Plays - Suma Genji

Suma Genji

Characters

Shite, an old woodcutter, who is an apparition of the hero, Genji, as a sort of place-spirit, the spirit of the seashore at Suma.
Waki, Fujiwara, a priest with a hobby for folklore, who is visiting sacred places.
Second Shite, or the Shite in his second manner or apparition, Genji’s spirit appearing in a sort of glory of waves and moonlight.

Scene I

Waki	Announcing himself. I, Fujiwara no Okinori, Am come over the sea from Hiuga; I am a priest from the shinto temple at Miyazaki, And, as I lived far afield, I could not see the temple of the great god at Ise; And now I am a-mind to go thither, And am come to Suma, the seaboard. Here Genji lived, and here I shall see the young cherry, The tree that is so set in the tales⁠—
Shite	And I am a woodcutter of Suma. I fish in the twilight; By day I pack wood and make salt. Here is the mount of Suma. There is the tree, the young cherry.40 And you may be quite right about Genji’s having lived here. That blossom will flare in a moment.41
Waki	I must find out what that old man knows. To Shite. Sir, you seem very poor, and yet you neglect your road; you stop on your way home, just to look at a flower. Is that the tree of the stories?
Shite	I dare say I’m poor enough; but you don’t know much if you’re asking about that tree, “Is it the fine tree of Suma?”
Waki	Well, is it the tree? I’ve come on purpose to see it.
Shite	What! you really have come to see the cherry-blossom, and not to look at Mount Suma?
Waki	Yes; this is where Genji lived, and you are so old that you ought to know a lot of stories about him.
Chorus	Telling out Genji’s* thoughts.* If I tell over the days that are gone, My sleeves will wither.42 The past was at Kiritsubo; I went to the lovely cottage, my mother’s, But the emperor loved me. I was made esquire at twelve, with the hat. The soothsayers unrolled my glories.43 I was called Hikaru Genji. I was chujo in Hahakigi province. I was chujo in the land of the maple-feasting.44 At twenty-five I came to Suma, knowing all sorrow of seafare, having none to attend my dreams, no one to hear the old stories. Then I was recalled to the city. I passed from office to office. I was naidaijin in Miwotsukushi, I was dajodaijin in the lands of Otome, and daijotenno in Fuji no Uraba; for this I was called Hikam Kimi.
Waki	But tell me exactly where he lived. Tell me all that you know about him.
Shite	One can’t place the exact spot; he lived all along here by the waves. If you will wait for the moonlight you might see it all in a mist.
Chorus	He was in Suma in the old days⁠—
Shite	Stepping behind a screen or making some sign of departure, he completes the sentence of the chorus.⁠—but now in the aery heaven.
Chorus	To Waki. Wait and the moon will show him. That woodman is gone in the clouds.
Waki	That “woodman” was Genji himself, who was here talking live words. I will wait for the night. I will stay here to see what happens. Announcing his act.45 Then Fujiwara no Okinori lay down and heard the waves filled with music.

Scene II

Scene II begins with the appearance of the Second Shite, that is to say, a bright apparition of Genji in supernatural form.

Genji	How beautiful this sea is! When I trod the grass here I was called “Genji the gleaming,” and now from the vaulting heaven I reach down to set a magic on mortals. I sing of the moon in this shadow, here on this sea-marge of Suma. Here I will dance Sei-kai-ha, the blue dance of the sea waves. And then he begins to dance.
Chorus	Accompanying and describing the dance. The flower of waves-reflected Is on his white garment; That pattern covers the sleeve. The air is alive with flute-sounds, With the song of various pipes The land is a-quiver, And even the wild sea of Suma Is filled with resonant quiet. Moving in clouds and in rain, The dream overlaps with the real; There was a light out of heaven, There was a young man at the dance here; Surely it was Genji Hikaru, It was Genji Hikaru in spirit.
Genji	My name is known to the world; Here by the white waves was my dwelling; But I am come down out of sky To put my glamour on mortals.
Chorus	Gracious is the presence of Genji, It is like the feel of things at Suma.
Genji	Referring also to a change in the dance. The wind is abated.
Chorus	A thin cloud⁠—
Genji	—clings to the clear-blown sky. It seems like the springtime.
Chorus	He came down like Brahma, Indra, and the Four Kings visiting the abode of Devas and Men.46 He, the soul of the place.47 He, who seemed but a woodman, He flashed with the honoured colours, He the true-gleaming. Blue-grey is the garb they wear here, Blue-grey he fluttered in Suma; His sleeves were like the grey sea-waves; They moved with curious rustling, Like the noise of the restless waves, Like the bell of a country town ’Neath the nightfall.