Publicly-accessible
Japanese Text Initiative
1st Edition
Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies, number LXXXV
Prepared for the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center.
Semimaru, a work of the fourth category, was written by Zeami. The story of Semimaru, the blind biwa player -- the biwa is a kind of lute -- appears as early as the twelfth-century collection of tales, Konjaku Monogatari, but apparently has no historical basis. The Konjaku Monogatari version relates that Semimaru lived near the barrier of Osaka, between Kyoto and Lake Biwa. Once he had been in the service of a courtier, a famous biwa master, and learned to play by listening to his master. Minamoto Hakuga, the son of a prince, heard of Semimaru's skill and wished to bring him to the Capital. Semimaru, however, refused. So eager was he to hear Semimaru's biwa that Hakuga journeyed to Mt. Osaka, a wild and distant place in those days, though today a half-hour journey from Kyoto.
By the time of the writing of the Heike Monogatari, a century later, Semimaru had become known as the fourth son of the Emperor Daigo (r. 897-930). Like the Semimaru of the Konjaku Monogatari, he lived by a barrier, but it was the one at Shinomiya Kawara. A man named Hakuga no Sammi was so anxious to hear him play that he visited Semimaru's hut every day, rain or shine, for three years without fail.
Zeami borrowed from various versions of the legend of Semimaru as known in his day, but especially from the Heike Monogatari. No previous version of the story, however, mentions Princess Sakagami, who was apparently Zeami's creation. Semimaru is one of the rare plays in which the tsure (Semimaru) is nearly as important as the shite (Sakagami); another such play is Komachi of the Hundred Nights.
Semimaru is perhaps the most tragic play of the entire No repertory. Unlike The Sought-for Grave, in which Unai returns to earth to tell of her endless torments in hell, the tragedy of Semimaru takes place in this world, and involves two human beings who are nearly as real and immediate to us as characters in Western drama.
During the height of the fanatical nationalism of the 1930s and 1940s Semimaru was banned from the stage for its alleged disrespect to the Imperial Family, but today it is performed by all schools of No.
The world is so unsure, unknowable;
Who knows -- our griefs may hold our greatest hopes.
This nobleman is the Prince Semimaru
Fourth child of the Emperor Daigo.
Truly in this uncertain world
All that befalls us comes our way
As recompense for what we've done before.
In his previous existence
He observed intently the laws of Buddha
And in this life was born a prince,
Yet why was it -- ever since he lay,
An infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
His eyes have both been blind: For him
The sun and moon in heaven have no light;
In the black of night his lamp is dark;
The rain before the dawn never ends.
His nights and days have been spent this way,
But now what plan has the Emperor conceived?
He ordered us to escort the Prince in secret,
To abandon him on Mount Osaka
And to shave his head in priestly tonsure.
The Emperor's words, once spoken
Are final -- what immense pity I feel!
Yet, such being the command, I am powerless;
[ Semimaru sits on a stool before the Chorus. Kiyotsura kneels at the shite-pillar. The Bearers exit through the slit door. ]
Like lame-wheeled carriages
We creep forth reluctantly
On the journey from the Capital;
How hard it is to say farewell
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As dawn clouds streak the east!
Today lie first departs the Capital
When again to return? His chances are as fragile
As unraveled threads too thin to intertwine.
Friendless, his destination is unknown.
Even without an affliction
Good fortune is elusive in this world,
Like the floating log the turtle gropes for
Once a century: The path is in darkness
And he, a blind turtle, must follow it. 1
Now as the clouds of delusion rise
We have reached Mount Osaka
We have reached Mount Osaka.
Kiyotsura!
[ From his kneeling position, he bows deeply. ]I am before you.
Are you to leave me on this mountain?
Yes, your highness. So the Emperor has commanded, and I have brought you this far. But I wonder just where I should leave you.
Since the days of the ancient sage kings
Our Emperors have ruled the country wisely,
Looking after its people with compassion --
But what can his Majesty have had in mind?
Nothing could have caught me so unprepared.
What a foolish thing to say, Kiyotsura. I was born blind because I was lax in my religious duties in a former life.
That is why the Emperor, my father,
Ordered you to leave me in the wilderness,
Heartless this would seem, but it's his plan
To purge in this world my burden from the past,
And spare me suffering in the world to come.
This is a father's true kindness.
You should not bewail his decree.
Now I shall shave your head.
His Majesty has so commanded.
What does this act signify?
[ Semimaru rises, The stage assistant removes his nobleman's outer robe and places a priest's hat on his head. ]
It means you have become a priest,
A most joyous event.
Surely Seishi's poem described such a scene:
"I have cut my fragrant scented hair
My head is pillowed half on sandalwood," 2
[ Semimaru mimes receiving the mino. ]
Such splendid clothes will summon thieves, I fear.
Allow me to take your robe and give you instead
This cloak of straw they call a mino.
Is this the mino mentioned in the lines.
"I went to Tamino Island when it rained"? 3
[ He takes a kasa from the stage assistant and hands it to Semimaru. ]
And I give you this kasa rainhat
To protect you also from the rain and dew.
[ Semimaru puts down the kasa. ]
Then this must be the kasa of the poem
"Samurai -- take a kasa for your lord." 4
[ He takes a staff from the stage assistant and hands it to Semimaru. ]
And this staff will guide you on your way.
Please take it in your hands.
[ Kiyotsura kneels at the shite-pillar. ]
Is this the staff about which Henjo wrote:
"Since my staff was fashioned by the gods
I can cross the mountain of a thousand years"? 5
His staff brought a thousand prosperous years, 6
But here the place is Mount Osaka,
A straw-thatched hut by the barrier;
Bamboo pillars and staff, my sole support.
By your father, the Emperor,
Abandoned,
[ Semimaru picks up the staff and kasa, comes forward, and turns toward the departing Kiyotsura. Kiyotsura stops at the second pine and looks back at him, then exits. Semimaru retreats, kneels, drops his kasa and staff, and weeps. Hakuga no Sammi enters and stands at the naming-place. ]
I meet my unsure fate at Mount Osaka.
You who know me, you who know me not 7
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Behold -- this is how a prince, Daigo's son,
Has reached the last extremity of grief.
[ He lowers his head to give a sad expression to his mask. ]
Travelers and men on horses
Riding to and from the Capital,
Many people, dressed for their journeys,
Will drench their sleeves in sudden showers
How hard it is to abandon him,
To leave him all alone --
How hard it is to abandon him,
To tear ourselves away.
[ Kiyotsura bows to Semimaru. ]
But even farewells must have an end;
By the light of the daybreak moon
Stifling tears that have no end, they depart.
[ Weeping, Kiyotsura goes to the bridgeway. ]
Semimaru, the Prince, left behind alone,
Takes in his arms his lute, his one possession,
Clutches his staff and falls down weeping.
[ He closes the door of the hut, then exits. Sakagami entersI am Hakuga no Sammi. 8 I have learned that Prince Semimaru has been abandoned on Mount Osaka and it pains me so much to think of him at the mercy of the rain and dew that I have decided to build a straw hut where he may live. [ He opens the door, of the hut, then goes to Semimaru at the shite-pillar. ]
The hut is ready at last, I shall inform him of this. [ He bows to Semimaru. ]
Pardon me, sir; Hakuga is before you. If you stay here in this way, you will be soaked by the rain. I have built you a straw hut and I hope you will live in it. Please, come with me. [ He takes Semimaru's hand and leads him inside the hut, then steps back and bows. ]
If ever you need anything, you have only to summon me, Hakuga no Sammi. I shall always be ready to serve you. I take my leave of you for now.
[ She begins to dance, in a deranged manner. ]
I am the third child of the Emperor Daigo,
The one called Sakagami, Unruly Hair.
Though born a princess, some deed of evil
From my unknown past in former lives
Causes my mind at times to act deranged.
And in my madness I wander distant ways.
My blueblack hair grows skywards;
Though I stroke it, it will not lie flat.
[ She smooths down her hair ]
Those children over there-what are they laughing at?
[ She looks to the right as if watching passersby. ]
What? You find it funny that my hair stands on end? Yes,
I suppose hair that grows upside down is funny.
My hair is disordered, but much less than you --
Imagine, commoners laughing at me!
How extraordinary it is that so much before our eyes is upside down. Flower seeds buried in the ground rise up to grace the branches of a thousand trees. The moon hangs high in the heavens, but its light sinks to the bottom of countless waters.
[ She looks up and down. ]
I wonder which of all these should be said to go in the
proper direction and which is upside down?
I am a princess, yet I have fallen,
And mingle with the ruck of common men;
[ She proceeds to the stage while chanting. ]
My hair, rising upward from my body,
Turns white with the touch of stars and frost:
The natural order or upside down?
How amazing that both should be within me!
[ She enters the stage. ]
The wind combs even the willows' hair
But neither can the wind untangle,
Nor my hand separate this hair.
[ She takes hold of her hair and looks at it. ]
Shall I rip it from my head? Throw it away?
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I lift my sleeved hands -- what is this?
The hair-tearing dance? 9 How demeaning!
[ Sakagami sits at the stage assistant's position, indicating she has arrived at Mount Osaka. Semimaru, inside the hut,opens his fan and holds it in his left hand as if playing his lute. ]
As I set forth from the flowery Capital
From the flowery Capital,
At Kamo River what were those mournful cries? 10
The river ducks? Not knowing where I went
I crossed the river Shirakawa
And when I reached Awataguchi, I wondered,
"Whom shall I meet now at Matsuzaka?" 11
I thought I had yet to pass the barrier
But soon Mount Otowa fell behind me
How sad it was to leave the Capital!
Pine crickets, bell crickets, grasshoppers,
How they cried in the dusk at Yamashina!
I begged the villagers, "Don't scold me, too!"
I may be mad, but you should know
My heart is a pure rushing stream:
"When in the clear water
At Osaka Barrier
It sees its reflection
The tribute horse from Mochizuki
Will surely shy away." 12
Have my wanderings brought me to the same place?
In the running stream I see my reflection.
Though my own face, it horrifies me:
Hair like tangled briers crowns my head
Eyebrows blackly twist -- yes, that is really
Sakagami's reflection in the water.
Water, they say, is a mirror,
But twilight ripples distort my face.
[ While Semimaru is speaking Sakagami comes before the shite-pillar. Semimaru inclines his head toward her as she speaks. ]
The first string and the second wildly sound 13
The autumn wind brushes the pines and falls
With broken notes; the third string and the fourth
The fourth is myself, Semimaru,
And four are the strings of the lute I play
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As sudden strings of rain drive down on me
How dreadful is this night!
"All things in life
In the end are alike;
Whether in a palace or a hovel
We cannot live forever." 14
[ She silently comes to stage center. Semimaru folds his fan. ]
How strange -- I hear music from this straw-thatched hut,
The sounds of a biwa, elegantly plucked --
To think a hovel holds such melodies!
But why should the notes evoke this sharp nostalgia?
With steps silent, as the rain beating on the thatch
She stealthily approaches, stops and listens.
Who is there? Who's making that noise outside my hut?
Hakuga no Sammi, lately you've been coming
From time to time to visit me -- is that you?
As I approach and listen carefully -- that's the voice of my brother, the Prince!
It's Sakagami! I'm here!
Semimaru, is that you inside?
[ Taking his staff he rises and opens the door. ]
Can it be my sister, the Princess?
Amazed, he opens the door of his hut.
[ She comes up to Semimaru as he emerges from the hut. ]Oh -- how wretched you look!
[ They place their hands on each other's shoulders and kneel. ]
They take each other hand in hand
My royal brother,
is that indeed you?
My royal sister,
is that indeed you?
[ Both weep. During the following passage Sakagami returns to the middle of the stage and kneels. ]
They speak each other's names as in one voice.
Birds are also crying, here at Osaka,
Barrier of meeting -- but no barrier
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Holds back the tears that soak each other's sleeves.
They say that sandalwood reveals its fragrance
From the first two leaves 15mdash;but how much closer still
Are we who sheltered beneath a single tree! 16
The wind rising in the orange blossoms 17
Awakens memories we shall preserve
We who flowered once on linking branches!
The love between brothers is told abroad:
Jozo and Jogen, Sori and Sokuri; 18
And nearer at hand, in Japan
The children of Emperor Ojin,
The princes Naniwa and Uji, 19
Who yielded the throne, each to the other:
All these were brothers and sisters
Bound in love, like us, like linking branches.
But did I imagine my brother
Would ever live in such a hovel?
Had no music come from that straw-thatched hut
How should I have known? But I was drawn
By the music of those four strings,
Drawn like the water offered to the gods
From deep wells of love and far-reaching ties.
The world may have reached its final phase 2O
But the sun and moon have not dropped to the ground.
Things are still in their accustomed place, I thought,
But how can it be, then, that you and I
Should cast away our royalty and live like this,
Unable even to mingle with common men?
A mad woman, I have come wandering now
Far from the Capital girdled by clouds,
To these rustic scenes, a wretched beggar,
By the roads and forests, my only hope
The charity of rustics and travelers.
To think it was only yesterday you lived
In jeweled pavilions and golden halls;
You walked on polished floors and wore bright robes.
In less time than it takes to wave your sleeve,
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Today a hovel is your sleeping-place.
Bamboo posts and bamboo fence, crudely fashioned
Eaves and door: straw your window, straw the roof,
And over your bed, the quilts are mats of straw:
Pretend they are your silken sheets of old.
[ Both weep. ]
My only visitors -- how rarely they come --
Are monkeys on the peak, swinging in the trees;
Their doleful cries soak my sleeve with tears.
I tune my lute to the sound of the showers,
I play for solace, but tears obscure the sounds.
Even rain on the straw roof makes no noise.
Through breaks in the eaves moonlight seeps in.
But in my blindness, the moon and I are strangers.
In this hut I cannot even hear the rain --
How painful to contemplate life in this hut!
[ Both rise. ]
Now I must go; however long I stayed
The pain of parting never would diminish.
Farewell, Semimaru.
[ Sakagami moves toward the shite-pillar. ]
If sheltering under a single tree
Were our only tie, parting would still be sad;
How much sadder to let my sister go!
Imagine what it means to be alone!
[ She weeps. ]
Truly I pity you; even the pain
Of wandering may provide distraction,
But remaining here -- how lonely it will be!
Even as I speak the evening clouds have risen,
I rise and hesitate; I stand in tears.
The evening crows call on the barrier road,
Their hearts unsettled
As my raven hair,
My longing unabated, I must go.
Barrier of Meeting, don't let her leave!
[She goes to the first pine. ]
As I pass by the grove of cedars
Her voice grows distant. . .
By the eaves of the straw hut. . .
I stand hesitant.
[ Sakagami exits, weeping. Semimaru also weeps. ]
"Farewell," she calls to him, and he responds,
"Please visit me as often as you can."
[ Sakagami goes to the third pine and turns back to look at Semimaru. ]
Her voice grows faint but still he listens,
[ Sakagami starts to exit. Semimaru takes a few steps forward, stops and listens. His blind eyes gaze in her direction. ]
She turns a final time to look at him.
Weeping, weeping they have parted,
Weeping, weeping they have parted.