Bitef

Jirokaja’s hands .behind his back.

The master goes out. The

to the

two bound servants talk and guess the reason why they are bound this way. They get

pole

even more anxious to drink »sake«, despite their arms being tied. They find a way round the problem and this is the climax of the drama. They drink, sing and make merry. In the midst of this scene, the master comes back and stands behind his servants for a while. The servants see their master’s face reflected in a big cup. First they think it a phantom of their master’s face. But the real master appears in front of them and scolds them severely. They run away, asking his pardon. The master runs after them behind the curtain, crying out that he will catch them.

The story also comes from one )of the oldest Japanese tales of » Genjimonogatari « which describes the love affairs of

aoinoue

Genji among the courteirs’ circles. In this play, due to the jelousy of Lady Rokujo, his former mistress, Lady Aoi suffers from a

main actor, and Lady Aoi, the title 'of this play, is represented only by a folded robe lying

lady

aoi

'on the floor. First, a young priestess »tsure« is summoned

and evokes the evil spirit that

afflicts Lady Aoi, by picking the string of a bow made of » azusa « tree. The spirit of Lady Rokujo appears and gravely demands in a low voice »Where does the sound of the bowstring come from?« and tries to take Lady Aoi away. The spirit being full of her grudge against Lady Aoi, she beats Lady Aoi in bed with her fan in spite of the priestess’ warning.

Here the piece comes to the climax. A priest »waki« comes to relieve her. The spirit reappears, in the guise of demoness, and fights with the priest. But at last the spirit is defeated by the Buddhist s power and comes to expect to

practicing it. Jirokaja is called to the master and he demonstrates his

skill before the master and Tarokaja. They approach Jirokaja from behind and succeed in binding histwo arms

to the pole. Then the master also ties

bound

the

mysterious illness. The •spirit of Lady Rokujo is played by »shite«, the

be freed from the agony of this world. Lady Rokujo, forgetting her status and losing her self control, changes into a demoness. But she used to be a lady of very high rank and should not lose her former elegancy in this piece of drama.

Peasant (ado) I»/ am a peasant living

uri-nusubito

hereabout. I am

going to look after my melon-field, A lot of melons ripen this year. I will make a fence round the field and set up a scare-crow to keep off melon-stealers «. Makes a

scare-crow at the corner of the stage. Stealer (shite):

a

Took some i melons yesterday

melon-

and i presented them somebody.

stealer

Asked for some more and comes to the field again when getting dark. First, mistook a dead leaf for a melon. Hitting upon an idea, rolled over the field and took plenty of melons. Notices the scare-crow standing at the end of the field. »/ took just a few. Pray forgive me! Why do you keep silent? Oh, not a watchman, but a scarecrow.« Gets ungry and pulls off melon vines. Peasant:

On the following day, comes to the field. »Fen:es are broken, and vines are pulled away. What shall I do? The melon-stealer is sure to come back. I will stand here tonight. I will catch and punish him.« Takes the clothes off the scare-crow and disguises himself as a scare-crow. Stealer:

»I was asked for some more melons. I must go to the field again, though unwillingly.« Comes to the field in the evening. »No watchman, but the scare-crow as it was. I’m never scared by such a thing. But it is very well made. I will hit and destroyit .« Not a scare-crow, but the peasant! He hits the stealer and tries to catch Mm. The stealer runs away, crying » Pray forgive me!« The peasant runs after the stealer, crying »Don’t get away!« and follows to the curtain.

Fishermen are walking on the beach of Mio Bay. One of them (»waki«) finds a

hagoromo

beautiful robe hanging from the branchi of a pine tree. Mio Bay is famous for old big pine trees growing there. He wants to take it home as his treasure, when an angel appears and claims to get it back. »It is a feather robe from Heaven«, she explains, and the fisherman wishes to keep it as a national treasure. She tells him that