Genji at Suma Bay (Suma Genji / 須磨源氏)

Program: Sakai Domonkai #205
Date: March 15, 2016
Venue: Hosho Noh Theater (Tokyo, Japan)

Story

This Noh play is often performed in the spring,
during the season of cherry blossoms.

Okinori Fujiwara, a high ranking official from Miyazaki Prefecture, and his followers are traveling to visit the Ise Shrine, and they decide to stop by Suma Bay on the way, to check out the cherry tree made famous by classic novel The Tale of Genji.  At Suma Bay, Fujiwara sees a poor elderly man crying in front of a cherry tree in full bloom.  The old man explains that this tree is in fact the famous cherry tree which Hikaru Genji (main character in The Tale of Genji) had planted, and starts talking about Genji's tale at Suma Bay:

Genji was a rising political star, but he was involved in a forbidden love affair with a girl he nicknamed Oborozukiyo (which means "spring night with a hazy moonlight" in reference to a poem she was reading when they met), who turned out to be a daughter of his political rival.  This love affair angered some important officials, and Genji was pressured to leave the capital and move out to a rural village by Suma Bay.  Separated from his lover as well as his beloved wife, Genji tried to ease the painful loneliness by planting a young cherry tree, in hopes to see cherry blossoms in the spring.

The old man advises Fujiwara to stay until the night, and that he will see Genji descend from the moon.  Fujiwara is convinced that this old man is Genji's incarnation, and decides to stay for the night.  At night, Genji's spirit appears along with music from the skies, revealing that he is a god who came down to save people.  (OK whatever.  Genji is a fictional character!)  In appreciation of the beautiful spring moon, Genji's spirit dances in joy, and disappears at dawn. 

My Comments

I almost fell sleep on this one.  I would not recommend it to beginner audience.  In the first act, the old man literally plopped down in the middle of the stage, and talked endlessly about Genji.  People in the audience were reading the transcript to follow the dialogue, but I did not get a copy (they had run out), so I had to listen to the old man's endless blabber without any idea what he was saying.

To appreciate this play,
you need to visualize this...

The second act was slightly better since Shite returned to stage as Genji and performed a dance in appreciation of the beauty of the moon.  This was nice, but it was still a bit dull because there was very little drama to the whole thing. 

According to internet resources, this Noh play is supposed to convey visual imagery of springtime beauty of the cherry blossoms (first act) and the spring moon (second act).  I think experienced audience would appreciate the imagery and the celebrative vibe of the play, but a beginner viewer like me would find this play to be quite uneventful.

The impressive thing was that the Shite was a female actress.  Interestingly, she was convincing both as the old man (first act) and as Genji (second act), though she was not forging a man's voice in either act.  I think it was the whole package consisting of her speaking style, movements and demeanor that made her convincing as the respective male characters.  I find that Noh actors/actresses have interesting impersonation techniques that are subtle and intriguing.

... and this...

I cannot find anyone on the internet saying this, so here it is, I said it first (maybe): My guess is that the author of this Noh play must have referenced Genji's joyful dance to celebrate the beautiful spring moon in relation to his love for Oborozukiyo.  My interpretation would make his dance so romantic, n'est-ce pas?

In any case, I would say this Noh play is definitely for experienced audience.

Photos courtesy of http://www.ashinari.com and http://www.beiz.jp