This edition of Zeami Motokiyo’s Plays was produced from various translations. Takasago was translated by Frederick Victor Dickins and originally published in 1906. Sakuragawa was translated by George...

The scene of the Prologue is the shore near Aso; of the first Act the scene is the strand of Takasago, of the second Act the scene is the strand of Sumiyoshi. (On the stage there is no differentiation...

The scene of the Prologue is the shore near Aso; of the first Act the scene is the strand of Takasago, of the second Act the scene is the strand of Sumiyoshi. (On the stage there is no differentiation...

The shite, or protagonist, an Ancient, being the Manifestation or Presence of the Spirit of the Pine-tree of Sumiyoshi (or Suminoye) in Settsu. The tsure, or companion of the Ancient, being a Dame, th...

Scene. The Seashore Near Aso in Higo. Chorus. Tomonari. Chorus: In traveller’s trim now first he fareth forth, and far the way is, and many the days before him. Tomonari: I who speak, Sirs, am Warden ...

Scene. The Strand of Takasago2 overshadowed by an ancient gnarled and wide-branched Pine-tree. Tomonari. The Ancient of Suminoye. The Dame of Takasago. Ancient: In the Pine-tree of Takasago murmureth ...

Scene. The Strand of Sumiyoshi in Settsu. Chorus. The God of Sumiyoshi. God of Sumiyoshi: Entering.22 Long ’tis since saw I the Princess Pine that groweth by Sumiyoshi nor knoweth, belike, the Sovran ...

The following is a rendering of the greater part of Sakuragawa. There are some omissions⁠—of passages that defied any approach to adequate translation⁠—but the fragments remaining will perhaps give an...

The following is a rendering of the greater part of Sakuragawa. There are some omissions⁠—of passages that defied any approach to adequate translation⁠—but the fragments remaining will perhaps give an...

A Madwoman. Her son, Sakurago, the “Cherry Child.” A priest. A child merchant.28 Villagers....

Tsukushi, in Autumn Merchant: I am a child-merchant from the East. I have lived for a long time in Kioto, but now I have come down to Hiuga, in Tsukushi, Yesterday, towards evening I bought a young bo...

The Sakuragawa, in Spring. Three years later. A Priest: Long have we waited, and the Cherry Time has come at last. So hasten we along the hill-path gay with Spring. I am a priest of the temple of Isob...

In Kinuta (“The Silk-board”) the plot is as follows: The Waki, a country gentleman, has tarried long in the capital. He at last sends the Tsure, a maidservant, home with a message to his wife. The ser...

In Kinuta (“The Silk-board”) the plot is as follows: The Waki, a country gentleman, has tarried long in the capital. He at last sends the Tsure, a maidservant, home with a message to his wife. The ser...

Waki, a country gentleman. Tsure, the servant-maid Yugiri. Shite, the wife. Second Shite, ghost of the wife....

Shite, an old woodcutter, who is an apparition of the hero, Genji, as a sort of place-spirit, the spirit of the seashore at Suma. Waki, Fujiwara, a priest with a hobby for folklore, who is visiting sa...

Shite, an old woodcutter, who is an apparition of the hero, Genji, as a sort of place-spirit, the spirit of the seashore at Suma. Waki, Fujiwara, a priest with a hobby for folklore, who is visiting sa...

Waki: Announcing himself. I, Fujiwara no Okinori, Am come over the sea from Hiuga; I am a priest from the shinto temple at Miyazaki, And, as I lived far afield, I could not see the temple of the great...

Scene II begins with the appearance of the Second Shite, that is to say, a bright apparition of Genji in supernatural form. Genji: How beautiful this sea is! When I trod the grass here I was called “G...

The Waki: a priest The Shite, or Hero: ghost of the lover Tsure: Ghost of the woman; they have both been long dead, and have not yet been united. Chorus The Nishikigi are wands used as a love charm. H...

The Waki: a priest The Shite, or Hero: ghost of the lover Tsure: Ghost of the woman; they have both been long dead, and have not yet been united. Chorus The Nishikigi are wands used as a love charm. H...

Waki: There never was anybody heard of Mount Shinobu but had a kindly feeling for it; so I, like any other priest that might want to know a little bit about each one of the provinces, may as well be w...

Waki: The Waki has taken the posture of sleep. His respectful visit to the cave is beginning to have its effect. Waki: Restless. It seems that I cannot sleep For the length of a pricket’s horn. Under ...

Hyakma Yamauba, a singer. Yamauba, the mountain she-devil, appearing at first in the play as an old woman. Chorus. This chorus sometimes speaks in place of the characters, sometimes explains the meani...

Hyakma Yamauba, a singer. Yamauba, the mountain she-devil, appearing at first in the play as an old woman. Chorus. This chorus sometimes speaks in place of the characters, sometimes explains the meani...

Servant: We seek a temple for its blessed shadow of light. I am from the capital; the lady with me here is a renowned singer commonly called Hyakma Yamauba. She is known by that name, because she sing...

Singer: Oh! How surprising! How incredible! Chorus: The winds blew their flutes through the long forests of pine-trees⁠—the long mournful sound echoing to the clear depth of a valley stream. How the m...

In the eleventh century two powerful clans, the Taira and the Minamoto, contended for mastery. In 1181 Kiyomori the chief of the Tairas died, and from that time their fortunes declined. In 1183 they w...

In the eleventh century two powerful clans, the Taira and the Minamoto, contended for mastery. In 1181 Kiyomori the chief of the Tairas died, and from that time their fortunes declined. In 1183 they w...

The Priest Rensei (formerly the warrior Kumagai). A Young Reaper, who turns out to be the ghost of Atsumori. His companion. Chorus....

Priest: Life is a lying dream, he only wakes Who casts the World aside. I am Kumagai no Naozane, a man of the country of Musashi. I have left my home and call myself the priest Rensei; this I have don...

Priest: Since this is so, I will perform all night the rites of prayer for the dead, and calling upon Amida’s name will pray again for the salvation of Atsumori. Atsumori: The ghost of Atsumori appear...

The province of Kyūshū. ↩ On the north shore of the Inland Sea, west of Kobe. ↩ In Murakami’s Harima Meisho-zuwe (Illustrated Description of the Province of Harima, 1863), vol. III, Onöe (wo no uhe) i...