[ [1]About two miles and a half.
[ [2]Buddhist prayers.
ACT VI.
ACT VI.
RECITATIVE.
“The country dance is over;
Come out, old man, come with your dame,
Come, old man, come with your dame.”
So sing the country folk as they pound their barley. Here stands the weather-beaten cottage of Yoichibei, a peasant in the noted village of Yamazaki; and here now passes Hayano Kanpei a ronin’s life. His wife Okaru has risen and, while waiting for her husband who is not yet home this morning, brings out her toilet-case to smooth her dishevelled hair. With her thoughts bent upon her fate which she still keeps a secret, she combs her hair with a comb of boxwood and dresses it with neatness and elegance; her beauty is too fair for a country-place. Her aged mother, hanging to her staff, comes tottering home from the fields.