Ezra Pound - Ernest Fenollosa
Awoi No Uye
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About the print version
Awoi No Uye "Noh" or Accomplishment: a Study of the Classical Stage in Japan
Ezra Pound and Ernest Fenollosa
1st Edition
pp. 193-205
MacMillan
London
1916
Published: 1916
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AWOI NO UYE
A Play by Ujinobu
INTRODUCTION
The story, as I understand it, is that the "Court Lady Awoi" (Flower of the
East) is jealous of the other and later co-wives of Genji. This jealousy reaches
its climax, and she goes off her head with it, when her carriage is overturned
and broken at the Kami festival. The play opens with the death-bed of Awoi, and
in Mrs. Fenollosa's diary I find the statement that "Awoi, her struggles,
sickness, and death are represented by a red, flowered kimono, folded once
length-wise, and laid at the front edge of the stage."
The objective action is confined to the apparitions and exorcists. The demon
of jealousy, tormenting Awoi, first appears in the form of the Princess Rakujo,
then with the progress and success of the exorcism the jealous quintessence is driven out of this personal ghost, and appears in its own truly
demonic ("hannya") form -- mdash; "That awful face with its golden eyes and
horns revealed." The exorcist Miko is powerless against this demon, but the
yamabushi exorcists, "advancing against it, making a grinding noise with the
beads of their rosaries and striking against it," finally drive it away.
The ambiguities of certain early parts of the play seem mainly due to the
fact that the "Princess Rokujo," the concrete figure on the stage, is a phantom
or image of Awoi no Uye's own jealousy. That is to say, Awoi is tormented by her
own passion, and this passion obsesses her first in the form of a personal
apparition of Rokujo, then in demonic form.
This play was written before Ibsen declared that life is a "contest with the
phantoms of the mind." The difficulties of the translator have lain in
separating what belongs to Awoi herself from the things belonging to the ghost
of Rokujo, very much as modern psychologists might have difficulty in detaching
the personality or memories of an obsessed person from the personal memories of
the obsession. Baldly: an obsessed person thinks he is Napoleon; an image of his
own thought would be confused with scraps relating perhaps to St. Helena, Corsica, and Waterloo.
The second confusion is the relation of the two apparitions. It seems
difficult to make it clear that the "hannya" has been cast out of the ghostly
personality, and that it had been, in a way, the motive force in the ghost's
actions. And again we cannot make it too clear that the ghost is not actually a
separate soul, but only a manifestation made possible through Awoi and her
passion of jealousy. At least with this interpretation the play seems moderately
coherent and lucid.
Rokujo or Awoi, whichever we choose to consider her, comes out of hell-gate
in a chariot, "because people of her rank are always accustomed to go about in
chariots. When they, or their ghosts, think of motion, they think of going in a
chariot, therefore they take that form." There would be a model chariot shown
somewhere at the back of the stage.
The ambiguity of the apparition's opening line is, possibly, to arouse the
curiosity of the audience. There will be an air of mystery, and they will not
know whether it is to be the chariot associated with Genji's liaison with
Yugawo, the beautiful heroine of the play Hajitomi, or whether it is the symbolic chariot drawn by a sheep, a deer, and an ox. But I think we are nearer the mark if we take Rokujo's enigmatic line, "I am
come in three chariots," to mean that the formed idea of a chariot is derived
from these events and from the mishap to Awoi's own chariot, all of which have
combined and helped the spirit world to manifest itself concretely. Western
students of ghostly folklore would tell you that the world of spirits is fluid
and drifts about seeking shape. I do not wish to dogmatize on these points.
The Fenollosa-Hirata draft calls the manifest spirit "The Princess Rokujo,"
and she attacks Awoi, who is represented by the folded kimono. Other texts seem
to call this manifestation "Awoi no Uye," i.e. her mind or troubled spirit, and
this spirit attacks her body. It will be perhaps simpler for the reader if I
mark her speeches simply "Apparition," and those of the second form "Hannya."
I do not know whether I can make the matter more plain or summarize it
otherwise than by saying that the whole play is a dramatization, or
externalization, of Awoi's jealousy. The passion makes her subject to the
demon-possession. The demon first comes in a disguised and beautiful form. The
prayer of the exorcist forces him first to appear in his true shape, and then to retreat.
But the "disguised and beautiful form" is not a mere abstract sheet of
matter. It is a sort of personal or living mask, having a ghost-life of its own;
it is at once a shell of the princess, and a form, which is strengthened or made
more palpable by the passion of Awoi.
AWOI NO UYE
[Scene in Kioto]
Daijin
I am a subject in the service of the Blessed Emperor Shujakuin. They have
called in the priests and the high priests for the sickness of Awoi no Uye of
the house of Sadaijin. They prayed, but the gods give no sign. I am sent to
Miko, the wise, to bid him pray to the spirits. Miko, will you pray to the
earth?
Miko
Tenshojo, chishojo,
Naigeshojo, Rakkonshojo.
Earth, pure earth,
Wither, by the sixteen roots
(Wither this evil)!
Apparition
It may be, it may be, I come from the gate of hell in three coaches. I am
sorry for Yugawo and the carriage with broken wheels. And the world is ploughed
with sorrow as a field is furrowed with oxen. Man's life is a wheel on the axle,
there is no turn whereby to escape. His hold is light as dew on the Basho leaf.
It seems that the last spring's blossoms are only a dream in the mind. And we
fools take it all, take it all as a matter of course. Oh, I am grown envious
from sorrow. I come to seek consolation. [ Singing. ]
Though I lie all night hid for shame in the secret carriage, looking at the moon
for sorrow, yet I would not be seen by the moon.
Where Miko draws the magical bow,
I would go to set my sorrow aloud.
[ Speaking. ]
Where does that sound of playing come from? It is the sound of the bow of
Adzusa!
Miko
Though I went to the door of the square building, Adzumaya -- mdash;
Apparition
-- mdash; you thought no one came to knock.
Miko
How strange! It is a lady of high rank whom I do not know. She comes in a
broken carriage, a green wife clings to the shaft. She weeps. Is it -- mdash;
Daijin
Yes, I think I know who it is. [ To the Apparition. ]
I ask you to tell me your name.
Apparition
In the world of the swift-moving lightning I have no servant or envoi,
neither am I consumed with self-pity. I came aimlessly hither, drawn only by the
sound of the bow. Who do you think I am? I am the spirit of the Princess Rokujo,
1 and when I was still in the world, spring was there with me. I feasted upon
the cloud with the Sennin, 2 they shared in my feast of flowers. And on the
Evening of Maple Leaves I had the moon for a mirror. I was drunk with colour and
perfume. And for all my gay flare at that time I am now like a shut
Morning-glory, awaiting the sunshine. And now I am come for a whim, I am come
uncounting the hour, seizing upon no set
moment. I would set my sorrow aside. Let some one else bear it awhile.
Chorus
Love turns back toward the lover, unkindness brings evil return. It is for
no good deed or good purpose that you bring back a sorrow among us, our sorrows
mount up without end.
Apparition
The woman is hateful! I cannot keep back my blows.
[ She strikes. ]
Miko
No. You are a princess of Rokujo! How can you do such things? Give over.
Give over.
Apparition
I cannot. However much you might pray. [ Reflectively, as if detached from
her action, and describing it. ]
So she went toward the pillow, and struck. Struck.
Miko
Then standing up -- mdash;
Apparition
This hate is only repayment
Miko
The flame of jealousy -- mdash;
Apparition
-- mdash; will turn on one's own hand and burn.
Miko
Do you not ...
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