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.
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?
Gyōkei
I am Gyōkei, priest of the imperial temple Ninnaji. You must know
that there was a certain prince of the House of Taira named Tsunemasa,
Lord of Tajima, who since his boyhood has enjoyed beyond all precedent the
favour of our master the Emperor. But now he has been killed at the Battle
of the Western Seas.
It was to this Tsunemasa in his lifetime that the Emperor had given the
lute called Green Hill. And now my master bids me take it and dedicate it
to Buddha, performing a liturgy of flutes and strings for the salvation of
Tsunemasa's soul. And that was my purpose in gathering these musicians
together.
Truly it is said that strangers who shelter under the same tree or draw
water from the same pool will be friends in another life. How much the
more must intercourse of many years, kindness and favour so deep. . .
[1]1
How strange! Within the flame of our candle that is burning low because
the night is far spent, suddenly I seemed to see a man's shadow dimly
appearing. Who can be here?
シテ詞
「我經政が幽靈なるが。御弔ひの有難さに。是まで顯はれ來りたり。
Spirit
I am the ghost of Tsunemasa. Your service has brought me.
Tsunemasa
his shadow disappearing.
I am the ghost of Tsunemasa. The sound of your prayers has brought me in
visible shape before you.
ワキ
「そも經政の幽靈と、答ふる方を見んとすれば。又消え消えと形もなくて。
Priest
Is it the ghost of Tsunemasa? I perceive no form, but a voice.
Gyōkei
"I am the ghost of Tsunemasa," he said, but when I looked to where the
voice had sounded nothing was there, neither substance nor shadow!
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.
Chorus
Only as a tricking magic,
A bodiless vision,
Can he hover in the world of his lifetime,
Swift-changing Tsunemasa.
By this name we call him, yet of the body
That men named so, what is left but longing?
What but the longing to look again, through the wall of death,
On one he loved?
"Sooner shall the waters in its garden cease to flow
Than I grow weary of living in the Palace of my Lord."
[3]3
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.
Gyōkei
How strange! When the form of Tsunemasa had vanished, his voice lingered
and spoke to me! Am I dreaming or waking? I cannot tell. But this I
know,—that by the power of my incantations I have had converse with
the dead. Oh! marvellous potency of the Law!
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]1
That is the very lute you have there. It is the lute called "Seizan." I
had it when I walked through the world.
Tsunemasa
It was long ago that I came to the Palace. I was but a boy then, but all
the world knew me; for I was marked with the love of our Lord, with the
favour of an Emperor. And, among many gifts, he gave to me once while I
was in the World this lute which you have dedicated. My fingers were ever
on its strings.
Was he not from the days of his childhood pre-eminent
In faith, wisdom, benevolence,
Honour and courtesy; yet for his pleasure
Ever of birds and flowers,
Of wind and moonlight making
Ballads and songs to join their harmony
To pipes and lutes?
So springs and autumns passed he.
But in a World that is as dew,
As dew on the grasses, as foam upon the waters,
What flower lasteth?
シテ詞
「亡者の爲めには何よりも。娑婆にて手馴れし青山の琵琶おのおの楽器を調へて。糸竹の手向をすすむれば。
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.
Gyōkei
For the dead man's sake we play upon this lute Green Hill that he loved
when he was in the World. We follow the lute-music with a concord of many
instruments.
Music.
シテ詞
「亡者も立ちより燈の影に。人には見えぬ者ながら。手向の琵琶を調ぶれば。
Tsunemasa
And while they played the dead man stole up behind them. Though he could
not be seen by the light of the candle, they felt him pluck the
lute-strings. . . .
ワキ
「時しも頃は夜半樂。眠りを覺ますをりふしに。
Priest
Midnight is come; we will play the "midnight-play," Yabanraku.
Gyōkei
It is midnight. He is playing Yabanraku, the dance of
midnight-revel. And now that we have shaken sleep from our eyes. . .
シテ
「不思議や晴れたる空かき曇り。俄に降りくる雨の音。
Spirit
The clear sky is become overclouded; the rain walks with heavier feet.
Tsunemasa
The sky is clear, yet there is a sound as of sudden rain. . . .
ワキ
「しきりに草木を拂ひつつ。時の調子も如何ならん。
Priest
They shake the grass and the trees.
Gyōkei
Rain beating carelessly on trees and grasses. What season's music
[5]5
ought we to play?
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.
Shakes the autumn clouds from the mountain-side."
[10]10
The phœnix and his mate swoop down
Charmed by its music, beat their wings
And dance in rapture, perched upon the swaying boughs
Of kiri and bamboo.
Dance.
シテ詞
「あら恨めしやたまたま閻浮の夜遊に歸り。心をのぶるをりふしに。又瞋恚の起る恨めしや。
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.
Tsunemasa
Oh terrible anguish!
For a little while I was back in the World and my heart set on its music,
on revels of midnight. But now the hate is rising in me. . . .
[11]11
ワキ
「さきに見えつる人影の。なほ顯はるるは經政か。
Priest
Now I can see him again, the figure I saw here; can it be Tsunemasa?
Gyōkei
The shadow that we saw before is still visible.
Can it be Tsunemasa?
シテ
「あら耻かしや我姿。はや人々に見えけるぞや。あの燈を消し給へとよ。
Spirit
It's a sorry face that I make here. Put down the lights if you see me.
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.
His brushing wings were a storm.
His spirit is gone in the darkness.
Chorus
"Let us turn away from the candle and watch together
The midnight moon."
Lo, he who holds the moon,
The god Indra, in battle appeareth
Warring upon demons.
Fire leaps from their swords,
The sparks of their own anger fall upon them like rain.
To wound another he draws his sword,
But it is from his own flesh
That the red waves flow;
Like flames they cover him.
"Oh, I am ashamed of the woes that consume me.
No man must see me. I will put out the candle!" he said;
For a foolish man is like a summer moth that flies into the flame.
[12]12
The wind that blew out the candle
Carried him away. In the darkness his ghost has vanished.
The shadow of his ghost has vanished.
Japanese Text Initiative
Electronic Text Center | University of Virginia Library
PO Box 400148 | Charlottesville VA 22904-4148
434.243.8800 | fax: 434.924.1431
