Ikuta Atsumori

生田敦盛 Atsumori at Ikuta

1 Source and/or Related Material

Muromachi Period Tales “Little Atsumori", the story of Atsumori's son

2 Author

Komparu Zempō

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō

4 Synopsis

A servant (waki) of Hōnen, founder of the medieval Pure Land school, tells the story of a boy whom Hōnen has rescued: he found him abandoned at Kamo Shrine when he was two years old, and now he is ten. Recently, Hōnen was telling the child’s story during a sermon, when a woman then came forth claiming to be his mother. She revealed that the child is the son of Taira no Atsumori, the elegant Heike warrior who died at Ichi-no-tani. The boy (kokata) longs to see his father’s face, and so Hōnen’s servant is now taking the boy back to Kamo Shrine to pray. The boy receives a dream from the God of Kamo telling him to go to the woods of Ikuta in the country of Settsu (Hyogo), so the servant takes him there. The ghost of Atsumori (shite) in full armor emerges from a hut in the woods, and father and son are reunited. Atsumori tells of the rise and fall of the Heike clan and his own experience in battle. Father and son exchange expressions of affection and grief, and Atsumori performs a dance. Eventually, the surrounding scenery turns to the warrior hell, where we see that Atsumori has become an Ashura who eternally suffers the horrors of war. By and by, dawn brightens the sky, and a clear moon appears. Father and the son part in tears.