Sakuragawa

桜川 Cherry Blossom River

1 Source and/or Related Material

Unknown

2 Author

Zeami

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

A slave trader (wakitsure) from the wild East comes to Hyūga Province in Kyūshū to deliver a great sum of money and a letter to the mother (maeshite) of a boy named Sakurako. When she opens the letter, she learns that her son has sold himself into slavery because he could not bear to see his mother suffering in poverty. The mother sets off immediately on a journey to find her son. One day, a monk (waki) of the temple of Isobedera in Hitachi Province (Ibaraki) comes to the river Sakuragawa for a cherry-blossom viewing party, with his subordinate monks (wakitsure) and a page boy (kokata) who recently became his disciple. The monks have a feast under flowers in full bloom. A local man (wakitsure) comes to report that a homeless woman (nochishite) has come to see them. She enters deranged and holding a skimming net, and begins to sing a sad song of her lost child, whom she named Sakurako after the cherry blossoms. She sings that she can see his face now on the surface of the river among the fallen flower petals, then dances madly around scooping up the petals with her net. Finally, the page boy comes forward to identify himself as Sakurako. Mother and the son are reunited and live happily ever after.