Noh chorus songs and chants...

[Lady Kimiko]

*New project: A collection of period Noh songs and chants from performances. Noh
was often performed to celebrate something...and so I am celebrating the pending
arrival of the non-lunar New Year. 2012 is the year of the Dragon!

*More about Noh:
tousando.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=research&action=display&thread=392\
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*Posts will be spastic, due to the nature of my employment.

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From the performance Asahina

This poem is about the plight of hell, lacking souls from too many people being
pious and observing the proper ways of Buddhism. The demon Emma-O, who is the
great lord of hell, has left in search of sinners. Emma-O is disguised as a
begging monk in this performance. The hero of this performance is Asahina who
ultimately ends up going to Paradise.

Pilgrim-song:
My well-loved Hell thus left behind,
My native Hades left behind.
On foot I jog upon my way,
And now I've reached the Six Highways.

Chorus:
Yes, now he's reach the Six highways.
And here he'll wait till sinners come
That he may haul them down to Hell.

source:Japanese Plays 'Classic Noh, Kyogen, and Kabuki' by A.L. Sadler

[Lady Kimiko]

As always please pardon my typos. Time is short here, and these mini projects are my "zen" in a busy life.

This chant/song was selected for its symbolism relevant to SCA. In Japanese symbolism the pine is a winter motif that is associated with a long life and endurance.

Chorus:
With the dawn
frost
has settled in
but the deep green hue
of the pine branches
stays the same.
Though we sweep
beneath the pine,
morning and night,
the the fallen needles
do not dwindle
is true.
The needles of the pine
undepleted,
their hue deepening
as the laurel vine grows long,
a metaphor
for this long reign,
forever green,
among its kind,
the Takasago pine,
hereafter too
singled out
auspiciously
as the wedded pine.

Source: Developing Zeami, The Noh Actor's Attunement in Practice by Shelley Fenno Quinn

Who is Zeami? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeami_Motokiyo

Check it this book online at: books.google.com/books?id=oPPRNjQDs18C&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=Developing+Zeami&source=bl&ots=P_8Bw2ARfS&sig=Q4n0z-tpr0prJM2WpUb12QSDGv8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NS7zTo74GejW0QGApPiJAg&ved=0CFwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Developing%20Zeami&f=false

[Lady Kimiko]

From the Noh performance ' Tomoe'. This performance has two acts. The first part deals with a traveling priest who is traveling during winter (the first month of the year) in the Province of Omi. In the first act he meets a country girl who is weeping before a shrine..

In the second act the priest deals with a the spirit of Tomoe. Behold the ghost of a woman scorned:

Start of Act 2------

Priest:
My pillow is the dewy grass.
The sun has set and it is dusk
And on Awazu's dreary shore
I pray for his enlightenment.


Tomoe's Spirit:
The falling flowers confess the vanity of things,
The water flows indifferent to our fate,
Yet is a symbol of the lucid mind.

Chorus:
Misdeed and retribution are the fruit
Oh Karma-action in a former life,
But by the wondrous power of the law
Shall trees an grass, and even the earth itself
Transform themselves at last into the Buddha-mind.
Much more then shall we men for whom are said
These efficacious texts of mighty power,
Sit soon upon the Lotus terraces.

Priest:
What's this I see? The woman who just now
Spoke with me, but arrayed in warrior's mail.
Awazu is an eerie place to sleep,
Haunted it seems by some uneasy ghost.

Tomoe's Spirit:
I am Tomoe the woman-warrior,
But since I am a woman I am not allowed
To die here with my lord,
And so my smoldering anger keeps me here...

Source: Japanese Plays 'Classic Noh, Kyogen, and Kabuki' by A.L. Sadler

[Lady Kimiko]

Today's chorus song is from 'Haku Rakuten'. This poem was written around the 14th century for Noh theater. I selected this particular chorus song to feature because it features the great water dragon...and 2012 is the year of the water dragon. In this poem a Chinese man is sent by the Chinese courts to influence and destroy Japanese art. Along they way he meets two fishermen one of whom is actually the God of Japanese poetry. Ultimately the God begins a dance, and the wind from his swaying sleeves sends the Chinese boat with its passengers back across the ocean: thereby protecting Japanese arts from Chinese influence.

Chorus:

For the drums- the beating waves.
For flutes - the song of the sea dragon
For dancer - this ancient man
Despite his furrowed brow
Standing on the furrowed sea
Floating on the green waves
Shall dance the Sea Green Dance.

Source: 'The Noh Plays of Japan' by Athur Waley

You can find this book online for free reading at Google Books.