Kōtei (Nō)

A scene from Kōtei

Kōtei ( Japanese 皇帝 ; dt. The Emperor ) is the title of a Nō drama. It is a fifth game in the Nō category.

Preliminary remark

The following people occur:

act
1. Prelude Yangkueifei , the mistress of Emperor Xuanzong, is seen on stage seriously ill. The emperor appears with two accompanying dignitaries.
2. The ghost of the great demon repeller Zhong Kui appears in the unrecognizable form of an old man and declares that - after having failed the state examination and killing himself - he now wants to appease the diseases of the noble as thanks for the salvation granted by the superiors . Conversation between Zhong Kui and the emperor, who asks him to bring the "mirror of the enlightened kings" ( 明王鏡 Myōō kagami ) to the camp of the sick. Zhong Kui leaves the stage
act
1. Long, tender conversation between the emperor and his lover. Choir.
2. The mirror is brought.
3. The demon of the disease shows up, performance with a fast flute, choir.
4. In a huge scene, Zhong Kui appears in real form. “Look, the demon, how he's hiding. Zhong Kui gets off his horse, draws his sword, looks in the mirror, no devil can hide. ”Great fight with the demon, whose strength is gradually waning. “The demon lost its strength. He probably wants to escape; but Zhong Kui holds him tight, swings his sword and cuts him to pieces, throws him away. ”And further“ Yangkuefei's disease is cured. Worshiping the ruler's great essence, I will always watch as his guardian spirit. "

Kanze Sakon (Ed.): Kōtei (text and stage directions, Japanese). Kanse School, undated
Hermann Bohner: Kwôtei In: Nō. The individual Nō. German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia, Tōkyō 1956. Commission publisher Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. Pp. 629 to 631.