Chapter VIII: Kyōgen

KYŌGEN

(FARCICAL INTERLUDE)

THE BIRD-CATCHER IN HELL[215]

(ESASHI JŪŌ)

PERSONS

_YAMA, KING OF HELL._
_KIYOYORI, THE BIRD-CATCHER._
_DEMONS._
_CHORUS._

YAMA.

Yama the King of Hell comes forth to stand
At the Meeting of the Ways.[216]

(_Shouting._)

Yai, yai. Where are my minions?

DEMONS.

Haa! Here we are.

YAMA.

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

DEMONS.

We tremble and obey.

(_Enter the bird-catcher_, KIYOYORI).

KIYOYORI.

“All men are sinners.” What have I to fear
More than the rest?

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

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

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

DEMON.

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

YAMA.

Then bustle him to Hell at once.

DEMON.

“Hell is ever at hand,”[217] which is more than
Can be said of Heaven. (_Seizing_ KIYOYORI.)
Come on, now, come on! (KIYOYORI _resists_.)
Yai, yai!
Let me tell you, you’re showing a great
Deal more spirit than most sinners do.
What was your job when you were on the
Terrestrial Plane?

KIYOYORI.

I was Kiyoyori, the famous bird-catcher.

DEMON.

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

KIYOYORI.

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

DEMON.

We must ask King Yama about this. (_To_ YAMA.) Please sir--!

YAMA.

Well, what is it?

DEMON.

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

What had we better do about it?

YAMA.

You’d better send him to me.

DEMON.

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

KIYOYORI.

I’m coming.

DEMON.

Here’s that sinner you sent for.

YAMA.

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

KIYOYORI.

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

YAMA.

“Falcon” is another kind of bird, isn’t it?

KIYOYORI.

Yes, that’s right.

YAMA.

Well then, I really don’t see that there _was_ much harm in it.

KIYOYORI.

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

YAMA (_reciting in the Nō style._)

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

KIYOYORI.

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

CHORUS.

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

YAMA (_greedily_).

Let me eat it, let me eat it.

(_Eats, smacking his lips_.)

Well! I must say they taste uncommonly good!

KIYOYORI (_to the_ DEMONS).

Perhaps you would like to try some?

DEMONS.

Oh, thank you! (_They eat greedily and snatch._) I want that bit! No, it’s mine! What a flavour!

YAMA.

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

KIYOYORI.

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

CHORUS.

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

FOOTNOTES:

[215] _Kyōgen Zenshū_, p. 541. This farce is a parody of such Nō-plays as _Ukai_.

[216] The Buddhist “Six Ways,” _Rokudō_.

[217] See _Ukai_, p. 127.

SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY

EUROPEAN

B. H. Chamberlain: _The Classical Poetry of the Japanese_, 1880
(Rhymed paraphrases of _Sesshōseki_, _Kantan_, _Nakamitsu_ and part
of _Hagoromo_; translations of the farces _Honekawa_ and _Zazen_).

The _Chrysanthemum_, 1882, Translation of _Hachi no Ki_.

F. W. K. Müller in _Festschrift f. Adolf Bastian_, pp. 513-537,
_Ikkaku Sennin, eine mittelalterliche--Oper_, 1896.

Aston, _History of Japanese Literature_, 1899. Osman Edwards:
_Japanese Plays and Playfellows_, 1901. (Refers to performances of
_Shunkwan_, _Koi no Omoni_, _Aoi no Uye_, _Benkei in the Boat_ and
_Tsuchigumo_.)

F. Brinkley, _Japan_, III. 21-60, 1901-2. (Translates _Ataka_ and
the farce _Sannin Katawa_.)

F. Victor Dickins, _Japanese Texts_, 1906. (Text and Translation of
_Takasago_).

K. Florenz, _Geschichte d. Japanischen Literatur_, 1906.
(Translations of _Takasago_ and _Benkei in the Boat_; summaries
of _Ataka_, _Mochizuki_ and _Hanjo_. Translation of the farce
_Hagi-Daimyō_.)

N. Péri: _Etudes sur le drame lyrique japonais, in Bulletin de
l’Ecole d’Extrême-Orient_, 1909-1913. (Includes translations of
_Oimatsu_, _Atsumori_, _Ohara Gokō_, _Sotoba Komachi_ and _The
Damask Drum_.)

G. B. Sansom: Translations of _Ataka_, _Benkei in the Boat_ and
_Sakuragawa_.

H. L. Joly: Notes on masks, dances, etc., in _Transactions of Japan
Society_, 1912.

M. Stopes: _Plays of Old Japan_, 1913. (Translations of
_Motomezuka_, _Kagekiyo_ and _Sumidagawa_; summary of _Tamura_.)

E. Fenollosa and Ezra Pound: _Noh or Accomplishment_, 1916.
(Translations by E. F., adapted by E. P. Gives some account of
about twenty plays. The versions of E. F. seem to have been
fragmentary and inaccurate; but wherever Mr. Pound had adequate
material to work upon he has used it admirably.)

See also general articles on the Japanese drama, such as A. Lloyd’s
in _Trans._ of _Asiatic Society of Japan_, 1908.

Yone Noguchi: _Twelve Kyōgen_ (text and translation), 1911.

M. A. Hincks: _The Japanese Dance_, 32 pp., 1910.

JAPANESE

(_Only a few important works are selected_)

_Kwadensho_: the _Later Kwadensho_ in 8 vols., first published c.
1600. (The British Museum possesses what is apparently an early
eighteenth century reprint.)

_Nō no Shiori_: by Ōwada Tateki, 6 vols. (Description of the _modus
operandi_ of 91 plays), 1903.

_Yōkyoku Hyōshaku_: edited by Ōwada Tateki, 9 vols., 1907-8. Texts
of about 270 plays, with commentary. Referred to by me as “Ōwada.”

_Nōgaku Daijiten_: by Masada and Amaya, 2 vols. (Dictionary of Nō.)

_Seami Jūroku-bu Shū_: _Works_ of Seami, 1909.

_Yokyoku Sōsho_: edited by Y. Haga and N. Sasaki, 3 vols. (Texts of
about 500 plays with short notes. Referred to by me as “Haga.”)

_Zenchiku Shū_: _Works_ of Seami’s son-in-law, 1917.

_Kyōgen Zenshū_: Complete Collection of Farces, 1910.

_Jibyōshi Seigi_: Yamazaki Gakudō, 1915. (A study of Nō-rhythm.)

_Yōkyoku Kaisetsu_: Nō-plays explained in colloquial, by K.
Kawashima, 1913.

Magazines such as _Nōgaku Gwahō_, _Yōkyokukai_, etc.; picture
postcards and albums of photographs such as _Nōgaku Mandai Kagami_,
1916.

_Ryōjin Hisshō_: Folk-songs collected in 12th century and
rediscovered in 1911.