Mutsura

六浦 Mutsura

1 Source and/or Related Material

Tōkoku wakashū 152

2 Author

Unknown

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

A monk from the capital (waki) and his disciples (wakitsure) arrive at Mutsura in Sagami Province (Kanagawa). There they visit the temple of Shyōmyōji, and the monks wonder at a maple tree whose leaves are still green, even though all the others have already changed their color. A local woman (maeshite) appears and tells the monks how long ago in the Kamakura period, the poet Reizei Tamesuke praised the beauty of that tree’s colors, and it stopped changing color ever since. The monk asks the woman who she is, to know so much, and she reveals that she is the spirit of the maple tree, then disappears. A villager (ai) tells the story again in plain speech, and the lead monk decides they will hold a midnight sutra reading there. When they do, the spirit of the maple tree (nochishite) appears, thanks them for the memorial service, and performs a dance. As morning breaks, she vanishes into thin air.