is a
Noh play by
Zeami about the famous poet
Saigyō
was a Japanese poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura period.
Biography
Born in Kyoto to a noble family, he lived during the traumatic transition of power between the old court nobles and the new samurai warriors. After the start of the ag ...
, regarding his well-known love for cherry blossoms.
Background
Saigyō was renowned for his love of the flowering cherry - what he himself once called "my lifelong habit of having my mind immersed in blossoms".
As a recluse however, he sometimes found himself in conflict with the Japanese habit of collective
blossom viewing: as he wrote in his
Sankashū
is a collection of poems by Saigyō, most probably made by the poet himself, and issued .
Dating
Because the collection contains no poems from the last decade of Saigyō's life, 1180–90, he is thought to have closed it c.1180, and circulated i ...
, "Leave me in solitude/O Cherry flowers./Draw not people,/for they come in crowds".
Plot
Wishing to be alone with his cherry-blossoms, Saigyō is annoyed by the arrival of a party of (potential) viewers; and, on admitting them, composes a
waka blaming the cherry tree for their intrusive presence.
That night he is visited by the spirit of the cherry-tree, who rebukes him by pointing out the separateness and independence of all living creatures from human concerns. The two then converse, before the play ends with an extensive dance celebrating cherry flowers, exceptional
sakura
The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...
sites like
Kiyomizu-dera
is a Buddhist temple located in eastern Kyoto, Japan. The temple is part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History
The temple was established in 778, during the late Nara period, by Enchin Shonin, who ...
, and the
transient beauty of Spring.
[S Leiter, ''Japanese Theatre and the International Stage'' (2021) p. 153-4]
See also
*
''Eguchi'' (play)
*''
The Priest and the Willow''
Further reading
''Twelve Plays of the Noh and Kyôgen Theatres'', Karen Brazell (ed.) 1988
References
External links
Saigyo in three Japanese No plays
Noh
Noh plays
{{Japan-lit-stub