Page:The Spirit of Japanese Poetry (Noguchi).djvu/71

Rh, indeed, like the Mountain Elf, who, it is said, spends all the dark night circling round the mountain. That mountain is a symbol of life itself. The plot grows intense at the point where enters a famous dancer called Hyakuma Yama Uba, a woman who has earned such a name from her dancing of the Mountain Elf circling round the mountain. She has lost her way in Kagero no Yama, or the Hill of Shadow, in a pilgrimage toward Zenkoji, the Holy Buddhist Temple; and here she meets the real Elf or Yama Uba, with large star-like eyes and fearful snow-white hair, who demonstrates to her the way how she encircles the mountain, nay the mountain of Life. The play ends as may be expected of this No play; after making her prayer to the Elf, the dancer disappears over mountains and mountains, as her life’s cloud of perplexity is now cleared away, and the dusts of transmigration are well swept. This little play would certainly make a splendid subject for a modern interpretation. For some long while my mind dwelt on it, wishing to write something. And also a play called “Morning-Glory” is interesting; the flower, in the play, cannot enter Nirvana on account of her short life of only one morning, and her jealousies that burn on seeing the other flowers who enjoy a longer life. However, her ghost will disappear with satisfaction when she listens to a sermon from the