Japanese Plays

by A. L. Sadler

  ALL: Yes, that’s it, master.

  KAMBEI: Well, and what then? Isn’t the Lord Ayakōji himself deigning to judge the drums. And isn’t he coming here to Sakurai especially for that purpose? Do you think he is likely to show favor to any special person? And as for me, d’ye think I am such a silly old dotard as to put my parental feelings before the interests of my family craft? What next, indeed?

  THIRD DRUM-MAKER: Ah, you mightn’t, master, but how about your only daughter Kura-ko? She may have her likes and dislikes, perhaps.

  KAMBEI: Well, then, I’ll turn her out. I’ll show you all I’m not to be trifled with.

  ALL: That’s right, master.

  KAMBEI: You can be sure of that.

  FIRST DRUM-MAKER: We’re all quite satisfied now you’ve told us this. Now let’s go on to Lord Ayakōji’s lodging.

  SECOND DRUM-MAKER: Yes, we’ll show him the work we’ve thrown all our souls into. And then we shall see who will be chosen.

  THIRD DRUM-MAKER: Come along all of you then. And your apprentices, master?

  KAMBEI: I’ll see to them. We’ll come on after you. Don’t trouble about us.

  FIRST DRUM-MAKER: All right, Kambei Dono, we’ll meet you at His Lordship’s lodgings.

  ALL: Yes, we’ll see you again there.

  (The six of them move off to the left to the strains of a rustic melody. Enter Kura-ko from the house. She is in the gaily-patterned long-sleeved dress of a young girl.)

  KURA-KO: What, father, you’ll give your daughter to any worthless fellow if only he is a master at drum-making?

  KAMBEI: Worthless fellows can’t be masters. That needs more than mere skill. That needs character.

  KURA-KO: Still my late mother used to say that master craftsmen were a lazy lot on the whole. Spending all their time idling about and drinking and lying in bed in the morning, and so on; she often said she couldn’t bear the sight of them about the house.

  KAMBEI: Idling? They’re not idling. They’re thinking. I myself may not be all I ought, but here I am ready to give up my house and my daughter to anyone who will restore the ancient fame of our craft. And you see how they all admire my spirit.

  KURA-KO: They may admire your spirit, father, but that doesn’t do me any good. I want to marry the man I love.

  KAMBEI: ’M! You want to marry Sannosuke, I suppose?

  KURA-KO: Yes.

  KAMBEI: Well, he’s not a bad craftsman, naturally, as I’ve taught him, but he lacks something yet. I’m not sure there isn’t a better one than he somewhere. And it’s to find this unknown master that I offer my daughter and my house.

  KURA-KO: Then you’ll kill me. You’ll kill my love. I mayn’t be very much to look at, perhaps, but I have my feelings, and if you decide that a misshapen fellow like Sutezō is to be my husband…. Oh, what shall I do?

  KAMBEI: And a very fine match too!

  KURA-KO: Oh!

  KAMBEI: Well, what’s funny in that? He may have one leg shorter than the other, but what of that? His hands are wonderful. Put a chisel into them and he’s like a son of God! And if he has a face like a monkey he has a fine spirit in him. However ugly the box may be, the value lies in the treasure that’s in it. If you put a crock into the finest casket of gold lacquer it remains as worthless as ever. I doubt if there’s a finer fellow in all this village than Sutezō.

  KURA-KO: Oh yes, I admire him too. I’ve often said so. When you found him standing begging outside the gate in the snow eight years ago, playing on a broken drum, and brought him in and made him your apprentice and taught him so that he is now so good, I was the only one who was sorry for him and kind to him, when all the others despised him and called him beggar and foundling; but I certainly couldn’t love him, and I should hate to be made to marry him.

  KAMBEI: That’s enough. That’s enough. I won’t hear any more of these self-willed excuses. Love or no love the duty of a daughter is to marry the man her parents choose, as you know well enough. And now with all this talking and fuss about you, the effect of all that fine liquor has clean gone. I must go in and drink it back again. (Turns toward the inner room.) Hi, there! Heat up some more “sake.”

  (Exit. Enter Sannosuke from the opposite direction. He opens the outer gate and comes in carrying a black-lacquered drum-box. He is a fair complexioned, handsome young man.)

  SANNOSUKE: What is it, Kura-ko San? Has the old gentleman been talking roughly to you in his cups?

  KURA-KO: Oh, I’m so glad you’ve come. I’ve tried hard to talk father round, but he’s quite obstinate, and says he’s determined to have no shilly-shallying but to marry me to the man who makes the best drum.

  SANNOSUKE (dejectedly): Oh! Then all my hopes——

  KURA-KO: All my hopes. How unkind that sounds. Why don’t you say all our hopes?

  SANNOSUKE: Yes, all our hopes, of course. I’m so sorry. They all depend on this drum here that I have brought for you to look at. (Takes the drum out of the case.) Look well at it. Ah, I’ve put my very soul into that cherrywood. Every stroke of the chisel wore away a bit of my life.

  (Hands it to Kura-ko.)

  KURA-KO: How finely wrought it is, without a flaw, this drum that holds the hearts of both of us.

  (Looks delighted with it.)

  SANNOSUKE: Still, I feel anxious.

  KURA-KO: Why, do you think there’s a better one anywhere, then?

  SANNOSUKE: I don’t think there are many as good, but there is one man I fear, and that is Sutezō.

  KURA-KO: Oh, why?

  SANNOSUKE: Last night I went to Tabu-ga-mine, and on the way back, when I came to the ford on the Kurahashigawa, there was Sutezō trying the drum he has made, under the late-blooming cherry-trees by the light of the cloudy moon, little thinking that anyone could hear it. And when quite suddenly the sound fell on my ear, echoing clear and full over the water in the still midnight, I was rooted to the spot and could do nothing but stand there weeping. Indeed he far surpasses any other craftsman, and how can I hope to rival him? I fear it is Sutezō who will be chosen to be your husband.

  KURA-KO: Oh, don’t be so downhearted. Even if Sutezō’s drum is put first today, do you think I’ll marry him? Besides he himself wouldn’t dream of such a thing. All he wants is to make a reputation. That’s all he thinks about.

  SANNOSUKE: No, no, it isn’t. You can see he’s in love with you by the way he looks at you.

  KURA-KO: That’s only your jealousy. Why, if any of the young men speak a word to me you think they’re in love. Don’t worry about that. You know how kind I’ve always been to Sutezō. Well, if I say I don’t want to marry him, do you think he will be so ungrateful as to press me?

  SANNOSUKE: Quite likely. When people are in love they don’t care a cucumber for duty or gratitude. You’ll be pressed harder and harder till at last you’ll have to give way and take him. And then you’ll have a child and forget all about me, and it will end in my drowning myself or becoming a monk.

  KURA-KO: Oh, you think I’m that kind of weakling, do you? I tell you if father won’t let me marry you I won’t marry anyone at all. I’ll remain unmarried all my life, so there!

  SANNOSUKE: You may think so now perhaps. But when you see Sutezō come back in triumph and hear everyone praising him and saying what a fine fellow he is, you’ll be satisfied, even with a cripple like him. Even the hardest heart will melt at last.

  KURA-KO (gazing intently into his face and laying her hand on her heart): Ah, Sannosuke, you don’t understand. Your calm eyes cannot see the fierce passion that burns in this heart of mine. I swear by all the Deities that I will never change. Take me in your arms and hold me close to you once more.

  (Clings to him.)

  CHILDREN’S VOICES BEHIND THE SCENE: Yah! Yah! Look at the cripple running away! Boo! Boo!

  (The two separate quickly as Sutez ō comes limping in at the gate, panting hard. He is a very ugly young man dressed in cotton clothes with straw sandals on his feet and a shock of long hair).

  SANNOSUKE: Hul
lo! What’s the matter?

  SUTEZŌ: Oh, it’s only those little devils of children who have been teasing me again. What a curse it is to be born lame.

  (Puts his hand to his forehead, from which a little blood is flowing.)

  KURA-KO: Are you hurt?

  SANNOSUKE: How did you get that?

  SUTEZŌ (looking at his hand on which there is a stain of blood): I slipped and fell on a stone as I was running away when those children chased me.

  SANNOSUKE: The damned little devils! I’ll go and catch them and give them something.

  (Starts to go. Sutez ō stops him.)

  SUTEZŌ: No, no, stop! I’ve forgiven them, so please don’t trouble.

  KURA-KO: Let me bathe your head for you. (Draws water in a basin and wets her handkerchief in it and wipes the blood from his forehead. When she has done so, Sutezō stealthily picks it up. Sannosuke observes this and looks angry.) It’s stopped bleeding. Doesn’t it hurt?

  SUTEZŌ: Oh no, not at all. Thanks very much.

  (Enter the servant O San from the house.)

  O SAN: Sannosuke San, the master is calling you. Please come in.

  SANNOSUKE: Tell him I’m just coming.

  O SAN: He’ll be shouting at you if you don’t hurry.

  (Exit. Sannosuke stares at Sutezō)

  SANNOSUKE: Look here, Sutezō! In an hour or two our future will be decided. And then, whether we shall still be friends as we have been, or enemies, well, I wonder. Whether the showman will bring Buddha out of his box or the devil, that’s the question!

  SUTEZŌ: Oh, fellow apprentices are always snapping and snarling at each other, but rivals in the workshop are friends outside.

  SANNOSUKE: I don’t mean rivals in this business — (tapping the drum-box). I mean rivals in love!

  SUTEZŌ: What?

  (Looks surprised.)

  SANNOSUKE: Yes, whether it’ll be the devil or Buddha depends on fate. But I fancy we shan’t travel the same road in future. No, I don’t think we shall go hand in hand any more.

  (Goes in. Sutez ō stares after him.)

  SUTEZŌ: I wonder what he means. I don’t know in the least.

  KURA-KO: Yes, we are coming to the parting of the ways. And now won’t you show me the drum you’ve made. I hear it is a fine piece of work.

  SUTEZŌ: Certainly. Here it is. (Takes down a white wood drum-box from the shelf in the workshop, takes off the lid and brings out the body of a drum.) Day and night I’ve thought and striven and toiled at this. And now at last I’ve worked out what I dreamed. No one has ever carved the body of a drum with such a sensitive chisel stroke before. In its four tones I’ve made reverberate all the sounds that are in earth and sky.

  KURA-KO (looking intently at the drum): Even my father, famed craftsman as he is, can hardly handle a chisel like this. You’ll win today.

  SUTEZŌ: Won’t that be splendid! Just fancy a lame fellow like me becoming perhaps the greatest man in Sakurai. Still it will be all owing to the kindness of the master and yourself.

  KURA-KO (in a low tone): Yes, it will be very well for you to be the greatest man here…but how about the other?

  (Bursts into tears. Sutez ō looks perplexed.)

  SUTEZŌ: What has made you cry? Have I said anything to hurt you?

  KURA-KO: No, no. Please let me alone.

  SUTEZŌ: But it’s strange to see you cry without any reason….Ah! I know. They’re tears of joy. It must be because you are glad my drum is such a fine one. Ah, how sweet of you. I wish your tears were like the flood of the Kurahashi River so that all who speak ill of me might drink. Yes, everybody is against me and you are the only friend I have. Since I first came here eight years ago, if it had not been for you I should not have known what kindness meant. But as I was born lame like this, I was ashamed to say a word of what I felt for you. Oh, Kura-ko San, I have always loved you. (Kura-ko starts back in surprise at this.) Yes, I don’t wonder you look surprised that I should say such a thing. It must seem strange presumption for me to dare to think I should have won your love, when I am as ugly as I am as well as being lame. But if you are so pleased about me that you weep with joy…Surely tears cannot lie?

  KURA-KO: Don’t! Oh, please stop! It’s all a mistake. It is not about you that I am crying…It’s about someone else.

  SUTEZŌ (looking surprised in turn): Oh! About someone else?

  KURA-KO: Please don’t be angry with me, Sutezō. There is someone I have loved for a long time, and he too has made a drum, but it is not to be compared with yours…and so I forgot myself and cried.

  SUTEZŌ: Ah, that explains the riddle. Then please excuse me. I never dreamt that you and Sannosuke were in love with each other.

  (Looks disappointed and dejected.)

  KURA-KO: Oh, don’t look so downhearted, Sutezō. It is all my fault. You can’t help doing the best work. You’re such a fine craftsman there’s none to equal you, and I shall be so pleased to see you make a great name and be honored. And how can I expect you to help me to marry Sannosuke. Ah, what shall I do?

  (Gets up to go.)

  SUTEZŌ: And what will you do?

  KURA-KO: Oh, I shall go into a nunnery.

  (Puts her sleeve to her face and runs into the house crying.)

  SUTEZŌ: Well, I thought I was only lame, but I seem to have been blind as well. But now I see what I have to do, at any rate. I must give up all thoughts of her for myself and try and find a way for her to marry Sannosuke. That is the least I can do to repay all her kindness. (Stands thinking. Catches sight of Sannosuke’s drum-box.) Ah, there’s Sannosuke’s drum-box. Now then, if I exchange my drum for his, he will be the one to win, and then Kura-ko will be able to marry him. (Looks round to see if anyone is there. Then opens the black-lacquered box and takes out the drum from it, replacing it with his own.) Well, I never imagined that I could sacrifice this masterpiece of all my labor to help anyone else.

  (Looks as if about to break down. Then pulls himself together and shuts the lid and puts Sannosuke’s drum into his own box. Sounds of music of the Kagura of a shrine are heard in the distance. Enter Kambei from the house on the right. He is in ceremonial costume of crested haori and hakama and wears a short sword in his belt.)

  KAMBEI: Now then, it’s time to start. Are you ready, Sutezō? Where has Sannosuke got to? Sannosuke! Sannosuke!

  (Enter Sannosuke from the house.)

  SANNOSUKE: Excuse my keeping you waiting, master.

  KAMBEI: Have you got your drums all right?

  SANNOSUKE: The one in the black-lacquered case is mine. Sutezō’s is in the white wood one.

  KAMBEI: Well, only one of all the drums can be chosen for the Imperial use, and I should like it to be the work of one of my apprentices if possible. (Listening). Ah, there’s a Kagura at the village shrine. Some of the others are having prayers said for their success, it seems. We’d better put one up too on our way.

  SANNOSUKE: Well, I’m off. Are you coming with me, Sutezō?

  SUTEZŌ: My leg’s bad, so I think I shan’t go. You might take mine with you, if you don’t mind.

  SANNOSUKE: Oh, certainly. Hand it over then.

  SUTEZŌ: Thanks very much. I’ve written my name on a piece of paper and stuck it on the box.

  (Hands his case to Sannosuke.)

  KAMBEI: Hurry up and don’t be late.

  SANNOSUKE: Then excuse my going on first.

  (Goes off with the two boxes.)

  KAMBEI: Why do you stay away on an important day like this?

  SUTEZŌ: ’Tisn’t seemly for a deformed fellow like me to appear before people of rank.

  KAMBEI: Nonsense. What does it matter? You come along with me.

  SUTEZŌ: But… with my deformity…

  KAMBEI: What of it? It’s a craftsman’s skill that matters, not his looks.

  (Stage revolves.)

  SCENE II

  An apartment in the lodging of Lord Ayak ō ji. It is of eight yards frontage and has a veranda running round three sides of it. In fron
t there is a tokonoma and a chigai-dana beside it with a cupboard under. The fusuma are painted with landscapes on a ground of gold-dust. It looks on to a garden with stepping-stones, trees and stone lanterns. On the left is the front gate. On a large cushion in the middle sits Lord Ayak ō ji Arinobu, Court noble of the Third Rank. He wears his hair in the Tea-whisk style, and is attired in the hakama and carries the fan used by nobles of the Court. On his left sits the Court Musician, Komparu Boku-no-j ō, in haori and hakama, trying the drums. In front of him sits the military official, Shirakawa Kemmotsu, in black cap and robe of ceremony. An Imperial Guard sits by him, while on the veranda is the village headman, Juichibei, with his face to the ground. In the grounds outside to the left stand the six young drum-makers of the first act in an attitude of respect, holding their drums. The only sound is the tapping of the drums.

  ARINOBU: That will do.

  (Roku-no-j ō puts the drum down.)

  ROKU-NO-JŌ: What does Your Excellency think of it?

  ARINOBU: That you have played it very well, but the tone is not good. I fancy there is a flaw in the body somewhere. Take another look at it.

  ROKU-NO-JŌ: Certainly, sir.

  (Loosens the cords and inspects the body carefully.)

  SECOND DRUM-MAKER: There! Did you hear that? His Excellency doesn’t seem to think much of the drum you’re so proud of.

  FIRST DRUM-MAKER: Well, if he doesn’t, he doesn’t, that’s all. If it fails I shall smash it up. That’s what I brought this hatchet for.

  SECOND DRUM-MAKER: Quiet! His Excellency will hear you.

  (Takes the hatchet from him. Roku-no-j ō finishes his examination of the drum.)

  ROKU-NO-JŌ: It is as Your Excellency says. There is a very small flaw in the edge.

  ARINOBU: Yes, I thought so. Hand it back again.

  ROKU-NO-JŌ: Ha!

  (With an inclination of his body. Hands it to the headman.)

  JUICHIBEI: This too will not be needed by His Excellency.

  FIRST DRUM-MAKER: Oh, dear. Well, it can’t be helped, I suppose.

  (Takes his drum from the headman with a rueful look.)

  KEMMOTSU: Is that all? We must have submitted nearly a hundred drums for His Excellency’s inspection.

  JUICHIBEI: No, Your Honor. The two apprentices of Abo Kambei, Sannosuke and Sutezō, have still to come.