Yumi Yawata

弓八幡 The Bow of Hachiman Shrine

1 Source and/or Related Material

Unknown

2 Author

Zeami

3 Repertoire

Kanze, Hōshō, Komparu, Kongō, Kita

4 Synopsis

An envoy (waki) of Emperor GoUda, accompanied by attendants (wakitsure), comes to Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine on Mt. Otokoyama (Kyoto) to take part in a festival on the first day of the Second Month. Accompanied by a young man (tsure), an old man (maeshite) comes carrying a bow of mulberry wood in a brocade sheath and praising the scenery and the God of Hachiman Shrine. He explains that long ago, in the Age of the Gods, the realm was ruled with a mulberry bow and sagebrush arrows, and the storage of the bow and arrow in their sheath was a symbol of peace in ancient China during the Zhou dynasty as well. He says that he will offer the bow to the Emperor, and he has the young man hand it to the envoy, then tells of the origins of the bow and how the God Hachiman appeared at Usa in Buzen Province (Ōita), then at Iwashimizu, south of the capital. He reveals that he himself is Kawara, the God of a sub-chapel at Hachiman, and disappears. A man living at the foot of Otokoyama (ai) comes to tell of Hachiman and the peace of the realm in plain speech. Finally, otherworldly music and exquisite perfumes fill the air, as the God Kawara (nochishite) appears in his true form. Kawara blesses the imperial reign and performs a stately dance evoking the majesty of Hachiman.