Kayoi-Komachi [Noh Song]

Описание: Kayoi-Komachi

There are only voice parts in this recording.

Script (English/Modern Japanese)
https://www.the-noh.com/download/down...

https://noh-sup.hinoki-shoten.co.jp/s...
In the hamlet of Yase (currently Sakyō district of Kyoto, near the western foot of Mount Hiei), there lives a certain Buddhist priest (waki). Every day a lady (tsure) comes to his home to bring him fruit and firewood. Today, yet again, she appears from the direction of Ichihara-no (a mountainous area to the west of Yase). Singing a song enumerating various fruits and nuts, she presents her offering to the priest. When the priest asks her to tell him her name, the woman replies that she is simply an old lady that lives in Ichihara-no. After hinting that she is the ghost of the ancient beauty Ono-no-Komachi, she suddenly disappears.

As the priest prays for the salvation of Komachi's soul, her ghost (tsure) appears before him and thanks him for the prayers. Just at that moment, the vengeful ghost of Komachi's lover, General Fukakusa (shite), appears. He insists that Komachi should not have the Buddhist commandments imparted to her, thus preventing her soul from attaining Buddhahood. However, the priest is determined to go on with the ritual. He orders General Fukakusa's ghost to reenact his 100 night wooing of Komachi as a form of penance.

Komachi had told the enamoured General Fukakusa that she will accept him as a lover if he woos her for a hundred consecutive nights.

Night after night, General Fukakusa came and left a mark on the ox-cart hitching platform by her house. Komachi had told him to come in disguise, so Fukakusa always came on foot dressed in a straw hat and raincoat. In this way, he managed to persevere for 99 nights.

At last, the 100th night came. General Fukakusa wanted to drink some wine in celebration, but remembering the Buddhist strict prohibition, he abstained from doing so. Because of the virtue of this particular act, General Fukakusa is absolved of his sins and, together with Ono-no-Komachi, attains Buddhahood.


Sung by Kanze School