Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy

Stanleigh Jones Jr.

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 1985
• ISBN:
  9780231515030
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy is a classic play from Japan's golden age of puppet theater. Written in the eighteenth century, it tells the tale of Sugawara no Michizane, a wronged scholar-official who, in death, joins the Shinto pantheon as a nurturer of scholarship and calligraphy. The story recounts Sugawara's entanglement with the powerful Fujiwara family, who accuse Sugawara of plotting against the emperor, resulting in his exile and death in 903. After a series of misfortunes befall those who conspired against him, Sugawara's enemies appease his spirit through deification. Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy centers on three archetypical brothers and their wives. Their fates unfold against the intrigues surrounding Sugawara and his foes, which reflect the cultural values of the Edo period woven into a stylized past. This annotated translation by Stanleigh H. Jones Jr. replicates the play's poetic and idiomatic language and its original mix of register while also clarifying the drama's complex story and dialogue for students of Japanese literature and drama. An introduction situates the play within its eighteenth-century context and ninth-century setting and describes the relationship between bunraku puppet theater and kabuki. A unique illustrated appendix delves into the construction of puppets and the art of puppetry.

ACT II

Scene 1. The Journey—Sweet Words Exchanged

(Rolling green hills appear in the distant background, with yellow rice fields and green dikes in the closer background. A river winds through the landscape at SR off toward a cluster of thatched farm houses. In the immediate foreground at both SR and SL small stands or blossoming cherry trees mingle with pines. On stage is Sakuramaru, disguised as a traveling seller of sweets. His stock of sweets is contained in two unpainted boxes attached to a pole he carries across his shoulder. A pale violet paper parasol is fixed to one of the boxes. The boxes are in reality the hiding places of Prince Tokiyo and Lady Kariya.)¹

SAKURAMARU: Here here, come children,

Come and buy, come and buy.

Candy birds have I,

Sweet birds made of candy.

And if that suits you not,

Then try rock candy, hard

And cracked off by the chisel.

Or sesame drops

To stop the mouths of crying children.

But, lo, there’s more: Hirano sweets,

And katsurame, the candy of Katsura Village,

Money candy from Nishinomiya.²

For these, go buy them where they’re made.

But as for me, come buy

The sugarplums of which I boast,

My round cherry sweets,

Cherry candy, sakura candy.

NARRATOR: Though to his wares he gives his name,

His face he hides with a scarf.

His clothing—cap and pants and sleeveless coat—

Are slight in weight, as slight his rank in life;

But loyalty lies heavy in the heart

Of this groomsman Sakuramaru.

Following what came to pass

Beside the Kamo River’s dancing wavelets,

Prince Tokiyo and Lady Kariya

Have been obliged to flee;

At length has Sakuramaru

Happened upon them.

For a day or two they may

Conceal themselves from their homes,

“But then what?” have they wondered.

Now have they set their minds

To seek aid from Lord Sugawara’s aunt.

No longer as a carriage groom

Does Sakuramaru attend them;

Now does he hide the noble pair,

One in each of the candy chests

He carries on a shoulder pole.

Shunning the eyes of an inconstant world,

The trio make their way to Haji village,

Hawking candy as they go.

Yet Sakuramaru’s care-worn heart

Is deeply troubled.

In the depths of night they leave the Capital,

And though they reach Fukakusa,

The inky road is hard to see.

At Gokō Shrine the day dawns,

And they hurry on their way,

Through Serikawa, on past Yodo.

Each time they pass beyond a town

They breathe more easily,

Feel free of prying eyes and wagging tongues.

At Iwashimizu³

Sakuramaru lowers his burden.

“Come out,” he says, and as he opens the cases,

The stately form of Lady Kariya

Comes forth. For a moment

In the morning sun,

She gazes about with rapture;

But around her, only unfamiliar peaks,

Obscure and unknown hamlets.

KARIYA: When I see such vistas as these, it is as though I have no cares at all. And you, my prince?

TOKIYO: I was just thinking the same thing. It was after we left the Capital that your father, Lord Sugawara, through some misunderstanding, was confined to his home. So, while I can’t be certain, I do feel that the time will come when you are forgiven. But me, I feel like the candy we sell: as the sweets are shielded by a parasol from the sun, so must I, an outcast, hide my face in a rush hat. Oh, will my fears all someday melt away and let me know peace?

SAKURAMARU: Things are not as bad as you may think. Your very concealment, with candy on top and my lord hiding beneath, is a lucky sign that you will soon rule this land.⁴

NARRATOR: Yet even more the Prince shrinks back, downcast.

Slowly they make their way

Along the slippery roads,

Across the ricefield footpaths.

The bracken along the way

Thrusts its stems beneath the hem

Of Lady Kariya’s robe,

Turning it outward to display

The pattern of its lining.

In the spring fields,

Now sweet scented by fragrance

From the noble lady’s gown,

Throng hosts of butterflies.

Should on her sleeve they light,

Dust from their wings might form

A powder for the lady’s face,

So long deprived of a mirror.

Here is the village of Kariya,⁵

The place perhaps from whence

Her name was drawn.

Now is the time for planting rice

In the seedling beds.

How rare to see for endless vistas

The handiwork of farmers.

Hearing the call of the cranes—

Those emblems of long life—

Returning to their nesting places,

The lovers recall the vows

Made in their sleeping chamber,

Vows their tender passions

Would for a thousand years

Remain unchanged.

From evening had they lain together,

Locked away from others,

Locked in each other’s embrace,

Sleeping through the night,

Unmindful that the moon might shine

Or that the sky be cast with clouds.

With the hand that grabs the pillow

I sleep, my sash undone.

I stand so deeply in your trust,

So deeply in your trust.

With the hand that g...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents 
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Dramatic Personae
• Prologue
• Act I
• Act II
• Act III
• Act IV
• Act V
• A Note on the Puppets
• Bibliography
• Illustrations