DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
| The Mother | Shite |
| The Ferryman | Waki |
| A Traveller. | |
| Spirit of the Child. | |
| The Chorus. | |
SCENE
The banks of the Sumida River in the province of Musashi, toward evening.
FERRYMAN [Words]
I am he who plies the ferry in the province of Musashi,
Over Sumida, the river, known to many far and wide.
And to-day my boat must hurry with its many loads of people,
For our village holds a festival of universal prayer.
On this day both priest and layman with no thought of their distinction
Will remember this great matter and assemble one and all.
TRAVELLER [Song]
The goal of my long journey is the East,
The goal of my long journey is the East,
Far Azuma,[50] and like its distance stretch
My days of travel, long in weary thought.
[Words]
From the capital I travel,[51] I who now am speaking to you,
And I journey on to Azuma to visit there a friend.
[Song]
Behind me rise the mountains I have passed
Faint in the distance as the clouds and mists.
Behind me rise the mountains I have passed
Faint in the distance as the clouds and mists.
O’er many a mountain path my way has lain,
Wide province after province have I crossed.
Before me now lies the great Sumida,
The river of renown, and at my feet
The waiting ferry do I now behold,
The waiting ferry do I now behold.
[Words]
I have hurried, for already, ’tis the ferry of the river,
And behold, the boat is leaving, I must enter it at once.
What ho! Boatman! stay a moment. I would travel in your boat.
FERRYMAN [Words]
Very good, sir! Now at once though, may it please you to get in.
Yet I first would like to ask you, what is that loud noise behind you,
There behind, whence you have travelled. What’s the matter, may I ask?
TRAVELLER [Words]
’Tis a woman who is coming from the capital and acting
Like a mad thing in a queer ecstatic way. I saw her there.
FERRYMAN [Words]
Oh, in that case let us tarry till the mad thing can o’ertake us,
We can stay the boat a little, for this way she’ll surely come.
THE MOTHER [Song][52]
Darkness entire can never hold its sway
Within a mother’s heart, and yet for love
Of her sweet child she is a wanderer.
Ah! painfully I know for the first time
The bitter truth contained within these words.
I ask all those who pass
Along the snowy way[53]
To Azuma to say
Where lies my little love.
There is no news. Alas!
No answer can I find.
Shall I then ask the wind
That blows unseen above?
CHORUS
If one but waits
The wind vibrates
The branches of the pine trees till they speak.
If one stays still
He often will
Have brought to him the tidings he does seek.[54]
THE MOTHER [Song]
Fleeting as are the gleaming drops of dew,
Desolate as the moor of Makuzu
In autumn, is this world of lost delight.
CHORUS
Fretted with sorrow pass her day and night.
THE MOTHER [Song]
I am a woman who had lived for years
At Kitajirikawa in the capital;
When suddenly I lost my only child,
Lured from me by a man who kidnapped him.
They told me that beyond Ōsaka’s pass[55],
Far to the East, to Azuma, he went.
And since I heard it I have felt my mind
Losing its hold on ordinary things,
Set only, full of love, upon the way
The child did follow. Tracing out the marks
Of his dear feet, I wander here and there.
CHORUS
I
Thousands of miles the journey is in length,
Yet never does the parent’s heart forget
The child she loves and seeks. So do we hear.
CHORUS
II
The nature of the bond[56] is transient,
The bond is transient in this world, and yet
Parent and child are destined not to live
In loving union even this short while.
But, like the four birds in the fable old,[57]
Between them cruel separation lies.
And now, alas! the mother’s loving search
Of her young child has come to its sad end,
For she has reached the river Sumida,[58]
The river Sumida that flows between
The province Shimotsuke and Musashi.
THE MOTHER [Words]
Pray, O Boatman, kindly let me also enter in your ferry.
FERRYMAN [Words]
Who, then, art thou? Whither going? And from whence hast thou just come?
THE MOTHER [Words]
From the capital I travel, to Azuma, seeking some one.
FERRYMAN [Words, in jest]
As thou art, then, from the city, and seem also to be mad,
Entertain us, show us something that is curious or funny.
If thou do’st not, I’ll not let thee travel now upon this boat.
THE MOTHER [Words]
Oh, how vexing! I expected on the ferry of Sumida,
Which is so renowned, the answer—“Enter now upon my boat,
For the day is not yet over.” But instead of that thou sayest—
[Song]
Thou deign’st to say that I am from the city,
And by the custom, must not use thy boat.[59]
But o’er great Sumida thy ferry passes,
And so thy words do scarce become thee well.
FERRYMAN [Words]
It is true; thou art a person from the distant City Royal,
And thy gentle nurture tallies with its reputation here.
THE MOTHER [Words]
Ah! That word![60] I do remember. It was here that Narihira
That the famous Narihira[61] wrote beside this very ferry:
[Song]
Bird of the Royal City—come!
I ask of you a boon, if true,
The name that they have given you:
Is she alive—the one I love—
Is she? Or is she not?
Pray, O Boatman, over yonder is a white bird that we know not
In the capital. By what name do you call it in this part?
FERRYMAN [Words]
That bird is indeed a seagull, flying in from the wide ocean.
THE MOTHER [Words]
They may call it gull or plover, what they wish to by the sea,
But when standing here by Sumida with that white bird before us
Why did you not name it rightly, as the Bird of City Royal?
FERRYMAN [Song][62]
Yes, truly, truly, I have sadly erred.
This is the place far famed for that same bird.
I had in very truth the thing forgot
And though this is the place the thought came not.
THE MOTHER [Song]
The gull of the wide sea brings to thought
The waves of the evening tide.[63]
FERRYMAN [Song]
And the roll of the waves to our minds has brought
The past when Narihira cried.
THE MOTHER [Song]
“Is she or is she not?” To the Bird he spied.
FERRYMAN [Song]
His thought was a lover parted from his side.
THE MOTHER [Song]
The same thought guides me, for I seek
My loving child. To all I speak,
Asking if any news there be
Of where my child lies hid from me.
FERRYMAN [Song]
For a lover to pine
THE MOTHER
For a child to seek
FERRYMAN
Is in the same way
THE MOTHER
When love does speak.
CHORUS [Song]
O Bird of the Royal City, come!
For I ask, too, a boon of you.
In Azuma, the child I love
Is he, or is he not?
Ah! though I ask and ask, it answers not!
Vexing art thou! Bird of the Royal City—
A country bird wouldst thou be better called!
Yet this same bird comes singing to the banks
Of Horie River, where the boats race past.
That river is in Naniwa, and this
The Sumida, flows down through Azuma.
When one reflects on this, how vastly far
In my lone journey do I seem to come.
That being so—— Lo! Ferryman, I pray
The boat is full, but still is room for me,
So let me enter, Ferryman, I say,
So let me enter, and then push away.
FERRYMAN [Words]
Such a tender-hearted, mad thing as this woman never has been!
Come aboard at once, but notice that the ferry is a swift one.
Take good care to step in gently.
[To the Traveller] You, sir, too, I pray come on.
TRAVELLER [Words]
May I ask, what is that yonder where the people by the willow
Are assembled in great numbers? Why should they be waiting there?
FERRYMAN [Words]
Well, that is a public meeting for a universal prayer.
I would tell you, while we’re crossing, if you’ll listen to the tale,
The sad story in connection with this festival of ours.
It was last year, in the third month, on the fifteenth day, I reckon,
Yes! That is so, and to-day we have the very selfsame day,
That a kidnapper did journey from the capital, and with him
Was a lad whom he had purchased, twelve or thirteen years of age,
He was going to the north-east, but the child was not yet hardened
And the long fatiguing journey made him very sadly ill.
It was just here by the river that he could go no step farther,
But fell down, and there remained. Oh! a heartless man was with him!
And the child in that condition by the roadside simply lying
Was abandoned by the merchant who went off to the north-east.
Then the people of the district nursed and tenderly did treat him
(Though I fancy it was really just the Karma of his past),[64]
Something in his childish features and his little ways they noted,
As if he were of importance, so they watched him carefully.
Worse and worse, however, fared he, till the end seemed just approaching,
Then they asked him—“Who now art thou? and from whence hast thou just come?”
And his father’s surname asked I, and the province of his birthplace:
“In the capital my home is, and at Kitajirikawa.”
So he answered; “And my father, who is dead, was Yoshida.
I, his one child, had been living with my loving mother only,
But was kidnapped, and was taken far away, and hence my illness.
Truly, often am I thinking of the people in the city,
Of their hands and feet and shadows,[65] even, often fondly thinking.
As beside the road I’m dying, deign just here to bury me.
And to mark the spot I pray thee, be so kind, and plant a willow.”
Feebly spoke he, and repeated four or five times a calm prayer,
Then it ended. A sad story, is it not, that I have told you?
As I see now, in this boat, there are some people from the city,
Unintentioned though it may be, you will honourably join us
And your lamentation offer with our prayers on this occasion?
What! The shore! With this long story we have quickly come to land.
For you it is unimportant. Now, I pray you, disembark.
TRAVELLER [Words]
Truly, here to-day I’ll linger, and a prayer with you will say.
FERRYMAN [Words]
How now! Why does that mad woman not come here from out the boat?
Come, at once! Come up, I beg you! Yet how tender-hearted is she!
Having simply heard the story she is truly shedding tears.
Yet at once, I really beg you, you must come out of the boat.
THE MOTHER [Words]
Pray, O Boatman, of that story, what, I beg you, is the date?
FERRYMAN [Words]
’Twas last year, and in the third month; and, moreover, this same day.
THE MOTHER [Words]
And that child, what age?
FERRYMAN
Twelve years.
THE MOTHER
Ah!—his name?
FERRYMAN
Umewakamaru was he.
THE MOTHER
And his father’s surname know you?
FERRYMAN
’Twas a certain Yoshida.
THE MOTHER
And since then, the parents, have they never sent to make inquiries?
FERRYMAN
No, no relatives inquiring ever came.
THE MOTHER
But sure the mother!
FERRYMAN
It is strange beyond believing, but ’tis true—I answer No!
THE MOTHER [Song]
Alas! Nor kith nor kin. It is too true!
His parents even did not come to you.
It must be. Yet, O Heavens, how sad! That child
Is him I seek. I, whom you now called wild.
O Heavens. O mercy. It must be a dream!
FERRYMAN [Words]
Oh, unutterable sorrow. Until now it lay outside me;
It was other people’s business. Now you say it was thy child?
Pitiful! But wherefore grievest? He is now beyond recall.
Come this way and I will show thee where his grave lies. Now ’tis near.
This the tomb of him who left us. Offer now thy deep-felt prayers.
THE MOTHER [Song]
E’en though I feared it might be so, till now
Hope led me on to make this journey long
To distant, unfamiliar Azuma;
But at the end of the sad way I find
Naught in this world but mark of where he lies.
Ah! Cruel is it!—If his fate was death—
That he should leave his birthplace and have come
To a road corner in strange Azuma,
And mingled with the roadside earth to lie
Beneath a tangled mass of spring-time’s weeds,
Beneath this very ground so it doth seem.
CHORUS
I
Then shown unto the mother in earth’s form,
May there appear the dear one of her world.
II
The one is taken who might be of use!
The one is taken who might be of use!
The one whose work is over does remain,
The mother, like a withered broom tree left,[66]
In whose mind comes and goes his likeness dear,
As things are wont in this uncertain world.
To man at any moment may come grief,
Like heartless storm that shatters blooming boughs
The voice of such a storm has called up clouds
That fly unsettled and have hid the moon
That else had lit the long night of her life.
Yea, verily how fleeting must the world
Appear to her before us now. Alas!
Yea, verily how fleeting must the world
Appear to her before us now. Alas!
FERRYMAN [Words]
Now, however much thou grievest, ’tis of no avail whatever;
Join then with us in the prayer for his good in future worlds.
[Song]
The moon has risen, and the river breeze
Blows cool. ’Tis late already, and the gong
Tolls out, and we should be upon our knees.[67]
THE MOTHER [Song]
But still the mother in her agony
No prayer can voice, but only weeping lie
Upon the ground that hides her darling joy.
FERRYMAN [Words]
Yea! ’tis sorrowful, though others have assembled in large numbers,
It is thy prayer that his spirit surely would rejoice to hear.
[Song]
I place the gong[68] now in the mother’s hand.
THE MOTHER [Song]
True, ’tis for my child’s sake, as I am told,
And in my own hands now the gong I hold.
FERRYMAN [Song]
As grief is checked and voices cleared for prayer.
THE MOTHER
In unison we pray this moonlit night.
FERRYMAN
Our thoughts united, to the West[69] we turn.
THE MOTHER AND FERRYMAN
Thee I adore, Eternal Buddha great,
Who still the same, for six-and-thirty times
A million million worlds of Paradise,[70]
For ever in the west dost permeate.
Thee I adore, Eternal Buddha great.
THE MOTHER
Thee I adore, Eternal Buddha great.
CHORUS
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
THE MOTHER
And to my prayer the river Sumida
Adds its loud voice the breeze.
CHORUS
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
THE MOTHER
If true thy name, Bird of the City Royal,
Add too thy voice, for this the city’s child.
CHILD[71] AND CHORUS
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
THE MOTHER [Words]
Oh, that was my child’s voice praying, he that said the prayer just now.
His voice was it, I am certain, and within this mound it seemed.
FERRYMAN [Words]
As you say, we also heard it. And we now will cease our praying,
Thou his mother art, and solely, honourably deign to pray.
THE MOTHER [Song]
Even if nothing but his voice return,
I would that I could hear that voice again.
CHILD
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
I adore thee, O Eternal Buddha.
CHORUS [Song]
The voice is heard, and like a shadow too
Within, can one a little form discern.
[The Spirit of the Child appears]
THE MOTHER [Song]
Is it my child?
CHILD
Ah! Mother! Is it you?
[The Spirit disappears]
CHORUS [Song]
The mutual clasp of hand in hand exchanged,
Once more he vanished as he first had come,
But in her thought increasingly the form
Of his reflection did repeat itself
As in a polished mirror, to and fro.
While gazing at the vision came the dawn
And dimly flushed the sky, till naught was left.
While what appeared to be the child is now
A mound grown thickly o’er with tangled weeds,
It has become naught but a rushy marsh,
A mark of what was once so very dear.
Ah, pitiful indeed is this our life
Ah, pitiful indeed is this our life!
END OF “THE SUMIDA RIVER”
[ENGLISH BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE NŌ.]
There is no English book entirely on the Nō, but the following Works contain chapters on, and translations of, some of them.
Aston, W. G. “A History of Japanese Literature.” Heinemann, London, 1899. See pp. 199-213.
Brinkley, F. “Japan: its History, Arts and Literature,” vol. iii. Jack, London, 1903. See pp. 28-48.
Chamberlain, B. H. “The Classical Poetry of the Japanese.” Boston, 1880. See pp. 137-185. Reprinted with additions and deletions as “Japanese Poetry.” London, 1911. See pp. 109-144.
Dickins, F. V. “Primitive and Mediæval Japanese Texts translated into English.” Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1906. See pp. 391-412. Also volume of romanized texts of the same.
Edwards, O. “Japanese Plays and Playfellows.” London, 1901. See pp. 39-61.
Sansom, G. B. “Translations from Lyrical Drama: ‘Nō.’” Trans. Asiatic Soc. Japan, 1911, vol. xxxviii, part 3, pp. 125-176.
Stopes, M. C. “A Japanese Mediæval Drama.” Trans. Royal Soc. Literature, London, 1909, vol. xxix, part 3, pp. 153-178.
[By the same Author]
A Journal from Japan
By Dr. Marie C. Stopes
The Diary of a year and a half’s travel into the wilds of Japan, as well as of sojourn in its capital
The Spectator says:
“A most interesting and illuminating work.”
The Athenæum says:
“Remarkably naïve and fresh.”
The Literary World says:
“Has a peculiar freshness and vivacity added to a clear style.”
The Daily Telegraph says:
“Should take its place among the very best works on the Far East.”
The Nation says:
“The lighter touches are fresh and distinctly amusing.”