MATSUE, August, 1891.
DEAR MR. CHAMBERLAIN,--Before leaving, I must trouble you with another
note or two.
For "Things Japanese," I would like to make a suggestion about the
article "Theatre." The reference to O-Kuni seems to me extremely
severe; for her story is very beautiful and touching. She was a _miko_
in the Great Temple of Kizuki, and fell in love with a _ronin_ named
Nagoya Sanza, and she fled away with her lover to Kyōto. On the way,
another _ronin_, who fell in love with her extraordinary beauty, was
killed by Sanza. Always the face of the dead man haunted the girl.
At Kyōto she supported her lover by dancing the Miko-kagura in the
dry bed of the river Kamogawa.
Then they went to Tōkyō (Yedo) and began to act. Sanza himself
became a famous and successful actor. The two lived together until Sanza
died.
Then she came back to Kizuki. She was learned, and a great poet in the
style called _renga_. After Sanza's death she supported herself, or at
least occupied herself, in teaching this poetic art. But she shaved
off her hair and became a nun, and built the little Buddhist temple in
Kizuki called Rengaji, in which she lived, and taught her art. And the
reason she built the temple was that she might pray for the soul of
the _ronin_ whom the sight of her beauty had ruined. The temple stood
until thirty years ago. Nothing is now left of it but a broken statue
of Jizō. Her family still live in Kizuki, and until the restoration
the chief of the family was always entitled to a share of the profits of
the Kizuki theatre, because his ancestress, the beautiful _miko_, had
founded the art.
So I would like to suggest that poor O-Kuni have a kind word said for
her. And I am sure we would both think very highly of her if she were
alive.
There is a little Japanese book about her history; but I do not know the
title. With best regards,