Eguchi

江口 The Courtesan Eguchi

1 Source and/or Related Material

New Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems, Poems of a Mountain Home, Stories of Ancient Matters

2 Author

Zeami, kuri sashi kuse by Kannami

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

Traveling monks (waki, wakitsure) visit the village of Eguchi (present-day Osaka) at the lower stream of the Yodo River. A local (ai) shows them a pile of stones marking the grave of the courtesan Lady Eguchi. Having learned about the famous site, one of the monks recalls a poem which the priest Saigyō once composed for Lady Eguchi when he asked her for a night’s lodging. Thereupon a local woman (maeshite) appears and tells about the poem which the courtesan composed in reply and the reason why she refused Saigyō lodging. Finally, she reveals that she is in fact the ghost of Lady Eguchi, then disappears. After that, the villager explains the story of Lady Eguchi in plain language, and the priest chants sutras for her. In the moonlight the ghost of Lady Eguchi (nochishite) appears on a roofed pleasure boat, accompanied by courtesans (tsure) who sing a lament for their fleeting and vain existence. When Lady Eguchi dances, she transforms into the Bodhisattva Fugen, and her boat changes into Fugen’s white elephant and floats into the western sky.