Atsumori

   by Zeami

(ca. 1400)

   ZEAMI’s play Atsumori is the most anthologized and probably the most performed drama of medieval Japanese Nō theater. Like many Nō plays, Atsumori is based on an incident in classical Japanese literature— in this case the ninth chapter of The TALE OF THE HEIKE—in which the ghost of Atsumori, a 16-year-old warrior killed in battle, confronts his slayer years later, obsessed with revenge.

   Atsumori is what is known as a “warrior play”— one of five basic categories of Nō drama. In a warrior play, the protagonist (or shite) of the drama is the ghost of a warrior killed in battle. In warrior plays prior to Zeami, these ghosts were shown as suffering in a Buddhist afterlife where they cannot achieve transcendence, where they are still consumed by the frenzy of battle and passion for bloodshed, and continue to fight one another rather than finding peace. Zeami, whose plays were performed before a cultured courtly audience, altered the direction of the warrior play to reflect the kind of beauty and elegance appreciated by his patrons. The story of Atsumori was well known from the Tale of the Heike. Near the end of a battle at Ichono-tani on Suma Bay between the Heike and their archenemies, the Genji, the Heike are driven into the sea. But the young warrior Atsumori, more at home in the refined court setting of the capital than on the battlefield, has left his flute, and returns to retrieve it. But before he can escape, the battle-hardened Genji veteran Kumagai no Naozane engages him in battle. Having overcome Atsumori, Naozane removes his helmet and realizes the young Heike is only a boy of 16, about the age of his own son. After an internal struggle, Naozane kills the young warrior, knowing that his approaching comrades will do so in any case. Naozane then finds the flute, an emblem of noble refinement, under Atsumori’s armor. Unable to reconcile himself to the brutality of his act and the warrior’s way of life, Naozane rejects his warrior life and becomes a Buddhist priest. No doubt Zeami’s audience would have been familiar with this classic story. His play opens, as a warrior play conventionally does, with the entrance of the waki, or secondary actor, usually a monk or priest. In this case, the priest identifies himself as Naozane, now called Renshō.He reveals his remorse over killing Atsumori, and announces that he is on his way back to Icho-no-tani, scene of the battle, in order to pray for the dead boy. Atsumori himself (the shite or lead actor) now enters from the other direction.He is in the guise of a young grass cutter or reaper, and sings an entrance song that does not reveal his true identity.He plays the flute, which surprises Renshō, who did not ex-pect to find such courtly refinement in such a pastoral setting. The priest now questions the young reaper, who, as a sign of his emotional agitation, begins to dance. The disguised Atsumori now leaves the stage.

   Between the first and second acts of a Nō drama, an interlude occurs. In this case, a villager passes by and, in response to Renshō’s questioning, relates the “backstory” of the play—the familiar tale of Atsumori’s death. This intermission, as the audience considers it, leads into the climactic act of the play, the kyū. After Renshō sings a “waiting song” in which he expresses his desire to perform holy rites for Atsumori’s soul, the ghost of the boy enters again, this time in the garb of a warrior so that there can be no doubt about his identity. Now Atsumori rehearses his obsession with his death, the passion that will not allow him to achieve transcendence and enlightenment. The chorus, acting as an extension of his own mind, helps recite Atsumori’s thoughts as his frenzy forces him to dance again, reliving his final battle with Naozane. As the dance reaches its climax,Atsumori raises his sword to Renshō. But he ultimately sees in Renshō not an enemy but rather a Buddhist priest. He lets go of his passion, and as the play draws to a close, Atsumori asks Renshō to pray for him, and walks off, we assume to his salvation.

   What allows Atsumori to transcend the pattern of previous warrior plays is Zeami’s brilliant twist of making the priest not simply a random character but rather the ghost’s own killer. The confrontation is profound: Not only was Atsumori devastated by his violent death in the bloom of his youth, but Naozane, too, was emotionally scarred by the brutal act he was forced to commit. Both characters are tormented by their obsessions, and each realizes that he needs the help of the other to transcend that torment. In the end, Naozane is able to pray for the soul of the man he killed, and Atsumori is able to forgive the man who killed him.

   Bibliography

   ■ Hare, Thomas. Blenman. Zeami’s Style: The Noh Plays of Zeami Motokiyo. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1986.

   ■ Japanese Nō Dramas. Edited and translated by Royall Tyler. London: Penguin, 1992.

   ■ Rimerr, J. Thomas, and Yamazaki Masakazu, trans. On the Art of Nō Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984.

   ■ Terasaki, Etsuko. Figures of Desire: Wordplay, Spirit Possession, Fantasy, Madness, and Mourning in Japanese Noh Plays. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002.