能のあらすじ・見どころ Summary and Highlights of Noh Matsumushi English
Summary
In the Abeno market of Settsu Province (present-day Osaka), a merchant (waki) sells sake.
Recently, mysterious customers have come by, so today he decides to ask their names.
A man (shite) and his friends (tsure) arrive together. They drink sake and say that unchanging friendship is life’s true treasure. The man remarks, “When I hear the song of the matsumushi (pine crickets: play of word with “pine,” as in the emotion of yearning), I remember a friend that is gone.” The merchant asks why, and the man tells this story:
Long ago, two friends walked in Abeno’s pine groves when they heard pine crickets. One followed the sound into the fields and never returned. The other, worried, searched and found his friend dead on the grass.
Then, he reveals that he himself is that man that was left behind, appearing now because the cricket’s cry makes him mourn his lost companion. Having said this, he vanishes.
A villager (ai) tells the merchant the same tale of the two friends. The merchant decides to hold a memorial. Then, the spirit of the man (shite) appears, thanking him. The spirit recalls days with his friend, tells anecdotes of sake, and dances in praise of sake and friendship. Finally, he dances again, mourning his lost companion and delighting in the crickets’ song.
As dawn approaches, the ghost bids farewell and disappears, leaving only the sound of autumn insects.
Highlights
The noh play Matsumushi is based on the legend derived from the Kokin Wakashū’s kana preface: “Remembering a friend of long ago at the sound of the pine cricket.”
But rather than dramatizing the tale itself, the play is set as an after-story: the man’s ghost appears, remembering his dead friend and dancing in his memory.
Unlike many restless spirits in noh, this ghost does not lament torment or obsession. Instead, he recalls drinking sake, enjoying scenery, music, and dance with his companion, while savoring the sound of insects – the essence of the piece.
The chant also refers to Chinese traditions: the kyokusui no en (meandering stream banquets in which participants would drink sake and compose poetry), Bai Juyi’s poems on sake, the jido legend of chrysanthemum sake that made him immortal, and the story of the Three Laughers of the Tiger Brook. All express the virtue of sake (or Chinese wine) and the joy of convivial drinking, emphasizing the theme of “unchanging, true friendship.”
The merchant (waki) and the man (shite) bond not only by sharing sake but also by invoking the Ashikari legend of the bond between a couple that reunited at the Naniwa Bay. This famous tale deepens their sense of shared fellowship, while hinting at the strength of the shite’s bond with his lost friend.
In classical texts, matsumushi, literally “pine cricket,” refers to what is now known as the suzumushi (bell-cricket). In this play, its song is chanted using the onomatopea of “rin-rin” like a bell sound. At the end, the voices of autumn insects are described with other onomatopea like kirihatarichō and tsuzurisatechō, a highlight for both ear and imagination.
Some lines of Matsumushi also appear in the short chant anthology Shiki Shūgen (“Seasonal Congratulations”), in the section “Ninth Day of the Ninth Month.” The play is often attributed to Zeami, but some suggest it may have been composed by Konparu Zenchiku, Zeami’s son-in-law and head of the Konparu troupe.