Kurotsuka

黒塚 The Black Mound/The Moor of Adachi

1 Source and/or Related Material

Shūi Wakashū

2 Author

Unknown

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

Yūkei (waki), a mountain ascetic from Nachi (Wakayama), is on a pilgrimage across Japan accompanied by fellow ascetics (wakitsure) and a temple servant (ai). The group is passing over the moor of Adachigahara (Fukushima) in Mutsu Province. As the sun sets, they see a hut and ask the old woman (maeshite) there for lodging. At first, she refuses their request, but eventually she concedes. When Yūkei inquires about the woman’s spinning wheel, the woman begins spinning thread while lamenting her poverty and the impermanence of the world. The night is growing colder, so the woman goes out to the mountains behind the house to gather firewood for the group, making them promise not to look into her bedroom while she is away. However, their servant is overcome with curiosity and peeks into the bedroom, where he finds a high pile of corpses. The mountain priests realize the woman is actually the ogre of Adachigahara and flee from the hut. The woman, enraged that her visitors have not kept their word, transforms into an ogre (nochishite) and pursues the priests. However, she is overwhelmed by the priests’ prayers and disappears.