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Hagoromo (play)
Encyclopedia
is among the most-performed Japan
ese Noh
plays. It is an example of the traditional swan maiden motif
.
is quoted.
The authorship of the Noh play Hagoromo is unknown. The earliest references to the play in historical records date to 1524, which suggests that it was written well after Zeami's time.
A fisherman is walking with his companions at night when he finds the Hagoromo, the magical feather-mantle of a tennin
(an aerial spirit or celestial dancer) hanging on a bough. The tennin sees him taking it and demands its return—she cannot return to Heaven without it. The fisherman argues with her, and finally promises to return it, if she will show him her dance or part of it. She accepts his offer. The Chorus explains the dance as symbolic of the daily changes of the moon. The words about "three, five, and fifteen" refer to the number of nights in the moon's changes. In the finale, the tennin disappears like a mountain slowly hidden in mist.
drew extensively from the Hagoromo legend. Osamu Tezuka
based a short story in his Phoenix series
on the story of the Hagoromo, but with a sci-fi twist, featuring a time displaced human girl from the distant future instead of a tennin. Recently, the story was adapted into the manga
and anime series Ceres, The Celestial Legend.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
plays. It is an example of the traditional swan maiden motif
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
.
Sources and history
The earliest recorded version of the legend dates to the eighth century. The play however apparently combines two legends, one concerning the origins of the Suruga Dance (Suruga-mai) and another the descent of an angel onto Udo Beach. A parallel story may also be found in the 14th volume of the fifth-century Sou-shen chi. A poem by the 11th century poet NōinNoin
Nōin 能因 . Japanese poet and monk of the late Heian period. Lay name: Tachibana no Nagayasu 橘永愷. Along with Izumi Shikibu, Nōin is one of "Thirty-six Medieval Poetry Immortals" of waka poetry selected by Fujiwara no Norikane 藤原範兼 ....
is quoted.
The authorship of the Noh play Hagoromo is unknown. The earliest references to the play in historical records date to 1524, which suggests that it was written well after Zeami's time.
Plot
Tennin
Tennin , which may include tenshi , ten no tsukai and the specifically female tennyo are spiritual beings found in Japanese Buddhism that are similar to western angels, nymphs or fairies...
(an aerial spirit or celestial dancer) hanging on a bough. The tennin sees him taking it and demands its return—she cannot return to Heaven without it. The fisherman argues with her, and finally promises to return it, if she will show him her dance or part of it. She accepts his offer. The Chorus explains the dance as symbolic of the daily changes of the moon. The words about "three, five, and fifteen" refer to the number of nights in the moon's changes. In the finale, the tennin disappears like a mountain slowly hidden in mist.
Later adaptations
W.B. Yeats' At the Hawk's WellAt the Hawk's Well
At the Hawk's Well is a one act play by William Butler Yeats, first performed in 1916 and published in 1917. It is one of five plays by Yeats which are loosely based on the stories of Cuchulain the mythological hero of ancient Ulster...
drew extensively from the Hagoromo legend. Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
based a short story in his Phoenix series
Phoenix (manga)
is a manga series by Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka considered Phoenix his "life's work"; it consists of 12 books, each of which tells a separate, self-contained story and takes place in a different era. The plots go back and forth from the remote future to prehistoric times. The cycle remains unfinished...
on the story of the Hagoromo, but with a sci-fi twist, featuring a time displaced human girl from the distant future instead of a tennin. Recently, the story was adapted into the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and anime series Ceres, The Celestial Legend.
External links
- English translation of the Hagoromo Noh play by Arthur WaleyArthur WaleyArthur David Waley CH, CBE was an English orientalist and sinologist.-Life:Waley was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, as Arthur David Schloss, son of the economist David Frederick Schloss...
- English translation of the Hagoromo Noh play by Ezra PoundEzra PoundEzra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
- Hagoromo Noh play Photo Story and Story Paper