is a play of the third category, the woman's mode, by
Kan'ami, revised by
Zeami Motokiyo
, also called , was a Japanese aesthetician, actor, and playwright.
His father, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, introduced him to Noh theater performance at a young age, and found that he was a skilled actor. Kan'ami was also skilled in acting and formed a ...
. One of the most highly regarded of
Noh plays, it is mentioned more than any other in Zeami's own writings, and is depicted numerous times in the visual arts.
Plot
The two main characters are the lingering spirits of the sisters and , who in the 9th Century lived on the
Bay of Suma in
Settsu Province
was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or .
Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...
, where they ladled brine in order to make salt. A courtier, Middle Counsellor
Ariwara no Yukihira
was a Japanese Heian period courtier and bureaucrat, who held a number of positions over the course of his life. At one time or another, he was governor of the provinces of Harima, Bizen, Shinano, and Bitchū. He also served as , , and ins ...
, dallied with them during his exile to Suma for three years. Shortly after his departure, word of his death came and they died of grief. They linger on as spirits or ghosts, attached to the mortal world by their emotional attachment to mortal desires: this is a common theme in Noh.
The play opens with a traveling priest asking a local about a memorial he sees. The local explains that the memorial is to the two sisters. This is followed by a scene in which the sisters, ladling seawater into their brinecart at night, become fascinated by the sight of the moon in the water, and try to capture it.
The priest dreams that he meets them when asking for lodgings. After revealing their identities, they explain their past, and grow overcome with their love and longing for Yukihira. Matsukaze, after donning the courtly hunting robe and hat left to her by the courtier, mistakes a pine for her love, and Murasame joins her briefly in madness, before recovering, passing on from the mortal world of emotional attachment, and leaving her sister behind.
Sources and themes
Royall Tyler and other scholars attribute the bulk of the work to Zeami, claiming that it is based on a brief dance piece by his father Kan'ami. The play's contents allude strongly to elements of the ''
Genji monogatari
is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th century. It is one of history's first novels, the first by a woman to have wo ...
'', particularly the chapters in which
Hikaru Genji falls in love with a lady at Akashi and later (temporarily) leaves her. The early section written by Kan'ami quotes from the "Suma" chapter of the ''monogatari'', the play's setting at Suma evokes these events and the theme of women of the shore who, after an affair with a high-ranking courtier, are left waiting for his return. The play also contains many allusions to the language of the ''monogatari'', which would have been recognized by the poets of Zeami's day.
The name of the chief character, and title of the play, ''Matsukaze'', bears a poetic double meaning. Though ''Matsu'' can mean "pine tree" (松), it can also mean "to wait" or "to pine" (待つ). Matsukaze pines for the return of her courtier lover, like the woman of Akashi in the ''Genji'', and like the woman in Zeami's play ''
Izutsu''. Tyler also draws a comparison between the names of the two sisters to a traditional element in Chinese poetry, referring to different strains of music as the Autumn Rain and the Wind in the Pines; Autumn Rain is strong and gentle intermittently, while the Wind in the Pines is soft and constant. Though the characters in the play actually represent the opposite traits – Matsukaze alternating between strong emotional outbursts and gentle quietness while her sister remains largely in the background, and acts as a mediating influence upon Matsukaze – the comparison is nevertheless a valid and interesting one.
Finally, Tyler offers the idea that the two women are aspects of a single psyche, or that they are "purified essences of human feeling... twin voices of the music of longing" and not actually fully fleshed people.
Opera
''Matsukaze'' became the subject of an opera by Japanese composer
Toshio Hosokawa
is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. He studied in Germany but returned to Japan, finding a personal style inspired by classical Japanese music and culture. He has composed operas, the oratorio '' Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima' ...
, written for the dance company of
Sasha Waltz. It was commissioned by and first performed at
Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...
in Brussels in 2011
It has been hailed as a triumph for contemporary opera and for the composer. The production toured to Warsaw, Luxemburg, Berlin and Lille.
See also
*
Izutsu
Citations
General and cited references
*
* {{Cite book , last1=Tyler , first1=Royall , year=1992 , title=Japanese Nō Dramas , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4jf-tJ77z-oC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false , location=London , publisher=Penguin Books , page
183–204}
Buddhist plays
Noh plays