Sōshi-arai Komachi

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Scene from the drama

Sōshi-arai Komachi ( Japanese 草紙 洗 小 町 ), Komachi in a poet contest , is the title of a Nō drama by Seami . The central figure is the beautiful lady-in-waiting and poet Ono no Komachi (approx. 825 to 900). The piece is a third game within the Nō category.

Preliminary remark

The following people occur:

  • Waki: Ōtomo no Kuronushi (大 伴 黒 主)
  • Shite: Ono no Komachi
  • Kogata: The emperor
  • Ai: Servant

The poets:

action

  1. act
    1. (The stage is first and foremost to be thought of as the living room of the poet Ōtomo no Kuronushi.) Kuronushi appears with a servant, to whom he speaks: “Tomorrow a song contest (歌 合 せ, Uta-awase) is to take place in the palace; My opponent is Ono no Komachi, who is far superior to me. How am I supposed to get the victory? I sneak up to her house, hear a song from her, which I then take over. ”(The scene changes to the Komachi's house.) Ono no Komachi performs with an orchestral sound. She names the poem she wants to recite and goes to write it down on a song strip (短 冊, Tanzaku). Kuronushi has heard the poem and tells the servant that he wants to enter the poem as an old song in the collection of poems Man'yōshū , so that it must appear that Komachi copied it from there. Interlude.
  2. act
    1. (The scene becomes the palace. A low table is carried in, on which lies a strip of paper, such as one used to write down poems.) The emperor appears with an orchestral sound. He is followed by Komachi, Kōchi no Mitsune, Kin no Tsuranuki, Mifu no Tadamine, two court ladies and Ōtomo no Kuronushi. Choir.
    2. Conversation. Emperor: "Komachi and Kuronushi are determined to be the first opponents." Tsuranuki reads Komachi's poem, the emperor praises it and orders that everyone sing it. Kuronushi steps forward and says that this is an old poem, it is in Man'yōshū. Komachi is confused, is in conflict. The choir is surprised that this 31-syllable poem is in this form in Man'yōshū.
    3. On multiple instructions from the emperor, Kuronushi brings a copy of the Man'yōshū, a Man'yōshū-sōshi. The examination shows that the writing of the song is different from the rest of the book. Increase in the Nō with alternating speech, chorus up to the point where the Sōshi was washed and the innocence of Komachi and the malicious actions of Kuronushi became recognizable. Kuronushi wants to take his own life out of shame, but Komachi keeps him from doing it soothingly and forgivingly. Middle dance of the Komachi.
    4. End: End choir: “… In the distant past, Japan's poetry originated on earth. Susanoo , the god of storms, protects our land of gods. Spring is lovely in the flower city. Wonderful the way of poetry. "

Remarks

  1. ↑ Woodcut by Tsukioka Kōgyo (月 岡 耕 漁; 1869–1924).
  2. ↑ Ki no Tsurayuki belonged, like Ono no Komachi and the two other poets, to the "36 chosen poets" of the Heian period .
  3. ↑ With Bohner without interlude.

literature

  • Peter Weber-Schäfer: Komachi in the poet contest . In: Twenty-four Nō games. Insel Verlag, 1961. ISBN 3-458-15298-X . Pp. 93 to 103.
  • Hermann Bohner: Sōshi-arai-Komachi In: Nō. The individual Nō. German Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia, Tōkyō 1956. Commission publisher Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. Pp. 150 to 152.