she sent no answer, not even an empty word.
And now in punishment she has grown old:
She has lived a hundred yearsâ
I love her, oh I love her!
PRIEST
You love Komachi? Say then, whose spirit has possessed you?
KOMACHI
There were many who set their hearts on her,
But among them all
It was Sh Å sh Å who loved her best,
Shii no Sh Å sh Å of the Deep Grass. *
CHORUS (speaking for KOMACHI, i. e. for the spirit of Sh Å sh Å )
The wheel goes back; I live again through the cycle of my woes.
Again I travel to the shaft-bench.
The sun...what hour does he show?
Dusk...Alone in the moonlight
I must go my way.
Though the watchmen of the barriers
Stand across my path,
They shall not stop me!
(Attendants robe KOMACHI in the Court hat and traveling-cloak of Sh Å sh Å . )
Look, I go!
KOMACHI
Lifting the white skirts of my trailing dress,
CHORUS (speaking for KOMACHI , while she, dressed as her lover Sh Å sh Å , mimes the night-journey )
Pulling down over my ears the tall, nodding hat,
Tying over my head the long sleeves of my hunting cloak,
Hidden from the eyes of men,
In moonlight, in darkness,
On rainy nights I traveled; on windy nights,
Under a shower of leaves; when the snow was deep,
KOMACHI
And when water dripped at the roof-eavesâtok, tok...
CHORUS
Swiftly, swiftly coming and going, coming and going...
One night, two nights, three nights,
Ten nights (and this was harvest night)...
I never saw her, yet I traveled;
Faithful as the cock who marks each day the dawn,
I carved my marks on the bench.
I was to come a hundred times;
There lacked but one...
KOMACHI (feeling the death-agony of Sh Å sh Å )
My eyes dazzle. Oh the pain, the pain!
CHORUS
Oh the pain! and desperate,
Before the last night had come,
He diedâShii no Shosho the Captain.
(Speaking for KOMACHI, who is now no longer possessed by Sh Å sh Å 's spirit. )
Was it his spirit that possessed me,
Was it his anger that broke my wits?
If this be so, let me pray for the life hereafter,
Where alone is comfort;
Piling high the sands *
Till I be burnished as gold. â
See, I offer my flower â to Buddha,
I hold it in both hands.
Oh may He lead me into the Path of Truth,
Into the Path of Truth.
Footnotes
* The Tairas.
â The Minamotos, who came into power at the end of the twelfth century.
â¡ The journey to look for her father.
§ T Å t Å mi is written with characters meaning âdistant estuary.â The whole passage is full of double-meanings which cannot be rendered.
* The Capital.
* Quotation from the Parable Chapter of the Hokkekyo.
* A Chinese Pegasus. The proverb says, "Even Kirin, when he was old, was outstripped by hacks." Seami quotes this proverb, Works , p. 9.
* "Le vieux guerrier avengle, assis devant sa cabane d'exilé, mime son dernier combat de gestes incertains et tremblants" (Péri).
â Yoshitsune.
* Po Ch Å« -iâs Works, iii. 13.
â Alluding partly to the fact that he is snow-covered, partly to his grey hairs.
â¡ Kefu, "today."
* Buddhist ordinances, such as hospitality to priests.
* Food of the poorest peasants.
* After Shakyamuni left the palace, he served the Rishi of the mountains.
* Using words from a poem by Michizane (845-903 A.D. ).
â For Japanese football, see p. 231. A different interpretation has lately been suggested by Mr. Suzuki.
* I.e. Tokiyori.
* H Å j Å no Tokiyori ruled at Kamakura from 1246 till 1256. He then became a priest and traveled through the country incognito in order to acquaint himself with the needs of his subjects.
* Sanskrit; Jap. sotoba.
â See p. xxxi.
â¡ Now generally called Kayoi Komachi.
* The Koyasan is not so remote as most mountain temples.
* See p. 85.
* Seami, writing c. 1430, says: âKomachi was once a long play. After the words âWho are those,â etc., there used to be a long lyric passageâ (Works, p.
And now in punishment she has grown old:
She has lived a hundred yearsâ
I love her, oh I love her!
PRIEST
You love Komachi? Say then, whose spirit has possessed you?
KOMACHI
There were many who set their hearts on her,
But among them all
It was Sh Å sh Å who loved her best,
Shii no Sh Å sh Å of the Deep Grass. *
CHORUS (speaking for KOMACHI, i. e. for the spirit of Sh Å sh Å )
The wheel goes back; I live again through the cycle of my woes.
Again I travel to the shaft-bench.
The sun...what hour does he show?
Dusk...Alone in the moonlight
I must go my way.
Though the watchmen of the barriers
Stand across my path,
They shall not stop me!
(Attendants robe KOMACHI in the Court hat and traveling-cloak of Sh Å sh Å . )
Look, I go!
KOMACHI
Lifting the white skirts of my trailing dress,
CHORUS (speaking for KOMACHI , while she, dressed as her lover Sh Å sh Å , mimes the night-journey )
Pulling down over my ears the tall, nodding hat,
Tying over my head the long sleeves of my hunting cloak,
Hidden from the eyes of men,
In moonlight, in darkness,
On rainy nights I traveled; on windy nights,
Under a shower of leaves; when the snow was deep,
KOMACHI
And when water dripped at the roof-eavesâtok, tok...
CHORUS
Swiftly, swiftly coming and going, coming and going...
One night, two nights, three nights,
Ten nights (and this was harvest night)...
I never saw her, yet I traveled;
Faithful as the cock who marks each day the dawn,
I carved my marks on the bench.
I was to come a hundred times;
There lacked but one...
KOMACHI (feeling the death-agony of Sh Å sh Å )
My eyes dazzle. Oh the pain, the pain!
CHORUS
Oh the pain! and desperate,
Before the last night had come,
He diedâShii no Shosho the Captain.
(Speaking for KOMACHI, who is now no longer possessed by Sh Å sh Å 's spirit. )
Was it his spirit that possessed me,
Was it his anger that broke my wits?
If this be so, let me pray for the life hereafter,
Where alone is comfort;
Piling high the sands *
Till I be burnished as gold. â
See, I offer my flower â to Buddha,
I hold it in both hands.
Oh may He lead me into the Path of Truth,
Into the Path of Truth.
Footnotes
* The Tairas.
â The Minamotos, who came into power at the end of the twelfth century.
â¡ The journey to look for her father.
§ T Å t Å mi is written with characters meaning âdistant estuary.â The whole passage is full of double-meanings which cannot be rendered.
* The Capital.
* Quotation from the Parable Chapter of the Hokkekyo.
* A Chinese Pegasus. The proverb says, "Even Kirin, when he was old, was outstripped by hacks." Seami quotes this proverb, Works , p. 9.
* "Le vieux guerrier avengle, assis devant sa cabane d'exilé, mime son dernier combat de gestes incertains et tremblants" (Péri).
â Yoshitsune.
* Po Ch Å« -iâs Works, iii. 13.
â Alluding partly to the fact that he is snow-covered, partly to his grey hairs.
â¡ Kefu, "today."
* Buddhist ordinances, such as hospitality to priests.
* Food of the poorest peasants.
* After Shakyamuni left the palace, he served the Rishi of the mountains.
* Using words from a poem by Michizane (845-903 A.D. ).
â For Japanese football, see p. 231. A different interpretation has lately been suggested by Mr. Suzuki.
* I.e. Tokiyori.
* H Å j Å no Tokiyori ruled at Kamakura from 1246 till 1256. He then became a priest and traveled through the country incognito in order to acquaint himself with the needs of his subjects.
* Sanskrit; Jap. sotoba.
â See p. xxxi.
â¡ Now generally called Kayoi Komachi.
* The Koyasan is not so remote as most mountain temples.
* See p. 85.
* Seami, writing c. 1430, says: âKomachi was once a long play. After the words âWho are those,â etc., there used to be a long lyric passageâ (Works, p.
Similar Books
