University of Virginia Library

TSUNEMASA

Priest

I am Sodzu Giokei, keeper of the temple of
Ninnaji. Tajima no Kami Tsunemasa, of the
house of Taira, was loved by the Emperor
when he was a boy, but he was killed in the
old days at the battle of the West Seas. And
this is the Seizan lute that the Emperor gave
him before that fighting. I offer this lute to
his spirit in place of libation; I do the right
service before him.

[They perform a service to the spirit of
Tsunemasa.

Priest

Although it is midnight I see the form of
a man, a faint form, in the light there. If
you are spirit, who are you?

Spirit

I am the ghost of Tsunemasa. Your service
has brought me.

Priest

Is it the ghost of Tsunemasa? I perceive
no form, but a voice.

Spirit

It is the faint sound alone that remains.

Priest

O! But I saw the form, really.

Spirit

It is there if you see it.

Priest

I can see.

Spirit

Are you sure that you see it, really?

Priest

O, do I, or do I not see you?

Chorus

Changeful Tsunemasa, full of the universal
unstillness, looked back upon the world. His
voice was heard there, a voice without form.
None might see him, but he looked out from
his phantom, a dream that gazed on our world.

Priest

It is strange! Tsunemasa! The figure
was there and is gone, only the thin sound
remains. The film of a dream, perhaps! It
was a reward for this service.

Spirit

When I was young I went into the court.
I had a look at life then. I had high favour.
I was given the Emperor's biwa.[1] That is
the very lute you have there. It is the lute
called "Seizan." I had it when I walked
through the world.

Chorus

It is the lute that he had in this world, but
now he will play Buddha's music.

Priest

Bring out what stringed lutes you possess,
and follow his music.

Spirit

And I will lead you unseen.

[He plays.

Priest

Midnight is come; we will play the "midnight-play,"
Yabanraku.

Spirit

The clear sky is become overclouded; the
rain walks with heavier feet.

Priest

They shake the grass and the trees.

Spirit

It was not the rain's feet. Look yonder.

Chorus

A moon hangs clear on the pine-bough.
The wind rustles as if flurried with rain. It
is an hour of magic. The bass strings are
something like rain; the small strings talk
like a whisper. The deep string is a wind
voice of autumn; the third and the fourth
strings are like the crying stork in her cage,
when she thinks of her young birds toward
nightfall. Let the cocks leave off their crowing.
Let no one announce the dawn.

Spirit

A flute's voice has moved the clouds of
Shushinrei. And the phœnix come out from
the cloud; they descend with their playing.
Pitiful, marvellous music! I have come down
to the world. I have resumed my old playing.
And I was happy here. All that is soon over.

Priest

Now I can see him again, the figure I saw
here; can it be Tsunemasa?

Spirit

It's a sorry face that I make here. Put
down the lights if you see me.

Chorus

The sorrow of the heart is a spreading
around of quick fires. The flames are turned
to thick rain. He slew by the sword and was
slain. The red wave of blood rose in fire, and
now he burns with that flame. He bade us
put out the lights; he flew as a summer moth.