[THE SUMIDA RIVER]
Authorship of the Play
The play is attributed to Motomasa, who was a grandchild of the famous Kiyotsugu (see p. [7]) and who died in 1459. The exact date of its composition is uncertain, but it was most likely within the first half of the fifteenth century.
Outline of the Story
A little child, the only son of his widowed mother (and owing to the laws regarding the continuation of families in Japan that means much more there than it does in Europe), was kidnapped from his home. The play opens a year after this had happened, and we meet the mother hurrying toward the Sumida river, which she crosses in the ferry. She has had a long journey from the City Royal (Kioto) in her search for the child. While she is in the ferry, the ferryman tells the passengers of a festival to be held in the place that evening in memory of a little lad who died on the road just a year ago. The mother questions him, and learns that it is her child for whom the villagers are about to meet in prayer. The ferryman prevails on her to join in the prayers, and for a moment the ghost of the little one appears and speaks with her.
Plate 7.
SUMIDAGAWA
This illustration from a Japanese coloured woodcut is not so good as could be desired, but was the only one available. It shows the Mother on the left, and reveals the simple, open way in which the actor wears the woman’s mask. The little rectangular instrument at her feet is that used for striking the gong of prayer (see p. [92]). The small figure to the right is the ghost of the little son who died, and whom she has set out to seek. Notice his entirely unnatural wig of hair. In the square insets above him are representations of the “Birds of the City Royal” (see p. [83]) spoken of so much in the text, and the words “I adore the Eternal Buddha” in Chinese ideographs.