Certain Noble Plays of Japan Part 4

Were set up a thousand times; Then, now, and for always.

CHORUS Shall I ever at last see into that room of hers, which no other sight has traversed?

s.h.i.tE

Happy at last and well-starred, Now comes the eve of betrothal: We meet for the wine-cup.

CHORUS

How glorious the sleeves of the dance, That are like snow-whirls!

s.h.i.tE Tread out the dance.

CHORUS

Tread out the dance and bring music.

This dance is for Nishikigi.

s.h.i.tE This dance is for the evening plays, And for the weaving.

CHORUS

For the tokens between lover and lover: It is a reflecting in the wine-cup.

CHORUS

Ari-aki, The dawn!

Come, we are out of place; Let us go ere the light comes.

(to the Waki) We ask you, do not awake, We all will wither away, The wands and this cloth of a dream.

Now you will come out of sleep, You tread the border and nothing Awaits you: no, all this will wither away.

There is nothing here but this cave in the field's midst.

To-day's wind moves in the pines; A wild place, unlit, and unfilled.

HAGOROMO

HAGOROMO, A PLAY IN ONE ACT.

PERSONS OF THE PLAY

THE PRIEST Hakuryo

A FISHERMAN

A TENNIN

CHORUS

HAGOROMO

The plot of the play 'Hagoromo, the Feather-mantle' is as follows. The priest finds the Hagoromo, the magical feather-mantle of a Tennin, an aerial spirit or celestial dancer, hanging upon a bough. She demands its return. He argues with her, and finally promises to return it, if she will teach him her dance or part of it. She accepts the offer. The Chorus explains the dance as symbolical of the daily changes of the moon. The words about 'three, five and fifteen' refer to the number of nights in the moon's changes. In the finale, the Tennin is supposed to disappear like a mountain slowly hidden in mist. The play shows the relation of the early Noh to the G.o.d-dance.

PRIEST

Windy road of the waves by Miwo, Swift with ships, loud over steersmen's voices.

Hakuryo, taker of fish, head of his house, Dwells upon the barren pine-waste of Miwo.

A FISHERMAN Upon a thousand heights had gathered the inexplicable cloud, swept by the rain. The moon is just come to light the low house. A clean and pleasant time surely. There comes the breath-colour of spring; the waves rise in a line below the early mist; the moon is still delaying above, though we've no skill to grasp it. Here is a beauty to set the mind above itself.

CHORUS

I shall not be out of memory Of the mountain road by Kiyomi, Nor of the parted gra.s.s by that bay, Nor of the far-seen pine-waste Of Miwo of wheat stalks.

Let us go according to custom. Take hands against the wind here, for it presses the clouds and the sea. Those men who were going to fish are about to return without launching. Wait a little, is it not spring? will not the wind be quiet? this wind is only the voice of the lasting pine-trees, ready for stillness. See how the air is soundless, or would be, were it not for the waves. There now, the fishermen are putting out with even the smallest boats.

PRIEST Now I am come to sh.o.r.e at Miwo-no; I disembark in Subara; I see all that they speak of on the sh.o.r.e. An empty sky with music, a rain of flowers, strange fragrance on every side; all these are no common things, nor is this cloak that hangs upon the pine-tree. As I approach to inhale its colour I am aware of mystery. Its colour-smell is mysterious. I see that it is surely no common dress. I will take it now and return and make it a treasure in my house, to show to the aged.

TENNIN That cloak belongs to someone on this side. What are you proposing to do with it?

PRIEST This? this is a cloak picked up. I am taking it home, I tell you.

TENNIN

That is a feather-mantle not fit for a mortal to bear, Not easily wrested from the sky-traversing spirit, Not easily taken or given.

I ask you to leave it where you found it.

PRIEST How, is the owner of this cloak a Tennin? so be it. In this downcast age I should keep it, a rare thing, and make it a treasure in the country, a thing respected. Then I should not return it.

TENNIN Pitiful, there is no flying without the cloak of feathers, no return through the ether. I pray you return me the mantle.

PRIEST Just from hearing these high words, I, Hakuryo have gathered more and yet more force. You think, because I was too stupid to recognise it, that I shall be unable to take and keep hid the feather-robe, that I shall give it back for merely being told to stand and withdraw?

TENNIN

A Tennin without her robe, A bird without wings, How shall she climb the air?

PRIEST And this world would be a sorry place for her to dwell in?

TENNIN I am caught, I struggle, how shall I?...