Script Analysis

Description: 

Atsumori (敦盛) is a Japanese Noh play by Zeami Motokiyo which focuses on Taira no Atsumori, a young samurai who was killed during the Genpei War, and his killer, Kumagai Naozane. Atsumori's death is portrayed tragically in the Heike monogatari (Tale of the Heike), from which this and many other works stem.

Author:

Zeami Motokiyo (世阿弥 元清) (c. 1363 - c. 1443), also referred to as Kanze Motokiyo (観世 元清), was a Japanese aesthetician, actor, and playwright. Zeami mixed a variety of classical and modern themes into his writing, and made use of Japanese and Chinese traditions. He incorporated numerous themes of Zen Buddhism into his works, resulting in commentors debating the true extent of Zeami's personal interest in Zen. The exact number of plays that Zeami wrote is unknown, but the number is likely to be between 30 and 50. Zeami wrote many treatises about Noh, discussing the philosophy of performance; these treatises are the oldest known works on the philosophy of drama in Japanese literature, but did not begin to see circulation until the 20th-century.

Characters:

SHITE, in act 1, a grass cutter without a mask; in act 2, the masked ghost of Atsumori

COMPANIONS, two or three other maskless grass cutters

WAKI, Renshō (or Rensei), the priestly name of Kumagae (or Kumagai) no Jirō Naozane, the man who killed Atsumori in battle

KYŌGEN, a local man

CHORUS of eight or ten members seated at stage left

Musicians with a flute and two hand drums seated at the back of the stage

Two attendants seated at the back of the stage, stage right of instruments

Plot:

The Noh play takes place some years after the events of the Genpei War. It is an example of the dream or mugen genre of Noh, although it differs slightly in that the ghost tends to be unrelated to the individual who sees it. The ghost of Atsumori, who is disguised as a grass cutter, takes on the shite role, and Kumagai, having become a monk and changed his name to Renshō, is played by the waki.

The play begins with Renshō's arrival at Ich-no-Tani, also known as Suma, a location that is featured rather prominently in a number of classical texts, and therefore bears many layers of significance within the Noh; many references are made throughout the play to other events that took place there, specifically those of the Genji monogatari and Ise monogatari. The monk (Renshō) seeks to ask forgiveness from Atsumori so that he can calm his spirit, and when arriving meets a flute-playing youth and his companions; he speaks with them very briefly about fluting and Atsumori before the youth reveals that he has a connection to Atsumori, and the first act ends.

Between the two acts of Atsumori (敦盛) there is a kyōgen interlude, in which a kyōgen performer, playing an anonymous villager, speaks with Renshō and gives the audience insight into the backstory that led up to the events of the play.

The second act begins as the first one ended, with Renshō reciting prayers for Atsumori, who now makes his first true appearance within the play. The actor who played the youth in the first act has now changed their costume and plays Atsumori; this being a very common device that is used in most standard Noh plays, as well as it being implied earlier on in the play that youth was Atsumori's ghost in disguise. Atsumori then begins to relate his tragic story from his perspective, re-enacting it in the form of dance. The play then swiftly ends with Renshō refusing to re-enact his role in Atsumori's death; the ghost then declares that Renshō is no longer his enemy, and asks that the monk pray for his release, having been tied to the mortal realm by the emotional power of his death.

Play Structure:

Atsumori (敦盛) is short in length and set up in a somewhat non-linear structure, where the play utilizes what is referred to as a kyōgen interlude to give the audiene insight into the events that led up to the play. Kyōgen (狂言, "mad words" or "wild speech") is a form of traditional Japanese comic theatre, and was developed alongside Noh; often being performed along with Noh as an intermission of sorts between two acts on the same stage. During the interlude of Atsumori, a kyōgen performer, playing an anonymous villager, speaks with Renshō and relates to the audience the background of the story of Atsumori, Kumagai, and the Battle of Ich-no-tani.

Language & Themes:

Due to Zeami Motokiyo's upbringing, he was introduced to Noh theatre performance by his father, Kan'ami Kiyotsugu, at a realitively young age (Kan'ami was the founder of what we know today as Noh theatre); this is shown through the language and themes that are displayed throughout the play, as well as Zeami's other works. Overall, Atsumori is a play about how once hollistic understanding of the past is achieved, a space for forgiveness of oneself or others becomes avaliable.

Time Comparison:

Compared to other pieces of Japanese dance-drama (能, Nō), Atsumori beautifully reflects many of the themes and practices present throughout the dramatic works that existed at the same time of its creation. Noh often being based on tales from traditional literature with a supernatural being taking on a human form to act as a hero narrating a story; integrating masks, costumes, and various props in a dance-based performance. Atsumori does all of these things, making it a perfect example of Japanese theatre for the time.