• TANIK?
• IKENIYE
• HATSUYUKI
• HAKU RAKUTEN

Note on Taniko and Ikeniye.

Both of these plays deal with the ruthless exactions of religion; in each the first part lends itself better to translation than the second. Taniko is still played; but Ikeniye, though printed by both Owada and Haga, has probably not been staged for many centuries.

The pilgrims of Taniko are Yamabushi, “mountaineers,” to whom reference has been made on page 33. They called themselves Shu-genja, “portent-workers,” and claimed to be the knight-errants of Buddhism. But their conduct seems to have differed little from that of the Sohei (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.

TANIKO
(THE VALLEY-HURLING)

PART I

By ZENCHIKU

PERSONS

• A TEACHER.
• THE BOY’S MOTHER.
• PILGRIMS.
• A YOUNG BOY.
• LEADER OF THE 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.

BOY.

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.

LEADER.

So you are not troubled about him?

(A pause.)

PILGRIM.

Listen, you pilgrims. Just now the Master said this boy was only tired with climbing. But now he is looking very strange. Ought we not to follow our Great Custom and hurl him into the valley?

LEADER.

We ought to indeed. I must tell the Master. Sir, when I enquired before about the child you told me he was only tired with climbing; but now he is looking very strange.

Though I say it with dread, there has been from ancient times a Great Custom that those who fail should be cast down. All the pilgrims are asking that he should be thrown into the valley.

TEACHER.

What, you would hurl this child into the valley?

LEADER.

We would.

TEACHER.

It is a Mighty Custom. I cannot gainsay it. But I have great pity in my heart for that creature. I will tell him tenderly of this Great Custom.

LEADER.

Pray do so.

TEACHER.

Listen carefully to me. It has been the law from ancient times that if any pilgrim falls sick on such journey as these he should be hurled into the valley,—done suddenly to death. If I could take your place, how gladly I would die. But now I cannot help you.

BOY.

I understand. I knew well that if I came on this journey I might lose my life.

CHORUS.

IKENIYE
(THE POOL-SACRIFICE)

PART I

By SEAMI[185]

PERSONS

• THE TRAVELLER.
• HIS WIFE.
• HIS DAUGHTER.
• THE INNKEEPER.
• THE PRIEST.
• THE ACOLYTE.
• CHORUS.

TRAVELLER.

I am a man who lives in the Capital. Maybe because of some great wrong I did in a former life ... I have fallen into trouble and cannot go on living here.

I have a friend in the East country. Perhaps he would help me. I will take my wife and child and go at once to the ends of the East.

We are come to the Inn. (Knocks at the door.) We are travellers. Pray give us shelter.

INNKEEPER.

Lodging, do you say? Come in with me. This way. Tell me, where have you come from?

TRAVELLER.

I come from the Capital, and I am going down to the East to visit my friend.

INNKEEPER.

Listen. I am sorry. There is something I must tell you privately. Whoever passes this night at the Inn must go to-morrow to the drawing of lots at the sacrifice. I am sorry for it, but you would do best to leave the Inn before dawn. Tell no one what I have said, and mind you start early.

TRAVELLER.

If we may sleep here now we will gladly start at dawn.

Enter the PRIEST.

PRIEST.

Hey! where are you?

Enter the ACOLYTE.

ACOLYTE.

Here I am.

PRIEST.

I hear that three travellers stayed at the Inn last night and have left before dawn. Go after them and stop them.

ACOLYTE.

I listen and obey. Hey, you travellers, go no further!

TRAVELLER.

Is it at us you are shouting?

ACOLYTE.

Yes, indeed it is at you.

TRAVELLER.

And why should we stop? Tell me the reason.

ACOLYTE.

He is right. It is not to be wondered at that he should ask the reason. (To the TRAVELLER.) Listen. Each year at this place there is a sacrifice at the Pool. To-day is the festival of this holy rite, and we ask you to join in it.

TRAVELLER.

I understand you. But it is for those that live here, those that were born children of this Deity, to attend his worship. Must a wanderer go with you because he chances to lodge here for a night?

(He turns to go.)

ACOLYTE.

No, No! For all you say, this will not do.

PRIEST.

Stay! Sir, we do not wonder that you should think this strange. But listen to me. From ancient times till now no traveller has ever lodged this night of the year at the Inn of Yoshiwara without attending the sacrifice at the Pool. If you are in a hurry, come quickly to the sacrifice, and then with a blessing set out again on your journey.

TRAVELLER.

I understand you. But, as I have said, for such rites as these you should take men born in the place.... No, I still do not understand. Why should a fleeting traveller be summoned to this Pool-Sacrifice?

PRIEST.

It is a Great Custom.

TRAVELLER.

That may be. I do not question that that is your rule. But I beg you, consider my case and excuse me.

PRIEST.

Would you be the first to break a Great Custom that has been observed since ancient times?

TRAVELLER.

No, that is not what I meant. But if we are to discuss this matter, I must be plain with you.... I am a man of the Capital. Perhaps because of some ill deed done in a former life I have suffered many troubles. At last I could no longer build the pathway of my life, so I took my wife and child and set out to seek my friend who lives in the East. Pray let me go on my way.

PRIEST.

Indeed, indeed you have cause for distress. But from ancient times till now

Call this, if you will, the retribution of a former life. But now come with us quickly to the shores of the Holy Pool.

(Describing his own actions.)

So saying, the Priest and acolytes went forward.

WIFE and DAUGHTER.

And the wife and child, crying “Oh what shall we do?” clutched at the father’s sleeve.

TRAVELLER.

But the father could find no words to speak. He stood baffled, helpless....

PRIEST.

They must not loiter. Divide them and drive them on!

ACOLYTE.

So he drove them before him and they walked like ...

TRAVELLER.

If true comparison were made ...

CHORUS.

PRIEST.

Now we are come to the Pool, and by its edge are ranged the Priest, the acolytes, the virgins and dancing-boys.

CHORUS.

PRIEST.

Embracing, clasping hands ...

CHORUS.

Pale-faced

PRIEST.

Sinking at heart

CHORUS.

PRIEST.

At last the Priest mounted the daÏs, raised the lid of the box and counted the lots to see that there was one for each to take.

CHORUS.

PRIEST.

Are there not three travellers? They have only drawn two lots. The First Lot is still undrawn. Tell them that one of them must draw it.

ACOLYTE.

I listen and obey. Ho, you travellers, it is to you I am speaking. There are three of you, and you have only drawn two lots. The Priest says one of you must draw the First Lot.

TRAVELLER.

We have all drawn.

ACOLYTE.

No, I am sure the young girl has not drawn her lot. Look, here it is. Yes, and it is the Doom-lot!

WIFE.

The First Lot! How terrible!

Hoping to rear you to womanhood, we wandered blindly from the City and came down to the unknown country of the East. For your sake we set our hearts on this sad journey. If you are taken, what will become of us? How hideous!

DAUGHTER.

Do not sob so! If you or my father had drawn this lot, what should I have done? But now it has fallen to me, and it is hard for you to let me go.

TRAVELLER.

What brave words! “If you or my father had drawn this lot....” There is great piety in that saying. (To his WIFE.) Come, do not sob so before all these people. We are both parents and must have like feelings. But from the time I set out to this holy lottery something told me that of the three of us one would be taken. Look! I am not crying.

WIFE.

TRAVELLER.

WIFE.

Is this a dream or is it real?

(She clings to the daughter, wailing.)

PRIEST.

CHORUS.

PRIEST.

HATSUYUKI
(EARLY SNOW)

By KOPARU ZEMBO MOTOYASU (1453-1532).

PERSONS

• EVENING MIST, a servant girl.
• A LADY, the Abbot’s daughter.
• TWO NOBLE LADIES.
• THE SOUL OF THE BIRD HATSUYUKI (“Early Snow”).
• CHORUS.

Scene: The Great Temple at Izumo.

SERVANT.

I am a servant at the Nyoroku Shrine in the Great Temple of Izumo. My name is Evening Mist. You must know that the Lord Abbot has a daughter, a beautiful lady and gentle as can be. And she keeps a tame bird that was given her a year ago, and because it was a lovely white bird she called it Hatsuyuki, Early Snow; and she loves it dearly.

I have not seen the bird to-day. I think I will go to the bird-cage and have a look at it.

(She goes to the cage.)

Mercy on us, the bird is not there! Whatever shall I say to my lady? But I shall have to tell her. I think I’ll tell her now. Madam, madam, your dear Snow-bird is not here!

LADY.

What is that you say? Early Snow is not there? It cannot be true.

(She goes to the cage.)

It is true. Early Snow has gone! How can that be? How can it be that my pretty one that was so tame should vanish and leave no trace?

(She bursts into tears.)

CHORUS.

(They mourn.)

CHORUS (“kuse” chant, irregular verse accompanied by dancing).

LADY.

There’s no help now. (She weeps bitterly.)

CHORUS.

LADY.

Evening Mist, are you not sad that Hatsuyuki has gone? ... But we must not cry any more. Let us call together the noble ladies of this place and for seven days sit with them praying behind barred doors. Go now and do my bidding.

TWO NOBLE LADIES (together).

(They pray.)

CHORUS (the bird’s soul appears as a white speck in the sky).

THE BIRD’S SOUL.

Drawn by the merit of your prayers and songs

CHORUS.

HAKU RAKUTEN

By SEAMI

INTRODUCTION

The Chinese poet Po ChÜ-i, whom the Japanese call Haku Rakuten, was born in 772 A. D. and died in 847. His works enjoyed immense contemporary popularity in China, Korea and Japan. In the second half of the ninth century the composition of Chinese verse became fashionable at the Japanese Court, and native forms of poetry were for a time threatened with extinction.

The No play Haku Rakuten deals with this literary peril. It was written at the end of the fourteenth century, a time when Japanese art and literature were again becoming subject to Chinese influence. Painting and prose ultimately succumbed, but poetry was saved.

Historically, Haku Rakuten never came to Japan. But the danger of his influence was real and actual, as may be deduced from reading the works of Sugawara no Michizane, the greatest Japanese poet of the ninth century. Michizane’s slavish imitations of Po ChÜ-i show an unparalleled example of literary prostration. The plot of the play is as follows:

Rakuten is sent by the Emperor of China to “subdue” Japan with his art. On arriving at the coast of Bizen, he meets with two Japanese fishermen. One of them is in reality the god of Japanese poetry, Sumiyoshi no Kami. In the second act his identity is revealed. He summons other gods, and a great dancing-scene ensues. Finally the wind from their dancing-sleeves blows the Chinese poet’s ship back to his own country.

Seami, in his plays, frequently quotes Po ChÜ-i’s poems; and in his lament for the death of his son, Zemparu Motomasa, who died in 1432, he refers to the death of Po ChÜ-i’s son, A-ts’ui.

PERSONS

• RAKUTEN (a Chinese poet).
• AN OLD FISHERMAN, SUMIYOSHI NO KAMI, who in Act II becomes the God of Japanese Poetry.
• ANOTHER FISHERMAN.
• CHORUS OF FISHERMEN.

Scene: The coast of Bizen in Japan.

HAKU.

I am Haku Rakuten, a courtier of the Prince of China. There is a land in the East called Nippon.[188] Now, at my master’s bidding, I am sent to that land to make proof of the wisdom of its people. I must travel over the paths of the sea.

So swiftly have I passed over the ways of the ocean that I am come already to the shores of Nippon. I will cast anchor here a little while. I would know what manner of land this may be.

THE TWO FISHERMEN (together).

THE OLD FISHERMAN.

THE TWO FISHERMEN.

HAKU.

I have borne with the billows of a thousand miles of sea and come at last to the land of Nippon. Here is a little ship anchored near me. An old fisherman is in it. Can this be indeed an inhabitant of Nippon?

OLD FISHERMAN.

Aye, so it is. I am an old fisher of Nihon. And your Honour, I think, is Haku Rakuten, of China.

HAKU.

How strange! No sooner am I come to this land than they call me by my name! How can this be?

SECOND FISHERMAN.

Although your Honour is a man of China, your name and fame have come before you.

HAKU.

Even though my name be known, yet that you should know my face is strange surely!

THE TWO FISHERMEN.

It was said everywhere in the Land of Sunrise that your Honour, Rakuten, would come to make trial of the wisdom of Nihon. And when, as we gazed westwards, we saw a boat coming in from the open sea, the hearts of us all thought in a twinkling, “This is he.”

CHORUS.

HAKU.

Stay! Answer me one question.[190] Bring your boat closer and tell me, Fisherman, what is your pastime now in Nippon?

FISHERMAN.

And in the land of China, pray how do your Honours disport yourselves?

HAKU.

In China we play at making poetry.

FISHERMAN.

And in Nihon, may it please you, we venture on the sport of making “uta.”[191]

HAKU.

And what are “uta”?

FISHERMAN.

You in China make your poems and odes out of the Scriptures of India; and we have made our “uta” out of the poems and odes of China. Since then our poetry is a blend of three lands, we have named it Yamato, the great Blend, and all our songs “Yamato Uta.” But I think you question me only to mock an old man’s simplicity.

HAKU.

No, truly; that was not my purpose. But come, I will sing a Chinese poem about the scene before us.

How does that song please you?

FISHERMAN.

It is indeed a pleasant verse. In our tongue we should say the poem thus:

HAKU.

How strange that a poor fisherman should put my verse into a sweet native measure! Who can he be?

FISHERMAN.

A poor man and unknown. But as for the making of “uta,” it is not only men that make them. “For among things that live there is none that has not the gift of song.”[192]

HAKU (taking up the other’s words as if hypnotized).

“Among things that have life,—yes, and birds and insects—”

FISHERMAN.

They have sung Yamato songs.

HAKU.

In the land of Yamato ...

FISHERMAN.

... many such have been sung.

CHORUS.

CHORUS (changing the chant).

FISHERMAN.

CHORUS.

Truly the fisherman has the ways of Yamato in his heart. Truly, this custom is excellent.

FISHERMAN.

If we speak of the sports of Yamato and sing its songs, we should show too what dances we use; for there are many kinds.

CHORUS.

Yes, there are the dances; but there is no one to dance.

FISHERMAN.

Though there be no dancer, yet even I—

CHORUS.

FISHERMAN.

And the land of Reeds and Rushes....

CHORUS.

Ten thousand years our land inviolate!

ACT II.

FISHERMAN (transformed into SUMIYOSHI NO KAMI, the God of Poetry).

(He dances the Sea Green Dance.)

CHORUS.

THE GOD.

CHORUS.