Plays

and ballads⁠ ⁠… Priest Many voices Atsumori

Singing to one measure.

Atsumori dances.

First comes the Royal Boat.

Chorus

The whole clan has put its boats to sea.
He54 will not be left behind;
He runs to the shore.
But the Royal Boat and the soldiers’ boats
Have sailed far away.

Atsumori

What can he do?
He spurs his horse into the waves.
He is full of perplexity.
And then

Chorus

He looks behind him and sees
That Kumagai pursues him;
He cannot escape.
Then Atsumori turns his horse
Knee-deep in the lashing waves,
And draws his sword.
Twice, three times he strikes; then, still saddled,
In close fight they twine; roll headlong together
Among the surf of the shore.
So Atsumori fell and was slain, but now the Wheel of Fate
Has turned and brought him back.

Atsumori rises from the ground and advances toward the Priest with uplifted sword.

“There is my enemy,” he cries, and would strike,
But the other is grown gentle
And calling on Buddha’s name
Has obtained salvation for his foe;
So that they shall be reborn together
On one lotus-seat.
“No, Rensei is not my enemy.
Pray for me again, oh pray for me again.”

Endnotes

1. The province of Kyūshū. ↩

2. On the north shore of the Inland Sea, west of Kobe. ↩

3. In Murakami’s Harima Meisho-zuwe (Illustrated Description of the Province of Harima, 1863), vol. III, Onöe (wo no uhe) is described as a pine-grove in Osada, where the shrines of two deities Sumiyoshi Myojin (Illustrious God), and Ohara Dai myojin (Great Illustrious God) exist. Finally there were three gods of Sumiyoshi, of the upper (or nearer?) middle (remote?) and bottom (furthest?) waters. When Jingu, the Queen-Regnant (AD 201⁠–⁠69), had completed her conquest of Korea, she built here the Sumiyoshi shrine and called the place Takasago (High Dune). Changes in the coastline occurred, and Takasago (which was a little port) disappeared, while Old Takasago became Onöe. [Possibly the twain trees originally grew near these shrines, and of their proximity the memory was preserved in the story, when Sumiyoshi in Tsu came into existence.]

   There are two sayings about the pine-tree which are worth giving. One is Matsu to ifu ji wo sakashima yomeba tsuma to naru no de ureshikaro; if you read the syllabic characters of ma tsu (matsu, pine) backwards you have tsu ma (tsuma) “spouse,” which is, more japonico, a pleasant conceit. The other turns upon an analysis of the character 松 (pine-tree); matsu to ifu ji wo wakachite yomeba kimi to boku to no futari-zure, if you dissect the character for pine-tree you have 木 boku, “tree,” and 公 kimi, “you.” Boku is also the pronunciation of 僕 “I myself,” so that the saying means that the analysis of the character gives the pair of ego and tu. The one saying involves the notion of spousal love, the other that of friendship.

   In Titsingh’s Japan will be found an illustration of Takasago no ura. ↩

4. He compares his couch with the crane’s nest, usually figured as built amid the Takasago pine branches. The crane, like the tree, was a symbol of longevity⁠—the tortoise also; Pine, Crane, and Tortoise (long haired) with the Ancient Pair are commonly represented together. ↩

5. There is here an allusion to a dress of the colour of autumn leafery, but the leaves themselves are also regarded as a sort of vestment. ↩

6. An allusion to the phrase koto no ha (“leaves of speech”) for kotoba. ↩

7. A somewhat bold attempt to represent the wordplay in the text. ↩

8. The Manyoshiu. ↩

9. Sumiyoshi = “where (or when) ’tis good to dwell (exist).” ↩

10. Yengi means “prolong-joy,” it is the name of a year-period (AD 901⁠–⁠22). ↩

11. There is a wordplay here on haru, which means Spring, and also to clear up (as weather). ↩

12. These lines are sung at weddings as an epithalamium. At such ceremonies, in various ways, the story of the Twain Trees is represented. ↩

13. This passage is poetized prose. There exists a stanza on the pine-blossom that shows only once in a millennium. The floral organs of the pine were, of course, not understood in Old Japan. ↩

14. Written “spread out islands”⁠—a name for Japan. Possibly an ancient capital is intended. ↩

15. Or possibly the shite only. The speech is called kuse, which may be rendered as “chief argument,” or “inner meaning,” or “precept” of the piece. ↩

16. A poet who flourished in the reign of the first Ichijo (987⁠–⁠1101). ↩

17. A play on the character for pine 松, which may be dissected into 八十 (80 = many), 公, nobles or princes. ↩

18. Shi Hwangti, the Chinese Emperor, BC 259⁠–⁠210, who bestowed rank upon a Pine-tree that gave him shelter from a shower of rain. ↩

19. Or perhaps one or more of the musicians or songmen (utahi gata). ↩

20. I.e. Takasago and Suminoye. ↩

21. See note 9. ↩

22. What the god chants here is said to have been of his own composition. There is considerable doubt as to the personages of the remaining dialogue. I take the view that they are the god and the chorus⁠—the god, as ato-shite, being represented by the shite with changed dress and mask. ↩