DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
Shite: The Spirit of TAMURAMARU, a renowned warrior, in the first part appearing as a youth, and in the second as a warrior.
Waki: A Travelling Priest.
Chorus.
SCENE
The temple ground of Kiyomizu in Kioto, in March. The shrine of Tamuramaru is erected in this ground.
There are only two actors in this piece, and it is even less dramatic than the preceding. As it does not lend itself so well to complete translation, I shall give the piece merely as a résumé, with a few of the more beautiful lines rendered in extenso. This drama is an admirable example of the use of a delicately toned, flower-like foreground, as a setting for the warlike figure who recites tales of his strenuous life, which is so characteristic of the construction of the Nō.
The PRIEST enters first, and, as is often the case at the beginning of a Nō, he recites an account of his hurried journey in the spring, past the provincial capitals to the “nine-fold capital of the Emperor” (Kioto). He speaks of the mild sky of the spring with the sun shrouded by soft haze, and announces that he has now arrived at the Temple of Kiyomizu (meaning clear water) with its peaceful waterfalls.
The YOUTH (Tamuramaru) now appears with a broom in his hand. He says: “The spring has returned, and the flowers in their prime beauty make natural offerings for the Goddess of the Temple. Though there are many places famous for their blossoms they do not equal these, which are illuminated by the light of Kannon’s[47] mercy, and this divine mercy, bright as the autumn moon, even penetrates the village of the ten evils and shines upon the lake of the five vices. These flowers look like snow in the garden of the gods or white sand on the shore of heaven’s sea, in which the mist and the clouds are all buried. So many of them there are, and all are cherry flowers, some eight-fold, some single-fold, as is the way in the spring of the nine-fold capital. And all the mountains far and near likewise reflect the season of flowers.”