Motomezuka

求塚 The Sought-for Grave

1 Source and/or Related Material

Man’yōshū 9:1801–2, 1809–11; Yamato monogatari 147

2 Author

Kannami, reworked by Zeami

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

Traveling priests (waki) and their companions (wakitsure) arrive at the village of Ikuta (Hyogo). They encounter some women (maeshite, maetsure) picking fresh herbs and ask them the location of the “sought-for grave” (motomezuka). Saying that they do not know anything about it, all the women leave except one, who tells them a story. There once was a maiden here in Ikuta called Unai, who was loved by two men. Unable to choose one of them, she drowned herself in a river. Hinting that she is in fact Unai, the young woman asks the monks for prayers and disappears into a nearby mound of earth. A villager (ai) enters and retells the story in plain speech. At the villager’s suggestion, the monks pray for Unai. Her ghost (nochishite) appears, shows the torments she is now suffering in hell, then vanishes again into the grave.