Comments on the Play
In this Nō there is much greater expression of tender, human sentiment than is common in the pieces. It contains also several charming descriptions of Nature, sometimes with a deeper meaning beneath them. For example—
If one but waits
The wind vibrates
The branches of the pine trees till they speak.
Throughout the piece also there are very many allusions to and plays upon classical verses, particularly in relation to the “Bird of the City Royal” and Narihira’s poems (see p. [83]).
The predominating thought in the piece, however, is the Buddhistic conception of the transitoriness of human life, and of the frail nature even of the bond that unites a loving mother and her child.
Fleeting as are the gleaming drops of dew,
Desolate as the moor of Makuzu
In autumn, is this world of lost delight.