The Priest and the Willow
{{Short description|Japanese Noh play}}
{{Italic title}}
File:Yugyō yanagi.jpg from the series Nōgaku zue or Pictures of Noh Plays]]
{{nihongo|The Priest and the Willow|遊行柳|Yugyō yanagi}} is a Noh play based on the experiences of the 12th-century poet and travelling-monk Saigyō.L Zolbrod, Haiku Painting (Tokyo 1982) p. 14
Original kernel
Saigyō was travelling to North Japan, when he sat in the shade of a willow-tree, later identified by Bashō as being close to the village of Ashino,Basho, The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Penguin 1983) p. 105 and wrote a waka:
" ‘Just a brief stop,’/ I said when stepping off the road/into a willow's shade/where a bubbling stream flows by,/as has time since my ‘brief stop’ began".W LaFleur trans, Awesome Nightfall (Boston 2003) p. 143
Main theme
A wandering priest, Yugyō Shonin, is given directions by an old man who recites Saigyō's poem before vanishing: the priest then realises it was the spirit of the willow tree.[https://noh-sup.hinoki-shoten.co.jp/sh/53/en Summary and Highlights of Yugyō yanagi]
By reciting a prayer to Amida Buddha, he enables the spirit to attain Buddhahood, for which the willow spirit thanks him in a dance sequence.[https://noh-sup.hinoki-shoten.co.jp/sh/53/en Summary and Highlights of Yugyō yanagi]
Later developments
Buson wrote a haiku on rocks and willows underneath the Pilgrim's Willow Tree, alluding to the Noh play.L Zolbrod, Haiku Painting (Tokyo 1982) p. 12
See also
{{Commons category|遊行柳}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://hermitary.com/articles/saigyo-no.html Saigyo in three Japanese No plays]
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