S H 0 C H I K'U. " I,B A R AK I " (A Dance) I n One Act. by MOKUAMI. TOKYO TFEATRE, January (2-26) of Minamoto-Yorimitsu watanabe-no-tsuna,

Transcription

1 S H 0 C H I K'U. " I,B A R AK I " (A Dance) I n One Act. by MOKUAMI TOKYO TFEATRE, January (2-26) A subject of Minamoto-Yorimitsu watanabe-no-tsuna,. demon s-c u t arm in hi s man sionw ith some of his subjects - j, carefully guarding against the demon's intrusion Now Abe-Haruaki, the furtu ne-teller. t el s him that the demon wil l intrude his house to redeem its lost arm ' within a week. Six days passed and nothing occurred but on the seventh day Tsuna s aunt visits h im. He refused to meet her first but f i nally compli es with her request. As she insisted on seeing the demon s arm he opens the box. As soon as the box. is open she res u mes her true form of the demon Ibaraki and ret r i eving the arm dis- appears. Tsuna follows, tie demon in vain.

2 I B A R A K I Ugenta: I am the subje c t of Watanabe-Genj i, o n e o f th e Greatest Four of Yorim itsu-ason. M y lord has re c e n tly cut off the demon s arm at Rashomon, Kujo, but as Abeno-Haruak i, the for tu n e -te lle r warns h im to be on st r i c t guard against the demon for a week. I am here to encourage him. Are you th e re? Un&Gundo: Yes, sir. UN: By the order of my lord, Gun : W e have been guarding, Un&Gun : T h e g a t e s. Ugenta: I ap p reciate your watch very much. Six days have already passed now. I hope you w ill successfully fin is h the la s t day. Two: We w ill, s i r. Here Watanabe-no-Tsuna appears in f u ll dress. Watanabe-no- I w as here on duty the other day, when I had a quarrel with Yasumasa whether I could ki l l the demon or not. I went to Rashomon accordingl y and cut off the demon s arm. According to the kind advice of Haruaki, the fortune- te lle r I am on my guard against i t, for the demon might come any time to redeem the lo st arm during a week. W e have been successful six days, so don t lo se the la s t day. U: All rig h t, my lord. Tsuna : D on t allow a mouse to e n te r. Three : Yes, m y lord.

3 - 2 - Oh, a hard work. Here an old woman appears. but disguising its e lf in th e She, inn reality the dem on shape of woman announces th at she is Is u n a 's a u n t. ( i n s o lilo quy.) I have not se e n m y n e p h e w fo r a long tim e. I hurried my way here but it is alm o st d u sk n o w. I w ill go and see him. I say. U: (from in sid e) W ho is i t? I am Tsuna' s aunt, coming a ll th e way from Tsu province to see my nephew. P le a s e o p e n th e g a te h e re. U: I am very sorry to say but my lord cannot see anyone during a week. So I cannot open i t. Why can't you? U: I cannot t e l l i t you, but anyway you sh a ll not see him. Ma : Is n ' t Tsuna here? Why doesn t he welcome h is aunt who has come a ll the way to see him? W h y d o e s s h e d istu rb th e la s t d a y o f o u r g u a rd? I fe a r it. (But unw illing to turn her away unkindly, he approaches the gate and addresses h e re) O m y dear aunt I thank you for com ing all the w ay here. But I cannot show you in the gate. Why can 't y o u? It is an order of my lord. Your bravery is know a ll over Japan. Why do you fear a woman? Acc ording to the augary of Haruaki, I am firm ly determined not to l e t a mouse in t i l l a week has passed. Please come

4 1-3 - and see me tom orrow, w hen I shall be able to talk to you freely. Sh a ll I plead in vain? It cannot be helped. I d o n 't k n o w w h y b u t it's v e ry u n k in d o f y o u n o t to le t your aunt in. (She is re lu c ta n t to leave and sorrowfu lly whispers) However brave you may be, you can' t be called a true w arrior i f you 've no compassion at al l. I m no longer your aunt. (Tsuna, hearing her complaint and whisper makes up h is mind to m eet her and opens the gate.) Where is she? She mustn't be far away. Wait a moment aunt! Did you say, 'W a it'. It was very unkind of m e to have turned you away. Come on, I want to ta lk to you. Do you? Yes. R eally! (He takes her inside the gate and sat down to g e th e r.) I am glad to see you as strong as ever. The pleasure is mine. Thank you for coming a l l th e way. I t ' s ages since I saw you la s t so I've been so anxious to see you. But why do you lock your gate?

5 - 4 - As you know I cut off th e demon' s arm at Rash o-mon. But the f o r tune- t e lle r Abeno- Haruaki warns me to be on my guard against th e demon' s in tr u sion because i t will n e v e r f a i l to appear with in a week. R eally. That' s why I locked the gate to everyone. D id H aruaki tell you so? But you need not fear anything. By the way, where is the arm? Locked in a box. U: By the fortune- t e lle r ' s in s tru c tio n s, Two: We are Watching The box. Is th is the box? I have many things to t e l l you meeting you a fte r a long, sepa ra tio n. Prepare a d rin k! Un& Yes, my lord. U: Will you Two : H a v e a d rin k. Thank you. I like i t very much. Show her your dance. Otowaka. Otowaka: Yes. Oh, i t ' s a fine dance U: Excuse me, my dear lady. What i s i t?

6 - 5 - U: Wi l l you please dance in return congratulat ing your nephew on h is unprecedented e x p lo it? I did dance when young, but not now. I 'm an old woman now. W e have had nothing gay these six days. I pray you aunt, please show me your dance. I could declin e you noth in g. I l l dance. Thank you. Don ' t mention i t. (The demon in the disguise of a woman dances.) Three together: Wel1 done! Don 't f l a t t e r me. j You are as good as ev er. I was much moved by your s k ill. Ms: Wi l l you in turn t e l l me your brave s t ory when you cut off the demon s arm. It wi l l be a good s ouvenir to my country people. O yes, wi t h p leasure. Tell me here. Yes, aunt. I had a quarrel with Yasumasa about who could really be brave enough to encounter the demon which has been haunting Rashomon. I dashed th e re. Now I prepared to meet any demon. When suddenly f r om be h in d the dark grove. The thing stretched i t s arm and u p lifted me in the a ir. And in my struggle to land, I dropped my head-gear. W h at d id y o u th en?

7 - 6 - tsuna: I had a severe f ight with i t and in the darkness I succeeded in cutting off one of i t s arms. I t whispered in the dark a ir th at i t would co m e back again to take i t back and then disappeared. I took the arm to my lord who was so pleased wi th my exploit. I 'm very glad to hear t h a t. By the way, would you mind doing me a favour? Well, what i s i t? If i t lie s in my power.- Show me the a rm. The demon's arm? I've never seen a demon in m y life and I'm already on that side of six ty. I t l l be a good story to t e l l your parents a fte r I ' ve d ie d. I am s t r i c t l y warned by Har uaki never to open the Box t i l l the end of the week. But I l l open i t se cre tly to please you. I t 's very kind of you. I say, Ugenta, watch the back-gate le s t anything extraordinary should happen. Ugen ta: Yes, my lord. Now, come here aunt and look at the arm. How glad I am! Is th is the arm you cut off? (Wh il e lo oking at the arm in the box, she gradually re s u mes the demon s fo rm and suddenly grasping i t she dashes away. Tsuna follow s h e r.) U: How frig h te n d I a m! The aunt turned out a demon!

8 - 7 - It was the demon in disguise of a woman to get back i ts arm. Ot owaka: Since i t has gone with i t, anything wi l l happen any time. U: I want t o run away but my tremblin g l e g s c a n 't carry me away. If it reappears to do us hard, what shall we do? Oto: It w ill ea t me f i r s t. Then i t w ill eat you f a s t. Gun : Don' t jo ke! But the r e al demon. Comes down on a dark cloud. I t 's dark. Oto: And t e r r i bl e. Gun : Lend me your hand when we run away. O.K. (Now in the darkness they tremblingly f ee l about.) Three: Oto: Ouch! Demon? No, Gundo. I know you only by your voice, how can I go with you? L et's clap our hands. That' s a good idea. O.K. Three: Yoi, yoi, yoi. (The demon now in i t s true form reappears with i t s c u t-o ff a rm under i t s arm followed by Tsuna with a sword d r a w n.)

9 - 8 - I baraki : I am the Ibaraki - Doj i, who, on th e other night, was cut off my arm at Ra shomon. Then you are a notorious Ibaraki-D oji, a re n ' t you. (There is a fig h t but Ibaraki-Doj i successfully runs away with i ts arm.) Curtain F a lls.