Sotoba Komachi

卒都婆小町 Komachi on the Stupa

1 Source and/or Related Material

Tamatsukuri komachi sōsuisho

2 Author

Kannami, revised by Zeami

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

A priest (waki) from Mt. Kōya and a disciple (wakitsure) are on their way to the capital when they encounter an old homeless woman (shite) sitting on a stupa. The priests, thinking this sacrilegious, tell the woman to sit somewhere else. She, however, skillfully argues against the priests using Buddhist doctrine and thus wins their respect. The priests ask her name, and she responds that she is the illustrious court lady and poet Ono no Komachi. Although in the past she was renowned for her intelligence and beauty, she is now a miserable beggar. Suddenly, she is possessed by the angry spirit of Captain Fukakusa, a suitor in whom she was not interested, but she promised to accept him if he could visit her one hundred nights in a row. Fukakusa came calling ninety-nine nights but died on the hundredth night, so his resentful spirit now haunts her, and now she endlessly relives the toils of all his fruitless visits. Finally, however, Komachi is able to cast away her attachments and achieve enlightenment.