At the western foot of Mt.Hiei in the village of Yase, there was a monk who was devoting himself to basket for three months in the summer. There was also having a woman who delivered nuts and firewood every day. So, when the monk asked for her name at the end of the question and answer, the woman disappeared, implying that she was Ono no Komachi.
When the monk who went to the Ichihara field enthusiastically chanted sutra, the spirit of Komachi reappeared with joy in turning around. However, behind that there was another spirit who was thin and weak and moaned “Don’t mourn Komachi, please go home”. Moreover, if you look at the place where you cling to Kamikocho, this is exactly the spirit of Admiral Fukakusa.
During the period of his lifetime, the Major General who continued to attend every night in Komachi which is known as “If you will go through a hundred nights_Hyakuya” died unfulfilled on the 99th day. So we said the grudge showed that he was going to a hundred nights in his lifetime but due to the transfer of the monk the two spirits eventually joined hands and became Buddhahood.
Highlights:
In Zeami’s art story “Sarugakudangi”, “Major General of the Fourth Place”, which was the basis of this song, appears as Kan’ami’s work. “Major General of Fourth Place” is Major General of Fukakusa. The book also states that Kan’ami adapted the work of Yamato’s singer, played by Konparu Honkan. Among the current songs, it is one of the oldest songs.
Although it is a short song, the latter half, which shows the state of devotion by the interaction between Ono no Komachi and Fukakusa’s general, and reproduces the Hyakuya(100 nights) commute, has many lively patterns and actions, and is impressive. The original legend of Hyakuya commuting tells the fate that a man will not be able to come at 100th night, but in Noh, it ends with a Buddhist affair.
In addition, there are some songs that deal with a man’s obsession, but the main character of this song, Fukakusa’s general, has a glimpse of aristocratic growth, or an elegant seriousness, and it is not only gloomy. There is no taste. That is why it can be said to invite pity.
Kiyotsune Sachu was defeated in the battle of Tsukushi, lost hope of the peace, he thought that it would be better than the hands of the soldiers. He threw himself from the night boat off the coast in Buzen Yanagi into the ditch and committed suicide.
The play talked about the final situation of Saburo Awazu who is a vassal who goes up to the capital with the hair of the sword left in the boat, and visits Kiyotsune’s wife. The wife is a warrior or sick, she regrets her husband that he had entered the water by himself, she said “every time I see it, if I see it, I will return to the original place, I will always miss you” even if it’s a dream of sleeping, she has been dozing with tears, hoping to meet him. Then the ghost of Kiyotsune appeared crazy in her dream perhaps because she is understood by him with all his heart. It is called that the spirit is not able to he wants to return the keepsake that he gave to her and his wife blames her husband for suicide. In the meantime, the husband talks about what he was doing and tries to comfort his resentment.
Because having of the story that when Emperor Antoku’s party visited Usa Hachiman, a lot of people make an oracle that “What do you pray for the world without a god”, so they were realized to be very long-lasting and finally threw themselves, the spirit who spoke in such a detailed story but suddenly shows the suffering of Shurado. The rain turns into an arrow and the soil looks terrifying with forests of Tsurugi but in fact he was able to get rid of Buddhahood because of the undisturbed Nembutsu at the end.
Highlights:
It is one of the self-confident works before Zeami’s priesthood, and is a representative song of Shura Noh even in modern times. The setting is that the ghost shite appears in the wife’s dream, but it is a currently talented style that is different from the compound dream illusion that the front shite is the incarnation of the rear shite.
In his books “The Flowering Spirit” and “Sando”, Zeami used Genpei’s master as the main character to create the story as it was, and put a battle scene in the final part of the song. However, even though the Taira clan’s officials, Kiyotsune, who chose to die by entering the water, is far from the image of the main character of the above-mentioned standard Shura Noh. Suffering from a sense of loss and despair for the Heike family, which has fallen into the city, Kiyotsune seeks the ultimate salvation through faith. The feelings of Kiyotsune, who chose to die himself, are told in the form of recollections. The highlight is the dance part from the kuse to the kiri, which is a mixture of this mental landscape of Shite and the actual scene. It is a masterpiece that the Jiutai, the hayashi musical accompaniment and the dance of the shite describe each other in a series of scenes in a tense tension.
Ichijoin, who was made to receive a mysterious spirit, was sent to Sanjo Kokani Munechika (Waki)’s private house with Tachibana Michinari (Wakizure) as an imperial messenger. It is a task to forge a special sword. Munechika thinks that we are important but we are not able to do that, so we should rent God’s power. It is the reason to go to the Inari Myojin Shrine.
However, having a mysterious child (Shite) on the road and Munechika had called him and talk that “nothing need to suffer yourself, you are give your life to force sword, aren’t it?”, and he talked about the prestige of the famous Japanese in Kanji (Chinese character) and also talked about the face that Takeru Nihon flattened Dongyi with Kusanagi’s sword. Moreover, when he got home and prepared, he thought he would change my power and help you and he suddenly disappeared at Mt. Inari in Yugumo (Middle).
When Munechika who returned with surprise built an altar and broke his heart and prayed, Inari Myojin (later Shite) appeared in the form of a virgin. Munechika who rejoices hits the hammer of teaching as soon as Myojin also hits it. In this way, the sword was immediately stroked together, but the front is inscribed as a small blacksmith and the back is inscribed as a competing small fox, and the sword is dedicated to the imperial messenger. These are the first two swords of inscriptions in the world, if you rule the four seas with this, there is no doubt that the five grains will be fulfilled. When Myoujn said so, he jumped on Murakumo again and left for Mt. Inari.
Highlights:
“Kokaji” is a popular song that develops quickly, is very varied, and has many highlights in both the first half and the second half. In the first half, a mysterious boy who appeared in front of Munechika talks about the spiritual test of a famous sword, especially when Takeru Nihon, surrounded by fire, pulls out Kusanagi’s sword, removes the grass, and returns the flame to the enemy and dismisses it. The story and changes in movement are interesting, and in the second half, it is interesting to see that Myojin and Munechika, who work for the sword, carry more and more toward the climax of training their swords.
The snappy movements and exhilarating songs will not let the viewer get bored. It is a song that you can enjoy the skill of the performer and the power of the song obediently, and probably because of its high entertainment value, it has been adopted in Kabuki and Bunraku and is popular.
