The Noh Plays of Japan
Page 15
But when she saw he was resolved to keep it...
ANGEL
Strength failing.
HAKURYŌ
Help none...
CHORUS
Then on her coronet,
Jeweled as with the dew of tears,
The bright flowers drooped and faded.*
O piteous to see before the eyes,
Fivefold the signs of sickness
Corrupt an angel's form.
ANGEL
I look into the plains of heaven,
The cloud-ways are hid in mist,
The path is lost.
CHORUS
Oh, enviable clouds,
At your will wandering
Forever idle in the empty sky
That was my home!
Now fades and fades upon my ear
The voice of Kalavink,*
Daily accustomed song.
And you, oh you I envy,
Wild-geese clamorous
Down the sky-paths returning;
And you, O seaward circling, shoreward sweeping
Swift seagulls of the bay:
Even the wind, because in heaven it blows,
The wind of Spring I envy.
HAKURYO
Listen. Now that I have seen you in your sorrow, I yield and would give you back your mantle.
ANGEL
Oh, I am happy! Give it me then!
HAKURYO
Wait. I have heard tell of the dances that are danced in heaven. Dance for me now, and I will give back your robe.
ANGEL
I am happy, happy. Now I shall have wings and mount the sky again.
And for thanksgiving I bequeath
A dance of remembrance to the world,
Fit for the princes of men:
The dance-tune that makes to turn
The towers of the moon,
I will dance it here and as an heirloom leave it
To the sorrowful men, of the world.
Give back my mantle, I cannot dance without it.
Say what you will, I must first have back the robe.
HAKURYŌ
Not yet, for if I give back your robe, not a step would you dance, but fly with it straight to the sky.
ANGEL
No, no. Doubt is for mortals;
In heaven is no deceit.
HAKURYŌ
I am ashamed. Look, I give back the robe.
(He gives it to her and she takes it in both hands.)
ANGEL
The heavenly lady puts on her garment, She dances the dance of the Rainbow Skirt, of the Robe of Feathers.
HAKURYŌ
The sky-robe flutters; it yields to the wind.
ANGEL
Sleeve like a flower wet with rain...
HAKURYŌ
The first dance is over.
ANGEL
Shall I dance?
CHORUS
The dance of Suruga, with music of the East?
Thus was it first danced.
(The ANGEL dances, while the CHORUS sings the words of the dance, an ancient Shinto chant.)
"Why name we
Wide-stretched and everlasting.
The sky of heaven?
Two gods* there came of old
And built, upon ten sides shut in,
A measured world for men;
But without limit arched they
The sky above, and named it
Wide-stretched and everlasting."
ANGEL
Thus is the Moon-God's palace:
Its walls are fashioned
With an axe of jade.
CHORUS
In white dress, black dress,
Thrice ten angels
In two ranks divided,
Thrice five for the waning,
Thrice five for nights of the waxing moon,
One heavenly lady on each night of the moon
Does service and fulfils
Her ritual task assigned.
ANGEL
I too am of their number,
A moon-lady of heaven.
CHORUS
"Mine is the fruit of the moon-tree,* pyet came I to the East incarnate,†
Dwelt with the people of Earth, and gave them
A gift of music, song-dance of Suruga.
Now upon earth trail the long mists of Spring;
Who knows but in the valleys of the moon
The heavenly moon-tree puts her blossom on?
The blossoms of her crown win back their glory:
It is the sign of Spring.
Not heaven is here, but beauty of the wind and sky.
Blow, blow, you wind, and build
Cloud-walls across the sky, lest the vision leave us
Of a maid divine!
This tint of springtime in the woods,
This color on the headland,
Snow on the mountain,‡
Moonlight on the clear shore—
Which fairest? Nay, each peerless
At the dawn of a Spring day.
Waves lapping, wind: in the pine-trees whispering
Along the quiet shore. Say you, what cause
Has Heaven to be estranged
From us Earth-men; are we not children of the Gods,
Within, without the jewelled temple wall,
Born where no cloud dares dim the waiting moon,
Land of Sunrise?"
ANGEL
May our Lord's life
Last long as a great rock rubbed
Only by the rare trailing Of an angel's feather-skirt.'
Oh, marvellous music!
The Eastern song joined
To many instruments;
Harp, zither, pan-pipes, flute,
Belly their notes beyond the lonely clouds.
The sunset stained with crimson light
From Mount Sumeru's side;*
For green, the islands floating on the sea;
For whiteness whirled
A snow of blossom blasted
By the wild winds, a white cloud
Of sleeves waving.
(Concluding the dance, she folds her hands and prays.)
NAMU KIMYO GWATTEN-SHI
To thee, O Monarch of the Moon,
Be glory and praise,
Thou son of Seishi Omnipotent!†
CHORUS
This is a dance of the East.
(She dances three of the five parts of the dance called "Yo no Mai," the Prelude Dance.)
ANGEL
I am robed in sky, in the empty blue of heaven.
CHORUS
Now she is robed in a garment of mist, of Spring mist.
ANGEL
Wonderful in perfume and color, an angel's skirt—left, right, left, left, right.
(Springing from side to side.)
The skirt swishes, the flowers nod, the feathery sleeves trail out and return, the dancing-sleeves.
(She dances "Ha no Mai" the Broken Dance.)
CHORUS
She has danced many dances,
But not yet are they numbered,
The dances of the East.
And now she, whose beauty is as the young moon,
Shines on us in the sky of midnight,
The fifteenth night,
With the beam of perfect fulfilment,
The splendor of Truth.
The vows* are fulfilled, and the land we live in
Rich with the Seven Treasures
By this dance rained down on us,
The gift of Heaven.
But, as the hours pass by,
Sky-cloak of feathers fluttering, fluttering,
Over the pine-woods of Mio,
Past the Floating Islands, through the feet of the clouds she flies,
Over the mountain of Ashitaka, the high peak of Fuji,
Very faint her form,
Mingled with the mists of heaven;
Now lost to sight
Footnotes
* In Japanese, Kantan.
* Corresponds to the modern province Hupeh.
* So,Chinese "Ch'u," was formerly an independent feudal State.The name means "thorn," as does the Japanese "ibara." Chamberlain call it "The Country of Ibara," but in this case the reading "So" is indicated by both Owada and Haga.
* Kings and princes are often called "thou above the clouds."
† 1 Palaces of the First Emperor. An attendant has removed the pillow from the "bed." From this moment the bed becomes a magnificent palace, as described in the verses which follow.
‡ At this point the Boy Dancer enters.
* Name of a famous Chinese palace.
† Famous Gate in the palace of the Tang Emperors.
‡ These lines are from a poem by Yasutane, d. 997 A.D. (Chamberlain attributes them to Po Chū-i)
* Here the Boy Dancer begins to dance the Dream-dance.
† On the third day of the third month people floated cups in the stream.Each person as the cup passed in front of him,had to compose a poem end drink the content of the cup.
‡ These word also describe the dancer's movments.
The Moon
* See Waley, Japanese Poetry, p. 77.
* I.e. Buddha, the Law, and the Priesthood. A pious exclamation of astonishment like the Spanish "Jesù, Maria, José!"
* The Sun is male, i.e. fair.The Moon female,i.e. foul.
† The demons of Delusion, of the Senses, of the Air, and of Death.
* The Sun.
* The heresy of Nihilism. To say that phenomena do not exist is as untrue as to say that they exist.
† He quotes a Zen text.
‡ Iwa, "rock," also means "not speak."
* Some actors,says owada,here write in the air with their fan; but such detailed miming is valugar.
† An allusion to the cherry-trees at the Kiyomizu-dear.
‡ Bamboo-strips rubbed together to produce a squeaking sound.
* A Chinese couplet quoted from the Shih Jen Yū Hsieh ("Jade-dust of the Poets"), a Sung Dynasty work on poetry which was popular in Japan.
* Masse here means, I think, "future generations," not "this degraded age."
* When an angel is about to die,the flowers of him feather robe is stained with dust, sweat pours from under the arm-pits, the eyelids tremble, he is tired of his place in heaven.
* The sacred bird of heaven.
* Izanagi and Izanami.
* The "Katsura" tree, a kind of laurel supposed to grow in the moon.
† Lit."dividing my body," an expression used of Buddhist divinities that detach a por-tion of thier godhead and incarnate it in some visible from.
‡ Fuji
The inner and out temples at Ise
Quoting an ancient prayer for the Mikado
* Sumeru is the great mountain at the centre of the universe. Its west side is of rubies, its south side of green stones, its east side of white stones, etc.
† Called in Sanskrit Mahasthama-prapta, third person of the Trinity sitting on Amida's right hand. The Moon-God is an emanation of this deity.
† Of Buddha.
Here follows a long lyric passage describing their journey and ascent. The frequent occurrence of place-names and plays of word on such names makes it impossible to translate.
NOTE ON TANIKŌ AND IKENIYA.
BOTH of these plays deal with the ruthless exactions of religion; in each the first part lends itself better to translation than the second.Tanikō is still played; but Ikeniye, though printed by both Ōwada and Haga, has probably not been staged for many centuries.
The pilgrims of Tanikō are Yamabushi, "mountaineers," to whom reference has been made on page 33. They called themselves Shugenja, "portent-workers," and claimed to be the knight-errants of Buddhism. But their conduct seems to have differed little from that of the Sōhei (armed monks) who poured down in hordes from Mount Hiyei to terrorize the inhabitants of the surrounding country. Some one in the Genji Monogatari is said to have "collected a crowd of evil-looking Yamabushi, desperate, stick-at-nothing fellows."
Ikeniye, the title of the second play, means "Pool Sacrifice," but also "Living Sacrifice," i. e. human sacrifice.
TANIKŌ
(THE VALLEY-HURLING)
PART I
By Zenchiku
PERSONS
A TEACHER
A YOUNG BOY
THE BOY'S MOTHER
LEADER OF THE PILGRIMS
PILGRIMS
CHORUS
TEACHER
I am a teacher. I keep a school at one of the temples in the City I have a pupil whose father is dead; he has only his mother to look after him. Now I will go and say good-bye to them, for I am soon starting on a journey to the mountains. (He knocks at the door of the house.) May I come in?
BOY
Who is it? Why, it is the Master who has come out to see us!
TEACHER
Why is it so long since you came to my classes at the temple?
BOY
I have not been able to come because my mother has been ill.
TEACHER
I had no idea of that. Please tell her at once that I am here.
BOY (calling into the house)
Mother, the Master is here.
MOTHER
Ask him to come in.
BOY
Please come in here.
TEACHER
It is a long time since I was here. Your son says you have been ill. Are you better now?
MOTHER
Do not worry about my illness. It is of no consequence.
TEACHER
I am glad to hear it. I have come to say good-bye, for I am soon starting on a ritual mountain-climbing.
MOTHER
A mountain-climbing? Yes, indeed; I have heard that it is a dangerous ritual. Shall you take my child with you?
TEACHER
It is not a journey that a young child could make.
MOTHER
Well—I hope you will come back safely.
TEACHER
I must go now.
BOY
I have something to say.
TEACHER
What is it?
BOY
I will go with you to the mountains.
TEACHER
No, no. As I said to your mother, we are going on a difficult and dangerous excursion. You could not possibly come with us. Besides, how could you leave your mother when she is not well? Stay here. It is in every way impossible that you should go with us.
BOY
Because my mother is ill I will go with you to pray for her.
TEACHER
I must speak to your mother again. (He goes back into the inner room.) I have come back—your son says he is going to come with us. I told him he could not leave you when you were ill and that it would be a difficult and dangerous road. I said it was quite impossible for him to come. But he says he must come to pray for your health. What is to be done?
MOTHER
I have listened to your words. I do not doubt what the boy says—that he would gladly go with you to the mountains: (to the BOY) but since the day your father left us I have had none but you at my side. I have not had you out of mind or sight for as long a time as it takes a dewdrop to dry! Give back the measure of my love. Let your love keep you with me.
BOY
This is all as you say...Yet nothing shall move me from my purpose. I must climb this difficult path and pray for your health in this life.
CHORUS
They saw no plea could move him.
Then master and mother with one voice:
"Alas for such deep piety,
Deep as our heavy sighs."
The mother said,
"I have no strength left;
If indeed it must be,
Go with the Master.
But swiftly, swiftly
Return from danger."
BOY
Checking his heart which longed for swift return At dawn towards the hills he dragged his feet.*
>
TEACHER
We have climbed so fast that we have already reached the first hut. We will stay here a little while.
LEADER
We obey.
BOY
I have something to say.
TEACHER
What is it?
BOY
I do not feel well.
TEACHER
Stay! Such things may not be said by those who travel on errands like ours. Perhaps you are tired because you are not used to climbing. Lie there and rest.
LEADER
They are saying that the young boy is ill with climbing. I must ask the Master about it.
PILGRIMS
Do so.
LEADER
I hear that this young boy is ill with climbing. What is the matter with him? Are you anxious about him?
TEACHER.
He is not feeling well, but there is nothing wrong with him. He is only tired with climbing.