Nue

鵺 Nightbird

1 Source and/or Related Material

“The Nightbird,” Tale of the Heike book 4

2 Author

Zeami

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

A travelling monk (waki) arrives at the village of Ashiya in the country of Settsu (Hyogo) and asks a local (ai) for a night’s lodging, but he refuses, saying it is against the rules around here. The monk decides to stay in a small chapel built on a sandbank in the middle of the river. In the wee hours of the night, a ferryman (maeshite) appears riding a dugout canoe. The ferryman asks the monk to pray for him, explaining that he is the ghost of the monstrous, sphynx-like Nightbird that was slain by the hero Minamoto no Yorimasa under the reign of Emperor Konoe, and suddenly he disappears under the waves. The villager from before comes and repeats the story in plain speech. The monk chants sutras for the Nightbird, and sure enough it appears in his true form (nochishite) and describes his last moments, being shot by the human hero, loaded into a dugout canoe, and then dumped into the river. After one last plea for prayers, he sinks again into the sea.