Kumasaka
Kumasaka (The Robber) is a Noh play from the 15th century. Arthur Waley attributes it to Zenchiku Ujinobu and it concerns the notable Heian period bandit Kumasaka no Chohan.
Legendary background
[edit]
The samurai hero, Minamoto no Yoshitsune (known in his early life as Ushiwaka) had a series of encounters attributed to him in his youth, one of which concerned repelling a bandit attack led by Kumasaka. Kumasaka is sometimes identified as the slayer of Yoshitsune's mother.[2]
Plot
[edit]A travelling monk is offered shelter by another, on condition that he prays for an anonymous soul buried by a pine tree.[3] The traveler is surprised to see a large pike hanging on the cottage wall, and the other reveals his past as a robber before vanishing. This reveals to the priest that "It was under the shadow of a pine-tree that he had rested".[4]
Thereafter, the robber reappears as the ghost of Kumasaka and recounts the story of his last fight and his death at the hands of Ushiwaka: "The wonderful boy...be he ogre or hobgoblin".[5]
Literary associations
[edit]- The play has been interpreted as a retrospective telling of the last part of the genzai-mono play, Eboshi-ori.[6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Kumasaka
- ↑ H C McCullough trans, Yoshitsune (1966) p. 43-4
- ↑ A Waley, The Noh Plays of Japan (1976) p. 28-9
- ↑ A Waley, The Noh Plays of Japan (1976) p. 31
- ↑ A Waley, The Noh Plays of Japan (1976) p. 35-6
- ↑ H C McCullough trans, Yoshitsune (1966) p. 44
- ↑ Haruo Shirane, Traces of Dreams (1998) p. 136