Sumidagawa (Nō)

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Scene from the drama

Sumidagawa ( Japanese 隅田川 ), Am Sumida Stream , is the title of a Nō drama by Jurō Motomasa. The piece is a fourth play in the rare form of a one-act play within the Nō category.

Preliminary remark

This Nō is about a boy named Umewakamaru (梅 若 丸), who was kidnapped, died and is wanted by his mother, who went mad.

The following people occur:

  • Waki: A ferryman
  • Wakitsure: A traveler
  • Shite: The mother of Umewakamaru
  • Kokata: The spirit of Umewakamaru

action

On the stage you can see a wooden frame decorated with willow branches, which represents the grave of Umewakamaru.

  1. Foreplay. The ferryman appears with his name. Attribution with reference to the mourning ritual. A traveler who travels from Kyōto to his friend in the East will appear with an orchestral introduction. Singing. Name, route and arrival name. He comes to the Sumida River. Conversation with the ferryman.
  2. The mad mother of Umewakamaru appears with an orchestral sound. Choir: "If she wanders a thousand miles, the son never forgets the mother ..."
  3. Ferryman and mother, who wants to be translated, in conversation. Exchange speech. In the boat: The traveler sees that people are gathering on the other bank and asks the ferryman why. He explains in a long speech that a year ago a slave trader was on his way to the north and brought a boy with him, but who was unable to go any further. He gave his name and asked to plant a willow on his grave and died. Dialogue between the mother and the ferryman.
  4. The mother gets out and walks towards the grave, mourning the son. Choir: "Dig up the earth so that the mother can see her son again ..."
  5. Great invocation to the Buddha. Exchange speech between mother and ferryman. Choir: Common Nembutsu. The child's Nembutsu can now also be heard from the grave, together with the Nembutsu of the others. Finally, Umewakamaru emerges from the grave, but quickly disappears again. Final chorus: "You want to shake hands, but he disappears again ... Oh longing and mercy."

Note

Benjamin Britten based this no-drama on one of his Church Parables .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Woodcut by Tsukioka Kōgyo (月 岡 耕 漁; 1869–1924).
  2. ↑ Nembutsu, more precisely "Namu Amida butsu" (南 無 阿弥陀佛), is an invocation of the Buddha. The formula appears in Tsukioka's woodcut in the red box.

literature

  • Peter Weber-Schäfer: On the Sumida River . In: Twenty-four Nō games. Insel Verlag, 1961. ISBN 3-458-15298-X . Pp. 129 to 138.
  • Hermann Bohner: Sumida-gawa In: Nō. The individual Nō. German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia, Tōkyō 1956. Commission publisher Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. Pp. 440 to 442.