"Noh", or, Accomplishment : :: :: University of Virginia Library

I, Fujiwara no Okinori,
Am come over the sea from Hiuga;
I am a priest from the shinto temple at Miyazaki,
And, as I lived far afield,
I could not see the temple of the great god at Ise;
And now I am a-mind to go thither,
And am come to Suma, the sea-board.

Here Genji lived, and here I shall see the young cherry,
The tree that is so set in the tales—

Shite

And I am a wood-cutter of Suma.
I fish in the twilight;
By day I pack wood and make salt.
Here is the mount of Suma.
There is the tree, the young cherry.[1]

And you may be quite right about Genji's
having lived here. That blossom will flare
in a moment.[2]

Waki

I must find out what that old man knows.
(To Shite.)
Sir, you seem very poor, and
yet you neglect your road; you stop on your
way home, just to look at a flower. Is that
the tree of the stories?

Shite

I dare say I'm poor enough; but you

don't know much if you're asking about that
tree, "Is it the fine tree of Suma?"

Waki

Well, is it the tree? I've come on purpose
to see it.

Shite

What! you really have come to see the
cherry-blossom, and not to look at Mount
Suma?

Waki

Yes; this is where Genji lived, and you
are so old that you ought to know a lot of
stories about him.

Chorus
(telling out Genji's thoughts)

If I tell over the days that are gone,
My sleeves will wither.[3]
The past was at Kiritsubo;
I went to the lovely cottage, my mother's,
But the emperor loved me.

I was made esquire at twelve, with the hat.
The soothsayers unrolled my glories.[4] I was

called Hikaru Genji. I was chujo in Hahakigi
province. I was chujo in the land of the maple-feasting.[5]
At twenty-five I came to Suma,
knowing all sorrow of seafare, having none to
attend my dreams, no one to hear the old
stories.

Then I was recalled to the city. I passed
from office to office. I was naidaijin in Miwotsu-kushi,
I was dajodaijin in the lands of Otome,
and daijotenno in Fuji no Uraba; for this I
was called Hikam Kimi.

Waki

But tell me exactly where he lived. Tell
me all that you know about him.

Shite

One can't place the exact spot; he lived
all along here by the waves. If you will wait
for the moonlight you might see it all in a mist.

Chorus

He was in Suma in the old days—

Shite
(stepping behind a screen or making some sign of
departure, he completes the sentence of the chorus)

—but now in the aery heaven.

Chorus
(to Waki)

Wait and the moon will show him.
That woodman is gone in the clouds.

Waki

That "woodman" was Genji himself, who
was here talking live words. I will wait for
the night. I will stay here to see what happens.
(Announcing his act.[6] )
Then Fujiwara no Okinori
lay down and heard the waves filled with
music.

Scene II. begins with the appearance of the
Second Shite, that is to say, a bright apparition
of Genji in supernatural form.

Genji

How beautiful this sea is! When I trod
the grass here I was called "Genji the gleaming,"
and now from the vaulting heaven I
reach down to set a magic on mortals. I sing
of the moon in this shadow, here on this sea-marge

of Suma. Here I will dance Sei-kai-ha,
the blue dance of the sea waves.

[And then he begins to dance.

Chorus
(accompanying and describing the dance)

The flower of waves-reflected
Is on his white garment;
That pattern covers the sleeve.
The air is alive with flute-sounds,
With the song of various pipes
The land is a-quiver,
And even the wild sea of Suma
Is filled with resonant quiet.

Moving in clouds and in rain,
The dream overlaps with the real;
There was a light out of heaven,
There was a young man at the dance here;
Surely it was Genji Hikaru,
It was Genji Hikaru in spirit.

Genji

My name is known to the world;
Here by the white waves was my dwelling;
But I am come down out of sky
To put my glamour on mortals.

Chorus

Gracious is the presence of Genji,
It is like the feel of things at Suma.

Genji
(referring also to a change in the dance)

The wind is abated.

Chorus

A thin cloud—

Genji

—clings to the clear-blown sky.
It seems like the spring-time.

Chorus

He came down like Brahma, Indra, and the Four Kings visiting the abode of Devas and Men.[7]
He, the soul of the place.[8]
He, who seemed but a woodman,
He flashed with the honoured colours,
He the true-gleaming.

Blue-grey is the garb they wear here,
Blue-grey he fluttered in Suma;
His sleeves were like the grey sea-waves;
They moved with curious rustling,
Like the noise of the restless waves,
Like the bell of a country town
'Neath the nightfall.

THE END

[1]

It must be remembered that the properties and scene are not representational but symbolic, the hero-actor simply says in effect, "Pretend that that is the tree and that the mountain."

[2]

There is here the double-entente. The blossom will really
come out: it is a day of anniversary or something of that kind;
also Genji will appear in his proper glory, as the audience
knows, though the Waki does not.

[3]

That is, this present manifestation in the shape of an old man will fade.

[4]

The "soothsayer" is literally "the physiognomist from
Corea."

[5]

Chujo, naidaijin, etc. are names for different grades of office.

[6]

The characters often give their own stage directions or
explain the meaning of their acts, as in the last line here.

[7]

The Four Kings, i.e. of the four points of the compass. Devas (spirits) and Men occupy the position immediately below the Gods.

[8]

More precisely "He became the place." You can compare this with Buckle, or Jules Romains' studies in unanimism.