Traditional Japanese Literature

by Haruo Shirane

  In early performances of the play, a carriage was used as a stage prop, with a weeping young lady-in-waiting clinging to its shaft. Later, both the carriage and the lady-in-waiting were omitted, giving rise to certain discrepancies between the text and the action on stage. For example, although Lady Rokujō appears alone on stage, the shaman refers to a weeping lady-in-waiting. Moreover, in the mondō section, the shaman sympathizes with Rokujō and joins her in tormenting Aoi. Originally, it was presumably the lady-in-waiting, not the shaman, who chanted this section and acted as Rokujō’s accomplice. The reason for eliminating the lady-in-waiting and the carriage is not entirely clear, but it may have been to avoid the difficult task of getting both of them off the stage without disrupting the performance.

  In the first act, the performer who plays Lady Rokujō wears a deigan mask, whose golden eyes indicate her repressed jealousy. In the second act, he wears a hannya, a mask of a woman with two horns and a wide mouth, signifying that her spirit has now been transfigured into a demon. On stage, Aoi herself is represented only by a folded kimono. This stage prop is said to have inspired William Butler Yeats, who used a similarly folded cloth to symbolize the well in his nō-inspired play At the Hawk’s Well. The following translation is based on the current text of the Kanze school.

  Characters in Order of Appearance

  TERUHI, a shaman (ko-omote mask)

  tsure

  A COURTIER in the service of Emperor Suzaku

  waki-tsure

  VENGEFUL SPIRIT OF LADY ROKUJŌ in the form of a noblewoman (deigan mask)

  mae-shite

  A MESSENGER of the minister of the left

  ai

  THE HOLY MAN of Yokawa

  waki

  LADY ROKUJŌ as an evil spirit (hannya mask)

  nochi-shite

  Place: Mansion of the minister of the left in the capital

  Act 1

  Stage attendant places toward the front of the stage an embroidered kosode kimono, which represents Lady Aoi on her sickbed. Teruhi, wearing a ko-omote mask, wig, gold-patterned underkimono, brocade outer kimono, and white wide-sleeved robe, and the Courtier, wearing a cavity cap, heavy silk kimono, lined hunting robe, and white wide divided skirt, appear, cross the bridgeway, and enter the stage. Teruhi sits at the waki spot, and the Courtier stands at the shite spot.

  COURTIER: (nanori) I am a courtier in the service of Emperor Suzaku.2 The demon that has possessed Lady Aoi, daughter of the minister of the left, is intransigent. His Lordship has invited the most revered and eminent priests to perform secret and solemn rites of exorcism as well as cures. They have tried everything but to no avail. I have been ordered to call in Teruhi, a shaman, who is known far and wide for her skill in birch-bow divination. She will ascertain by the bow whether the evil spirit is that of a living or a dead person. I shall ask her.

  Teruhi faces the kosode kimono and, to azusa music, chants an incantation for calling forth an evil spirit.

  TERUHI:

  (unnamed) May Heaven be cleansed,

  May Earth be cleansed,

  May all be cleansed within and without,

  The Six Roots, may they all be cleansed.3

  (jō-no-ei) Swiftly, on a dapple gray horse,

  Comes a haunting spirit

  Tugging at the reins.

  To issei entrance music, the spirit of Lady Rokujō, wearing a mask with gold-painted eyes, long wig, serpent-scale-patterned underkimono, embroidered outer kimono in the koshimaki style, and brocade outer kimono in the tsubo-ori style, appears, advances along the bridgeway, and stops by the first pine.

  ROKUJŌ:

  (issei) Riding the Three Vehicles of the Law,

  Others may escape the Burning House.4

  Mine is but a cart

  In ruins like Yūgao’s house;5

  I know not how to flee my passions.6

  (Enters the stage and stands in the shite spot.)

  (shidai) Like an ox-drawn cart, this weary world,

  Like an ox-drawn cart, this weary world

  Rolls endlessly on the wheels of retribution.

  (sashi) Like the wheels of a cart forever turning

  Are birth and death for all living things;

  Through the Six Worlds7 and the Four Births8

  You must journey;

  Strive as you will, there is no escape.

  What folly to be blind

  To the frailty of this life,

  Like the banana stalk without a core,

  Like a bubble on the water!9

  Yesterday’s flowers are today but a dream.10

  How sad my fate!

  Upon my sorrow others heap their spite.

  Now, drawn by the birch bow’s sound,

  The ghost has come

  To find a moment of respite.

  (sage-uta) Ah, how shameful that even now

  I should shun the eyes of others

  As on that festive day.11

  (age-uta) Though all night long I gaze upon the moon,

  Though all night long I gaze upon the moon,

  I, a phantom form, remain unseen by it.

  Hence, by the birch bow’s upper end,

  I shall stand to tell of my sorrow,

  I shall stand to tell of my sorrow. (As if listening, steps forward.)

  (unnamed) From where does the sound of the birch bow come,

  From where does the sound of the birch bow come?

  TERUHI:

  (ge-no-ei) Though by the mansion gate I stand,

  ROKUJŌ:

  As I have no form, people pass me by. (Steps back and weeps.)

  TERUHI:

  (unnamed) How strange! I see a gentle-born lady,

  Though I know not who she is,

  Riding in a decrepit cart,

  And one who seems a waiting-maid,

  Clutching the shaft of the ox-less cart

  And weeping, bathed in tears.

  Oh! pitiful sight! (Speaks to the Courtier.)

  (mondō) Is this the evil spirit?

  COURTIER:

  Now I can guess who it is. Tell me your name.

  (Not seeing Rokujō’s spirit, turns to Teruhi.)

  ROKUJŌ:

  (kudoki-guri) In this world

  Where all passes like lightning,

  There should be none for me to hate

  Nor any fate for me to mourn;

  Why did I leave the way of truth? (Speaks to Teruhi.)

  (kudoki) Attracted by the birch bow’s sound,

  Here I now appear. Do you still not know me?

  I am the spirit of Lady Rokujō.

  In days of old when I moved in society,

  On spring mornings I was invited

  To the flower feasts at the palace,

  And on autumn nights

  I viewed the moon in the royal garden.

  Happily thus I spent my days

  Among bright hues and scents.

  Fallen in life, today I am no more

  Than a morning glory that withers with the rising of the sun.12

  My heart knows no respite from pain;

  Bitter thoughts grow like fern shoots

  Bursting forth in the field.

  I have appeared here to take my revenge.

  CHORUS:

  (sage-uta) Do you not know that in this life

  Charity is not for others?

  (age-uta) Be harsh to another,

  Be harsh to another,

  And it will recoil upon you.13

  Why do you cry?

  (Rokujō gets up and, gazing at the kosode kimono and stooping down, weeps. She stares at it again.)

  My curse is everlasting,

  My curse is everlasting.

  ROKUJŌ:

  (mondō) Oh, how I hate you!

  I will punish you.

  TERUHI:

  What shame!

  For Lady Rokujō, gentle born,

  To seek revenge14

  And act as one lowborn:

  Are you not ashamed?
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  Stop and say no more.

  ROKUJŌ:

  Say what you will, I must strike her now.

  (Walks to the kosode and defiantly strikes it with the fan.)

  So saying, I walk toward the bedside of Lady Aoi and strike her.

  (Returns to her seat.)

  TERUHI:

  Now that things have come to such a pass,

  There is nothing more to do.

  So saying, I walk toward Lady Aoi’s feet

  And torment her.

  ROKUJŌ:

  Present vengeance is the retribution

  For past wrongs you did to me.

  TERUHI:

  The flame of consuming anger

  ROKUJŌ:

  Scorches only my own self.15

  TERUHI:

  Do you not feel the fury of my anger?

  ROKUJŌ:

  You shall feel the fullness of its fury. (Fixes her gaze on the kosode.)

  CHORUS:

  (dan-uta) This loathsome heart!

  This loathsome heart!

  My unfathomable hatred

  Causes Lady Aoi to wail in bitter agony.

  But as long as she lives in this world,

  Her bond with the Shining Genji will never end—

  The Shining Genji, more beautiful than a firefly

  That flits across the marshland.

  ROKUJŌ:

  I shall be to him

  CHORUS:

  A stranger, as I was once,

  And I shall pass away

  Like a dewdrop on a mugwort leaf.

  When I think of this,

  How bitter I feel!

  Our love is already an old tale,

  Never to be revived even in a dream.

  Yet all the while my longing grows

  Until I am ashamed to see my love-torn self.

  Standing by her pillow,

  I shall place Lady Aoi

  In my wrecked cart

  (Rokujō pulls the outer kimono over her and, stooping, withdraws to the stage-attendant position.)

  And secretly carry her off,

  And secretly carry her off.

  Act 2

  A Messenger of the minister of the left, wearing a striped kimono, sleeveless robe, and trailing divided skirt, is seated at the kyōgen seat.

  COURTIER: (mondō) Is anyone here?

  MESSENGER: I am at your service. (Comes forward in front of the Courtier.)

  COURTIER: Lady Aoi, who is possessed by an evil spirit, is grievously ill. Go! Fetch the holy man of Yokawa.

  MESSENGER (returns to the shite spot): (unnamed) I understood that Lady Aoi, though possessed by an evil spirit, was very much better. Now I am told that she is more ill than ever. Therefore I am ordered to go to Yokawa and bring the holy man back with me. I must make haste. (Goes to the first pine and, turning toward the curtain, calls out.) I have arrived. If you please, I wish to be announced.

  The Holy Man, wearing a small round cap, brocade stole, heavy silk kimono, wide-sleeved robe, and wide white divided skirt and carrying a short sword and a rosary of diamond-shaped beads, appears and advances along the bridgeway, stopping at the third pine.

  HOLY MAN:

  (mondō) Before the window of the Nine Ideations,16

  On the seat of the Ten Vehicles17

  I am filled with the waters of yoga,18

  Reflecting the Moon of Truth in the Three Mysteries.19

  Who is it that seeks admission?

  MESSENGER: I am a messenger from the minister. Lady Aoi, who is possessed by an evil spirit, is grievously ill, and I am commanded to ask you to come at once and perform an exorcism.

  HOLY MAN: Of late I have been engaged in performing special rites and cannot leave, but since it is a request from the minister, I will go immediately. You may return at once.

  MESSENGER: I will lead the way.

  I have returned, my lord, accompanied by the holy man.

  The Holy Man enters the stage and stands in the shite spot, where the Courtier turns to him.

  COURTIER: I am much obliged to you for coming.

  HOLY MAN: I received your message. Where is the lady who is ill?

  COURTIER: She is there in the gallery. (Turns to the kosode.)

  HOLY MAN: I shall perform the exorcism at once.

  COURTIER: Pray do so.

  To notto music, the Holy Man moves in front of the musicians, tucks up his sleeves, and advances toward the kosode.

  HOLY MAN:

  (unnamed) He now performs the healing rites,

  Wearing his cloak of hemp,

  In which, in the footsteps of En-no-Gyōja,20

  He scaled the peaks21

  Symbolic of the sacred spheres

  Of Taizō and Kongō,22

  Brushing away the dew that sparkles like the Seven Jewels,23

  And with a robe of meek endurance24

  To shield him from defilements,

  Fingering his reddish wooden beads,

  And rubbing them together, he intones a prayer: Namaku, samanda, basarada.

  The spirit of Lady Rokujō, having exchanged the golden-painted-eyes mask for a hannya mask and covered her head with her brocade outer kimono, stands behind the Holy Man with a hammer-shaped staff in her hand and fixes her gaze on him.

  (Quasi dance: inori)

  The Holy Man turns toward Rokujō and tries to vanquish her by his incantation, but she wraps her brocade outer kimono around her waist and takes a defiant attitude. Then she kneels, supporting herself with her hammer-shaped staff.

  ROKUJŌ:

  (kakeai) Return at once, good monk, return at once.

  Otherwise you will be burdened with regret.

  HOLY MAN:

  However evil the evil spirit,

  The mystic power of a holy man will never fail.

  With these words I once again finger my sacred rosary.

  CHORUS:

  (chū-noriji) Gōzanze Myōō, Wisdom Kings of the East,

  ROKUJŌ:

  Gundari-yasha Myōō of the South,

  CHORUS:

  Daiitoku Myōō of the West,

  ROKUJŌ:

  Kongō-yasha Myōō

  CHORUS:

  Of the North,

  ROKUJŌ:

  The most Wise Fudō Myōō of the Center—25

  In act 2, the prayers of the Holy Man of Yokawa prevent Lady Rokujō’s spirit, wearing a hannya mask, from harming Aoi (represented by a folded kimono). (From Meiji-Period Nō Illustrations by Tsukioka Kōgyo, in the Hōsei University Kōzan Bunko Collection)

  CHORUS:

  Namaku samanda basarada senda makaroshana sowatayauntara takamman!26

  Whoever hears my teaching

  Shall gain profound wisdom;

  Whoever knows my mind

  Shall gain the purity of buddhahood.27

  Rokujō, subdued, drops her staff and covers her ears.

  ROKUJŌ:

  (unnamed) How fearful is the chanting of the sutra!

  My end at last has come.

  Never again will this evil spirit come.

  CHORUS:

  (kiri) Hearing the voice of incantation,

  Hearing the voice of incantation,

  The demon’s heart grows gentle. (Rokujō rises, as if rid of her curse.)

  Forbearance and mercy incarnate,

  The Bodhisattva comes to meet her.

  She enters nirvana,

  Released from the cycle of death and rebirth—Buddha be praised!

  Released from the cycle of death and rebirth—Buddha be praised!

  Rokujō goes to the shite spot, joins her hands in prayer, and stamps twice.

  [Adapted from a translation by Gakujutsu shinkōkai]

  STUPA KOMACHI (SOTOBA KOMACHI)

  Attributed to Kan’ami and revised by Zeami

  The image of Ono no Komachi as a flawlessly beautiful poet has prevailed for more than a thousand years. The Kana Preface to the Kokinshū (ca. 905) praises her as a successor to Sotoori-hime, a legendary
princess of peerless beauty who was regarded as the goddess of poetry. But aside from Komachi’s excellent poems, which are the source of the diverse legends about her, nothing certain is known about her life. From those poems in which she laments her lost beauty and youth, the legend arose that late in her life she became exceedingly ugly and haggard. The poems describing her unrequited passion gave rise to her image as an amorous woman (in the medieval period, she was sometimes even depicted as a courtesan), while in other pieces she scolds and rejects her suitors, suggesting the opposite image, that of a coldhearted beauty. The image of Komachi as a belle dame sans merci took shape in the legend of Fukakusa no Shōshō’s visits of a hundred nights, in which Komachi is said to have once promised to reciprocate this courtier’s love on the condition that he appear outside her home for a hundred nights in succession. As the legend goes, however, he died on the ninety-ninth night, the eve of the fulfillment of his quest.

  Subsequently, in the medieval period, the Buddhist exemplum The Flowering and Decline of Tamatsukuri Komachi (Tamatsukuri Komachi sōsuisho) came to be regarded as the definitive historical document of the poet’s life. Written around the year 1000, most likely by a Buddhist preacher, this story relates a monk’s encounter with an ugly old beggar, who, it turns out, was born into a wealthy family. She explains to the monk how she once boasted of her beauty and cruelly rejected her suitors but then lost her youth and family fortune, ending up as a beggar. Scholars disagree as to whether this story originated independently of the legend of Ono no Komachi. In any case, Tamatsukuri contributed to the enduring image of Komachi as a decrepit, hundred-year-old beggar.

  These legends are evident in Stupa Komachi, which draws heavily on Tamatsukuri and the tale of Shōshō’s hundred nightly visits. The play opens with an encounter between two traveling monks and the wandering beggar Komachi. (Unlike in Tamatsukuri, in the play Komachi roundly refutes the monks’ shallow preaching.) The play also borrows or paraphrases many passages from Tamatsukuri contrasting the tattered clothes and miserable life of the aging Komachi with her past glory and beauty. In the latter part of the play, Komachi is suddenly possessed by the spirit of the dead Shōshō (Lesser Captain), who makes her reenact in front of the monks his hundred nights of visits to her, as if to bring home to her how cruel her treatment of him was.

  The play was originally written by Kan’ami and then revised by his son Zeami. Since the original by Kan’ami is now lost, the extent of Zeami’s contribution is not certain, except for his brief comment in Conversations on Sarugaku (Sarugaku dangi) that the original was much longer and included a scene in which a messenger of Tamatsushima—a god of poetry—appears in the form of a bird.