CHAPTER IV
UKAI
AYA NO TSUZUMI
AOI NO UYE
NOTE ON UKAI.
Seami tells us (_Works_, p. 246) 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. 247).
On p. 245 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 to-day 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 folk-song:[109]
“Woe to the cormorant-fisher Who binds the heads of his cormorants And slays the tortoise whose span is ten thousand æons! 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 Nō play _Ukai_ grew.
FOOTNOTE:
[109] _Ryōjin Hisshō_, p. 135.
UKAI
(THE CORMORANT-FISHER)
By ENAMI NO SAYEMON (_c._ 1400).
PERSONS
_PRIEST._ _SECOND PRIEST._ _FISHER._ _YAMA, KING OF HELL._ _CHORUS._
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 Yūshi and Hakuyō vowed their love-vows by the moon, and were changed to wedded stars of heaven. And even to-day 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 travellers 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[110] 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.[111] 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[112] 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[113] 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 hashigakari_.)
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;[114] 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,[115] Lifeboat of the Lotus Law.[116]
FOOTNOTES:
[110] Or, according to another reading, “tales of Hell.”
[111] The Fisher holds up his torch and looks down as though peering into the water.
[112] I have omitted the line “Though this be not the river of Tamashima,” a reference to the Empress Jingō, who caught an _ayu_ at Tamashima when on her way to fight the Coreans.
[113] A name for Hades.
[114] Good deeds were recorded in a golden book, evil deeds in an iron one.
[115] He vowed that he would come as a ship to those drowning in the Sea of Delusion.
[116] Here follow the twelve concluding lines, too full of Buddhist technicalities to interest a general reader.
AYA NO TSUZUMI
(THE DAMASK DRUM)
ATTRIBUTED TO SEAMI, BUT PERHAPS EARLIER.
PERSONS
_A COURTIER._ _AN OLD GARDENER._ _THE PRINCESS._
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.
Some one told her of this, and she said, “Love’s equal realm knows no divisions,”[117] 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.
Listen! the evening bell to help me chimes; But then tolls in A heavy tale of day linked on to day,
CHORUS (_speaking for the_ GARDENER).
And hope stretched out from dusk to dusk. But now, a watchman of the hours, I beat The longed-for stroke.
GARDENER.
I was old, I shunned the daylight, I was gaunt as an aged crane; And upon all that misery Suddenly a sorrow was heaped, The new sorrow of love. The days had left their marks, Coming and coming, like waves that beat on a sandy shore ...
CHORUS.
Oh, with a thunder of white waves The echo of the drum shall roll.
GARDENER.
The after-world draws near me, Yet even now I wake not From this autumn of love that closes In sadness the sequence of my years.
CHORUS.
And slow as the autumn dew Tears gather in my eyes, to fall Scattered like dewdrops from a shaken flower On my coarse-woven dress. See here the marks, imprint of tangled love, That all the world will read.
GARDENER.
I said “I will forget,”
CHORUS.
And got worse torment so Than by remembrance. But all in this world Is as the horse of the aged man of the land of Sai;[118] And as a white colt flashes Past a gap in the hedge, even so our days pass.[119] And though the time be come, Yet can none know the road that he at last must tread, Goal of his dewdrop-life. All this I knew; yet knowing, Was blind with folly.
GARDENER.
“Wake, wake,” he cries,--
CHORUS.
The watchman of the hours,-- “Wake from the sleep of dawn!” And batters on the drum. For if its sound be heard, soon shall he see Her face, the damask of her dress ... Aye, damask! He does not know That on a damask drum he beats, Beats with all the strength of his hands, his aged hands, But hears no sound. “Am I grown deaf?” he cries, and listens, listens: Rain on the windows, lapping of waves on the pool-- Both these he hears, and silent only The drum, strange damask drum. Oh, will it never sound? I thought to beat the sorrow from my heart, Wake music in a damask drum; an echo of love From the voiceless fabric of pride!
GARDENER.
Longed for as the moon that hides In the obstinate clouds of a rainy night Is the sound of the watchman’s drum, To roll the darkness from my heart.
CHORUS.
I beat the drum. The days pass and the hours. It was yesterday, and it is to-day.
GARDENER.
But she for whom I wait
CHORUS.
Comes not even in dream. At dawn and dusk
GARDENER.
No drum sounds.
CHORUS.
She has not come. Is it not sung that those Whom love has joined Not even the God of Thunder can divide? Of lovers, I alone Am guideless, comfortless. Then weary of himself and calling her to witness of his woe, “Why should I endure,” he cried, “Such life as this?” and in the waters of the pond He cast himself and died.
(GARDENER _leaves the stage_.)
_Enter the_ PRINCESS.
COURTIER.
I would speak with you, madam.
The drum made no sound, and the aged Gardener in despair has flung himself into the pond by the laurel tree, and died. The soul of such a one may cling to you and do you injury. Go out and look upon him
PRINCESS (_speaking wildly, already possessed by the_ GARDENER’S _angry ghost, which speaks through her_).[120]
Listen, people, listen! In the noise of the beating waves I hear the rolling of a drum. Oh, joyful sound, oh joyful! The music of a drum.
COURTIER.
Strange, strange! This lady speaks as one By phantasy possessed. What is amiss, what ails her?
PRINCESS.
Truly, by phantasy I am possessed. Can a damask drum give sound? When I bade him beat what could not ring, Then tottered first my wits.
COURTIER.
She spoke, and on the face of the evening pool A wave stirred.
PRINCESS.
And out of the wave
COURTIER.
A voice spoke.
(_The voice of the_ GARDENER _is heard; as he gradually advances along the hashigakari it is seen that he wears a “demon mask,” leans on a staff and carries the “demon mallet” at his girdle_.)
GARDENER’S GHOST.
I was driftwood in the pool, but the waves of bitterness
CHORUS.
Have washed me back to the shore.
GHOST.
Anger clings to my heart, Clings even now when neither wrath nor weeping Are aught but folly.
CHORUS.
One thought consumes me, The anger of lust denied Covers me like darkness. I am become a demon dwelling In the hell of my dark thoughts, Storm-cloud of my desires.
GHOST.
“Though the waters parch in the fields Though the brooks run dry, Never shall the place be shown Of the spring that feeds my heart.”[121] So I had resolved. Oh, why so cruelly Set they me to win Voice from a voiceless drum, Spending my heart in vain? And I spent my heart on the glimpse of a moon that slipped Through the boughs of an autumn tree.[122]
CHORUS.
This damask drum that hangs on the laurel-tree
GHOST.
Will it sound, will it sound?
(_He seizes the_ PRINCESS _and drags her towards the drum_.)
Try! Strike it!
CHORUS.
“Strike!” he cries; “The quick beat, the battle-charge! Loud, loud! Strike, strike,” he rails, And brandishing his demon-stick Gives her no rest. “Oh woe!” the lady weeps, “No sound, no sound. Oh misery!” she wails. And he, at the mallet stroke, “Repent, repent!” Such torments in the world of night Abōrasetsu, chief of demons, wields, Who on the Wheel of Fire Sears sinful flesh and shatters bones to dust. Not less her torture now! “Oh, agony!” she cries, “What have I done, By what dire seed this harvest sown?”
GHOST.
Clear stands the cause before you.
CHORUS.
Clear stands the cause before my eyes; I know it now. By the pool’s white waters, upon the laurel’s bough The drum was hung. He did not know his hour, but struck and struck Till all the will had ebbed from his heart’s core; Then leapt into the lake and died. And while his body rocked Like driftwood on the waves, His soul, an angry ghost, Possessed the lady’s wits, haunted her heart with woe. The mallet lashed, as these waves lash the shore, Lash on the ice of the eastern shore. The wind passes; the rain falls On the Red Lotus, the Lesser and the Greater.[123] The hair stands up on my head. “The fish that leaps the falls To a fell snake is turned,”[124]
In the Kwanze School this play is replaced by another called _The Burden of Love_, also attributed to Seami, who writes (_Works_, p. 166): “_The Burden of Love_ was formerly _The Damask Drum_.” The task set in the later play is the carrying of a burden a thousand times round the garden. The Gardener seizes the burden joyfully and begins to run with it, but it grows heavier and heavier, till he sinks crushed to death beneath it.
I have learned to know them; Such, such are the demons of the World of Night. “O hateful lady, hateful!” he cried, and sank again Into the whirlpool of desire.
FOOTNOTES:
[117] A twelfth-century folk-song (_Ryōjin Hisshō_, p. 126), speaks of “The Way of Love which knows no castes of ‘high’ and ‘low.’”
[118] A story from _Huai-nan Tzŭ_. What looks like disaster turns out to be good fortune and _vice versa_. The horse broke away and was lost. A revolution occurred during which the Government seized all horses. When the revolution was over the man of Sai’s horse was rediscovered. If he had not lost it the Government would have taken it.
[119] This simile, which passed into a proverb in China and Japan, occurs first in _Chuang Tzŭ_, chap. xxii.
[120] Compare the “possession” in _Sotoba Komachi_.
[121] Adapted from a poem in the _Gosenshū_.
[122] Adapted from a poem in the _Kokinshū_.
[123] The names of two of the Cold Hells in the Buddhist Inferno.
[124] There is a legend that the fish who succeed in leaping a certain waterfall turn into dragons. So the Gardener’s attempt to raise himself to the level of the Princess has changed him into an evil demon.
NOTE ON AOI NO UYE.
At the age of twelve Prince Genji went through the ceremony of marriage with Aoi no Uye (Princess Hollyhock), the Prime Minister’s daughter. She continued to live at her father’s house and Genji at his palace. When he was about sixteen he fell in love with Princess Rokujō, the widow of the Emperor’s brother; she was about eight years older than himself. He was not long faithful to her. The lady Yūgao next engaged his affections. He carried her one night to a deserted mansion on the outskirts of the City. “The night was far advanced and they had both fallen asleep. Suddenly the figure of a woman appeared at the bedside. “I have found you!” it cried. “What stranger is this that lies beside you? What treachery is this that you flaunt before my eyes?” And with these words the apparition stooped over the bed, and made as though to drag away the sleeping girl from Genji’s side.”[125]
Before dawn Yūgao was dead, stricken by the “living phantom” of Rokujō, embodiment of her baleful jealousy.
Soon after this, Genji became reconciled with his wife Aoi, but continued to visit Rokujō. One day, at the Kamo Festival, Aoi’s way was blocked by another carriage. She ordered her attendants to drag it aside. A scuffle ensued between her servants and those of Rokujō (for she was the occupant of the second carriage) in which Aoi’s side prevailed. Rokujō’s carriage was broken and Aoi’s pushed into the front place. After the festival was over Aoi returned to the Prime Minister’s house in high spirits.
Soon afterwards she fell ill, and it is at this point that the play begins.
There is nothing obscure or ambiguous in the situation. Fenollosa seems to have misunderstood the play and read into it complications and confusions which do not exist. He also changes the sex of the Witch, though the Japanese word, _miko_, always has a feminine meaning. The “Romance of Genji” (_Genji Monogatari_) was written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu and was finished in the year 1004 A. D. Of its fifty-four chapters only seventeen have been translated.[126] It furnished the plots of many Nō plays, of which _Suma Genji_ (Genji’s exile at Suma), _No no Miya_ (his visit to Rokujō after she became a nun), _Tamakatsura_ (the story of Yūgao’s daughter), and _Hajitomi_ (in which Yūgao’s ghost appears) are the best known.
There is some doubt about the authorship of the play. Seami saw it acted as a Dengaku by his father’s contemporary Inūo. He describes Inūo’s entry on to the stage in the rôle of Rokujō and quotes the first six lines of her opening speech. These lines correspond exactly with the modern text, and it is probable that the play existed in something like its present form in the middle of the fourteenth century. Kwanze Nagatoshi, the great-grandson of Seami, includes it in a list of Seami’s works; while popular tradition ascribes it to Seami’s son-in-law Zenchiku.
FOOTNOTES:
[125] _Genji Monogatari_ (Romance of Genji), chap, iii., Hakubunkwan Edition, p. 87.
[126] By Baron Suyematsu in 1881.
AOI NO UYE
(PRINCESS HOLLYHOCK)
REVISED BY ZENCHIKU UJINOBU (1414-1499?)
PERSONS
_COURTIER._ _WITCH._ _PRINCESS ROKUJŌ._ _THE SAINT OF YOKAWA._ _MESSENGER._ _CHORUS._
(_A folded cloak laid in front of the stage symbolizes the sick-bed of Aoi._)
COURTIER.
I am a courtier in the service of the Emperor Shujaku. You must know that the Prime Minister’s daughter, Princess Aoi, has fallen sick. We have sent for abbots and high-priests of the Greater School and of the Secret School, but they could not cure her.
And now, here at my side, stands the witch of Teruhi,[127] a famous diviner with the bow-string. My lord has been told that by twanging her bow-string she can make visible an evil spirit and tell if it be the spirit of a living man or a dead. So he bade me send for her and let her pluck her string. (_Turning to the_ WITCH, _who has been waiting motionless_.) Come, sorceress, we are ready!
WITCH (_comes forward beating a little drum and reciting a mystic formula_).
_Ten shōjō; chi shōjō. Naige shōjō; rokon shōjō._ Pure above; pure below. Pure without; pure within. Pure in eyes, ears, heart and tongue.
(_She plucks her bow-string, reciting the spell._)
You whom I call Hold loose the reins On your grey colt’s neck As you gallop to me Over the long sands!
(_The living phantasm of_ ROKUJŌ _appears at the back of the stage_.)
ROKUJŌ.
In the Three Coaches That travel on the Road of Law I drove out of the Burning House ...[128] Is there no way to banish the broken coach That stands at Yūgao’s door?[129]
This world Is like the wheels of the little ox-cart; Round and round they go ... till vengeance comes. The Wheel of Life turns like the wheel of a coach; There is no escape from the Six Paths and Four Births. We are brittle as the leaves of the _bashō_; As fleeting as foam upon the sea. Yesterday’s flower, to-day’s dream. From such a dream were it not wiser to wake? And when to this is added another’s scorn How can the heart have rest? So when I heard the twanging of your bow For a little while, I thought, I will take my pleasure; And as an angry ghost appeared. Oh! I am ashamed!
(_She veils her face._)
This time too I have come secretly[130] In a closed coach. Though I sat till dawn and watched the moon, Till dawn and watched, How could I show myself, That am no more than the mists that tremble over the fields? I am come, I am come to the notch of your bow To tell my sorrow. Whence came the noise of the bow-string?
WITCH.
Though she should stand at the wife-door of the mother-house of the square court ...[131]
ROKUJŌ.
Yet would none come to me, that am not in the flesh.[132]
WITCH.
How strange! I see a fine lady whom I do not know riding in a broken coach. She clutches at the shafts of another coach from which the oxen have been unyoked. And in the second coach sits one who seems a new wife.[133] The lady of the broken coach is weeping, weeping. It is a piteous sight.
Can this be she?
COURTIER.
It would not be hard to guess who such a one might be. Come, spirit, tell us your name!
ROKUJŌ.
In this Sahā World[134] where days fly like the lightning’s flash None is worth hating and none worth pitying. This I knew. Oh when did folly master me?
You would know who I am that have come drawn by the twanging of your bow? I am the angry ghost of Rokujō, Lady of the Chamber.
Long ago I lived in the world. I sat at flower-feasts among the clouds.[135] On spring mornings I rode out In royal retinue and on autumn nights Among the red leaves of the Rishis’ Cave I sported with moonbeams, With colours and perfumes My senses sated. I had splendour then; But now I wither like the Morning Glory Whose span endures not from dawn to midday. I have come to clear my hate.
(_She then quotes the Buddhist saying, “Our sorrows in this world are not caused by others; for even when others wrong us we are suffering the retribution of our own deeds in a previous existence.”_
_But while singing these words she turns towards_ AOI’S _bed; passion again seizes her and she cries_:)
I am full of hatred. I must strike; I must strike.
(_She creeps towards the bed._)
WITCH.
You, Lady Rokujō, you a Lady of the Chamber! Would you lay wait and strike as peasant women do?[136] How can this be? Think and forbear!
ROKUJŌ.
Say what you will, I must strike. I must strike now. (_Describing her own action._) “And as she said this, she went over to the pillow and struck at it.” (_She strikes at the head of the bed with her fan._)
WITCH.
She is going to strike again. (_To_ ROKUJŌ.) You shall pay for this!
ROKUJŌ.
And this hate too is payment for past hate.
WITCH.
“The flame of anger
ROKUJŌ.
Consumes itself only.”[137]
WITCH.
Did you not know?
ROKUJŌ.
Know it then now.
CHORUS.
O Hate, Hate! Her[138] hate so deep that on her bed Our lady[139] moans. Yet, should she live in the world again,[140] He would call her to him, her Lord The Shining One, whose light Is brighter than fire-fly hovering Over the slime of an inky pool.
ROKUJŌ.
But for me There is no way back to what I was, No more than to the heart of a bramble-thicket. The dew that dries on the bramble-leaf Comes back again; But love (and this is worst) That not even in dream returns,-- That is grown to be an old tale,-- Now, even now waxes, So that standing at the bright mirror I tremble and am ashamed.
I am come to my broken coach. (_She throws down her fan and begins to slip off her embroidered robe._) I will hide you in it and carry you away!
(_She stands right over the bed, then turns away and at the back of the stage throws off her robe, which is held by two attendants in such a way that she cannot be seen. She changes her “deigan” mask for a female demon’s mask and now carries a mallet in her hand._)
(_Meanwhile the_ COURTIER, _who has been standing near the bed_:)
COURTIER.
Come quickly, some one! Princess Aoi is worse. Every minute she is worse. Go and fetch the Little Saint of Yokawa.[141]
MESSENGER.
I tremble and obey.
(_He goes to the wing and speaks to some one off the stage._)
May I come in?
SAINT (_speaking from the wing_).
Who is it that seeks admittance to a room washed by the moonlight of the Three Mysteries, sprinkled with the holy water of Yoga? Who would draw near to a couch of the Ten Vehicles, a window of the Eight Perceptions?
MESSENGER.
I am come from the Court. Princess Aoi is ill. They would have you come to her.
SAINT.
It happens that at this time I am practising particular austerities and go nowhere abroad. But if you are a messenger from the Court, I will follow you.
(_He comes on the stage._)
COURTIER.
We thank you for coming.
SAINT.
I wait upon you. Where is the sick person?
COURTIER.
On the bed here.
SAINT.
Then I will begin my incantations at once.
COURTIER.
Pray do so.
SAINT.
He said: “I will say my incantations.” Following in the steps of En no Gyōja,[142] Clad in skirts that have trailed the Peak of the Two Spheres,[143] That have brushed the dew of the Seven Precious Trees, Clad in the cope of endurance That shields from the world’s defilement, “Sarari, sarari,” with such sound I shake the red wooden beads of my rosary And say the first spell: _Namaku Samanda Basarada Namaku Samanda Basarada_.[144]
ROKUJŌ (_during the incantation she has cowered at the back of the stage wrapped in her Chinese robe, which she has picked up again._)
Go back, Gyōja, go back to your home; do not stay and be vanquished!
SAINT.
Be you what demon you will, do not hope to overcome the Gyōja’s subtle power. I will pray again.
(_He shakes his rosary whilst the_ CHORUS, _speaking for him, invokes the first of the Five Kings_.)
CHORUS.
In the east Gō Sanze, Subduer of the Three Worlds.
ROKUJŌ (_counter-invoking_).
In the south Gundari Yasha.
CHORUS.
In the west Dai-itoku.
ROKUJŌ.
In the north Kongō
CHORUS.
Yasha, the Diamond King.
ROKUJŌ.
In the centre the Great Holy
CHORUS.
Fudō Immutable. _Namaku Samanda Basarada Senda Makaroshana Sohataya Untaratakarman._ “They that hear my name shall get Great Enlightenment; They that see my body shall attain to Buddhahood.”[145]
ROKUJŌ (_suddenly dropping her mallet and pressing her hands to her ears._)
The voice of the Hannya Book! I am afraid. Never again will I come as an angry ghost.
GHOST.
When she heard the sound of Scripture The demon’s raging heart was stilled; Shapes of Pity and Sufferance, The Bodhisats descend. Her soul casts off its bonds, She walks in Buddha’s Way.
FOOTNOTES:
[127] A _miko_ or witch called Teruhi is the subject of the play _Sanja Takusen_.
[128] Rokujō has left the “Burning House,” i. e. her material body. The “Three Coaches” are those of the famous “Burning House” parable in the _Hokkekyō_. Some children were in a burning house. Intent on their play, they could not be induced to leave the building; till their father lured them out by the promise that they would find those little toy coaches awaiting them. So Buddha, by partial truth, lures men from the “burning house” of their material lives. Owing to the episode at the Kamo Festival, Rokujō is obsessed by the idea of “carriages,” “wheels” and the like.
[129] One day Rokujō saw a coach from which all badges and distinctive decorations had been purposely stripped (hence, in a sense, a “broken coach”) standing before Yūgao’s door. She found out that it was Genji’s. For Yūgao, see p. 142.
[130] Rokujō went secretly to the Kamo Festival in a closed carriage.
[131] Words from an old dance-song or “_saibara_.”
[132] “That am a ghost,” but also “that have lost my beauty.”
[133] Alluding to Aoi’s pregnancy.
[134] A Sanskrit name for the “world of appearances.”
[135] I. e. at the Palace.
[136] It was the custom for wives who had been put away to ambush the new wife and strike her “to clear their hate.”
[137] From the Sutrālankära Shāstra (Cat. No. 1182).
[138] Rokujō’s.
[139] Aoi.
[140] I. e. recover.
[141] The hero of the “Finding of Ukifune,” a later episode in the _Genji Monogatari_.
[142] Founder of the sect of the ascetics called Yamabushi Mountaineers.
[143] Mount Ōmine, near Yoshino, ritual ascents of which were made by Yamabushi.
[144] Known as the Lesser Spell of Fudō. The longer one which follows is the Middle Spell. They consist of corrupt Sanskrit mixed with meaningless magic syllables.
[145] From the Buddhist Sūtra known in Japan as the Hannya Kyō. It was supposed to have a particular influence over female demons, who are also called “Hannyas.”