Kakitsubata [Noh Song]

Details

Description

Kakitsubata

There are only voice parts in this recording.

Script (English/Modern Japanese)
https://www.the-noh.com/download/download.cgi?name=029.pdf

https://noh-sup.hinoki-shoten.co.jp/sh/77/en
A Travelling Monk is on his way to the Eastern Provinces when he stops by the Yatsuhashi Moor in Mikawa (Aichi Pref.), famous for its purple water irises (kakitsubata). There he meets a woman who tells him that this is where the courtier and poet Ariwara no Narihira composed his famous poem “In these familiar lovely robes I’m reminded of the beloved wife I have left behind, stretching far – Sadness, the hem of journeys”. The Woman offers the Monk lodging for the night and shows him Narihira’s courtier hat and a robe which he left as a keepsake for Takako (Fujiwara Takaiko, Narihira’s lover, who would later become Emperor Seiwa’s consort). Surprised to see these items, the Monk asks the Woman to declare her identity. The Woman reveals to be the Spirit of the Water Iris, while Narihira a Bodhisattva of Chant and Dance.

The Spirit of the Water Iris talks about Narihira’s romantic adventures revealing that, in reality, Narihira secretly acted as a matchmaking deity. The Spirit of the Water Iris dances, then she praises the unity of animate and inanimate beings, all of which are capable to achieve Buddhahood. As dawn breaks, she disappears.


Sung by Kanze School