Yamanba
Mountain Dame(1934)Four Nō Plays, Sekibundō, Tokyo [EN]
- 16[THE MOUNTAIN DAME]
- 435An original drawing in water-colours, Yama Uba, the “old woman of the mountain,” foster-mother of Kintoki, seated in a reclining posture; on paper, oblong, unsigned, 16.
- 66-67Here we have one play called ” Yama Uba ” or “Mountain Elf ” ; the author, undoubtedly a learned priest, attempts to express by the play that we are souls much troubled in a maze of transmigration, indeed, like the Mountain Elf, who, it is said, spends all the dark night circling round the mountain.
- 66Here we have one play called “Yama Uba” or “Mountain Elf”;
- 67The plot grows intense at the point where enters a famous dancer called Hyakuma Yama Uba, a woman who has earned such a name from her dancing of the Mountain Elf circling round the mountain.
- 67and here she meets the real Elf or Yama Uba, with large star-like eyes and fearful snow-white hair, who demonstrates to her the way how she encircles the mountain, nay the mountain of Life.
- 62Yama-uba (The Mountain Demoness)
- 36-37In this group are included those in which supernatural beings such as oni (demon), tengu (goblin), kitsune (fox), sisi (lion) and syozyo (wine fairy appear and perform their special dances, as in Kurozuka (The Black Mound of the Adati Plain), Momizi-gari (The Maple Viewing), Ōe-yama (The Demon of Mt. Ōe), No-mori (The Field-keeping Demon), Kurama-tengu (The Hobgoblin of Mt. Kurama), Zegai (The Hobgoblin of China), Sessyō-seki (The Killing Stone of the Nasu Plain), Kokazi (The Sword-smith and the Fox-God), Yamanba (The Mountain Demoness), Nue (The Monkey Headed Monster), Tuti-gumo (The Cave Monster), Huna-Benkei (Benkei in the Boat), Kumasaka (Kumasaka the Chief Robber) and Syōkun (Wan Chao-chun Sacrificed).
- 229[YAMAUBA]
- 24 -25Hachinoki, Hashibenkei, Hо̄kazо̄, Dо̄jо̄ji, Tо̄ru, Okina, Kayoigomachi, Kantan, Kagekiyo, Yoroboshi, Tsuchigumo, Nakamitsu, Utо̄, Kurozuka, Kuzu, Kumasaka, Yamauba, Yо̄rо̄, Matsukaze, Funa-Benkei, Fujito, Kokaji, Aoino-ue, Ataka, Ama, Midare, Shichiki-ochi, Shakkyо̄, Shunkwan, Shо̄zon, Mochizuki, Sesshо̄seki, Semimaru, Sumidagawa – 35 in all.
- 32Besides, there are special masks for use in one play only, such as in ” Semimaru,” ” Atsumori,” ” Kagekiyo’ “Yamauba,” “Komachi,” etc.
- 41Lastly, we see the spirit of the Zen sect, of which we get glimpses in” Yamauba,” “Hokazo,” and “Sotoba Komachi.”
- 41“Yamauba” is said to have been written by the Zen priest Ikkyu.