is snow-covered, partly to his
grey hairs.
[78] _Kefu_, “to-day.”
[79] Buddhist ordinances, such as hospitality to priests.
[80] Food of the poorest peasants.
[81] After Shākyamuni left the palace, he served the Rishi of the
mountains.
[82] Using words from a poem by Michizane (845-903 A.D.).
[83] For Japanese football, see p. 248. A different interpretation has
lately been suggested by Mr. Suzuki.
[84] I. e. Tokiyori.
[85] Hōjō no Tokiyori ruled at Kamakura from 1246 till 1256. He then
became a priest and travelled through the country incognito in order to
acquaint himself with the needs of his subjects.
NOTE ON KOMACHI.
The legend of Komachi is that she had many lovers when she was young
but was cruel and mocked at their pain. Among them was one, Shii no
Shōshō, who came a long way to court her. She told him that she would
not listen to him till he had come on a hundred nights from his house
to hers and cut a hundred notches on the shaft-bench of his chariot.
And so he came a hundred nights all but one, through rain, hail, snow,
and wind. But on the last night he died.
Once, when she was growing old, the poet Yasuhide asked her to go with
him to Mikawa. She answered with the poem:
“I that am lonely,
Like a reed root-cut,
Should a stream entice me,
Would go, I think.”
When she grew quite old, both her friends and her wits forsook her. She
wandered about in destitution, a tattered, crazy beggar-woman.
As is shown in this play, her madness was a “possession” by the spirit
of the lover whom she had tormented. She was released from this
“possession” by the virtue of a sacred Stūpa[86] or log carved into
five parts, symbolic of the Five Elements, on which she sat down to
rest.
In the disputation between Komachi and the priests, she upholds the
doctrines of the Zen Sect, which uses neither scriptures nor idols;
the priests defend the doctrines of the Shingon Sect, which promises
salvation by the use of incantations and the worship of holy images.[87]
There is no doubt about the authorship of this play. Seami (_Works_,
p. 246) gives it as the work of his father, Kwanami Kiyotsugu. Kwanami
wrote another play, _Shii no Shōshō_,[88] in which Shōshō is the
principal character and Komachi the _tsure_ or subordinate.
Seami also used the Komachi legend. In his _Sekidera Komachi_ he tells
how when she was very old the priests of _Sekidera_ invited her to
dance at the festival of Tanabata. She dances, and in rehearsing the
splendours of her youth for a moment becomes young again.
FOOTNOTES:
[86] Sanskrit; Jap. _sotoba_.
[87] See p. 32.
[88] Now generally called _Kayoi Komachi_.
SOTOBA KOMACHI
By KWANAMI
PERSONS
_A PRIEST OF THE KŌYASAN._
_SECOND PRIEST._
_ONO NO KOMACHI._
_CHORUS._
PRIEST.
We who on shallow hills[89] have built our home
In the heart’s deep recess seek solitude.
(_Turning to the audience._)
I am a priest of the Kōyasan. I am minded to go up to the Capital to
visit the shrines and sanctuaries there.
The Buddha of the Past is gone,
And he that shall be Buddha has not yet come into the world.
SECOND PRIEST.
In a dream-lull our lives are passed; all, all
That round us lies
Is visionary, void.
Yet got we by rare fortune at our birth
Man’s shape, that is hard to get;
And dearer gift was given us, harder to win,
The doctrine of Buddha, seed of our Salvation.
And me this only thought possessed,
How I might bring that seed to blossom, till at last
I drew this sombre cassock across my back.
And knowing now the lives before my birth,
No love I owe
To those that to this life engendered me,
Nor seek a care (have I not disavowed
Such hollow bonds?) from child by me begot.
A thousand leagues
Is little road
To the pilgrim’s feet.
The fields his bed,
The hills his home
Till the travel’s close.
PRIEST.
We have come so fast that we have reached the pine-woods of Abeno, in
the country of Tsu. Let us rest in this place.
(_They sit down by the Waki’s pillar._)
KOMACHI.
Like a root-cut reed,[90]
Should the tide entice,
I would come, I think; but now
No wave asks; no stream stirs.
Long ago I was full of pride;
Crowned with nodding tresses, halcyon locks,
I walked like a young willow delicately wafted
By the winds of Spring.
I spoke with the voice of a nightingale that has sipped the dew.
I was lovelier than the petals of the wild-rose open-stretched
In the hour before its fall.
But now I am grown loathsome even to sluts,
Poor girls of the people, and they and all men
Turn scornful from me.
Unhappy months and days pile up their score;
I am old; old by a hundred years.
In the City I fear men’s eyes,
And at dusk, lest they should cry “Is it she?”
Westward with the moon I creep
From the cloud-high City of the Hundred Towers.
No guard will question, none challenge
Pilgrim so wretched: yet must I be walking
Hid ever in shadow of the trees.
Past the Lovers’ Tomb,
And the Hill of Autumn
To the River of Katsura, the boats, the moonlight.
(_She shrinks back and covers her face, frightened of being
known._)
Who are those rowing in the boats?[91]
Oh, I am weary. I will sit on this tree-stump and rest awhile.
PRIEST.
Come! The sun is sinking; we must hasten on our way. Look, look at that
beggar there! It is a holy Stūpa that she is sitting on! I must tell
her to come off it.
Now then, what is that you are sitting on? Is it not a holy Stūpa, the
worshipful Body of Buddha? Come off it and rest in some other place.
KOMACHI.
Buddha’s worshipful body, you say? But I could see no writing on it,
nor any figure carved. I thought it was only a tree-stump.
PRIEST.
Even the little black tree on the hillside
When it has put its blossoms on
Cannot be hid;
And think you that this tree
Cut fivefold in the fashion of Buddha’s holy form
Shall not make manifest its power?
KOMACHI.
I too am a poor withered bough.
But there are flowers at my heart,[92]
Good enough, maybe, for an offering.
But why is this called Buddha’s body?
PRIEST.
Hear then! This Stūpa is the Body of the Diamond Lord.[93] It is the
symbol of his incarnation.
KOMACHI.
And in what elements did he choose to manifest his body?
PRIEST.
Earth, water, wind, fire and space.
KOMACHI.
Of these five man also is compounded. Where then is the difference?
PRIEST.
The forms are the same, but not the virtue.
KOMACHI.
And what is the virtue of the Stūpa?
PRIEST.
“He that has looked once upon the Stūpa, shall escape forever from the
Three Paths of Evil.”[94]
KOMACHI.
“One thought can sow salvation in the heart.”[95] Is that of less price?
SECOND PRIEST.
If your heart has seen salvation, how comes it that you linger in the
World?
KOMACHI.
It is my body that lingers, for my heart left it long ago.
PRIEST.
You have no heart at all, or you would have known the Body of Buddha.
KOMACHI.
It was because I knew it that I came to see it!
SECOND PRIEST.
And knowing what you know, you sprawled upon it without a word of
prayer?
KOMACHI.
It was on the ground already. What harm could it get by my resting on
it?
PRIEST.
It was an act of discord.[96]
KOMACHI.
Sometimes from discord salvation springs.
SECOND PRIEST.
From the malice of Daiba ...[97]
KOMACHI.
As from the mercy of Kwannon.[98]
PRIEST.
From the folly of Handoku ...[99]
KOMACHI.
As from the wisdom of Monju.[100]
SECOND PRIEST.
That which is called Evil
KOMACHI.
Is Good.
PRIEST.
That which is called Illusion
KOMACHI.
Is Salvation.[101]
SECOND PRIEST.
For Salvation
KOMACHI.
Cannot be planted like a tree.
PRIEST.
And the Heart’s Mirror
KOMACHI.
Hangs in the void.
CHORUS (_speaking for_ KOMACHI).
“Nothing is real.
Between Buddha and Man
Is no distinction, but a seeming of difference planned
For the welfare of the humble, the ill-instructed,
Whom he has vowed to save.
Sin itself may be the ladder of salvation.”
So she spoke, eagerly; and the priests,
“A saint, a saint is this decrepit, outcast soul.”
And bending their heads to the ground,
Three times did homage before her.
KOMACHI.
I now emboldened
Recite a riddle, a jesting song.
“Were I in Heaven
The Stūpa were an ill seat;
But here, in the world without,
What harm is done?”[102]
CHORUS.
The priests would have rebuked her;
But they have found their match.
PRIEST.
Who are you? Pray tell us the name you had, and we will pray for you
when you are dead.
KOMACHI.
Shame covers me when I speak my name; but if you will pray for
me, I will try to tell you. This is my name; write it down in your
prayer-list: I am the ruins of Komachi, daughter of Ono no Yoshizane,
Governor of the land of Dewa.
PRIESTS.
Oh piteous, piteous! Is this
Komachi that once
Was a bright flower,
Komachi the beautiful, whose dark brows
Linked like young moons;
Her face white-farded ever;
Whose many, many damask robes
Filled cedar-scented halls?
KOMACHI.
I made verses in our speech
And in the speech of the foreign Court.
CHORUS.
The cup she held at the feast
Like gentle moonlight dropped its glint on her sleeve.
Oh how fell she from splendour,
How came the white of winter
To crown her head?
Where are gone the lovely locks, double-twined,
The coils of jet?
Lank wisps, scant curls wither now
On wilted flesh;
And twin-arches, moth-brows tinge no more
With the hue of far hills. “Oh cover, cover
From the creeping light of dawn
Silted seaweed locks that of a hundred years
Lack now but one.
Oh hide me from my shame.”
(KOMACHI _hides her face_.)
CHORUS (_speaking for the_ PRIEST).
What is it you carry in the wallet string at your neck?
KOMACHI.
Death may come to-day--or hunger to-morrow.
A few beans and a cake of millet:
That is what I carry in my bag.
CHORUS.
And in the wallet on your back?
KOMACHI.
A garment stained with dust and sweat.
CHORUS.
And in the basket on your arm?
KOMACHI.
Sagittaries white and black.
CHORUS.
Tattered cloak,[103]
KOMACHI.
Broken hat ...
CHORUS.
She cannot hide her face from our eyes;
And how her limbs
KOMACHI.
From rain and dew, hoar-frost and snow?
CHORUS (_speaking for_ KOMACHI _while she mimes the actions they
describe_).
Not rags enough to wipe the tears from my eyes!
Now, wandering along the roads
I beg an alms of those that pass.
And when they will not give,
An evil rage, a very madness possesses me.
My voice changes.
Oh terrible!
KOMACHI (_thrusting her hat under the_ PRIESTS’ _noses and shrieking at
them menacingly_).
Grr! You priests, give me something: give me something ... Ah!
PRIEST.
What do you want?
KOMACHI.
Let me go to Komachi.[104]
PRIEST.
But you told us you were Komachi. What folly is this you are talking?
KOMACHI.
No, no.... Komachi was very beautiful.
Many letters came to her, many messages,--
Thick as raindrops out of a black summer sky.
But she sent no answer, not even an empty word.
And now in punishment she has grown old:
She has lived a hundred years--
I love her, oh I love her!
PRIEST.
You love Komachi? Say then, whose spirit has possessed you?
KOMACHI.
There were many who set their hearts on her,
But among them all
It was Shōshō who loved her best,
Shii no Shōshō of the Deep Grass.[105]
CHORUS (_speaking for_ KOMACHI, _i. e._ _for the spirit of Shōshō_).
The wheel goes back; I live again through the cycle of my woes.
Again I travel to the shaft-bench.
The sun ... what hour does he show?
Dusk.... Alone in the moonlight
I must go my way.
Though the watchmen of the barriers
Stand across my path,
They shall not stop me!
(_Attendants robe_ KOMACHI _in the Court hat and travelling-cloak
of Shōshō_.)
Look, I go!
KOMACHI.
Lifting the white skirts of my trailing dress,
CHORUS (_speaking for_ KOMACHI, _while she, dressed as her lover
Shōshō, mimes the night-journey_).
Pulling down over my ears the tall, nodding hat,
Tying over my head the long sleeves of my hunting cloak,
Hidden from the eyes of men,
In moonlight, in darkness,
On rainy nights I travelled; on windy nights,
Under a shower of leaves; when the snow was deep,
KOMACHI.
And when water dripped at the roof-eaves,--tok, tok ...
CHORUS.
Swiftly, swiftly coming and going, coming and going ...
One night, two nights, three nights,
Ten nights (and this was harvest night) ...
I never saw her, yet I travelled;
Faithful as the cock who marks each day the dawn,
I carved my marks on the bench.
I was to come a hundred times;
There lacked but one ...
KOMACHI (_feeling the death-agony of Shōshō_).
My eyes dazzle. Oh the pain, the pain!
CHORUS.
Oh the pain! and desperate,
Before the last night had come,
He died--Shii no Shōshō the Captain.
(_Speaking for_ KOMACHI, _who is now no longer possessed by
Shōshō’s spirit_.)
Was it his spirit that possessed me,
Was it his anger that broke my wits?
If this be so, let me pray for the life hereafter,
Where alone is comfort;
Piling high the sands[106]
Till I be burnished as gold.[107]
See, I offer my flower[108] to Buddha,
I hold it in both hands.
Oh may He lead me into the Path of Truth,
Into the Path of Truth.
FOOTNOTES:
[89] The Kōyasan is not so remote as most mountain temples.
[90] See p. 113.
[91] Seami, writing c. 1430, says: “_Komachi_ was once a long play.
After the words ‘Who are those,’ etc., there used to be a long lyric
passage” (_Works_, p. 240).
[92] “Heart flowers,” _kokoro no hana_, is a synonym for “poetry.”
[93] Vajrasattva, himself an emanation of Vairochana, the principal
Buddha of the Shingon Sect.
[94] From the Nirvāna Sūtra.
[95] From the Avatamsaka Sūtra.
[96] Lit. “discordant karma.”
[97] A wicked disciple who in the end attained to Illumination. Also
called Datta; cp. _Kumasaka_, p. 63.
[98] The Goddess of Mercy.
[99] A disciple so witless that he could not recite a single verse of
Scripture.
[100] God of Wisdom.
[101] From the Nirvāna Sūtra.
[102] The riddle depends on a pun between _sotoba_ and _soto wa_,
“without” “outside.”
[103] The words which follow suggest the plight of her lover Shōshō
when he travelled to her house “a hundred nights all but one,” to cut
his notch on the bench.
[104] The spirit of her lover Shōshō has now entirely possessed her:
this “possession-scene” lasts very much longer on the stage than the
brief words would suggest.
[105] Fukagusa the name of his native place, means “deep grass.”
[106] See _Hokkekyō_, II. 18.
[107] The colour of the saints in heaven.
[108] Her “heart-flower,” i. e. poetic talent.
CHAPTER IV
UKAI
AYA NO TSUZUMI
AOI NO UYE
NOTE ON UKAI.
Seami tells us (_Works_, p. 246) that this play was written by Enami no
Sayemon. “But as I removed bad passages and added good ones, I consider
the play to be really my work” (p. 247).
On p. 245 he points out that the same play on words occurs in _Ukai_
three times, and suggests how one passage might be amended. The text
of the play which we possess to-day still contains the passages which
Seami ridiculed, so that it must be Enami no Sayemon’s version which
has survived, while Seami’s amended text is lost.
It is well known that Buddhism forbids the taking of life, especially
by cruel means or for sport. The cormorant-fisher’s trade had long been
considered particularly wicked, as is shown by an early folk-song:[109]
“Woe to the cormorant-fisher
Who binds the heads of his cormorants
And slays the tortoise whose span is ten thousand æons!
In this life he may do well enough,
But what will become of him at his next birth?”
This song, which is at least as old as the twelfth century, and may be
much earlier, seems to be the seed from which the Nō play _Ukai_ grew.
FOOTNOTE:
[109] _Ryōjin Hisshō_, p. 135.
UKAI
(THE CORMORANT-FISHER)
By ENAMI NO SAYEMON (_c._ 1400).
PERSONS
_PRIEST._
_SECOND PRIEST._
_FISHER._
_YAMA, KING OF HELL._
_CHORUS._
PRIEST.
I am a priest from Kiyosumi in Awa. I have never yet seen the country
of Kai, so now I am minded to go there on pilgrimage.
(_Describing the journey._)
On the foam of white waves
From Kiyosumi in the land of Awa riding
To Mutsura I come; to the Hill of Kamakura,
Lamentably tattered, yet because the World
Is mine no longer, unashamed on borrowed bed,
Mattress of straw, to lie till the bell swings
Above my pillow. Away, away! For dawn
Is on the hemp-fields of Tsuru. Now the noonday sun
Hangs high above us as we cross the hills.
Now to the village of Isawa we come.
Let us lie down and rest awhile in the shelter of this shrine.
(_The_ FISHER _comes along the hashigakari towards the stage
carrying a lighted torch_.)
FISHER.
When the fisher’s torch is quenched
What lamp shall guide him on the dark road that lies before?
Truly, if the World had tasked me hardly
I might be minded to leave it, but this bird-fishing,
Cruel though it be in the wanton taking of life away,
Is a pleasant trade to ply
Afloat on summer streams.
I have heard it told that Yūshi and Hakuyō vowed their love-vows by
the moon, and were changed to wedded stars of heaven. And even to-day
the high ones of the earth are grieved by moonless nights. Only I grow
weary of her shining and welcome nights of darkness. But when the
torches on the boats burn low,
Then, in the dreadful darkness comes repentance
Of the crime that is my trade,
My sinful sustenance; and life thus lived
Is loathsome then.
Yet I would live, and soon
Bent on my oar I push between the waves
To ply my hateful trade.
I will go up to the chapel as I am wont to do, and give my cormorants
rest. (_Seeing the_ PRIESTS.) What, have travellers entered here?
PRIEST.
We are pilgrim-priests. We asked for lodging in the village. But they
told us that it was not lawful for them to receive us, so we lay down
in the shelter of this shrine.
FISHER.
Truly, truly: I know of none in the village that could give you lodging.
PRIEST.
Pray tell me, sir, what brings you here?
FISHER.
Gladly. I am a cormorant-fisher. While the moon is shining I rest at
this shrine; but when the moon sinks, I go to ply my trade.
PRIEST.
Then you will not mind our lodging here. But, sir, this work of
slaughter ill becomes you; for I see that the years lie heavy on you.
Pray leave this trade and find yourself another means of sustenance.
FISHER.
You say well. But this trade has kept me since I was a child. I cannot
leave it now.
SECOND PRIEST.
Listen. The sight of this man has brought back something to my mind.
Down this river there is a place they call Rock-tumble. And there, when
I passed that way three years ago, I met just such a fisherman as this.
And when I told him this cormorant-fishing was reckoned a sin against
life, I think he listened; for he brought me back to his house and
lodged me with uncommon care.
FISHER.
And you are the priest that came then?
SECOND PRIEST.
Yes, I am he.
FISHER.
That cormorant-fisher died.
PRIEST.
How came he to die?
FISHER.
Following his trade, more shame to him. Listen to his story and give
his soul your prayers.
PRIEST.
Gladly we will.
FISHER (_seats himself facing the audience and puts down his torch_).
You must know that on this river of Isawa, for a stretch of three
leagues up stream and down, the killing of any living creature is
forbidden. Now at that Rock-tumble you spoke of there were many
cormorant-fishers who every night went secretly to their fishing. And
the people of the place, hating the vile trade, made plans to catch
them at their task. But he knew nothing of this; and one night he went
there secretly and let his cormorants loose.
There was an ambush set for him; in a moment they were upon him. “Kill
him!” they cried; “one life for many,” was their plea. Then he pressed
palm to palm. “Is the taking of life forbidden in this place? Had I but
known it! But now, never again....” So with clasped hands he prayed and
wept; but none helped him; and as fishers set their stakes they planted
him deep in the stream. He cried, but no sound came. (_Turning to the_
PRIEST _suddenly_.) I am the ghost of that fisherman.
PRIEST.
Oh strange! If that be so, act out before me the tale of your
repentance. Show me your sin and I will pray for you tenderly.
FISHER.
I will act before your eyes the sin that binds me, the
cormorant-fishing of those days. Oh give my soul your prayer!
PRIEST.
I will.
FISHER (_rising and taking up his torch_).
The night is passing. It is fishing-time.
I must rehearse the sin that binds me.
PRIEST.
I have read in tales of a foreign land[110]
How sin-laden the souls of the dead
Have toiled at bitter tasks;
But strange, before my eyes
To see such penance done!
FISHER (_describing his own action_).
He waved the smeared torches.
PRIEST (_describing the_ FISHER’S _action_).
Girt up his coarse-spun skirts.
FISHER (_going to the “flute-pillar” and bending over as if opening a
basket_).
Then he opened the basket,
PRIEST.
And those fierce island-birds
FISHER.
Over the river-waves suddenly he loosed....
CHORUS.
See them, see them clear in the torches’ light
Hither and thither darting,
Those frightened fishes.[111]
Swift pounce the diving birds,
Plunging, scooping,
Ceaselessly clutch their prey:
In the joy of capture
Forgotten sin and forfeit
Of the life hereafter!
Oh if these boiling waters would be still,
Then would the carp rise thick
As goldfinch in a bowl.
Look how the little ayu leap[112]
Playing in the shallow stream.
Hem them in: give them no rest!
Oh strange!
The torches burn still, but their light grows dim;
And I remember suddenly and am sad.
It is the hated moon!
(_He throws down the torch._)
The lights of the fishing-boat are quenched;
Homeward on the Way of Darkness[113]
In anguish I depart.
(_He leaves the stage._)
PRIEST (_sings his “machi-utai” or waiting-song, while the actor who
has taken the part of the_ FISHER _changes into the mask and costume of
the_ KING OF HELL.)
I dip my hand in the shallows,
I gather pebbles in the stream.
I write Scripture upon them,
Upon each stone a letter of the Holy Law.
Now I cast them back into the waves and their drowned spell
Shall raise from its abyss a foundered soul.
(_Enter_ YAMA, KING OF HELL; _he remains on the hashigakari_.)
YAMA.
Hell is not far away:
All that your eyes look out on in the world
Is the Fiend’s home.
I am come to proclaim that the sins of this man, who from the days of
his boyhood long ago has fished in rivers and streams, were grown so
many that they filled the pages of the Iron Book;[114] while on the
Golden Leaves there was not a mark to his name. And he was like to have
been thrown down into the Deepest Pit; but now, because he once gave
lodging to a priest, I am commanded to carry him quickly to Buddha’s
Place.
The Demon’s rage is stilled,
The fisher’s boat is changed
To the ship of Buddha’s vow,[115]
Lifeboat of the Lotus Law.[116]
FOOTNOTES:
[110] Or, according to another reading, “tales of Hell.”
[111] The Fisher holds up his torch and looks down as though peering
into the water.
[112] I have omitted the line “Though this be not the river of
Tamashima,” a reference to the Empress Jingō, who caught an _ayu_ at
Tamashima when on her way to fight the Coreans.
[113] A name for Hades.
[114] Good deeds were recorded in a golden book, evil deeds in an iron
one.
[115] He vowed that he would come as a ship to those drowning in the
Sea of Delusion.
[116] Here follow the twelve concluding lines, too full of Buddhist
technicalities to interest a general reader.
AYA NO TSUZUMI
(THE DAMASK DRUM)
ATTRIBUTED TO SEAMI, BUT PERHAPS EARLIER.
PERSONS
_A COURTIER._
_AN OLD GARDENER._
_THE PRINCESS._
COURTIER.
I am a courtier at the Palace of Kinomaru in the country of Chikuzen.
You must know that in this place there is a famous pond called the
Laurel Pond, where the royal ones often take their walks; so it
happened that one day the old man who sweeps the garden here caught
sight of the Princess. And from that time he has loved her with a love
that gives his heart no rest.
Some one told her of this, and she said, “Love’s equal realm knows no
divisions,”[117] and in her pity she said, “By that pond there stands a
laurel-tree, and on its branches there hangs a drum. Let him beat the
drum, and if the sound is heard in the Palace, he shall see my face
again.”
I must tell him of this.
Listen, old Gardener! The worshipful lady has heard of your love and
sends you this message: “Go and beat the drum that hangs on the tree
by the pond, and if the sound is heard in the Palace, you shall see my
face again.” Go quickly now and beat the drum!
GARDENER.
With trembling I receive her words. I will go and beat the drum.
COURTIER.
Look, here is the drum she spoke of. Make haste and beat it!
(_He leaves the_ GARDENER _standing by the tree and seats himself
at the foot of the “Waki’s pillar.”_)
GARDENER.
They talk of the moon-tree, the laurel that grows in the Garden of the
Moon.... But for me there is but one true tree, this laurel by the
lake. Oh, may the drum that hangs on its branches give forth a mighty
note, a music to bind up my bursting heart.
Listen! the evening bell to help me chimes;
But then tolls in
A heavy tale of day linked on to day,
CHORUS (_speaking for the_ GARDENER).
And hope stretched out from dusk to dusk.
But now, a watchman of the hours, I beat
The longed-for stroke.
GARDENER.
I was old, I shunned the daylight,
I was gaunt as an aged crane;
And upon all that misery
Suddenly a sorrow was heaped,
The new sorrow of love.
The days had left their marks,
Coming and coming, like waves that beat on a sandy shore ...
CHORUS.
Oh, with a thunder of white waves
The echo of the drum shall roll.
GARDENER.
The after-world draws near me,
Yet even now I wake not
From this autumn of love that closes
In sadness the sequence of my years.
CHORUS.
And slow as the autumn dew
Tears gather in my eyes, to fall
Scattered like dewdrops from a shaken flower
On my coarse-woven dress.
See here the marks, imprint of tangled love,
That all the world will read.
GARDENER.
I said “I will forget,”
CHORUS.
And got worse torment so
Than by remembrance. But all in this world
Is as the horse of the aged man of the land of Sai;[118]
And as a white colt flashes
Past a gap in the hedge, even so our days pass.[119]
And though the time be come,
Yet can none know the road that he at last must tread,
Goal of his dewdrop-life.
All this I knew; yet knowing,
Was blind with folly.
GARDENER.
“Wake, wake,” he cries,--
CHORUS.
The watchman of the hours,--
“Wake from the sleep of dawn!”
And batters on the drum.
For if its sound be heard, soon shall he see
Her face, the damask of her dress ...
Aye, damask! He does not know
That on a damask drum he beats,
Beats with all the strength of his hands, his aged hands,
But hears no sound.
“Am I grown deaf?” he cries, and listens, listens:
Rain on the windows, lapping of waves on the pool--
Both these he hears, and silent only
The drum, strange damask drum.
Oh, will it never sound?
I thought to beat the sorrow from my heart,
Wake music in a damask drum; an echo of love
From the voiceless fabric of pride!
GARDENER.
Longed for as the moon that hides
In the obstinate clouds of a rainy night
Is the sound of the watchman’s drum,
To roll the darkness from my heart.
CHORUS.
I beat the drum. The days pass and the hours.
It was yesterday, and it is to-day.
GARDENER.
But she for whom I wait
CHORUS.
Comes not even in dream. At dawn and dusk
GARDENER.
No drum sounds.
CHORUS.
She has not come. Is it not sung that those
Whom love has joined
Not even the God of Thunder can divide?
Of lovers, I alone
Am guideless, comfortless.
Then weary of himself and calling her to witness of his woe,
“Why should I endure,” he cried,
“Such life as this?” and in the waters of the pond
He cast himself and died.
(GARDENER _leaves the stage_.)
_Enter the_ PRINCESS.
COURTIER.
I would speak with you, madam.
The drum made no sound, and the aged Gardener in despair has flung
himself into the pond by the laurel tree, and died. The soul of such a
one may cling to you and do you injury. Go out and look upon him
PRINCESS (_speaking wildly, already possessed by the_ GARDENER’S _angry
ghost, which speaks through her_).[120]
Listen, people, listen!
In the noise of the beating waves
I hear the rolling of a drum.
Oh, joyful sound, oh joyful!
The music of a drum.
COURTIER.
Strange, strange!
This lady speaks as one
By phantasy possessed.
What is amiss, what ails her?
PRINCESS.
Truly, by phantasy I am possessed.
Can a damask drum give sound?
When I bade him beat what could not ring,
Then tottered first my wits.
COURTIER.
She spoke, and on the face of the evening pool
A wave stirred.
PRINCESS.
And out of the wave
COURTIER.
A voice spoke.
(_The voice of the_ GARDENER _is heard; as he gradually advances
along the hashigakari it is seen that he wears a “demon mask,”
leans on a staff and carries the “demon mallet” at his girdle_.)
GARDENER’S GHOST.
I was driftwood in the pool, but the waves of bitterness
CHORUS.
Have washed me back to the shore.
GHOST.
Anger clings to my heart,
Clings even now when neither wrath nor weeping
Are aught but folly.
CHORUS.
One thought consumes me,
The anger of lust denied
Covers me like darkness.
I am become a demon dwelling
In the hell of my dark thoughts,
Storm-cloud of my desires.
GHOST.
“Though the waters parch in the fields
Though the brooks run dry,
Never shall the place be shown
Of the spring that feeds my heart.”[121]
So I had resolved. Oh, why so cruelly
Set they me to win
Voice from a voiceless drum,
Spending my heart in vain?
And I spent my heart on the glimpse of a moon that slipped
Through the boughs of an autumn tree.[122]
CHORUS.
This damask drum that hangs on the laurel-tree
GHOST.
Will it sound, will it sound?
(_He seizes the_ PRINCESS _and drags her towards the drum_.)
Try! Strike it!
CHORUS.
“Strike!” he cries;
“The quick beat, the battle-charge!
Loud, loud! Strike, strike,” he rails,
And brandishing his demon-stick
Gives her no rest.
“Oh woe!” the lady weeps,
“No sound, no sound. Oh misery!” she wails.
And he, at the mallet stroke, “Repent, repent!”
Such torments in the world of night
Abōrasetsu, chief of demons, wields,
Who on the Wheel of Fire
Sears sinful flesh and shatters bones to dust.
Not less her torture now!
“Oh, agony!” she cries, “What have I done,
By what dire seed this harvest sown?”
GHOST.
Clear stands the cause before you.
CHORUS.
Clear stands the cause before my eyes;
I know it now.
By the pool’s white waters, upon the laurel’s bough
The drum was hung.
He did not know his hour, but struck and struck
Till all the will had ebbed from his heart’s core;
Then leapt into the lake and died.
And while his body rocked
Like driftwood on the waves,
His soul, an angry ghost,
Possessed the lady’s wits, haunted her heart with woe.
The mallet lashed, as these waves lash the shore,
Lash on the ice of the eastern shore.
The wind passes; the rain falls
On the Red Lotus, the Lesser and the Greater.[123]
The hair stands up on my head.
“The fish that leaps the falls
To a fell snake is turned,”[124]
In the Kwanze School this play is replaced by another called _The
Burden of Love_, also attributed to Seami, who writes (_Works_, p.
166): “_The Burden of Love_ was formerly _The Damask Drum_.” The
task set in the later play is the carrying of a burden a thousand
times round the garden. The Gardener seizes the burden joyfully and
begins to run with it, but it grows heavier and heavier, till he
sinks crushed to death beneath it.
I have learned to know them;
Such, such are the demons of the World of Night.
“O hateful lady, hateful!” he cried, and sank again
Into the whirlpool of desire.
FOOTNOTES:
[117] A twelfth-century folk-song (_Ryōjin Hisshō_, p. 126), speaks of
“The Way of Love which knows no castes of ‘high’ and ‘low.’”
[118] A story from _Huai-nan Tzŭ_. What looks like disaster turns out
to be good fortune and _vice versa_. The horse broke away and was lost.
A revolution occurred during which the Government seized all horses.
When the revolution was over the man of Sai’s horse was rediscovered.
If he had not lost it the Government would have taken it.
[119] This simile, which passed into a proverb in China and Japan,
occurs first in _Chuang Tzŭ_, chap. xxii.
[120] Compare the “possession” in _Sotoba Komachi_.
[121] Adapted from a poem in the _Gosenshū_.
[122] Adapted from a poem in the _Kokinshū_.
[123] The names of two of the Cold Hells in the Buddhist Inferno.
[124] There is a legend that the fish who succeed in leaping a certain
waterfall turn into dragons. So the Gardener’s attempt to raise himself
to the level of the Princess has changed him into an evil demon.
NOTE ON AOI NO UYE.
At the age of twelve Prince Genji went through the ceremony of marriage
with Aoi no Uye (Princess Hollyhock), the Prime Minister’s daughter.
She continued to live at her father’s house and Genji at his palace.
When he was about sixteen he fell in love with Princess Rokujō, the
widow of the Emperor’s brother; she was about eight years older than
himself. He was not long faithful to her. The lady Yūgao next engaged
his affections. He carried her one night to a deserted mansion on the
outskirts of the City. “The night was far advanced and they had both
fallen asleep. Suddenly the figure of a woman appeared at the bedside.
“I have found you!” it cried. “What stranger is this that lies beside
you? What treachery is this that you flaunt before my eyes?” And with
these words the apparition stooped over the bed, and made as though to
drag away the sleeping girl from Genji’s side.”[125]
Before dawn Yūgao was dead, stricken by the “living phantom” of Rokujō,
embodiment of her baleful jealousy.
Soon after this, Genji became reconciled with his wife Aoi, but
continued to visit Rokujō. One day, at the Kamo Festival, Aoi’s way
was blocked by another carriage. She ordered her attendants to drag
it aside. A scuffle ensued between her servants and those of Rokujō
(for she was the occupant of the second carriage) in which Aoi’s side
prevailed. Rokujō’s carriage was broken and Aoi’s pushed into the front
place. After the festival was over Aoi returned to the Prime Minister’s
house in high spirits.
Soon afterwards she fell ill, and it is at this point that the play
begins.
There is nothing obscure or ambiguous in the situation. Fenollosa
seems to have misunderstood the play and read into it complications
and confusions which do not exist. He also changes the sex of the
Witch, though the Japanese word, _miko_, always has a feminine meaning.
The “Romance of Genji” (_Genji Monogatari_) was written by Lady
Murasaki Shikibu and was finished in the year 1004 A. D. Of
its fifty-four chapters only seventeen have been translated.[126] It
furnished the plots of many Nō plays, of which _Suma Genji_ (Genji’s
exile at Suma), _No no Miya_ (his visit to Rokujō after she became a
nun), _Tamakatsura_ (the story of Yūgao’s daughter), and _Hajitomi_ (in
which Yūgao’s ghost appears) are the best known.
There is some doubt about the authorship of the play. Seami saw it
acted as a Dengaku by his father’s contemporary Inūo. He describes
Inūo’s entry on to the stage in the rôle of Rokujō and quotes the
first six lines of her opening speech. These lines correspond exactly
with the modern text, and it is probable that the play existed in
something like its present form in the middle of the fourteenth
century. Kwanze Nagatoshi, the great-grandson of Seami, includes it in
a list of Seami’s works; while popular tradition ascribes it to Seami’s
son-in-law Zenchiku.
FOOTNOTES:
[125] _Genji Monogatari_ (Romance of Genji), chap, iii., Hakubunkwan
Edition, p. 87.
[126] By Baron Suyematsu in 1881.
AOI NO UYE
(PRINCESS HOLLYHOCK)
REVISED BY ZENCHIKU UJINOBU (1414-1499?)
PERSONS
_COURTIER._
_WITCH._
_PRINCESS ROKUJŌ._
_THE SAINT OF YOKAWA._
_MESSENGER._
_CHORUS._
(_A folded cloak laid in front of the stage symbolizes the sick-bed
of Aoi._)
COURTIER.
I am a courtier in the service of the Emperor Shujaku. You must know
that the Prime Minister’s daughter, Princess Aoi, has fallen sick. We
have sent for abbots and high-priests of the Greater School and of the
Secret School, but they could not cure her.
And now, here at my side, stands the witch of Teruhi,[127] a famous
diviner with the bow-string. My lord has been told that by twanging her
bow-string she can make visible an evil spirit and tell if it be the
spirit of a living man or a dead. So he bade me send for her and let
her pluck her string. (_Turning to the_ WITCH, _who has been waiting
motionless_.) Come, sorceress, we are ready!
WITCH (_comes forward beating a little drum and reciting a mystic
formula_).
_Ten shōjō; chi shōjō.
Naige shōjō; rokon shōjō._
Pure above; pure below.
Pure without; pure within.
Pure in eyes, ears, heart and tongue.
(_She plucks her bow-string, reciting the spell._)
You whom I call
Hold loose the reins
On your grey colt’s neck
As you gallop to me
Over the long sands!
(_The living phantasm of_ ROKUJŌ _appears at the back of the
stage_.)
ROKUJŌ.
In the Three Coaches
That travel on the Road of Law
I drove out of the Burning House ...[128]
Is there no way to banish the broken coach
That stands at Yūgao’s door?[129]
This world
Is like the wheels of the little ox-cart;
Round and round they go ... till vengeance comes.
The Wheel of Life turns like the wheel of a coach;
There is no escape from the Six Paths and Four Births.
We are brittle as the leaves of the _bashō_;
As fleeting as foam upon the sea.
Yesterday’s flower, to-day’s dream.
From such a dream were it not wiser to wake?
And when to this is added another’s scorn
How can the heart have rest?
So when I heard the twanging of your bow
For a little while, I thought, I will take my pleasure;
And as an angry ghost appeared.
Oh! I am ashamed!
(_She veils her face._)
This time too I have come secretly[130]
In a closed coach.
Though I sat till dawn and watched the moon,
Till dawn and watched,
How could I show myself,
That am no more than the mists that tremble over the fields?
I am come, I am come to the notch of your bow
To tell my sorrow.
Whence came the noise of the bow-string?
WITCH.
Though she should stand at the wife-door of the mother-house of the
square court ...[131]
ROKUJŌ.
Yet would none come to me, that am not in the flesh.[132]
WITCH.
How strange! I see a fine lady whom I do not know riding in a broken
coach. She clutches at the shafts of another coach from which the oxen
have been unyoked. And in the second coach sits one who seems a new
wife.[133] The lady of the broken coach is weeping, weeping. It is a
piteous sight.
Can this be she?
COURTIER.
It would not be hard to guess who such a one might be. Come, spirit,
tell us your name!
ROKUJŌ.
In this Sahā World[134] where days fly like the lightning’s flash
None is worth hating and none worth pitying.
This I knew. Oh when did folly master me?
You would know who I am that have come drawn by the twanging of your
bow? I am the angry ghost of Rokujō, Lady of the Chamber.
Long ago I lived in the world.
I sat at flower-feasts among the clouds.[135]
On spring mornings I rode out
In royal retinue and on autumn nights
Among the red leaves of the Rishis’ Cave
I sported with moonbeams,
With colours and perfumes
My senses sated.
I had splendour then;
But now I wither like the Morning Glory
Whose span endures not from dawn to midday.
I have come to clear my hate.
(_She then quotes the Buddhist saying, “Our sorrows in this
world are not caused by others; for even when others wrong us
we are suffering the retribution of our own deeds in a previous
existence.”_
_But while singing these words she turns towards_ AOI’S _bed;
passion again seizes her and she cries_:)
I am full of hatred.
I must strike; I must strike.
(_She creeps towards the bed._)
WITCH.
You, Lady Rokujō, you a Lady of the Chamber! Would you lay wait and
strike as peasant women do?[136] How can this be? Think and forbear!
ROKUJŌ.
Say what you will, I must strike. I must strike now. (_Describing her
own action._) “And as she said this, she went over to the pillow and
struck at it.” (_She strikes at the head of the bed with her fan._)
WITCH.
She is going to strike again. (_To_ ROKUJŌ.) You shall pay for this!
ROKUJŌ.
And this hate too is payment for past hate.
WITCH.
“The flame of anger
ROKUJŌ.
Consumes itself only.”[137]
WITCH.
Did you not know?
ROKUJŌ.
Know it then now.
CHORUS.
O Hate, Hate!
Her[138] hate so deep that on her bed
Our lady[139] moans.
Yet, should she live in the world again,[140]
He would call her to him, her Lord
The Shining One, whose light
Is brighter than fire-fly hovering
Over the slime of an inky pool.
ROKUJŌ.
But for me
There is no way back to what I was,
No more than to the heart of a bramble-thicket.
The dew that dries on the bramble-leaf
Comes back again;
But love (and this is worst)
That not even in dream returns,--
That is grown to be an old tale,--
Now, even now waxes,
So that standing at the bright mirror
I tremble and am ashamed.
I am come to my broken coach. (_She throws down her fan and begins to
slip off her embroidered robe._) I will hide you in it and carry you
away!
(_She stands right over the bed, then turns away and at the back of
the stage throws off her robe, which is held by two attendants in
such a way that she cannot be seen. She changes her “deigan” mask
for a female demon’s mask and now carries a mallet in her hand._)
(_Meanwhile the_ COURTIER, _who has been standing near the bed_:)
COURTIER.
Come quickly, some one! Princess Aoi is worse. Every minute she is
worse. Go and fetch the Little Saint of Yokawa.[141]
MESSENGER.
I tremble and obey.
(_He goes to the wing and speaks to some one off the stage._)
May I come in?
SAINT (_speaking from the wing_).
Who is it that seeks admittance to a room washed by the moonlight
of the Three Mysteries, sprinkled with the holy water of Yoga? Who
would draw near to a couch of the Ten Vehicles, a window of the Eight
Perceptions?
MESSENGER.
I am come from the Court. Princess Aoi is ill. They would have you come
to her.
SAINT.
It happens that at this time I am practising particular austerities and
go nowhere abroad. But if you are a messenger from the Court, I will
follow you.
(_He comes on the stage._)
COURTIER.
We thank you for coming.
SAINT.
I wait upon you. Where is the sick person?
COURTIER.
On the bed here.
SAINT.
Then I will begin my incantations at once.
COURTIER.
Pray do so.
SAINT.
He said: “I will say my incantations.”
Following in the steps of En no Gyōja,[142]
Clad in skirts that have trailed the Peak of the Two Spheres,[143]
That have brushed the dew of the Seven Precious Trees,
Clad in the cope of endurance
That shields from the world’s defilement,
“Sarari, sarari,” with such sound
I shake the red wooden beads of my rosary
And say the first spell:
_Namaku Samanda Basarada
Namaku Samanda Basarada_.[144]
ROKUJŌ (_during the incantation she has cowered at the back of the
stage wrapped in her Chinese robe, which she has picked up again._)
Go back, Gyōja, go back to your home; do not stay and be vanquished!
SAINT.
Be you what demon you will, do not hope to overcome the Gyōja’s subtle
power. I will pray again.
(_He shakes his rosary whilst the_ CHORUS, _speaking for him, invokes
the first of the Five Kings_.)
CHORUS.
In the east Gō Sanze, Subduer of the Three Worlds.
ROKUJŌ (_counter-invoking_).
In the south Gundari Yasha.
CHORUS.
In the west Dai-itoku.
ROKUJŌ.
In the north Kongō
CHORUS.
Yasha, the Diamond King.
ROKUJŌ.
In the centre the Great Holy
CHORUS.
Fudō Immutable.
_Namaku Samanda Basarada
Senda Makaroshana
Sohataya Untaratakarman._
“They that hear my name shall get Great Enlightenment;
They that see my body shall attain to Buddhahood.”[145]
ROKUJŌ (_suddenly dropping her mallet and pressing her hands to her
ears._)
The voice of the Hannya Book! I am afraid. Never again will I come as
an angry ghost.
GHOST.
When she heard the sound of Scripture
The demon’s raging heart was stilled;
Shapes of Pity and Sufferance,
The Bodhisats descend.
Her soul casts off its bonds,
She walks in Buddha’s Way.
[Illustration: DEMON MASK]
FOOTNOTES:
[127] A _miko_ or witch called Teruhi is the subject of the play _Sanja
Takusen_.
[128] Rokujō has left the “Burning House,” i. e. her material body.
The “Three Coaches” are those of the famous “Burning House” parable
in the _Hokkekyō_. Some children were in a burning house. Intent on
their play, they could not be induced to leave the building; till their
father lured them out by the promise that they would find those little
toy coaches awaiting them. So Buddha, by partial truth, lures men from
the “burning house” of their material lives. Owing to the episode at
the Kamo Festival, Rokujō is obsessed by the idea of “carriages,”
“wheels” and the like.
[129] One day Rokujō saw a coach from which all badges and distinctive
decorations had been purposely stripped (hence, in a sense, a “broken
coach”) standing before Yūgao’s door. She found out that it was
Genji’s. For Yūgao, see p. 142.
[130] Rokujō went secretly to the Kamo Festival in a closed carriage.
[131] Words from an old dance-song or “_saibara_.”
[132] “That am a ghost,” but also “that have lost my beauty.”
[133] Alluding to Aoi’s pregnancy.
[134] A Sanskrit name for the “world of appearances.”
[135] I. e. at the Palace.
[136] It was the custom for wives who had been put away to ambush the
new wife and strike her “to clear their hate.”
[137] From the Sutrālankära Shāstra (Cat. No. 1182).
[138] Rokujō’s.
[139] Aoi.
[140] I. e. recover.
[141] The hero of the “Finding of Ukifune,” a later episode in the
_Genji Monogatari_.
[142] Founder of the sect of the ascetics called Yamabushi Mountaineers.
[143] Mount Ōmine, near Yoshino, ritual ascents of which were made by
Yamabushi.
[144] Known as the Lesser Spell of Fudō. The longer one which follows
is the Middle Spell. They consist of corrupt Sanskrit mixed with
meaningless magic syllables.
[145] From the Buddhist Sūtra known in Japan as the Hannya Kyō. It was
supposed to have a particular influence over female demons, who are
also called “Hannyas.”
CHAPTER V
KANTAN
THE HŌKA PRIESTS
HAGOROMO
NOTE ON KANTAN.
A young man, going into the world to make his fortune, stops at an inn
on the road and there meets with a sage, who lends him a pillow. While
the inn-servant is heating up the millet, the young man dozes on the
pillow and dreams that he enters public life, is promoted, degraded,
recalled to office, endures the hardship of distant campaigns, is
accused of treason, condemned to death, saved at the last moment and
finally dies at a great old age. Awaking from his dream, the young man
discovers that the millet is not yet cooked. In a moment’s sleep he has
lived through the vicissitudes of a long public career. Convinced that
in the great world “honour is soon followed by disgrace, and promotion
by calumny,” he turns back again towards the village from which he came.
Such, in outline, is the most usual version of the story of Rosei’s
dream at Kantan. The earliest form in which we know it is the “Pillow
Tale” of the Chinese writer Li Pi, who lived from 722 to 789 A.
D.
It is interesting to see how Seami deals with a subject which seems
at first sight so impossible to shape into a Nō play. The “sage” is
eliminated, and in the dream Rosei immediately becomes Emperor of
Central China. This affords an excuse for the Court dances which form
the central “ballet” of the piece. In the second half, as in _Hagoromo_
and other plays, the words are merely an accompaniment to the dancing.
Chamberlain’s version loses by the fact that it is made from the
ordinary printed text which omits the prologue and all the speeches of
the hostess.
The play is usually attributed to Seami, but it is not mentioned in his
_Works_, nor in the list of plays by him drawn up by his great-grandson
in 1524.
It is discussed at considerable length in the _Later Kwadensho_,
which was printed _c._ 1600. The writer of that book must therefore
have regarded the play as a work of Seami’s period. It should be
mentioned that the geography of the play is absurd. Though both his
starting-point and goal lie in the south-western province of Ssechuan,
he passes through Hantan,[146] which lay in the northern province of
Chih-li.
FOOTNOTE:
[146] In Japanese, Kantan.
KANTAN
PERSONS
_HOSTESS._
_ROSEI._
_ENVOY._
_TWO LITTER BEARERS._
_BOY DANCER._
_TWO COURTIERS._
_CHORUS._
HOSTESS
I who now stand before you am a woman of the village of Kantan in
China. A long while ago I gave lodging to one who practised the arts
of wizardry; and as payment he left here a famous pillow, called the
Pillow of Kantan. He who sleeps on this pillow sees in a moment’s dream
the past or future spread out before him, and so awakes illumined. If
it should chance that any worshipful travellers arrive to-day, pray
send for me.
(_She takes the pillow and lays it on the covered “daïs” which
represents at first the bed and afterwards the palace._)
ROSEI (_enters_).
Lost on the journey of life, shall I learn at last
That I trod but a path of dreams?
My name is Rosei, and I have come from the land of Shoku. Though born
to man’s estate, I have not sought Buddha’s way, but have drifted from
dusk to dawn and dawn to dusk.
They tell me that on the Hill of the Flying Sheep in the land of
So[147] there lives a mighty sage; and now I am hastening to visit him
that he may tell by what rule I should conduct my life.
(_Song of Travel._)
Deep hid behind the alleys of the sky
Lie the far lands where I was wont to dwell.
Over the hills I trail
A tattered cloak; over the hills again:
Fen-dusk and mountain-dusk and village-dusk
Closed many times about me, till to-day
At the village of Kantan,
Strange to me save in name, my journey ends.
I have travelled so fast that I am already come to the village of
Kantan. Though the sun is still high, I will lodge here to-night.
(_Knocking._) May I come in?
HOSTESS.
Who is it?
ROSEI.
I am a traveller; pray give me lodging for the night.
HOSTESS.
Yes, I can give you lodging; pray come this way.... You seem to be
travelling all alone. Tell me where you have come from and where you
are going.
ROSEI.
I come from the land of Shoku. They tell me that on the Hill of the
Flying Sheep there lives a sage; and I am visiting him that he may tell
me by what rule I should conduct my life.
HOSTESS.
It is a long way to the Hill of the Flying Sheep. Listen! A wizard
once lodged here and gave us a marvellous pillow called the Pillow of
Kantan: he who sleeps on it sees all his future in a moment’s dream.
ROSEI.
Where is this pillow?
HOSTESS.
It is on the bed.
ROSEI.
I will go and sleep upon it.
HOSTESS.
And I meanwhile will heat you some millet at the fire.
ROSEI (_going to the bed_).
So this is the pillow, the Pillow of Kantan that I have heard such
strange tales of? Heaven has guided me to it, that I who came out to
learn the secret of life may taste the world in a dream.
As one whose course swift summer-rain has stayed,
Unthrifty of the noon he turned aside
To seek a wayside dream;
Upon the borrowed Pillow of Kantan
He laid his head and slept.
(_While_ ROSEI _is still chanting these words, the_ ENVOY _enters,
followed by two_ ATTENDANTS _who carry a litter. The_ ENVOY _raps on
the post of the bed_.)
ENVOY.
Rosei, Rosei! I must speak with you.
(ROSEI, _who has been lying with his fan over his face, rises when
the_ ENVOY _begins to speak_.)
ROSEI.
But who are you?
ENVOY.
I am come as a messenger to tell you that the Emperor of the Land of
So[148] resigns his throne and commands that Rosei shall reign in his
stead.
ROSEI.
Unthinkable! I a king? But for what reason am I assigned this task?
ENVOY.
I cannot venture to determine. Doubtless there were found in your
Majesty’s countenance auspicious tokens, signs that you must rule the
land. Let us lose no time; pray deign to enter this palanquin.
ROSEI (_looking at the palanquin in astonishment_).
What thing is this?
A litter spangled with a dew of shining stones?
I am not wont to ride. Such splendour! Oh, little thought I
When first my weary feet trod unfamiliar roads
In kingly state to be borne to my journey’s end.
Is it to Heaven I ride?
CHORUS.
In jewelled palanquin
On the Way of Wisdom you are borne; here shall you learn
That the flower of glory fades like a moment’s dream.
See, you are become a cloud-man of the sky.[149]
The palaces of ancient kings
Rise up before you, Abō’s Hall, the Dragon’s Tower;[150]
High over the tall clouds their moonlit gables gleam.
The light wells and wells like a rising tide.[151]
Oh splendid vision! A courtyard strewn
With golden and silver sand;
And they that at the four sides
Pass through the jewelled door are canopied
With a crown of woven light.
In the Cities of Heaven, in the home of Gods, I had thought,
Shine such still beams on walls of stone;
Never on palace reared by hands of men.
Treasures, a thousand kinds, ten thousand kinds,
Tribute to tribute joined, a myriad vassal-kings
Cast down before the Throne.
Flags of a thousand lords, ten thousand lords
Shine many-coloured in the sky,
And the noise of their wind-flapping
Rolls round the echoing earth.
ROSEI.
And in the east
CHORUS.
Over a silver hill of thirty cubits height
A golden sun-wheel rose.
ROSEI.
And in the west
Over a golden hill of thirty cubits height
A silver moon-wheel rose,
To prove his words who sang
“In the Palace of Long Life[152]
The Springs and Autumns cease.
Before the Gate of Endless Youth[153]
The days and months pass slow.”[154]
COURTIER.
I would address your Majesty. Your Majesty has reigned for fifty years.
Deign but to drink this drink and you shall live a thousand years. See!
I bring you the nectar and the grail.
ROSEI.
The nectar?
COURTIER.
It is the wine that Immortals drink.
ROSEI.
The grail?
COURTIER.
It is the cup from which they drink.
ROSEI.
The magic wine! A thousand generations shall pass
COURTIER.
Or ever the springtime of your glory fade.
ROSEI.
I bountiful ...
COURTIER.
Your people prosperous.
CHORUS.
For ever and ever
The land secure;
The flower of glory waxing;
The “herb of increase,” joy-increasing
Into the cup we pour.
See! from hand to hand it goes.
“I will drink,” he cries.
ROSEI.
Go circling, magic cup,
CHORUS.
Circling from hand to hand;[155]
As at the Feast of Floating Cups[156]
Hands thrust from damask sleeves detain
The goblet whirling in the eager stream;
Now launched, now landed![157]
Oh merry flashing light, that shall endure
Long as the Silver Chalice[158] circles space.
BOY DANCER.
The white chrysanthem-dew,
CHORUS.
“The dew of the flowers dripping day by day
In how many thousand years
Will it have grown into a pool?”[159]
It shall not fail, it shall not fail,
The fountain of our Immortality;
He draws, and yet it wells;
He drinks, and to his taste it is as sweet
As the Gods’ deathless food.
His heart grows airy; day and night
In unimagined revel, incomparable pride and glory
Eternally shall pass.
(_End of the_ BOY DANCER’S _dance_. ROSEI, _who has been
watching this dance, now springs up in ecstasy to dance the Gaku or
Court Dance_.)
ROSEI.
The spring-time of my glory fades not ...
CHORUS.
Many times shall you behold
The pale moon of dawn ...
ROSEI.
This is the moon-men’s dance;
Cloud-like the feathery sleeves pile up; the song of joy
From dusk to dawn I sing.
CHORUS.
All night we sing.
The sun shines forth again,
Sinks down, and it is night ...
ROSEI.
Nay, dawn has come!
CHORUS.
We thought the morning young, and lo! the moon
ROSEI.
Again is bright.
CHORUS.
Spring scarce has opened her fresh flowers,
ROSEI.
When leaves are crimson-dyed.
CHORUS.
Summer is with us yet;
ROSEI.
Nay, the snow falls.
CHORUS (_speaking for_ ROSEI).
“I watched the seasons pass:
Spring, summer, autumn, winter; a thousand trees,
A thousand flowers were strange and lovely in their pride.
So the time sped, and now
Fifty years of glory have passed by me,
And because they were a dream,
(_At this point an_ ATTENDANT _brings back the pillow, and places
it in the “palace” which becomes a bed again_.)
All, all has vanished and I wake
On the pillow where I laid my head,
The Pillow of Kantan.”
(_The_ BOY DANCER _and the two_ COURTIERS _slip out by the
side-door “kirido”_; ROSEI _has mounted the bed and is asleep_.)
HOSTESS (_tapping twice with her fan_).
Listen, traveller! Your millet is ready. Come quickly and eat your
dinner.
ROSEI (_rising slowly from the bed_).
Rosei has woken from his dream ...
CHORUS.
Woken from his dream! The springs and autumns of fifty years
Vanished with all their glory; dazed he rises from the bed.
ROSEI.
Whither are they gone that were so many ...
CHORUS.
“The queens and waiting-ladies? What I thought their voices”
ROSEI.
Were but the whisperings of wind in the trees.
CHORUS.
The palaces and towers
ROSEI.
Were but the baiting-house of Kantan.
CHORUS.
The time of my glory,
ROSEI.
Those fifty years,
CHORUS.
Were but the space of a dream,
ROSEI.
Dreamed while a bowl of millet cooked!
CHORUS.
It is the Inscrutable, the Mystery.
ROSEI.
Yet when I well consider
Man’s life in the world of men ...
CHORUS.
Then shall you find that a hundred years of gladness
Fade as a dream when Death their sequence closes.
Thus too has ended
This monarch’s fifty years of state.
Ambition, length of days,
Revels and kingly rule,
All, all has ended thus, all was a dream
Dreamed while the millet cooked.
ROSEI.
Glory be to the Trinity,[160]
Glory to the Trinity!
CHORUS.
Seek you a sage to loose
The bonds that bound you to life’s woes?
This pillow is the oracle you sought.
Now shall the wayfarer, content to learn
What here he learnt, that Life is but a dream,
Turn homeward from the village of Kantan.
FOOTNOTES:
[147] Corresponds to the modern province Hupeh.
[148] So, Chinese “Ch’u,” was formerly an independent feudal State. The
name means “thorn,” as does the Japanese “ibara.” Chamberlain calls it
“The Country of Ibara,” but in this case the reading “So” is indicated
by both Ōwada and Haga.
[149] Kings and princes are often called “thou above the clouds.”
[150] Palaces of the First Emperor. An attendant has removed the pillow
from the “bed.” From this moment the bed becomes a magnificent palace,
as described in the verses which follow.
[151] At this point the Boy Dancer enters.
[152] Name of a famous Chinese palace.
[153] Famous Gate in the palace of the T’ang Emperors.
[154] These lines are from a poem by Yasutane, d. 997 A. D.
(Chamberlain attributes them to Po Chü-i.)
[155] Here the Boy Dancer begins to dance the Dream-dance.
[156] On the third day of the third month people floated cups in the
stream. Each person as the cup passed in front of him, had to compose a
poem and drink the contents of the cup.
[157] These words also describe the dancer’s movements.
[158] The Moon.
[159] See Waley, _Japanese Poetry_, p. 77.
[160] I. e. Buddha, the Law and the Priesthood. A pious exclamation of
astonishment like the Spanish “Jesù, Maria José!”
THE HŌKA PRIESTS
(HŌKAZŌ)
By ZENCHIKU UJINOBU (1414-1499)
PERSONS
_MAKINO._
_HIS BROTHER._
_NOBUTOSHI (their father’s murderer)._
_NOBUTOSHI’S SERVANT._
MAKINO.
My name is Kojirō; I am the son of one Makino no Sayemon who lived in
the land of Shimotsuke. You must know that my father had a quarrel with
Nobutoshi, a man of Sagami, and was done to death by him. So this man
was my father’s murderer and I ought to kill him. But he has many bold
fellows to stand by him, while I am all alone. So the days and months
slip by with nothing done.
A brother indeed I have, but he left home when he was a child, made
himself into a priest, and lives at the seminary near by.
I am much puzzled how to act. I think I will go across and speak to
my brother of this matter. (_He goes to the curtain at the end of the
hashigakari._) May I come in?
(_The curtain is raised and the_ BROTHER _appears_.)
BROTHER.
Who is it?
MAKINO.
It is I.
BROTHER.
Come in, brother. What has brought you hither?
MAKINO.
I will tell you. It is this matter of our father’s murder that has
brought me. I have been thinking that I ought to kill his enemy, and
would have done so but he has many bold fellows to stand by him and I
am all alone. So the days and months slip by and nothing is done.
For pity’s sake, decide with me what course we must pursue.
BROTHER.
Brother, what you have said is true enough. But have you forgotten that
I left my home when I was but a child and made myself a priest? Since
that is so, I cannot help you.
MAKINO.
So you are pleased to think; but men say he is a bad son who does not
kill his father’s foe.
BROTHER.
Can you tell me of any that have ministered to piety by slaying a
parent’s foe?
MAKINO.
Why, yes. It was in China, I think. There was one whose mother had been
taken by a savage tiger. “I will take vengeance,” he cried, and for a
hundred days he lay ambushed in the fields waiting for the tiger to
come. And once when he was walking on the hillside at dusk, he thought
he saw his enemy, and having an arrow already on his bow-string, he
shot with all his might. It was nothing but a great rock that he had
seen, shaped like a tiger. But his arrow stuck so deep in the stone
that blood gushed out from it. If then the strength of piety is such
that it can drive an arrow deep into the heart of a stone, take
thought, I beseech you, whether you will not resolve to come with me.
BROTHER.
You have cited me a notable instance. I am persuaded to resolve with
you how this thing may be effected.
Come now, by what strategy may we get access to our foe?
MAKINO.
A plan has suddenly come into my head. You know that these _hōka_
plays are become the fashion of the day. Why should not I dress up as
a _hōka_ and you as a _hōka_ priest? They say that our man is a great
lover of the Zen doctrine; so you may talk to him of Zen.
BROTHER.
That is indeed a pretty notion; let me lose no time in effecting it.
I am resolved; in a pilgrim guise
I mask my limbs.
MAKINO.
And I, glad-thoughted,
In a minstrel’s garb go forth.
BROTHER.
Secretly
MAKINO.
We steal from a home
CHORUS.
“Where fain we would stay, but now
Long as life lasts,
Life fickle as the moon of dawn,
No refuge know we
But the haven of our intent.”
(_The_ BROTHERS _leave the stage. Enter their enemy_ NOBUTOSHI,
_followed by his Servant_.)
NOBUTOSHI.
To the home of gods my footsteps turn
To the Sacred Fence that bars
No suppliant’s desire.
I am called Tone no Nobutoshi. My home is in the land of Sagami.
Because for much time past I have been troubled with evil dreams, I
have resolved to visit the Three Isles of Seto.
(_Re-enter the Brothers_: MAKINO _with bow and arrow in his hand
and bamboo sprigs stuck in his belt behind; the_ BROTHER _carrying
a long staff to which a round fan is attached_.)
BROTHER.
A fine sight are we now!
From priest and laic way alike removed,
Scarce men in speech or form!
MAKINO.
This antic garb shall hide us from the World
More safe than hermit cell;
All earthly thoughts shut out here might we bide
Cloistered in ease. Oh why,
Why back to the bitter World
Are we borne by our intent?
MAKINO and BROTHER.
The flower that has fallen dreams that Spring is done,
There are white clouds to cover
The green hillside ...
MAKINO.
To match the scarlet
Of the autumn leaves
Red sunlight glitters
On the flowing stream.
CHORUS.
Wind at morning, rain at night;
To-day and to-morrow
Shall be part of long ago.
We who pass through a world
Changeful as the dews of evening,
Uncertain as the skies of Spring,
We that are as foam upon the stream,--
Can _any_ be our foe?
SERVANT (_seeing them and going towards the hashigakari_).
You’re a merry pair of guys! What may your names be?
BROTHER.
Floating Cloud; Running Water.
SERVANT.
And what is your friend’s name?
MAKINO.
Floating Cloud; Running Water.
SERVANT.
Have you then but one name between you?
BROTHER.
I am Floating Cloud and he is Running Water. And now, pray, tell us
your master’s name.
SERVANT.
Why, he comes from the land of Sagami, and Nobutoshi ... (_here the_
SERVANT _suddenly remembers that he is being indiscreet and stuffs his
hand into his mouth_) ... is not his name.
BROTHER.
That’s no matter. Whoever he is, tell him that we are only two _hōka_
come to speak with him.
SERVANT.
I will tell him. Do you wait here.
(_He goes over to_ NOBUTOSHI _and whispers with him, then comes
back to the_ BROTHERS.)
Come this way.
(NOBUTOSHI _comes to meet them, covering his face with a fan_.)
NOBUTOSHI.
Listen, gentlemen, I desire an explanation from you.
BROTHER.
What would you know?
NOBUTOSHI.
It is this. They alone can be called priests round whose fingers
is twisted the rosary of Tenfold Power, who are clad in cloak of
Forbearance, round whose shoulders hangs the stole of Penitence. Such
is everywhere the garb of Buddha’s priests. I know no other habit. But
you, I see, carry a round fan tied to your pillar-staff. By what verse
do you justify the wearing of a fan?
BROTHER.
“In motion, a wind;
In stillness, a bright moon.”
And even as in this one substance
Both wind and moon inhere,
So Thought alone is Truth, and from the mind
Spring all component things.
Such is the sermon of the fan, as a sign we bear it
Of the heart’s omnipotence. It is an emblem
Fools only would decry!
NOBUTOSHI.
The fan indeed teaches an agreeable lesson; but one of you carries a
bow and arrow at his side. Are these too reckoned fit gear for men of
your profession?
MAKINO.
The bow? Why, surely!
Are not its two horns fashioned
In likeness of the Hare and Crow,
Symbols of the Moon and Sun, of Night and Day?
Here is the primal mystery displayed
Of fair and foul conjoined.[161]
Bears not the God of Love, unsullied king,
A magical bow? Does he not stretch upon its string
Arrows of grace whereby
The armies of the Four Fiends[162] know no rest
CHORUS.
And thus we two are armed,
For though the bow be not bent nor the arrow loosed,
Yet falls the prey unmasked.
(MAKINO _draws his bow as though about to shoot; his_ BROTHER
_checks him with his staff_.)
So says the song. Now speak no more
Of things you know not of.
NOBUTOSHI.
Tell me, pray, from which patriarch do the _hōka_ priests derive their
doctrine? To what sect do you adhere?
BROTHER.
We are of no sect; our doctrine stands apart. It cannot be spoken nor
expounded. To frame it in sentences is to degrade our faith; to set it
down in writing is to be untrue to our Order; but by the bending of a
leaf is the wind’s journey known.
NOBUTOSHI.
I thank you; your exposition delights me. Pray tell me now, what is the
meaning of this word “Zen”?
MAKINO.
Within, to sound to their depths the waters of Mystery;
Without, to wander at will through the portals of Concentration.
NOBUTOSHI.
And of the doctrine that Buddha is in the bones of each one of us ...?
BROTHER.
He lurks unseen; like the golden dragon[163] when he leaps behind the
clouds.
NOBUTOSHI.
If we believe that life and death are real ...
BROTHER.
Then are we caught in the wheel of sorrow.
NOBUTOSHI.
But if we deny them ...
BROTHER.
We are listed to a heresy.[164]
NOBUTOSHI.
And the straight path to knowledge ...
MAKINO (_rushing forward sword in hand_).
“With the triple stroke is carved.”[165]
Hold! (_turning to_ NOBUTOSHI _who has recoiled and drawn his sword_.)
“To carve a way to knowledge by the triple stroke” ...
These are Zen words; he was but quoting a text.
This perturbation does little honour to your wits.
CHORUS.
Thus do men ever
Blurt out or blazen on the cheek
Red as rock-rose[166] the thing they would not speak.
Now by the Trinity, how foolish are men’s hearts!
SERVANT (_aside_).
While my masters are fooling, I’ll to my folly too.
(_He slips out by the side door._)
BROTHER (_embarking upon a religious discourse in order to allay_
NOBUTOSHI’S _suspicions_).
It matters not whether faith and words be great or small,
Whether the law be kept or broken.
CHORUS.
Neither in the “Yea” nor “Nay” is the Truth found;
There is none but may be saved at last.
BROTHER.
Not man alone; the woods and fields
Show happy striving.
CHORUS.
The willow in his green, the peony
In crimson dressed.
(_The_ BROTHER _here begins his first dance; like that which
follows, it is a “shimai” or dance without instrumental music_.)
On mornings of green spring
When at the valley’s shining gate
First melt the hawthorn-warbler’s frozen tears,
Or when by singing foam
Of snow-fed waters echoes the discourse
Of neighbourly frogs;--then speaks
The voice of Buddha’s heart.
Autumn, by eyes unseen,
Is heard in the wind’s anger;
And the clash of river-reeds, the clamorous descent
Of wild-geese searching
The home-field’s face,
Clouds shaped like leaves of rice,--all these
To watchful eyes foretell the evening storm.
He who has seen upon a mountain-side
Stock-still beneath the moon
The young deer stand in longing for his mate,
That man may read the writing, and forget
The finger on the page.
BROTHER.
Even so the fisher’s boats that ride
The harbour of the creek,
CHORUS.
Bring back the fish, but leave the net behind.
These things you have heard and seen;
In the wind of the hill-top, in the valley’s song,
In the film of night, in the mist of morning
Is it proclaimed that Thought alone
Was, Is and Shall be.
BROTHER.
Conceive this truth and wake!
As a cloud that hides the moon, so Matter veils
CHORUS.
The face of Thought.
BROTHER (_begins his second dance, while the_ CHORUS _sings the ballad
used by the “hōka” players_).
Oh, a pleasant place is the City of Flowers;
CHORUS.
No pen could write its wonders.[167]
In the east, Gion and the Temple of Clear Waters
Where torrents tumble with a noise of many wings;
In the storm-wind flutter, flutter
The blossoms of the Earth-lord’s tree.[168]
In the west, the Temple of the Wheel of Law,
The Shrine of Saga (Turn, if thou wilt,
Wheel of the Water Mill!),
Where river-waves dance on the weir
And river-willows by the waves are chafed;
Oxen of the City by the wheels are chafed;
And the tea-mortar by the pestle is chafed.
Why, and I’d forgot! In the _hōka’s_ hands
The _kokiriko_[169] is chafed.
Now long may our Lord rule
Age notched on age, like the notches
Of these gnarled sticks!
MAKINO and BROTHER.
Enough! Why longer hide our plot?
(_They draw their swords and rush upon_ NOBUTOSHI, _who places
his hat upon the ground and slips out at the side-door. The hat
henceforward symbolically represents_ NOBUTOSHI, _an actual
representation of slaughter being thus avoided_.)
CHORUS.
Then the brothers drew their swords and rushed upon him,
The foe of their desire.
(MAKINO _gets behind the hat, to signify that_ NOBUTOSHI _is
surrounded_.)
They have scaled the summit of their hate,
The rancour of many months and years.
The way is open to the bourne of their intent.
(_They strike._)
They have laid their enemy low.
So when the hour was come
Did these two brothers
By sudden resolution
Destroy their father’s foe.
For valour and piety are their names remembered
Even in this aftertime.
[Illustration: THE ANGEL IN _HAGOROMO_]
FOOTNOTES:
[161] The Sun is male, i. e. fair. The Moon female, i. e. foul.
[162] The demons of Delusion, of the Senses, of the Air and of Death.
[163] The Sun.
[164] The heresy of Nihilism. To say that phenomena do not exist is as
untrue as to say that they exist.
[165] He quotes a Zen text.
[166] _Iwa_, “rock,” also means “not speak.”
[167] Some actors, says Ōwada, here write in the air with their fan;
but such detailed miming is vulgar.
[168] An allusion to the cherry-trees at the Kiyomizu-dera.
[169] Bamboo-strips rubbed together to produce a squeaking sound.
NOTE ON HAGOROMO.
The story of the mortal who stole an angel’s cloak and so prevented her
return to heaven is very widely spread. It exists, with variations and
complications, in India, China, Japan, the Liu Chiu Islands and Sweden.
The story of Hasan in the _Arabian Nights_ is an elaboration of the
same theme.
The Nō play is said to have been written by Seami, but a version of
it existed long before. The last half consists merely of chants sung
to the dancing. Some of these (e.g. the words to the Suruga Dance)
have no relevance to the play, which is chiefly a framework or excuse
for the dances. It is thus a Nō of the primitive type, and perhaps
belongs, at any rate in its conception, to an earlier period than such
unified dramas as _Atsumori_ or _Kagekiyo_. The words of the dances in
_Maiguruma_ are just as irrelevant to the play as those of the Suruga
Dance in _Hagoromo_, but there the plot explains and even demands their
intrusion.
The libretto of the second part lends itself very ill to translation,
but I have thought it best to give the play in full.
HAGOROMO
By SEAMI
PERSONS
_HAKURYŌ (a Fisherman)._
_ANGEL._
_ANOTHER FISHERMAN._
_CHORUS._
FISHERMAN.
Loud the rowers’ cry
Who through the storm-swept paths of Mio Bay
Ride to the rising sea.
HAKURYŌ.
I am Hakuryō, a fisherman whose home is by the pine-woods of Mio.
BOTH.
“On a thousand leagues of lovely hill clouds suddenly close;
But by one tower the bright moon shines in a clear sky.”[170]
A pleasant season, truly: on the pine-wood shore
The countenance of Spring;
Early mist close-clasped to the swell of the sea;
In the plains of the sky a dim, loitering moon.
Sweet sight, to gaze enticing
Eyes even of us earth-cumbered
Low souls, least for attaining
Of high beauty nurtured.
Oh unforgettable! By mountain paths
Down to the sea of Kiyomi I come
And on far woodlands look,
Pine-woods of Mio, thither
Come, thither guide we our course.
Fishers, why put you back your boats to shore,
No fishing done?
Thought you them rising waves, those billowy clouds
Wind-blown across sea?
Wait, for the time is Spring and in the trees
The early wind his everlasting song
Sings low; and in the bay
Silent in morning calm the little ships,
Ships of a thousand fishers, ride the sea.
(_The second_ FISHERMAN _retires to a position near the leader of
the_ CHORUS, _and takes no further part in the action_.)
HAKURYŌ.
Now I have landed at the pine-wood of Mio and am viewing the beauty
of the shore. Suddenly there is music in the sky, a rain of flowers,
unearthly fragrance wafted on all sides. These are no common things;
nor is this beautiful cloak that hangs upon the pine-tree. I come near
to it. It is marvellous in form and fragrance. This surely is no common
dress. I will take it back with me and show it to the people of my
home. It shall be a treasure in my house.
(_He walks four steps towards the Waki’s pillar carrying the
feather robe._)
ANGEL (_entering through the curtain at the end of the gallery_).
Stop! That cloak is mine. Where are you going with it?
HAKURYŌ.
This is a cloak I found here. I am taking it home.
ANGEL.
It is an angel’s robe of feathers, a cloak no mortal man may wear. Put
it back where you found it.
HAKURYŌ.
How? Is the owner of this cloak an angel of the sky? Why, then, I will
put it in safe keeping. It shall be a treasure in the land, a marvel to
men unborn.[171] I will not give back your cloak.
ANGEL.
Oh pitiful! How shall I cloakless tread
The wing-ways of the air, how climb
The sky, my home?
Oh, give it back, in charity give it back.
HAKURYŌ.
No charity is in me, and your moan
Makes my heart resolute.
Look, I take your robe, hide it, and will not give it back.
(_Describing his own actions. Then he walks away._)
ANGEL.
Like a bird without wings,
I would rise, but robeless
HAKURYŌ.
To the low earth you sink, an angel dwelling
In the dingy world.
ANGEL.
This way, that way.
Despair only.
HAKURYŌ.
But when she saw he was resolved to keep it ...
ANGEL.
Strength failing.
HAKURYŌ.
Help none ...
CHORUS.
Then on her coronet,
Jewelled as with the dew of tears,
The bright flowers drooped and faded.[172]
O piteous to see before the eyes,
Fivefold the signs of sickness
Corrupt an angel’s form.
ANGEL.
I look into the plains of heaven,
The cloud-ways are hid in mist,
The path is lost.
CHORUS.
Oh, enviable clouds,
At your will wandering
For ever idle in the empty sky
That was my home!
Now fades and fades upon my ear
The voice of Kalavink,[173]
Daily accustomed song.
And you, oh you I envy,
Wild-geese clamorous
Down the sky-paths returning;
And you, O seaward circling, shoreward sweeping
Swift seagulls of the bay:
Even the wind, because in heaven it blows,
The wind of Spring I envy.
HAKURYŌ.
Listen. Now that I have seen you in your sorrow, I yield and would give
you back your mantle.
ANGEL.
Oh, I am happy! Give it me then!
HAKURYŌ.
Wait. I have heard tell of the dances that are danced in heaven. Dance
for me now, and I will give back your robe.
ANGEL.