能のあらすじ・見どころ Summary and Highlights of Noh Natori no rōjo (The old woman of Natori) English
Summary
A mountain ascetic (yamabushi) seeks permission at the Kumano Grand Shrine, in the mountains south of the capital, permission to go on a journey to Matsushima and Hiraizumi in the northeastern province of Mutsu. He experiences a mysterious dream related to an old woman in the Natori Village. He then travels to the village of Natori in Mutsu and encounters an old woman and her granddaughter. The priest conveys to the old woman the content of his dream: he is to deliver a leaf of the nagi plant (also known as Asian bayberry) marked with wormholes which appear to be forming a poem, a message from the Deity of Kumano Shrine. The poem says, "As the years pass and I grow old, distant from Kumano, remember me, and I too shall not forget." Hearing this, the old woman sheds tears of joy. She reveals that she is the one who worships the Kumano Deity here, in the distant shrine of Natori, then she explains that various locations around this area represent the three sites of worship of the Kumano in Central Japan, from where the priest is coming.
Then, urged by her granddaughter, the old woman narrates the origin of the Kumano Deity. In the kingdom of Magadha in India, a king with a thousand wives realized that only his youngest could become pregnant. Out of jealousy, the other wives have her beheaded, but miraculously, her body did not decay, and she gave birth to a prince who revived her. After this event, the king left India for Japan, and became the Kumano Deity.
After sharing this story, the old woman performs a ceremonial dance with a ritual wand. Then, a guardian deity serving Kumano Gongen appears and caresses the old woman’s head. This miraculous event deeply moves her, and the guardian deity conveys the Kumano Deity’s promise to fulfill all her wishes.
Highlights
Natori no rōjo is a Nō play based on the legend of a woman who worshipped the Kumano Deity (originally enshrined at Kumano Shrine in central Japan) in the village of Natori in Mutsu (northeastern Japan). Records show that in 1464, during the Tadasugawara Funding Nō performance, the famous actor On’ami, nephew of Zeami, performed the play under the title Goō. In 2016, the National Noh Theatre restored the play as Natori no rōjo (supervised by Oda Sachiko and Kobayashi Kenji), based on the oldest script from the Kanze school, written by Kanze Motoyori. Since then, performances have been repeated.
The Kumano Shrine complex, located in the Kii Province (today's Wakayama Prefecture), consists of three main worship sites: Hongū, Shingū, and the Nachi Falls. This temple expresses the religious syncretism of ancient Japan, in which there was no distinction between Buddhas and Shintō deities. In the medieval era, Natori was known as a place of worship for the Kumano Deity.
In the middle of the play, the old woman educates the priest about Natori, comparing it to Kumano in the “Famous Places Teaching” scene, where she lists the place names and sceneries of Natori.
Traditionally, mountain worship was prohibited for women. However, the Kumano Deity, known for protecting women, children, and other socially vulnerable individuals, permitted their worship. This is reflected in the main character of the play being a woman. The plot is centered around an anecdote where a divine poem appears as wormholes on a nagi leaf. Nagi was a sacred tree in Kumano, and its leaves were used as talismans. A highlight of the play is the old woman's hōgaku dance, intended to entertain the gods, different from other dances about old women, radiating lively brightness. The play concludes with the appearance of a guardian deity, who blesses the old woman, ending on a celebratory note.