Mitsuyama

三山 The Three Mountains of Yamato

1 Source and/or Related Material

Man’yōshū Vol.1, poem by Emperor Tenji, legends of Ryōnin and the Yūzū Nembutsu

2 Author

Unknown

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Kongō

4 Synopsis

The founder of the Unity (Yūzū) Nembutsu school, Ryōnin (waki), goes to Yamato Province (Nara) to disseminate his simple, populist creed of solidarity in ecstatic prayer to Amida. There, he learns from a villager (ai) about the Three Mountains of Yamato which surround the old Fujiwara capital (Mt. Kagu, Mt. Miminashi, and Mt. Unebi), and decides to visit them. Just then a village woman (maeshite) appears and tells Ryōnin the story of a man called Kinnari, who lived by Mt. Kagu. He loved two women, Katsurago of Mt. Miminashi and Sakurago of Mt. Unebi. Eventually, Kinnari turned his heart to Sakurago, so Katsurago threw herself into a pond and died. The woman reveals to Ryōnin that she is Katsurago, then disappears into the pond. Hearing the story again from the villager in plain speech, Ryōnin decides to pray for Katsurago. Just then, Sakurago (nochitsure) appears, followed by Katsurago (nochishite). The women fight a duel with the branches of cherry (sakura) and katsura trees, but eventually they both reach nirvana through Ryōnin’s charismatic chanting.