Bashō

芭蕉 The Plantain Tree

1 Source and/or Related Material

Lotus Sutra, Vimalakīrti Sutra

2 Author

Komparu Zenchiku

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

The story is set in ancient China, by the river Xiang in the land of Chu. A monk (waki), living secluded in a mountain temple retreat, reads the Lotus Sutra every night. He feels that someone is coming to listen to his chanting and decides to find out who it could be. It turns out to be a woman (maeshite), who comes every night to pray. In reply to the woman’s questions about the Sutra, the monk explains the Buddhist doctrine about the salvation of non-sentient beings such as plants. When the temple bell rings, the woman vanishes. The woman appears again at midnight as the spirit of the plantain tree (nochishite) in the temple garden. Mentioning the old lore about the leaves of the plantain tree looking unsightly when they’re broken by the wind, she compares the impermanence of the world with the leaves of the tree. As she performs a quiet dance (jo no mai), a storm rises, waking the monk from his dream.