The Noh Plays of Japan (13 page)

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.
^†

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 Sh
ō
sh
ō
who loved her best,

Shii no Sh
ō
sh
ō
of the Deep Grass.
*

CHORUS
(speaking for
KOMACHI,
i. e. for the spirit of Sh
ō
sh
ō
)

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 traveling-cloak of Sh
ō
sh
ō
.
)

Look, I go!

KOMACHI

Lifting the white skirts of my trailing dress,

CHORUS
(speaking for
KOMACHI
,
while she, dressed as her lover Sh
ō
sh
ō
, 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 traveled; 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 traveled;

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 Sh
ō
sh
ō
)

My eyes dazzle. Oh the pain, the pain!

CHORUS

Oh the pain! and desperate,

Before the last night had come,

He died—Shii no Shosho the Captain.

(Speaking for
KOMACHI,
who is now no longer possessed by Sh
ō
sh
ō
'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
*

Till I be burnished as gold.
^†

See, I offer my flower
^†
to Buddha,

I hold it in both hands.

Oh may He lead me into the Path of Truth,

Into the Path of Truth.

Footnotes

*
The Tairas.

†
The Minamotos, who came into power at the end of the twelfth century.

‡
The journey to look for her father.

§
T
ō
t
ō
mi is written with characters meaning “distant estuary.” The whole passage is full of double-meanings which cannot be rendered.

*
The Capital.

*
Quotation from the Parable Chapter of the
Hokkekyo.

*
A Chinese Pegasus. The proverb says, "Even Kirin, when he was old, was outstripped by hacks." Seami quotes this proverb,
Works
, p. 9.

*
"Le vieux guerrier avengle, assis devant sa cabane d'exilé, mime son dernier combat de gestes incertains et tremblants" (Péri).

†
Yoshitsune.

*
Po Ch
Å«
-i's Works, iii. 13.

†
Alluding partly to the fact that he is snow-covered, partly to his grey hairs.

‡
Kefu,
"today."

*
Buddhist ordinances, such as hospitality to priests.

*
Food of the poorest peasants.

*
After Shakyamuni left the palace, he served the Rishi of the mountains.

*
Using words from a poem by Michizane (845-903
A.D.
).

†
For Japanese football, see p. 231. A different interpretation has lately been suggested by Mr. Suzuki.

*
I.e. Tokiyori.

*
H
ō
j
ō
no Tokiyori ruled at Kamakura from 1246 till 1256. He then became a priest and traveled through the country incognito in order to acquaint himself with the needs of his subjects.

*
Sanskrit; Jap.
sotoba.

†
See p. xxxi.

‡
Now generally called
Kayoi Komachi.

*
The Koyasan is not so remote as most mountain temples.

*
See p. 85.

*
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).

†
“Heart flowers,”
kokoro no hana,
is a synonym for “poetry.”

*
Vajrasattva, himself an emanation of Vairochana, the principal Buddha of the Shingon Sect. 1 From the Nirvana S
Å«
tra.

†
From the Nirv
ā
na S
Å«
tra.

‡
From the Avatamsaka S
Å«
tra.

*
Lit. "discordant karma."

†
A wicked disciple who in the end attained to Illumination. Also called Datta; cp.Kumasaka, p. 31.

‡
The Goddess of Mercy.

§
A disciple so witless that he could not recite a single verse of Scripture.

*
God of Wisdom.

*
From the Nirvana S
Å«
tra.

*
The riddle depends on a pun between
sotoba
and
soto wa,
"without" "outside."

*
The words which follow suggest the plight of her lover Sh
ō
sh
ō
when he traveled to her house “a hundred nights all but one,” to cut his notch on the bench.

†
The spirit of her lover Sh
ō
sh
ō
has now entirely possessed her: this "possession-scene" lasts very much longer on the stage than the brief words would suggest.

*
Fukagusa the name of his native place, means "deep grass."

*
See
Hokkeky
ō
,
II. 18.

*
The color of the saints in heaven.

†
Her "heart-flower," i.e. poetic talent.

N
OTE ON
U
KAI

S
EAMI
tells us
(Works,
p. 228) 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. 230).

On p. 227 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 today 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 folksong:
*

"Woe to the cormorant-fisher
Who binds the heads of his cormorants
And slays the tortoise whose span is ten thousand eons!
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 Noh play
Ukai
grew.

(THE CORMORANT-FISHER)
By Enami No Sayemon (c. 1400).

PERSONS

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 Y
Å«
shi and Hakuy
ō
vowed their love-vows by the moon, and were changed to wedded stars of heaven. And even today 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 travelers 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
*

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.
*

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
*

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
*

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 hashi-gakari.)

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;
*
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,'
*

Lifeboat of the Lotus Law.
*

(THE DAMASK DRUM)
Attributed to Seami, but Perhaps Earlier.

PERSONS

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.

Someone told her of this, and she said, "Love's equal realm knows no divisions,"
*
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.