is a
Noh
is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...
play based on the experiences of the 12th-century poet and travelling-monk
Saigyō
was a famous Japanese poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura period.
Biography
Born in Kyoto to a noble family, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of ...
.
Original kernel
Saigyō was travelling to North Japan, when he sat in the shade of a willow-tree, later identified by
Bashō as being close to the village of Ashino, and wrote a
waka
Waka may refer to:
Culture and language
* Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand
** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe
** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe
** Waka taua, a Māori w ...
:
" ‘Just a brief stop,’/ I said when stepping off the road/into a willow's shade/where a bubbling stream flows by,/as has time since my ‘brief stop’ began".
Main theme
A wandering priest,
Yugyō Shonin, is given directions by an old man who recites Saigyō's poem before vanishing: the priest then realises it was the spirit of the willow tree.
By reciting a prayer to
Amida Buddha, he enables the spirit to attain Buddhahood, for which the willow spirit thanks him in a dance sequence.
Later developments
Buson
was a Japanese poet and Painting, painter of the Edo period. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. He is also known for completing haiga as a style of art, working with ha ...
wrote a haiku on rocks and willows underneath the Pilgrim's Willow Tree, alluding to the Noh play.
[L Zolbrod, ''Haiku Painting'' (Tokyo 1982) p. 12]
See also
*
''Eguchi'' (play)
*''
Matsuyama tengu''
*''
Saigyōzakura
is a Noh play by Zeami about the famous poet Saigyō, regarding his well-known love for cherry blossoms.
Background
Saigyō was renowned for his love of the flowering cherry - what he himself once called "my lifelong habit of having my mind imme ...
''
*''
Sankashū''
References
External links
Saigyo in three Japanese No plays
Noh plays
{{Japan-lit-stub