Hajitomi

半蔀 The Half-Size Lattice Shutter

1 Source and/or Related Material

“Yūgao” The Tale of Genji

2 Author

Naitō Tōzaemon

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

A monk (waki) from Unrin’in Temple (Kyoto) reads the Lotus Sutra in a Buddhist service for flowers given as altar offerings, suddenly a woman (maeshite) appears. She brings a white flower and explains that it is called yūgao. With the words that she used to live in the Gojō area, the woman gives hints to her true self and vanishes. Thereupon a man living close to the temple (ai) relates the love story of Hikaru Genji and Lady Yūgao which is depicted in the Genji monogatari. When the monk goes to Gojō, Yūgao’s ghost (nochishite) appears from a house with a half-size lattice shutter. In a narrative dance she relates how, at their first meeting, she presented a white flower to Prince Genji on her fan, and how their love began with her explaining him the flower’s name. Yūgao recollects a poem that Genji composed for her and finally, with the approach of dawn, disappears behind the lattice shutter.