Certain Noble Plays of Japan Part 7

PRIEST Be quick!

k.u.mASAKA Have at them!

CHORUS (describing the original combat, now symbolized in the dance) At this word they rushed in, one after another. They seized the torches; it seemed as if G.o.ds could not face them. Us.h.i.+waka stood unafraid; he seized a small sword and fought like a lion in earnest, like a tiger rus.h.i.+ng, like a bird swooping. He fought so cleverly that he felled the thirteen who opposed him; many were wounded besides. They fled without swords or arrows. Then k.u.masaka said, 'Are you the devil? Is it a G.o.d who has struck down these men with such ease? Perhaps you are not a man.

However, dead men take no plunder, and I'd rather leave this truck of Yos.h.i.+tsugu's than my corpse.' So he took his long spear and was about to make off.

k.u.mASAKA --But k.u.masaka thought--

CHORUS (taking it up) What can he do, that young chap, if I ply my secret arts freely? Be he G.o.d or devil, I will grasp him and grind him. I will offer his body as sacrifice to those whom he has slain. So he drew back, and holding his long spear against his side he hid himself behind the door and stared at the young lad. Us.h.i.+waka beheld him, and holding his sword at his side he crouched at a little distance. k.u.masaka waited likewise. They both waited, alertly; then k.u.masaka stepped forth swiftly with his left foot, and struck out with the long spear. It would have run through an iron wall. Us.h.i.+waka parried it lightly, swept it away, left volted. k.u.masaka followed and again lunged out with the spear, and Us.h.i.+waka parried the spear-blade quite lightly. Then k.u.masaka turned the edge of his spear-blade towards Us.h.i.+waka and slashed at him, and Us.h.i.+waka leaped to the right. k.u.masaka lifted his spear and the two weapons were twisted together. Us.h.i.+waka drew back his blade. k.u.masaka swung with his spear.

Us.h.i.+waka led up and stepped into shadow.

k.u.masaka tried to find him, and Us.h.i.+waka slit through the back-c.h.i.n.k of his armour; this seemed the end of his course, and he was wroth to be slain by such a young boy.

k.u.mASAKA Slowly the wound--

CHORUS --seemed to pierce; his heart failed; weakness o'ercame him.

k.u.mASAKA At the foot of this pine tree--

CHORUS He vanished like a dew.

And so saying, he disappeared among the shades of the pine tree at Akasaka, and night fell.

KAGEKIYO

A PLAY IN ONE ACT, BY MOTOKIYO

PERSONS OF THE PLAY

s.h.i.+TE Kagekiyo old and blind

TSURE Hime his daughter, called also Hitomaru

TOMO Her attendant

WAKI A villager

CHORUS

The scene is in Hinga.

KAGEKIYO

HIME AND TOMO (chanting) What should it be; the body of dew, wholly at the mercy of wind?

HIME

I am a girl named Hitomaru from Kamega-engayatsu, My father, Akus.h.i.+chi-bioye Kagekiyo, Fought by the side of Heike, And is therefore hated by Genji.

He was banished to Miyazaki in Hinga, To waste out the end of his life.

Though I am unaccustomed to travel, I will try to go to my father.

HIME AND TOMO (describing the journey as they walk across the bridge and the stage) Sleeping with the gra.s.s for our pillow, The dew has covered our sleeves.

(singing) Of whom shall I ask my way As I go out from Tagami province?

Of whom in Totomi?

I crossed the bay in a small hired boat And came to Yatsuhas.h.i.+ in Mikawa: Ah when shall I see the City-on-the-cloud?

TOMO As we have come so fast, we are now in Miyazaki of Hinga.

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 know not how the time pa.s.ses. I sit here in this dark hovel, with one coat for the warm and the cold, and my body is but a frame-work 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.

HIME 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.

HIME 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 pa.s.sion, 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?

TOMO Shall I ask the old man by the thatch?

KAGEKIYO Who are you?

TOMO Where does the exile live?

KAGEKIYO What exile?

TOMO One who is called Akus.h.i.+chi-bioye Kagekiyo, a n.o.ble who fought under 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.

TOMO (to Hime) It seems that he is not here, shall we ask further?

(they pa.s.s on)