Ikuta Atsumori sometimes known simply as Ikuta, is one of many 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 derived from the story of Taira no Atsumori

Taira no Atsumori

' was a samurai famous for his early death in single combat. At the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani, Atsumori engaged Kumagai Naozane, an ally of the Minamoto, and was killed. Kumagai had a son the same age as Atsumori...

, a young Taira clan

Taira clan

The was a major Japanese clan of samurai in historical Japan.In reference to Japanese history, along with Minamoto, Taira was a hereditary clan name bestowed by the emperors of the Heian Period to certain ex-members of the imperial family when they became subjects...

 samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 who was killed in the 1184 battle of Ichi-no-Tani

Battle of Ichi-no-Tani

' was a Taira fortress at Suma, to the west of present-day Kobe. It sat on a very narrow strip of shore, between mountains on the north, and the sea to the south. This made it quite defensible, but also made it difficult to maneuver troops inside the fortress. Minamoto no Yoshitsune split his force...

. Taking place largely at Ikuta Shrine

Ikuta Shrine

' is a Shinto shrine in the Chūō Ward of Kobe, Japan, and is possibly among the oldest shrines in the country.According to Nihon Shoki, it was founded by the Empress Jingū at the beginning of the 3rd century AD to enshrine the kami Wakahirume, and was used as the base for a festival welcoming...

, near the scene of the battle, it centers on Atsumori's fictional son, who seeks to meet his father's ghost.

Plot summary

A monk opens the play, introducing himself as a disciple of famous priest Hōnen Shōnin

Honen Shonin

is the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called . In the related Jōdo Shinshū sect, he is considered the Seventh Patriarch. Hōnen became a monk of the Tendai sect at an early age, but grew disaffected, and sought an approach to Buddhism...

, and explaining how Hōnen once found a baby boy in a box at the Kamo Shrine

Kamo Shrine

is a general term for an important Shinto sanctuary complex on both banks of the Kamo River in northeast Kyoto. It is centered on two shrines. The two shrines, an upper and a lower, lie in a corner of the old capital which was known as the due to traditional geomancy beliefs that the north-east...

 in Kyoto. The monk says that Hōnen raised the boy, and, that many years later, a young woman came forth revealing herself to be the boy's mother, and explaining that his father was Taira no Atsumori

Taira no Atsumori

' was a samurai famous for his early death in single combat. At the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani, Atsumori engaged Kumagai Naozane, an ally of the Minamoto, and was killed. Kumagai had a son the same age as Atsumori...

. As the boy now longed to see his father's face, Hōnen suggested that he should go to Kamo and pray there for a week.

The monk concludes his introduction by explaining that this is the last day of that week, and that he has come with the boy to Kamo once again, to pray. The boy then tells the monk that he had a dream while praying, in which a voice told him to go to Ikuta Shrine in order to see his father.

Traveling to Ikuta, the pair come upon a small hut, where they decide to ask to spend the night. The man in the hut explains that he is the ghost of Atsumori. Through the intervention of the Kamo kami

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

, Atsumori explains, he has been granted by Yama

Yama

Yama , also known as Yamarāja in India and Nepal, Shinje in Tibet, Yanluowang or simply Yan in China, Yeomla Daewang in South Korea and Enma Dai-Ō in Japan, is the lord of death, in Hinduism and then adopted into Buddhism and then further into Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. First...

, the lord of death, a brief opportunity to appear here in the mortal world, to meet his son. He regales his son with the tale of the battle of Ichi-no-tani, in which he was killed. A messenger of Yama then appears, and takes Atsumori with him, back to the realm of the shura

Asura (Buddhism)

Asura in Buddhism is the name of the lowest ranks of the deities or demigods of the Kāmadhātu.-Origins and etymology:...

, the hell of constant battle.

Subtext of play

The play expresses the pain in loss of war. When the late father Atsumori, describes his son, he talks about him with such joy. He uses simele to compare his son to a flower. He compares his son to an earthly object in order to allow audiences to feel privileged that they lived in a generation in which they could feel grateful that they weren't in war.

The play also goes on to detail Atsumori's decent, after being briefly reconnected with his son, back into the realm of Shuma, a realm of constant battle. This further warns against the consequence and sadness of war.

See also

• Heike monogatari - classical epic relating the events on which this and many other works have been derived.
• Atsumori (play)
  Atsumori (play)
  ' is a Japanese Noh play by Zeami Motokiyo which focuses on Taira no Atsumori, a young samurai who was killed in the Genpei War, and his killer, Kumagai Naozane...
  
  - another Noh play centering on Atsumori.