Shunkan

俊寛 Shunkan

1 Source and/or Related Material

Tale of the Heike book 3, Gempei jōsuiki

2 Author

Unknown, but possibly Kanze Motomasa or Komparu Zenchiku

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

The daughter of Heike leader Kiyomori has just become pregnant with the Emperor’s first child, and so a general amnesty is declared to pray for a safe birth. A messenger (waki) bearing this news arrives on the island of Kikaigashima, where Monk Shunkan (shite), Captain Tamba Naritsune (tsure), and former Heike Minister of Security Yasuyori (tsure), have all been exiled for plotting to overthrow the Heike some years earlier. Naritsune and Yasuyori are just returning from a “pilgrimage” around the small island, modeled after the one to the three sacred mountains of Kumano, when Shunkan comes out to meet them, and the three share a toast with water, which they pretend is wine. Just then, a boatman (ai) brings a messenger onto the island. The messenger gives a letter of amnesty to Yasuyori to read, but Shunkan’s name is not written there. In grief, anger, and despair, Shunkan sees off the departing boat and is left alone on the island.