 | Aoi No Uye |  |
AOI NO UYE
(PRINCESS HOLLYHOCK)
REVISED BY ZENCHIKU UJINOBU (1414-1499?)
- Courtier.
- Witch.
- Princess Rokujō.
- The Saint of Yokaro.
- Messenger.
- Chorus.
PERSONS
(A folded cloak laid in front of the stage symbolizes the sickbed of Aoi.)
CourtierI am a courtier in the service of the Emperor Shujaku. You must know that the Prime Minister's daughter, Princess Aoi, has fallen sick. We have sent for abbots and high-priests, of the Greater School and of the Secret School, but they could not cure her.
And now, here at my side, stands the witch of Teruhi,
[3]
a famous diviner with the bow-string. My lord has been told that by
twanging her bow-string she can make visible an evil spirit and tell if it
be the spirit of a living man or a dead. So he bade me send for her and
let her pluck her string.
Turning to the Witch, who has been waiting motionless.
Come, sorceress, we are ready!
Witch
comes forward beating a little drum and reciting a mystic formula.
Naige shōjō; rokon shōjō.
Pure without; pure within.
Pure in eyes, ears, heart and tongue.
Hold loose the reins
As you gallop to me
Over the long sands!
The living phantasm of Rokujō appears at the back of the stage.
Rokujō
That travel on the Road of Law
I drove out of the Burning House . . . [4]
Is there no way to banish the broken coach
That stands at Yūgao's door? [5]
This world
Is like the wheels of the little ox-cart;
Round and round they go. . . till vengeance comes.
The Wheel of Life turns like the wheel of a coach;
There is no escape from the Six Paths and Four Births.
We are brittle as the leaves of the bashō;
As fleeting as foam upon the sea.
Yesterday's flower, to-day's dream.
From such a dream were it not wiser to wake?
And when to this is added another's scorn
How can the heart have rest?
So when I heard the twanging of your bow
For a little while, I thought, I will take my pleasure;
And as an angry ghost appeared.
Oh! I am ashamed!
Though I sat till dawn and watched the moon,
Till dawn and watched,
How could I show myself,
That am no more than the mists that tremble over the fields?
I am come, I am come to the notch of your bow
To tell my sorrow.
Whence came the noise of the bow-string?
Witch
Though she should stand at the wife-door of the mother-house of the square court . . . [7]
Rokujō
Yet would none come to me, that am not in the flesh. [8]
Witch
How strange! I see a fine lady whom I do not know riding in a broken coach. She clutches at the shafts of another coach from which the oxen have been unyoked. And in the second coach sits one who seems a new wife. [9] The lady of the broken coach is weeping, weeping. It is a piteous sight.
Can this be she?
Courtier
It would not be hard to guess who such a one might be. Come, spirit, tell us your name!
Rokujō
None is worth hating and none worth pitying.
This I knew. Oh when did folly master me?
You would know who I am that have come drawn by the twanging of your bow? I am the angry ghost of Rokujō, Lady of the Chamber.
I sat at flower-feasts among the clouds. [11]
In royal retinue and on autumn nights
Among the red leaves of the Rishis' Cave
I sported with moonbeams,
With colours and perfumes
My senses sated.
I had splendour then;
But now I wither like the Morning Glory
Whose span endures not from dawn to midday.
I have come to clear my hate.
But while singing these words she turns towards Aoi's bed; passion again seizes her and she cries:
I must strike; I must strike.
She creeps towards the bed.
Witch
You, Lady Rokujō, you a Lady of the Chamber! Would you lay wait and strike as peasant women do? [12] How can this be? Think and forbear!
Rokujō
Say what you will, I must strike. I must strike now.
Describing her own action.
"And as she said this, she went over to the pillow and struck at it."
She strikes at the head of the bed with her fan.
Witch
She is going to strike again.
To Rokujō.
You shall pay for this!
Rokujō
And this hate too is payment for past hate.
"The flame of anger
Rokujō
Consumes itself only." [13]
Witch
Did you not know?
Rokujō
Know it then now.
Chorus
Her [14] hate so deep that on her bed
Our lady [15] moans.
Yet, should she live in the world again, [16]
He would call her to him, her Lord
The Shining One, whose light
Is brighter than fire-fly hovering
Over the slime of an inky pool.
Rokujō
There is no way back to what I was,
No more than to the heart of a bramble-thicket.
The dew that dries on the bramble-leaf
Comes back again;
But love (and this is worst)
That not even in dream returns, —
That is grown to be an old tale, —
Now, even now waxes,
So that standing at the bright mirror
I tremble and am ashamed.
I am come to my broken coach.
She throws down her fan and begins to slip off her embroidered robe.
I will hide you in it and carry you away!
She stands right over the bed, then turns away and at the back of the stage throws of her robe, which is held by
Meanwhile the Courtier, who has been standing near the bed:
Courtier
Come quickly, some one! Princess Aoi is worse. Every minute she is worse. Go and fetch the Little Saint of Yokawa. [17]
Messenger
I tremble and obey.
He goes to the wing and speaks to some one off the stage.May I come in?
Saint
speaking from the wing.
Who is it that seeks admittance to a room washed by the moonlight of the Three Mysteries, sprinkled with the holy water of Yoga? Who would draw near to a couch of the Ten Vehicles, a window of the Eight Perceptions?
Messenger
I am come from the Court. Princess Aoi is ill. They would have you come to her.
Saint
It happens that at this time I am practising particular austerities and go nowhere abroad. But if you are a messenger from the Court, I will follow you.
He comes on the stage.
Courtier
We thank you for coming.
Saint
I wait upon you. Where is the sick person?
Courtier
On the bed here.
Saint
Then I will begin my incantations at once.
Pray do so.
Saint
Following in the steps of En no Gyōja, [18]
Clad in skirts that have trailed the Peak of the Two Spheres, [19]
That have brushed the dew of the Seven Precious Trees,
Glad in the cope of endurance
That shields from the world's defilement,
"Sarari, sarari," with such sound
I shake the red wooden beads of my rosary
And say the first spell:
Namaku Samanda Basarada
Namaku Samanda Basarada. [20]
Rokujō
during the incantation she has cowered at the back of the stage wrapped in her Chinese robe, which she has picked up again.
Go back, Gyōja, go back to your home; do not stay and be vanquished!
Saint
Be you what demon you will, do not hope to overcome the Gyōja's subtle power. I will pray again.
He shakes his rosary whilst the Chorus, speaking for him, invokes the first of the Five Kings.Chorus
Rokujō
counter-invoking.
Speaker
Chorus
Rokujō
Chorus
Namaku Samanda Basarada
Senda Makaroshana
Sohataya Untaratakarman.
"They that hear my name shall get Great Enlightenment;
They that see my body shall attain to Buddhahood." [21]
Rokujō
suddenly dropping her mallet and pressing her hands to her ears.
The voice of the Hannya Book! I am afraid. Never again will I come as an angry ghost.
Ghost
The demon's raging heart was stilled,
Shapes of Pity and Sufferance,
The Bodhisats descend.
Her soul casts off its bonds,
She walks in Buddha's Way.
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