Glory be to the Trinity,[160]
Glory to the Trinity!
CHORUS.
Seek you a sage to loose
The bonds that bound you to life’s woes?
This pillow is the oracle you sought.
Now shall the wayfarer, content to learn
What here he learnt, that Life is but a dream,
Turn homeward from the village of Kantan.
THE HŌKA PRIESTS
(HŌKAZŌ)
By ZENCHIKU UJINOBU (1414-1499)
PERSONS
- MAKINO.
- HIS BROTHER.
- NOBUTOSHI (their father’s murderer).
- NOBUTOSHI’S SERVANT.
MAKINO.
My name is Kojirō; I am the son of one Makino no Sayemon who lived in the land of Shimotsuke. You must know that my father had a quarrel with Nobutoshi, a man of Sagami, and was done to death by him. So this man was my father’s murderer and I ought to kill him. But he has many bold fellows to stand by him, while I am all alone. So the days and months slip by with nothing done.