Hyper Noh "Nagasunehiko"
~Sad National Foundation Day~
Thank you for coming.
We look forward to seeing you again.
●About the work
Nagasunehiko, who ruled from Ikoma in Nara and was Jimmu's greatest enemy, was defeated by the betrayal of Nigihayahi. The day Jimmu defeated the people of Nara and proclaimed, "I built a palace in Kashihara and ruled the world," was considered the founding of Japan on the first day of the third month, the first day of the month of the Rooster, Hinoto. On July 20, 1873 (Meiji 6), Dajokan Order No. 258 designated Kigen-setsu as February 11th. Following that date, the name was changed to "National Foundation Day" in 1966 (Showa 41). Why was it okay for Jimmu to defeat the people of Nara and found a nation? Apparently, it was because Jimmu was a "god from heaven."
Is Jimmu a god?
A nation of people freed from oppression celebrates Independence Day. This story is told in the hope that Nagasunehiko will be resurrected, so that they may be freed from the days of resentment that marked the day they were conquered and enslaved, "National Foundation Day."
Now is the time for independence in my heart!
Makiko Sakurai
■ Original story and screenplay : Makiko Sakurai
■Staff/Cast
Shite (village woman, Nagasunehiko): Makiko Sakurai
Armpit (Ninsho): Yoshimatsu Akira
Accompaniment: Nakuro (modular), HIKO (drums), Toshiaki Komori (piano)
Costumes: Hideyo Nakahata
Design: Diminish Design Partners
Produced by: Maripla
■ Hyper Noh "Nagasunehiko" 2024 Performance Details
●Organizer: Sakuragiza
Date and time: February 11th (Sunday , national holiday) "National Foundation Day" Doors open at 5:30pm, performance begins at 6:00pm
●Venue: Nanahari
●Location: Oriental Building, basement, 2-7-1 Shinkawa, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
●Price: 3,000 yen in advance, 3,500 yen on the day
● Reservations and inquiries: Nanahari ( f@ftftftf.com ) / Makiko Club Secretariat (makikoclub2022@gmail.com)
●Reservation page: https://www.sakurai-makiko.com/blank-6/nagasunehiko-ticket
Makiko Sakurai
Shomyo and Shirabyoshi. He studied the Ryuteki flute under Shiba Sukeyasu and Tendai Ohara-ryu Shomyo under Nakayama Genshin. He began restoring Shirabyoshi in 1997 and has continued to perform for 20 years, including pieces such as "Bin Tatara," "Mizuzaru Kyoku," "Horaisan," and "Kaiho." Since 2007, he has presented original Noh pieces such as "Manhattan Oji," "The Old Woman on the Bridge," "The Minister on the Shore," and "The Tale of the Heike in Okinawa." Since 2019, he has presented hyper Noh pieces such as "Water Lilies," "The Throwing Stone," "Iris Crown," and "Nagasunehiko."
Akira Yoshimatsu
Chants and dance. Performs and directs his own works using Noh chants and dance. Appears in "Ura," "The Prostitute of Pattaya," "The Little Match Girl," "Urashima Taro," "Maria Yotsuya," "The Plague God," and other original Noh works by Sakurai Makiko. Active across borders, he performs on Noh stages, in concert halls, live music venues, on the streets, and on riverbanks. Overseas, he has performed in Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and South Korea with performances using Chants and dance.
Dororo
A musician active in Tokyo.
He plays rhythmic noise solo and keyboards in bands. He is a member of Gruppenribbon, Total Ponkotsu System, and Zothique (recording). He also works as a recording engineer.
Instant Crazy Drummer HIKO
He works part-time as a dishwasher, goes for walks, paints, and occasionally plays the drums in public, accompanied by biker gang members, dancers, calligraphers, martial artists, painters, and instrumentalists.
Toshiaki Komori
Composer/pianist. After graduating from the Tokyo University of the Arts, he majored in composition at the Graduate School of the same university. He also writes and translates on music education and the arts in general. He has won numerous awards and been selected for the Japan Symphony Foundation Composition Award and other prizes. He has performed both in Japan and overseas. He is a former lecturer at Toho Gakuen School of Music. He is a pianist with the improvisation group "Kukan Muwei" and a synthesizer player with the psychedelic ensemble "Jashumon." He has co-authored seven books.
Photo: Hiromichi Ugaya
Synopsis
Mae-shite (first part)
Nineteen-year-old Ninsho (1217-1303) is walking in search of Chikurin-ji Temple in Ikoma. He aspires to become a monk who works to help those suffering from illness. He resolves to perform the bodhisattva training by visiting the grave of Gyoki, who, during the Nara period (Nara), provided relief to the poor and, together with them, helped with flood control, bridge construction, and the construction of Todai-ji Temple. However, he gets lost and, at the shrine in Ikoma, finds a village woman who asks him for directions to Chikurin-ji Temple.
The village woman begins, "Why are you visiting Chikurinji Temple, a place no one knows about? This is a forgotten village. That is why Gyoki had mercy on us and rested in this village." However, the story goes back even further in time (she begins to talk about the past).
"We are the descendants of a sad people who were destroyed by the Emperor. I, the younger sister, was forced into a political marriage with our enemy, Nigihayahi no Mikoto. However, Nigihayahi no Mikoto betrayed us and killed my older brother, Nagasunehiko. We have the song of our village left to us," she says as she dances to the melody.
"Here rest Gyoki, my older brother Nagasunehiko who died even longer ago, and myself."
Ai Kyogen (Intermission)
The pianist acts as an ai-kyogen (commentator) and introduces songs from the Navajo, Hawaiian and Palestinian peoples whose countries were destroyed.
Go-Shite (Second Part)
Ninsho appears already deceased. "As I wished in my will, I am able to rest in Gyoki's Chikurinji Temple. No one visits this temple. No one knows that Gyoki helped the poor, or that I lived with those suffering from illness."
Then Nagasunehiko appears.
"This is the village where the last battle against the Yamato took place, and it has been oppressed by those in power. My descendants are not descendants of the Emperor. I would like to express my gratitude to Gyoki, Ninsho, and Ritsu for their mercy on us. The reason we live in poverty and hardship is because I was defeated by the Yamato."
People only write history books about those who seize power and win battles. They don't tell the stories of those who save the suffering and those who lose.
Why is this happening? Ninsho and Nagasunehiko talk to each other.
"Therefore, people do not care for the poor and the weak."
Ninsho tries to awaken once more, as a savior of the people, and Nagasunehiko, to fight alongside the oppressors. However, Nagasunehiko has forgotten his own words and songs. Then they hear the songs of Palestinians, Navajos, and Hawaiians, people who have lost their countries. Gaining strength from their words and songs, Nagasunehiko and Ninsho are given life again by the light of dawn. Nagasunehiko mounts his horse and gallops off into the light of dawn.
Script
<Mae-shite>
Waki: In search of traces of Gyoki and hoping to touch the heart of Manjusri Bodhisattva, he crossed the Tatsuta River and arrived at the Ikoma Shrine.
This is a monk from Shikinoshimo, Yamato Province. He has accomplished his bodhisattva training and is visiting the temple in the bamboo forest to visit Gyoki's grave.
Jiuta: As I cross the rapeseed fields, the murmuring of the Tatsuta River approaches, and Ikoma Mountain looms before me. Amid the expanse of brushwood trees, there is not a single soul on Ikoma. As the nightingale sings, I look up at the trees of the shrine.
Waki: The trees are unexpectedly thick, making it difficult to find the temple in the bamboo forest. Perhaps I'll get lost. However, this is a mountain path where no one walks. If I see anyone, I'll help them find the way.
Waki: A woman from the village of Nounousoko. Where is the temple in the bamboo forest? I had heard it was south of the Ikoma shrine, but I got lost in the deep woods.
Shite: Why did I have to visit the temple in the bamboo forest?
Waki: This is the sacred place where Gyoki, the incarnation of Manjusri Bodhisattva, rests. As a practitioner, I sought true enlightenment and the mind of a bodhisattva. I visited Gyoki's grave and performed the bodhisattva's practices.
Shite: A village secluded among five hundred Katsura rocks. A village surrounded by five hundred rocks.
It was a village where outsiders were hesitant to visit.
Waki: But surrounded by five hundred people, the saint will rest in peace.
Shite: Even the passing cicadas are quiet.
Waki: It must be a village full of mysteries.
Shite: Perhaps it was a battle handed down from ancient times.
Jiuta: Mount Ikoma, the Tatsuta River, this land is so peaceful. People gather here as their capital, and they come across without stopping.
Shite: I, the younger sister, was taken in marriage by the leader of the immigrants.
Jiuta: It was a quiet city of locals and immigrants. One day, a party from another place came over the mountains on horseback and fired arrows at us. My elder brother and his leader shot through the arrows.
Shite: As the sun and moon pass, the eldest son's younger brother appears again on horseback. When her husband marries him and entrusts him to her, he fires an arrow at her from behind, killing her.
Jiuta: The villagers were despised as the final enemies of Emperor Jimmu. The village became home to the poorest and most destitute, and so Manjusri Bodhisattva descended. The incarnation of the Bodhisattva obeys his will. Bodhisattva Gyoki slept in our village, calling it his final home.
Waki: When did the war begin?
Shite: No one knows what the past was like. Who knows whether that past existed or not?
"Yamato Dance"
Jiuta: In autumn, when horses are out and about, the fallen katsura leaves give off a fragrant fragrance. People gather at festivals, and the sound of flutes makes their hearts dance. Do you know that this is an ancient melody or not? Is the village dance the princess's dance? Who will tell the tale?
<Go-shite>
Waki: The moon rises above the swaying leaves of the bamboo grove. The moon rises above the swaying leaves of the bamboo grove. Manjusri Bodhisattva rides on a lion and descends to all living beings. Blue lotus, yellow lotus, white lotus - the bodhisattva's great compassion becomes light and illuminates the bamboo grove garden.
Namu Hojo Bosatsu Mahasattva
Having completed my life as a Bodhisattva, I rest under Gyoki's care. The monk who devoted himself to the Bodhisattva path is no longer with us. I have forgotten to observe the precepts of discipline, so where is the monk now? I am the spirit of the monk Ninsho.
Shite: Illuminated by the light of Manjusri, I gaze upon my nostalgic village. Illuminated by the light of Manjusri, I gaze upon my nostalgic village. The fragrant Katsura blossoms lure the moon man. You monks who lived with your descendants, suffering from hunger and disease, in poverty and destitution. We bow with reverence.
Although I was defeated in battle, the fate of the people was still a matter of karma. The burden of this was on Nagasunehiko.
Jiuta: How can people forget the incarnation of a bodhisattva? What they do not forget are stories of the achievements of virtuous people. How can people not remember their distant ancestors? What they do remember are stories of victorious people. Now is the time to unravel the cycle of cause and effect and let the light of Manjusri illuminate the souls of weak sentient beings.
Waki: The world is filled with poverty, hunger, and suffering, and we must awaken once again.
Shite: My people are not descendants of the Emperor.
Waki: We should encourage the Bodhisattva to seek salvation.
Shite: I drew my sword to cut off the arrows behind me.
Waki: Katsura, the abandoned villager
Shite: The deep green is filled with fragrance
Waki: I turn the rustling of bamboo leaves into music
Shite: But there are also stories of the horses of old.
Jiuta: I have forgotten the words and songs of Ouma Country and my heart is heavy with sadness. The breath of singing together with my people has been bestowed upon Nagasunehiko's soul.
<Navajo songs, Hawaiian songs, Palestinian songs>
"Yamato Dance"
Jiuta: The voices of the people who have lost their country reach Nagasunehiko. Blood surges in his soul and pulses, and his shadow floats in the dawn mist. The monks also float along, joining their hands as they await the dawn over Mt. Yata. As Nagasunehiko raises the sword he holds in his right hand, the light of the Tathagata reaches him. The shadow grows ever darker, and Nagasunehiko strides astride his horse, running through the sky of this world, running through the sky of this world.
Navajo Song: Peyote Song
Hawaiian Song: The Fragrance of Moonlight Flowers
Palestinian Song: Laila Laila