Utō

善知鳥・烏頭 Birds of Sorrow

1 Source and/or Related Material

Setsuwa about utō birds, kimono sleeves as keepsakes

2 Author

Unknown

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

An ascetic (waki) from Tateyama (Toyama) is traveling around the countryside on his way to the farthest point of Japan, Soto-no-hama in the Northeast (Aomori). On a mountain trail, he meets the spirit of a hunter (maeshite) who died the previous year. The spirit asks the ascetic to visit his wife and child in Soto-no-hama and tell them to make a memorial offering of his sedge hat and raincoat. He tears off a sleeve of his kimono and gives it to him as evidence of their meeting. The ascetic visits the hunter’s wife (tsure) and child (kokata) in Soto-no-hama, gives them the sleeve, and tells them about the spirit he met in the mountains of Tateyama. The ascetic begins chanting sutras, and the hunter’s spirit (nochishite) appears. He has descended into hell for killing utō birds, seaside birds from Soto-no-hama that cry utō, and their young are said to cry yasukata in reply. The spirit tries to stroke his son Chiyodō’s hair but cannot. He describes how he is now tortured by strange birds in hell in retribution for his having killed many birds in life. He pleads for more prayers and disappears.