Kanawa

鉄輪 The Iron Crown

1 Source and/or Related Material

“The Sword,” The Tale of the Heike

2 Author

Unknown

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

A priest (ai) of Kibune Shrine has been told in a dream to wait for a woman to come for a special midnight visit (ushi no koku mairi), and so he waits up. Sure enough, the woman (shite) arrives, muttering curses on her cheating husband. The priest tells her about the oracle he received in his dream: “If she bears a grudge, wears a red robe, paints her face red, wears a red-hot iron pot-stand on her head, she will turn into an ogre (oni).” As dark clouds gather and the woman sets off back home, her hair stands on end, and she begins transforming into an ogre. Meanwhile, her husband (wakitsure), who has been suffering from nightmares, visits the famous yin-yang wizard Abe no Seimei (waki). Seimei informs him that his life is in danger. At the husband’s panicked request, Seimei sets up an altar and starts casting a spell. Sure enough, the woman appears, now fully turned into an ogre (nochishite). She expresses her resentment at her abandonment, then charges at her husband beating a voodoo doll representing his other woman. Just then, the Thirty Guardian Gods of the Lotus attack her, and she weakens and fades away.