 | "Noh", or, Accomplishment : |  |
KAGEKIYO
A Play in one Act, by Motokiyo
- old and blind.
- a girl, his daughter, called Hitomaru.
- her attendant.
- a villager.
Characters
Shite, Kagekiyo
Tsure,
Tomo,
Waki,
The scene is in Hiuga.
Girl and Attendant(chanting)
What should it be; the body of dew, wholly
at the mercy of wind?
Girl
My father, Akushichi-bioye Kagekiyo,
Fought by the side of Heike,
And is therefore hated by Genji.
He was banished to Miyazaki in Hiuga,
To waste out the end of his life.
I will try to go to my father.
Girl and Attendant
(describing the journey as they walk
across the bridge and the stage)
The dew has covered our sleeves. [Singing.
Of whom shall I ask my way
As I go out from Sagami province?
Of whom in Totomi?
I crossed the bay in a small hired boat
And came to Yatsuhashi in Mikawa;
Ah, when shall I see the City-on-the-cloud?
Attendant
As we have come so fast, we are now in
Miyazaki of Hiuga.
It is here you should ask for your father.
Kagekiyo
(in another corner of the stage)
Sitting at the gate of the pine wood I wear
out the end of my years. I cannot see the clear
light, I do not know how the time passes. I
sit here in this dark hovel, with one coat for
framework of bones.
Chorus
May as well be a priest with black sleeves.
Now having left the world in sorrow, I look
upon my withered shape. There is no one
to pity me now.
Girl
Surely no one can live in that ruin, and yet
a voice sounds from it. A beggar, perhaps.
Let us take a few steps and see.
Kagekiyo
My eyes will not show it me, yet the autumn
wind is upon us.
Girl
The wind blows from an unknown past,
and spreads our doubts through the world.
The wind blows, and I have no rest, nor any
place to find quiet.
Kagekiyo
Neither in the world of passion, nor in the
world of colour, nor in the world of non-colour,
is there any such place of rest; beneath
the one sky are they all. Whom shall I ask,
and how answer?
Shall I ask the old man by the thatch?
Kagekiyo
Who are you?
Girl
Where does the exile live?
Kagekiyo
What exile?
Girl
One who is called Akushichi-bioye Kagekiyo,
a noble who fought with Heike.
Kagekiyo
Indeed? I have heard of him, but I am
blind, I have not looked in his face. I have
heard of his wretched condition and pity him.
You had better ask for him at the next place.
Attendant
(to girl)
It seems that he is not here, shall we ask
further?
Kagekiyo
Strange, I feel that woman who has just
passed is the child of that blind man. Long
when I was in that place. But I thought our
girl-child would be no use to us, and I left
her with the head man in the valley of Kamegaye-ga-yatsu;
and now she has gone by me
and spoken, although she does not know who
I am.
Chorus
The pity is, that I cannot see her.
And I have let her go by
Without divulging my name.
This is the true love of a father.
Attendant
(at further side of the stage)
Is there any native about?
Villager
What do you want with me?
Attendant
Do you know where the exile lives?
Villager
What exile is it you want?
Attendant
Akushichi-bioye Kagekiyo, a noble of
Heike's party.
Did not you pass an old man under the edge
of the mountain as you were coming that way ?
Attendant
A blind beggar in a thatched cottage.
Villager
That fellow was Kagekiyo. What ails the
lady, she shivers ?
Attendant
A question you might well ask, she is the
exile's daughter. She wanted to see her father
once more, and so came hither to seek him.
Will you take us to Kagekiyo ?
Villager
Bless my soul! Kagekiyo's daughter.
Come, come, never mind, young miss. Now
I will tell you, Kagekiyo went blind in both
eyes, and so he shaved his crown and called
himself "The blind man of Hiuga." He begs
a bit from the passers, and the likes of us keep
him; he'd be ashamed to tell you his name.
However, I'll come along with you, and then
I'll call out, "Kagekiyo!" and if he comes,
you can see him and have a word with him.
Let us along. (They cross the stage, and the
Kagekiyo! Oh, there, Kagekiyo!
Kagekiyo
Noise, noise! Some one came from my
home to call me, but I sent them on. I
couldn't be seen like this. Tears like the
thousand lines in a rain storm, bitter tears
soften my sleeve. Ten thousand things rise
in a dream, and I wake in this hovel, wretched,
just a nothing in the wide world. How can I
answer when they call me by my right name?
Chorus
Do not call out the name he had in his
glory. You will move the bad blood in his
heart. (Then, taking up Kagekiyo's thought)
I am angry.
Kagekiyo
Living here . . .
Chorus
(going on with Kagekiyo's thought)
I go on living here, hated by the people
in power. A blind man without his staff. I
am deformed, and therefore speak evil; excuse
me.
Kagekiyo
My eyes are darkened.
Though my eyes are dark I understand the
thoughts of another. I understand at a word.
The wind comes down from the pine trees on
the mountain, and snow comes down after the
wind. The dream tells of my glory. I am
loath to wake from the dream. I hear the
waves running in the evening tide, as when I
was with Heike. Shall I act out the old
ballad?
Kagekiyo
(to the villager)
I had a weight on my mind, I spoke to you
very harshly; excuse me.
Villager
You're always like that, never mind it.
Has any one been here to see you?
Kagekiyo
No one but you.
Villager
Go on! That is not true. Your daughter
was here. Why couldn't you tell her the
truth, she being so sad and so eager? I have
brought her back now. Come now, speak
with your father. Come along.
Oh, Oh, I came such a long journey, under
rain, under wind, wet with dew, over the
frost; you do not see into my heart. It
seems that a father's love goes when the child
is not worth it.
Kagekiyo
I meant to keep it concealed, but now they
have found it all out. I shall brench you with
the dew of my shame, you who are young as
a flower. I tell you my name, and that we
are father and child, yet I thought this would
put dishonour upon you, and therefore I let
you pass. Do not hold it against me.
Chorus
At first I was angry that my friends would
no longer come near me. But now I have
come to a time when I could not believe that
even a child of my own would seek me out.
Kagekiyo was the fighter most in call,
Brave were his men, cunning sailors,
And now even the leader
Is worn out and dull as a horse.
(to Kagekiyo)
Many a fine thing is gone, sir, your daughter
would like to ask you. . . .
Kagekiyo
What is it?
Villager
She has heard of your fame from the old
days. Would you tell her the ballad?
Kagekiyo
Towards the end of the third month, it was
in the third year of Juei. We men of Heike
were in ships, the men of Genji were on land.
Their war-tents stretched on the shore. We
awaited decision. And Noto-no-Kami Noritsune
said: "Last year in the hills of Harima,
and in Midzushima, and in Hiyodorigoye of
Bitchiu, we were defeated time and again, for
Yoshitsune is tactful and cunning. Is there
any way we can beat them?" Kagekiyo
thought in his mind: "This Hangan Yoshitsune
is neither god nor a devil, at the risk of
my life I might do it." So he took leave of
Noritsune and led a party against the shore,
and all the men of Genji rushed on them.
Kagekiyo cried, "You are haughty." His
armour caught every turn of the sun. He
drove them four ways before them.
Kagekiyo
(excited and crying out)
Samoshiya! Run, cowards!
Chorus
He thought, how easy this killing. He
rushed with his spear-haft gripped under his
arm. He cried out, "I am Kagekiyo of the
Heike." He rushed on to take them. He
pierced through the helmet vizards of Miyonoya.
Miyonoya fled twice, and again; and
Kagekiyo cried: "You shall not escape me!"
He leaped and wrenched off his helmet.
"Eya!" The vizard broke and remained
in his hand and Miyonoya still fled afar, and
afar, and he looked back crying in terror,
"How terrible, how heavy your arm!" And
Kagekiyo called at him, "How tough the shaft
of your neck is!" And they both laughed
out over the battle, and went off each his own
way.
Chorus
These were the deeds of old, but oh, to tell
them! to be telling them over now in his
weary, he is near the end of his course. "Go
back," he would say to his daughter. "Pray
for me when I am gone from the world, for
I shall then count upon you as we count on
a lamp in the darkness . . . we who are blind."
"I will stay," she said. Then she obeyed
him, and only one voice is left.
We tell this for the remembrance. Thus
were the parent and child.
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