Chapter II

A [living] man while spending [in this world]
Even a single day and single night,
A [living] man while spending [in this world]
Even a single day and single night,
Eight billion and four thousand things has he
To think about. But how much more have I,
I, who left long ago the pleasant world--
’Twas in the reign of Tenchi and by now
The second Horikawa holds his sway.
Oh, that once more unto the pleasant world
I might return. How long in shady weeds
And ’neath the moss, how long I buried lie!
But worse, not buried under the cool earth
I suffer from a roasting heat and burn,
Within a flaming dwelling-place, behold!
Within a flaming dwelling-place, behold!

PRIEST

Alas! How truly piteous is thy state,
If only thou wouldst once but cast away
The clouds of thy delusions, thou wouldst be
Freed from thy many sins and from all ills.
“From evils all, and sins, from hells and fiends,
Illnesses all and deaths, be thou set free.”
Oh, quickly float thyself in buoyant thought!

GHOST

Ah, grateful am I, for the voice of prayer
Has reached my ears, and tho’ my sufferings
Do know no intermission, in hot hell
The smoke clears back a moment, and I see
A little open space. How glad I am!

Oh, how terrible! Who art thou? What! Of Sasada the spirit?
And thou art the ghost of Chinu? And from right and left you hold me
By the hands, and saying to me “Come, come, come.” Though they
torment me
I don’t dare to leave the shelter of my burning house; for no one,
Nothing, is there to rely on. And I see another spirit
Flying from afar towards me. Oh, how terrible! I see it,
’Tis the duck, and turned to iron, turned to steel it is before me!

With beaks of steel like naked swords the bird
Pecks at my head and feasts upon my brain.
Is it because of crimes I did commit?
Oh, how resentful is it, cruel bird!

Oh! I pray thee, Priest, I pray thee, from these sufferings
relieve me!

PRIEST

“The time of torment fierce has now arrived.”
The spirit had not finished saying this,
When o’er the tomb flew out a band of flame.

GHOST

And then its light became a hellish fiend,

PRIEST

Who raised the torture rod, and drove at her.

GHOST

Before me is a sea if I attempt
But to advance

PRIEST

While flames are in the rear.

GHOST

And on the left.

PRIEST

And on the right as well.

GHOST

By water and by fire am I now held
In double torment.

PRIEST

Helpless utterly.

GHOST

When to the pillar of the burning house

CHORUS

I reach my hands, and do attempt to cling
At once the column bursts out into flame--
The blazing pillar must I then embrace.
Oh, scorching heat! Oh, unendurable!
The whole five members of my body turned
Into black smoke by this fierce burning fire.

GHOST

And then when I arose--

CHORUS

And then when I arose, a jailor fiend
Applied the torture-rod, and drove me out.
I left the house and wandered through eight hells
And there all suffering I underwent.
Now I would show thee how I blotted out
My many sins. Before thee lie the scenes
First in the hell of all equality,[28]
Then in the hell of black rope, devil led,
And driven to the hell of gathering,
Where all assemble. Then the hell of cries,
Of bitter cries, came next, and then of heat,
Of utmost heat, and then the hell of depth,
Depth infinite, into whose space I fell
Feet upwards and head downwards for three years
And three months more, in agony the while.
And after that a little interval--
The devils left me and the flames expired,
I thought there was a respite to my pain,
But then the darkness grew more terrible
And to my burning house I would return
I thought--but where then was it? To myself
I asked the question in the pitchy dark.
And seeking, seeking, to and fro I groped.
“The Maiden’s Tomb”--I searched it everywhere,
And now at last I find “The Maiden’s Tomb.”
Like flying dews leaving a grassy shade,
Like flying dews leaving a grassy shade,
The spirit’s form has once more disappeared
The spirit’s shadow has now vanished.

END OF “THE MAIDEN’S TOMB”

* * * * *

(The play ends thus abruptly, leaving us in doubt as to whether or not the Priest’s admonition prevailed, and she escaped into Nirvana.)

FOOTNOTES:

[8] Page 39--This piece in the current original is called _Motome-zuka_, which means, the “Sought Tomb.” In older versions it was previously called _Otome-zuka_, meaning the “Maiden’s Tomb,” by which name the story was also known in the _Yamato Monogatari_ (“Tales of Japan”), written nearly a thousand years ago. _Otome_ and _motome_ sounding so similar in Japanese, and, as the two men came _seeking_ the tomb, the name was changed in the text of the Japanese Nō, but as the older name both has priority and is more euphonious I revert to the older title.

This piece is one of the eleven most important _utais_, and the _Shite’s_ part is a particularly difficult one to chant.

[9] The long lines are translations of the “words” in the play. As these words are not ordinary prose it seems better not to put them into English prose from which they are so remote. (See p. 33.)

[10] Page 40--The original reads:--_Ikuta on Ono no asakazeni nao saekaeru tamoto kana_. Here the meaning is very confused, the word for sleeves (_tamoto_) following in the Japanese mind from _kaeru_ (which means to turn) in _saekaeru_ (it is cold).

[11] Page 40--This brings a picture to mind of the contrast between city and country life. An old institution among the well-to-do people of the capital is to make a pleasure picnic for the gathering of the young green shoots in very early spring. It was a general custom to eat the “seven greens” on the seventh day of January each year, and the poor people in the country hamlets make it one of their slender sources of revenue, to gather these green shoots early in January, for the city market.

[12] Page 41--_Ikuta_, the name of the hamlet, has the same _sound_, though it is written differently, as the Chinese character for numerous.

[13] Page 42--The Chinese character for the name _Ono_ reads “little field”; then there is the suggestion that there is little in the way of green sprouts yet.

[14] Page 42--The word “prize” is left out in the original out of politeness.

[15] The three parts of this song are chanted in different tones.

[16] Page 43--Quotation from an old poem. The stanza speaks of the attractiveness of village maidens gathering young leaves.

[17] Page 43--Quotation from an old poem. The owner of the field is hoping that the time will soon come for plucking the shoots. He is impatient, and sends the watchman to see if it is not yet time. This idea leads up to “Likewise dost haste” in one of the following lines.

[18] Page 43--A part of another old stanza.

[19] Page 44--Still another quotation from an old poem, introduced for the word _furu_. “To fall” and “old” are both _furu_ in Japanese, and “older leaves” in one of the following lines is _furu ha_.

[20] Page 44--_i. e._ Purple. As is common in Japanese poetry, the word purple is not actually used, but is called “the related colour.” As a colour the Japanese word _Murasaki_ is purple, and it is also applied to a herb with deep purple-coloured flowers. This plant’s colour is so intensely purple that all the herbs growing near it are supposed to show the same colour. From such an idea purple colour is known in poetry as _Yukari no iro_ (the related colour). In the present lines part of an old stanza is introduced for the sake of recalling the word _murasaki_, and this in turn leads on to _yukari no na_ in the first line of the Chorus.

[21] Page 44--According to an old tale a lover, crossing a pontoon bridge, fell between the boats and was drowned. The Chorus supposes the heroine to be thinking, “Like this man I too died because of love, and the ‘Bridge of Love’ is a name which is _related_ (see note 11) to my own destiny.”

[22] Page 45--The Shepherd’s Purse is one of the seven herbs. Chōan is in China, and the old name of China was _Kara_, so that the mention of Chōan brings _Kara_ to mind, which in turn suggests the word _karai_, hot, used in the next line.

[23] Page 45--The dawn is sometimes called the “whitening” in Japanese.

[24] Note the change of person, of course she has really been speaking of herself from the beginning.

[25] Page 47--_Ikuta_ means the living field, or field of life, and as she is about to die the name is meaningless to her.

[26] Page 47--Depending on an old poem in which the short growth of the summer horns is used to express the idea of brief time. An alternative translation of this line would be, “Short is my night’s sleep, short are a stag’s horns,” but these words do not convey to an English reader anything like the meaning the Japanese carries. In the original the word _tsuka_ means either a “tomb” or a “grasp,” and it acts as a pivot word. In the sense of “tomb” it leads to the weeds growing on her tomb, which is the essential part; and in the sense of “grasp” it suggests shortness, and inasmuch as a stag’s horns are so short in summer as to be within the grasp of a hand, their shortness is suggested, and this in turn suggests a night’s sleep in summer. This train of thought would probably not occur had it not been rendered a classical picture by an old and well-known stanza.

[27] Page 48--He is using the words of the Buddhist scriptures. Though in popular belief the hells and torments, as well as the world, exist, yet the higher philosophy of Buddhism holds that all is appearance only, and that the soul that realises this frees itself from the sufferings and restrictions of the grosser existence.

[28] Page 52--Popular Buddhistic teaching postulates eight hells, (1) The hell of equality, where all sinners go first. (2) The hell of black rope, where they are tied and led by devil-jailors to (3) the hell of gathering. Then comes (4) the hell of cries, (5) of bitter cries, (6) the hell of heat, (7) of utmost heat, and lastly (8) the hell of infinite depth.

KAGEKIYO[29]

Authorship of the Play

This Play was probably written about 1410; at any rate in the first quarter of the fifteenth century. Its author was _Motokiyo_, who was born in 1374 and who died in 1455. He was the eldest son of the famous Kiyotsugu (see p. 7).

Outline of the Story

The time of the action of the play is about the year 1190, and Kagekiyo, the hero of the story, is a very renowned warrior of the Taira clan. The Taira and the Minamoto (Gen) clans were rivals and were perpetually at war; during the years 1156-1185 more particularly this struggle culminated, when Japan had her “Wars of the Roses.”

Kagekiyo, known as the Boisterous, owing to his uneven temper and ready appeals to arms, was a famous warrior of the Taira clan, and when the Minamoto Shōgunate was established at Kamakura, Kagekiyo was exiled to a distant place in Hiuga, where he became blind and passed a miserable existence as a beggar. He had a daughter called Hitomaru, whom he left in Kamakura in the charge of a lady. At the time of the play, Hitomaru has just grown up to be a young lady, but she had a great desire to meet her father, and so set out with a servant to seek him. She has a long and arduous journey to the place of her father’s exile, and after enduring considerable hardships she at last finds Kagekiyo’s retreat. She and her servant encounter a villager who assists them in the final search for Kagekiyo, and they make inquiries of a blind beggar dwelling in a miserable straw hut. This beggar is actually Kagekiyo, but at first he refuses to answer them or to acknowledge it, out of shame and consideration for his daughter. Ultimately, however, he recounts to her some of his adventures, and then he commands her to leave him and they part for ever.

Comments on the Play

In this play there is perhaps less description of the beauties of Nature than in many of the _Nō_, but the opening lines are particularly fraught with the meaning which permeates the whole play.

The dew remains until the wind doth blow.

The comparison of human life to a drop of dew is one frequently made in the literature of the _Nō_. Throughout this play there are many phrases showing how deeply the characters feel the transitoriness of human life. After Hitomaru’s longing for a place to rest a little while, Kagekiyo exclaims--

Nay, in the three worlds there is not a place.

Kagekiyo’s behaviour to his child, and his reception of her after her long search for him, appears to us to be most cruel; but it is, nevertheless, based on the conceptions of the chivalry of his time. Kagekiyo’s leading thought was the really unselfish desire to keep the shame of his condition from touching his daughter. His first wish is that she shall not even recognise or speak with him; but when this is frustrated, he commands both the servant and the villager to send her back immediately their short meeting is over. And yet he does not seek even a moment’s embrace, nor does he use an endearing phrase to his daughter. The play is a good illustration of the way that the old codes of Japanese chivalry imposed courses of action which seem now in this softer age well-nigh inhuman in their repression and conquest of the natural feelings.

KAGEKIYO[30]

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

Kagekiyo _Shite_
Hitomaru, Kagekiyo’s daughter _Tsure_
Servant to Hitomaru
Villager _Waki_
Chorus

SCENE

A mountain side at Miyasaki in the province of Hiuga. Time about 1190.

HITOMARU AND SERVANT

The dew remains until the wind doth blow,
The dew remains until the wind doth blow.
My own life fleeting as a drop of dew,
What will become of me as time does pass?

HITOMARU

My name is Hitomaru, and I am
A maiden, who in Kamakura[31] dwells.
My father’s name is Kagekiyo, called
By some the Boisterous, and he is a friend
Of the Hei[32] clan, the Taira family
And so is by the Gen[32] house hated much.
To Miyasaki exiled, in Hiuga
He deigns, in shame, long months and years to pass.
To travel unaccustomed, I am tired,
And yet inevitable weariness
I mitigate by thinking of my quest,
And I am strengthened for my father’s sake.

HITOMARU AND SERVANT

The tears of anxious sleep run down my cheek
And to the dew upon the pillowing grass
Add drops that drench my sleeves.

From Sagami the province we set out,
From Sagami the province we set out,
Asking from those we met, the road to take
Toward our destination. And we passed
The province Tōtōmi,[33] and crossed by boat
The distant bay. And Mikana we passed,
By Mikana, spanned o’er with bridges eight.
Oh, would that we could grow accustomed soon
To our short nights of sleep that we might dream
Of the high capital above the clouds,
Of the high capital above the clouds.

SERVANT

Endeavoured as you honourably have
To hasten on the way, already now
This is Miyasaki, as it is called,
To Hiuga you have honourably come.
This is the place to honourably ask
Your honourable father’s whereabouts.

KAGEKIYO

[_Evident to the audience, but supposed to be hidden from the other actors._]

The pine trees that have seen long months and years
Entwine themselves to form the arching bowers.
Yet I, debarred from the clear light of day
Discern no sign that time is passing by.
Here idly in a dark and lowly hut
I sleep the time away. The seasons change
But not for heat nor cold my clothes are planned
And to a skeleton my frame has waned.

CHORUS

If one has got to leave the world, then black,
Black should his sleeves be dyed. Then surely black
His sleeves should all be dyed, and yet my sleeves--
Oh, more inglorious! So utterly
Worn out and waned my state that I myself
Feel much averse unto my wretched self.
So who could be benevolent enough
To visit such a state of misery?
No one inquiring of my misery
Will ever come.
No one inquiring of my misery
Will ever come.

HITOMARU

Incredible that one should dwell within
That wretched hut, it does not seem to be
Fit for a habitation. Strangely though
I heard a voice proceeding from its wall.
A beggar’s dwelling it must be. I fear,
And from the lowly dwelling keep away.

KAGEKIYO

That autumn now has come I cannot see,
And yet I feel it for the wind has brought
Tidings from somewhere, tho’ I know not whence.

HITOMARU

Ah, knowing not my father’s whereabouts
In misery I wander, with no place
Where I can rest even a little while.

KAGEKIYO

Nay, in the three worlds there is not a place,
’Tis only in the heavenly expanse.[34]
Choose any man and ask him, he will say
“Where else!” And what else could he ever say?

SERVANT

How now, you in the thatched hut, I would ask
A question of you.

KAGEKIYO

Well; what is it then?

SERVANT

Knowest thou where dwells an exiled man?

KAGEKIYO

An exile though he be, what is his name?

SERVANT

The Boist’rous Kagekiyo is he called,
And of the Taira house, a warrior.

KAGEKIYO

Yes, yes, I think that I have heard of him,
Though being blind the man I’ve never seen.
Miserable, his honourable state!
To hear of which stirs pity in my breast.
Pray then inquire elsewhere the full account.

SERVANT

Then hereabouts he does not seem to be.

[_To his mistress_]

But further on we should inquire again
If you will honourably now proceed.

KAGEKIYO

She who has just been here--Why! is she not
The very child of this selfsame blind man?
Once, very long ago, at Atsuta
I met a woman, and this child I got.
It was a girl,[35] and so I trusted her
To Kamegaegatsu’s châtelaine.
Now grieving parent meets with child estranged;
She, speaking to her father, knows it not.

CHORUS

Her form unseen, although I hear her voice,
How sad my blindness is! Without a word
I let her pass. And yet such action is
Due truly to the bond of parent’s love,
Due truly to the bond of parent’s love.

SERVANT

How now, you there! Art thou a villager?

VILLAGER

And to the Villager what hast thou then
Of honourable business?

SERVANT

Dost thou know
Where lives an exiled man?

VILLAGER

What sort of man--
An exile though he be--of whom you ask?

SERVANT

A warrior of the Hei house, and called
Kagekiyo the Boist’rous, him I seek.

VILLAGER

Just now as thou hast come along this way
Upon the hill-side, was there not a hut,
A hut with thatch, and somebody within?

SERVANT

Yes, a blind beggar sat within the hut.

VILLAGER

Aye. That blind beggar is the man you seek,
The very Kagekiyo whom you seek!
How strange! When I said Kagekiyo’s name
That honourable lady there did deign
To show a look of sadness. Why was that?

SERVANT

Thy wonder is most reasonable. Naught
Shall I conceal from thee. Kagekiyo’s
Most honourable daughter is the maid
Who hopes once more her honoured sire to meet.
That being so, and as from far away
She has come hither, I pray thee devise
Some proper way of speaking face to face
With Kagekiyo.

VILLAGER

Oh, unutterable!
Is she his honourable daughter then?
Well, calm your heart, and pray you deign to hear.
The sight of both eyes Kagekiyo lost;
So helpless, he cut short his hair and called
Himself Kōtau of Hiuga and he begs
For his poor living from the travellers,
And with the pity of such lowly folk
As we ourselves, he just sustains his life.
And that he doth not tell his name must be
Shame for the contrast with the olden days.
At once I shall go with you and call out
“Kagekiyo”--and if it is his name
Then will he answer and you can observe
Him face to face, and of the distant past
And of the present you shall tell him all.
Pray come this way.

Holloa! in the thatched hut
Is Kagekiyo there within? Is there
The boisterous Kagekiyo?

KAGEKIYO

Worrying,
Worrying, even if my state were well.
And even though these people came from home,
Shame for this very self compels me now
Without my name to let them go--and yet--
And yet it rends my heart and the sad tears
As of a thousand streams run down my sleeves.
I waken with the thought that earthly things
Are naught, and but as visions in a dream.
I am resolved in this world now to be
As one who is not, and if they will call
This beggar Kagekiyo, why reply?
Moreover in this province I’ve a name--

CHORUS

That name in Hiuga facing to the sun,[36]
In Hiuga, facing to the sun is not
The name they call, but they return to one
Of the old days, discarded long ago,
Which with my helplessly dropped bow I dropped.
Wild thoughts again I never will excite
And yet I’m angry.

KAGEKIYO

Though while here I live
In this place.

CHORUS

While I live
In this place; if I stir the hate of those
With means, how helpless would I be! and like
A blind man who had lost his walking-stick.
A crippled man am I, and yet I dared
Unreasonable words to use in wrath.
Forgive I pray!

KAGEKIYO

Blind are my eyes and yet--

CHORUS

Blind are my eyes and yet I surely know
Another’s thought hid in a single word.
And if upon the mountains blows the wind
Against the pine trees, I can tell its source,
Whether it comes from snow or unseen flowers,--
Flowers only seen in dreams from which to wake
Is to regret! Again if in the bay
Upon the rough sea beaches dashing waves
Are heard, then I well know the evening tide
Is rising. Aye, to the great Taira clan
I do belong, and so to pleasure them
I’d give recitals of those olden days.

KAGEKIYO

How now, I wish to say a word to thee,
For it has troubled me that I just now
Used such quick-tempered words. For what I said
I pray thee pardon me.

VILLAGER

Well, that is naught.
So never mind it. And, has no one come,
To make inquiries here before I came?

KAGEKIYO

No, no. Except thy calling, none has been.

VILLAGER

Ho! ’Tis a lie thou sayest. Certainly
Did Kagekiyo’s noble daughter come.
Wherefore dost thou conceal? It is because
I feel her story is so pitiful
That I’ve come here with her.

[_To HITOMARU_]

So now at once
Meet with your father, see him face to face

[_KAGEKIYO keeps silence_]

HITOMARU

Pray, it is I, I who have come to you.
Cruel! The rain, the wind, the dew and frost
I minded not along that distant road,
While coming to you! And all this, alas,
Becomes as nothing! Does a Father’s love
Depend upon the nature of the child?[37]
Ah, heartless!

KAGEKIYO

Up till now I hoped to hide,
But now I am found out I am ashamed.
To hide my fleeting[38] self there is no place.

[_To HITOMARU_]

If, in thy flowering form thou shouldst proclaim
That we are child and parent, then thy name
Thou wouldst announce,[39] and when I think on this
I am resolved we part. Pray do not feel
Thy father harsh and this mere heartlessness!

CHORUS

Ah, truly is it sad! In olden times
I welcomed even strangers when they called,
And was displeased if they should pass me by.
And now its recompense! How sad it is!
To think that I had hoped that my own child
Should not have called on me. Alas, how sad!
When in their warships were the Taira clan,
When in their warships were the Taira clan,
So many were there that their shoulders touched
And in the crowded space the knees were crossed.
There scarce was room to live[40] beneath the moon--
And Kagekiyo more than any else
Was on the flagship indispensable.
His fellow officers and all the rest
Though rich in valour and in tactic powers
He did o’ertop. And as the ship is steered
By him who holds the rudder, so did he
Lead in the army and no difference
Ever occurred between him and his men.
All envied him, but now he is most like
A Unicorn, infirm with hoary age
And rather worse than a mere useless horse.[41]

VILLAGER

How now, Kagekiyo, I’d speak with thee!
Thy daughter’s wish is there, and she would hear
Of thy heroic deeds at Yashima
So tell her the brave story. Let her hear.

KAGEKIYO

’Tis somewhat unbecoming, her request!
Yet as she came from far and for my sake,
I’ll tell the story, but when it is done
Pray send her home again immediately.

VILLAGER

That shall be done. Thy story finished, I
Will send her back at once.

KAGEKIYO

Well then. The time
Was drawing toward the end of the third month
Of the third year of _Ju-ei_,[42] and our clan
Were in their warships while upon the land
The hordes of Minamoto gathered near.
Two armies were opposed upon the coast
And each one wished a contest to decide.
Then Noritsune, Lord of Noto, spoke
To all his people--“In our last year’s fights
From Muroyama down in Harima
To Mizushima, Hiyodorigoe
And all, we never had one victory.
To Yoshitsune’s[43] tactics this was due.
“By some means or another we must slay
This Kuro, and suggestions we desire
Of some good plan;” he deigned to say to them.
Then Kagekiyo in his mind resolved
That Hangwan was no devil nor a god,
So if I throw away my life for his,
I thought, it will be easy, so that this
To Noritsune was my last farewell.
And as I landed the Gen warriors
Did dash towards me to destroy my life.

CHORUS

This Kagekiyo saw,
This Kagekiyo saw, and crying out
“How clamorous!” He struck out with his sword
That in the evening sun flashed brilliantly.
Th’ opposing warriors at once gave way,
And he pursued, that they should not escape.

KAGEKIYO

This is deplorable for every one--

CHORUS

This is deplorable for every one!
’Tis mutual shame alike for the Gen clan
And for the Hei clan to look upon
So shouted I--thinking to stop one man
Is easy, and so underneath my arm
Carrying my sword--“A warrior am I
Of the great Hei clan, Kagekiyo
Some call the Boisterous,” and thus crying out
To seize them I pursued them. Then I caught
On Mihonoya’s helmet, but it slipped.
Again I caught, but once again it slipped
And thus three times did he escape, though I
Determined that he should not flee, for he,
He was the foe that I had chosen.
Eiya! As with the whole strength of my arms
I pulled, and as I hauled the cape broke off,
And part stayed in my hand,[44] but he escaped.
When at some distance from me, he turned back
And said, “Now thou art mighty strong of arm
Although thou didst allow me to escape.”
Then Kagekiyo answered back, “The strength
Lies in the neck bone of Mihonoya.”
So smiling, did we part to left and right.[45]

He who has told the tale of olden days--
Days ne’er forgotten--is now sadly waned
And e’en confused in mind. Ah, what a shame!
The end of all this woe of life is near,
For in this world at most my time is short.
At once return,[46] and when I am no more
I pray thee deign to offer prayers for me.
That in dark places there shall be a light
For this blind man, and over evil roads
A bridge. So will I look upon thy prayers.
“I stay,” said he, and she “I go,”
His ears retained but her one word “I go.”
And thus between the parent and the child
This was the legacy at last exchanged--
Between the parent and the child exchanged.

END OF “KAGEKIYO”

FOOTNOTES:

[29] Page 53--Kagekiyo’s full name is _Aku-Shichibioe Kagekiyo_. _Aku_--literally means “wicked”; but sometimes has a special meaning of “wild” or “boisterous,” as in the present case, where it intimates that the man is rough in manners and strong in arms.

[30] I have put this all in one metre, making no difference between the “words” and “song.” (See p. 33.)

[31] Page 56--In the original it reads, “Kamegaegayatsu in Kamakura”; but as this will not fit into any possible metre the first word is left out.

[32] Page 56--_Taira_ becomes _Hei_ when compounded with a following character; thus Taira House is _Hei-Ke_. Similarly “Minamoto” becomes _Gen_, thus _Gen-ji_ is the Minamoto family.

[33] Page 57--_Tōtōmi_, the name of one of the provinces through which they came, means “distant bay.” Also _to_ or _tou_ with a different ideagraph means “to ask.” _Mikana_, the name of another province through which they passed, means “three rivers,” which leads to the idea of bridges. But more than that, Mikana is noted for its eight bridges, spanning over the streams which branch off like the legs of a spider, which is _kumo_ in Japanese; and this idea leads on to that of “clouds,” which are pronounced _kumo_, though written with a different ideagraph. The idea of “clouds” leads on, finally, to that of the “capital,” where only those of high rank “above the clouds” are dwelling.

[34] Page 59--Kagekiyo takes up Hitomaru’s words, originally used in a simple, physical sense, and applies them to the spiritual world. It is, nevertheless, not supposed to be a dialogue; each is soliloquising.

[35] Page 60--And therefore could play no part in his warlike schemes.

[36] Page 63--The Chinese character for the name of the province means “facing the sun.”

[37] Page 65--Meaning that if she had been a boy he would have welcomed her; but now he takes no account of her hardships and difficulties in reaching him.

[38] The words used give a suggestion of dew-like.

[39] Page 65--Proclaiming herself the child of an exile and beggar, to her social detriment.

[40] Page 66--The word _sumu_, “to live,” also signifies “clear,” which is associated in poetry with the moon, which in its turn leads to the thought of shadow, _Kage_ leading to Kagekiyo.

[41] Page 66--A mythical animal, of which the nearest translation is perhaps the unicorn. There is a proverb which states that though it is the king of beasts, when old it is worse than a useless horse.

[42] Page 67--That is in the year 1185.

[43] Page 67--Yoshitsune’s complete name was _Kurō Hang wan Yoshitsune_. One of these, or all three names may be applied to him. As the three names make an impossible encumbrance for a line I only give him one, even where the Japanese original calls him by his full name.

[44] Page 68--The jointed cape of his opponent’s armour.

[45] Page 68--The Minamoto clan were victorious, and when in power they banished Kagekiyo as a specially dangerous enemy.

[46] The Chorus here speaks for Kagekiyo to Hitomaru.

TAMURA

RÉSUMÉ OF TAMURA

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

_Shite_: The Spirit of TAMURAMARU, a renowned warrior, in the first part appearing as a youth, and in the second as a warrior.

_Waki_: A Travelling Priest.

_Chorus._

SCENE

The temple ground of Kiyomizu in Kioto, in March. The shrine of Tamuramaru is erected in this ground.

There are only two actors in this piece, and it is even less dramatic than the preceding. As it does not lend itself so well to complete translation, I shall give the piece merely as a _résumé_, with a few of the more beautiful lines rendered _in extenso_. This drama is an admirable example of the use of a delicately toned, flower-like foreground, as a setting for the warlike figure who recites tales of his strenuous life, which is so characteristic of the construction of the _Nō_.

* * * * *

The PRIEST enters first, and, as is often the case at the beginning of a _Nō_, he recites an account of his hurried journey in the spring, past the provincial capitals to the “nine-fold capital of the Emperor” (Kioto). He speaks of the mild sky of the spring with the sun shrouded by soft haze, and announces that he has now arrived at the Temple of Kiyomizu (meaning clear water) with its peaceful waterfalls.

The YOUTH (Tamuramaru) now appears with a broom in his hand. He says: “The spring has returned, and the flowers in their prime beauty make natural offerings for the Goddess of the Temple. Though there are many places famous for their blossoms they do not equal these, which are illuminated by the light of Kannon’s[47] mercy, and this divine mercy, bright as the autumn moon, even penetrates the village of the ten evils and shines upon the lake of the five vices. These flowers look like snow in the garden of the gods or white sand on the shore of heaven’s sea, in which the mist and the clouds are all buried. So many of them there are, and all are cherry flowers, some eight-fold, some single-fold, as is the way in the spring of the nine-fold capital. And all the mountains far and near likewise reflect the season of flowers.”

Beholding the Youth sweeping the petals, the PRIEST asks him if he is the flower keeper. To this the YOUTH replies in the affirmative, saying that he serves the Goddess of the Temple and that as he always sweeps the petals in the season he may be looked on as the flower keeper, or at any rate as one in the service of the Temple.

The PRIEST then asks him to relate minutely the history of the Temple. Into this narrative the Youth plunges directly, stating that the Temple was built in the second year of Daido[48] and founded by the wish of Tamuramaru of Sakanoue. He continues to relate that there was once a priest called Kenshin who had a great desire to behold the real form of Kannon, and after his prayer he once saw a golden-coloured light on the upper stream of the river Kotsu. He followed it and found an old man, who said that he was Gyoe-Koji and told Kenshin to discover a patron who would found a magnificent temple. But this so-called Gyoe-Koji was really Kannon herself, and Tamuramaru was the patron of whom she spoke. The CHORUS then speaks, for the Youth, of the universal benevolence of Kannon, symbolised by her thousand merciful hands, every one of which is ready to be extended to those in need, in answer to their prayers.

The PRIEST declares that he has met an interesting person, and asks for further information about the famous places around, questioning the Youth about one to the south, where a mound is to be seen, and then one to the north, whence an evening bell is heard. The YOUTH, after replying that the one is the Seikan Temple and the other the Temple of Washinowo, both famous in poetry, calls the attention of the Priest to the moon rising from behind the Otowa mountain, and observes that as the moon casts its peaceful light upon the cherry blossoms it is a sight truly worth seeing.

The PRIEST says--

This is a season to be prized indeed,
This passing moment of a heartless Time
That flies so swiftly in the midst of Spring.

The YOUTH and the PRIEST both repeat: “A precious moment indeed!” Then together they recite an old poem: “As precious as a thousand pieces of gold is one moment of a spring evening with flowers of pure perfume and the moon of silver brightness,” the YOUTH adding, “Ay, more precious still is this very moment!”

The CHORUS chants in further praise of the flowers in the Temple ground--

The moon between the cherry trees shines clear
And petals softly falling in the breeze
Dance in the air like gleaming flakes of snow
And make our hearts dance with them, light and glad.

A second chant of the CHORUS enlarges on the beauty of the flowers, the greenness of foliage, the softness of the breeze and the charm of the waterfall of Otowa, and concludes by referring once more to the merciful light of the Goddess of the Temple, which is extended even to inanimate objects, such as trees, and which accounts for the exquisite scenery of the surroundings.

The CHORUS then asks (for the Priest) the name of the Youth, who does not appear to be an ordinary person. To this the YOUTH replies: “A nameless man am I, but if thou wishest to know who I am, observe where I am going.” The CHORUS explains that the Youth then opens the door of the Shrine of Tamuramaru, which is brightly lit by the moon, and disappears within.

The second part of the Play opens with the PRIEST saying: “Under the shadow of a cherry tree all through the night I stand, the petals fall and dance in the air, the moon shines brilliant and clear, and in these beautiful surroundings I say the midnight prayer.”

TAMURAMARU then appears in the form of a warrior, saying: “How thankful am I to hear the voice of prayer, the midnight prayer from a passing stranger! ’Tis Kannon’s mercy, her help. Oh, how grateful I am!”

The PRIEST observes how strange it is that he sees a manly figure in the light of the glittering flowers, and asks who it is.

To this TAMURAMARU replies that he has now nothing to conceal, and begins to tell the story of his life by stating that in the reign of Emperor Heize[49] he was Tamuramaru of Sakanoue, who was to conquer the Eastern barbarians, the fiends, and that by the help of the Goddess of this Temple he had power to do it. The story is then told by the CHORUS, who recounts that, according to the Emperor’s declaration, the powerful and rebellious fiends in Seishu must be put down and peace must be restored. Tamuramaru collected the army, and when ready to start he came to this Temple and prayed to Kannon that he might gain the victory. “There was a strange but good omen,” breaks in TAMURAMARU, and the CHORUS goes on to recount with what exultation he set out at once to strike at the rebels.

Another chant of the CHORUS describes the march of Tamuramaru and his army to the seat of the rebels. They travelled far, going over the mountain pass of Ōsaka and through the forest of Awazu; stopping to adore the Temple of Ishiyama, noted for its mirage, where also Kannon is enshrined; and crossing over the long bridge of Seta, which resounded gallantly as horses trotted over it. At last they reached the province of Isé (or Seishu), and, convinced of their victory, for they were waging a just war, were more encouraged than ever, every one of them desiring to show his bravery and strike the first blow at the rebels. Happily, moreover, with the help of Kannon, the fiends, though they were numerous, were unconscious of their arrival.

With thundering voice, which shook trees and rivers, even the mountains, and which echoed through the heavens and reached to the deepest earth, TAMURAMARU then spoke thus: “You, fiends, hear what I say. In older times there was once a rebel called Chikata, and the heavenly punishment descended upon him and the fiends who served him, and they were at once defeated.”

The CHORUS then describes how the fiends came on in battle, raising thick clouds and pouring down iron-fire, and by their magic art creating thousands of armed men. They looked like the sea of Isé, or the forest of Ano, so mighty were they and so numerous!

TAMURAMARU breaks in: “There behold, how astonishing!” and the CHORUS goes on to explain that over his own army the light of the thousand-handed Kannon appeared, flying in space, with a bow of mercy and arrows of wisdom in each of her thousand hands, so that the arrows poured down like rain and hail over the enemy till all were struck and not one was left alive. Hence it was by Kannon’s power that the victory was gained, and to her should be rendered eternal gratitude.

The play, which was written essentially in praise of the virtues and powers of Kannon, is attributed to Motokiyo, the author of Kagekiyo (see p. 53).

END OF “TAMURA”

FOOTNOTES:

[47] Or Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy, one of the principal deities in the popular religion of Japan to-day.

[48] = 807 A.D.

[49] The reign of Emperor Heize = 806-809 A.D.

THE SUMIDA RIVER

Authorship of the Play

The play is attributed to _Motomasa_, who was a grandchild of the famous Kiyotsugu (see p. 7) and who died in 1459. The exact date of its composition is uncertain, but it was most likely within the first half of the fifteenth century.

Outline of the Story

A little child, the only son of his widowed mother (and owing to the laws regarding the continuation of families in Japan that means much more there than it does in Europe), was kidnapped from his home. The play opens a year after this had happened, and we meet the mother hurrying toward the Sumida river, which she crosses in the ferry. She has had a long journey from the City Royal (Kioto) in her search for the child. While she is in the ferry, the ferryman tells the passengers of a festival to be held in the place that evening in memory of a little lad who died on the road just a year ago. The mother questions him, and learns that it is _her_ child for whom the villagers are about to meet in prayer. The ferryman prevails on her to join in the prayers, and for a moment the ghost of the little one appears and speaks with her.

SUMIDAGAWA

_This illustration from a Japanese coloured woodcut is not so good as could be desired, but was the only one available. It shows the Mother on the left, and reveals the simple, open way in which the actor wears the woman’s mask. The little rectangular instrument at her feet is that used for striking the gong of prayer (+see p. 92+). The small figure to the right is the ghost of the little son who died, and whom she has set out to seek. Notice his entirely unnatural wig of hair. In the square insets above him are representations of the “Birds of the City Royal” (+see p. 83+) spoken of so much in the text, and the words “I adore the Eternal Buddha” in Chinese ideographs._ ]

Comments on the Play

In this _Nō_ there is much greater expression of tender, human sentiment than is common in the pieces. It contains also several charming descriptions of Nature, sometimes with a deeper meaning beneath them. For example--

If one but waits
The wind vibrates
The branches of the pine trees till they speak.

Throughout the piece also there are very many allusions to and plays upon classical verses, particularly in relation to the “Bird of the City Royal” and Narihira’s poems (see p. 83).

The predominating thought in the piece, however, is the Buddhistic conception of the transitoriness of human life, and of the frail nature even of the bond that unites a loving mother and her child.

Fleeting as are the gleaming drops of dew,
Desolate as the moor of Makuzu
In autumn, is this world of lost delight.

THE SUMIDA RIVER

A TRANSLATION OF THE JAPANESE _NŌ, SUMIDA GAWA_

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

The Mother _Shite_
The Ferryman _Waki_
A Traveller.
Spirit of the Child.
The Chorus.

SCENE

The banks of the Sumida River in the province of Musashi, toward evening.

FERRYMAN [_Words_]

I am he who plies the ferry in the province of Musashi,
Over Sumida, the river, known to many far and wide.
And to-day my boat must hurry with its many loads of people,
For our village holds a festival of universal prayer.
On this day both priest and layman with no thought of their
distinction
Will remember this great matter and assemble one and all.

TRAVELLER [_Song_]

The goal of my long journey is the East,
The goal of my long journey is the East,
Far Azuma,[50] and like its distance stretch
My days of travel, long in weary thought.

[_Words_]

From the capital I travel,[51] I who now am speaking to you,
And I journey on to Azuma to visit there a friend.

[_Song_]

Behind me rise the mountains I have passed
Faint in the distance as the clouds and mists.
Behind me rise the mountains I have passed
Faint in the distance as the clouds and mists.
O’er many a mountain path my way has lain,
Wide province after province have I crossed.
Before me now lies the great Sumida,
The river of renown, and at my feet
The waiting ferry do I now behold,
The waiting ferry do I now behold.

[_Words_]

I have hurried, for already, ’tis the ferry of the river,
And behold, the boat is leaving, I must enter it at once.
What ho! Boatman! stay a moment. I would travel in your boat.

FERRYMAN [_Words_]

Very good, sir! Now at once though, may it please you to get in.
Yet I first would like to ask you, what is that loud noise behind you,
There behind, whence you have travelled. What’s the matter, may I ask?

TRAVELLER [_Words_]

’Tis a woman who is coming from the capital and acting
Like a mad thing in a queer ecstatic way. I saw her there.

FERRYMAN [_Words_]

Oh, in that case let us tarry till the mad thing can o’ertake us,
We can stay the boat a little, for this way she’ll surely come.

THE MOTHER [_Song_][52]

Darkness entire can never hold its sway
Within a mother’s heart, and yet for love
Of her sweet child she is a wanderer.
Ah! painfully I know for the first time
The bitter truth contained within these words.
I ask all those who pass
Along the snowy way[53]
To Azuma to say
Where lies my little love.
There is no news. Alas!
No answer can I find.
Shall I then ask the wind
That blows unseen above?

CHORUS

If one but waits
The wind vibrates
The branches of the pine trees till they speak.
If one stays still
He often will
Have brought to him the tidings he does seek.[54]

THE MOTHER [_Song_]

Fleeting as are the gleaming drops of dew,
Desolate as the moor of Makuzu
In autumn, is this world of lost delight.

CHORUS

Fretted with sorrow pass her day and night.

THE MOTHER [_Song_]

I am a woman who had lived for years
At Kitajirikawa in the capital;
When suddenly I lost my only child,
Lured from me by a man who kidnapped him.
They told me that beyond Ōsaka’s pass[55],
Far to the East, to Azuma, he went.
And since I heard it I have felt my mind
Losing its hold on ordinary things,
Set only, full of love, upon the way
The child did follow. Tracing out the marks
Of his dear feet, I wander here and there.

CHORUS

I

Thousands of miles the journey is in length,
Yet never does the parent’s heart forget
The child she loves and seeks. So do we hear.

CHORUS