The Noh Plays of Japan by Arthur Waley

(Sixteenth Century?)

    KICHIJI
    We as travelers dressed—
Our weary feet upon the Eastern road
For many days must speed.
    I am Sanj ō no Kichiji. I have now amassed a great store of treasure and with my brother Kichiroku am going to take it down to the East. Ho! Kichiroku, let us get together our bundles and start now.
    KICHIROKU
    I am ready. Let us start at once.
    USHIWAKA
    Hie, you travelers! If you are going up-country, please take me with you.
    KICHIJI
    That is a small thing to ask. Certainly we would take you with us...but by the look of you, I fancy you must be an apprentice playing truant from your master. If that is so, I cannot take you.
    USHIWAKA
    I have neither father nor mother, and my master has turned me adrift. Please let me go with you.
    KICHIJI
    If that is so, I cannot any longer refuse to take you with me. (Describing his own action. )
    Then he offered the boy a broad-brimmed hat.
    USHIWAKA
    And Ushiwaka eagerly grasped it.
Today, he said, begins our troublous journey's toil.
    CHORUS (describing the journey and speaking for USHIWAKA )
    Past the creek of Awata, to Matsusaka,
    To the shore of Shinomiya I travel.
    Down the road to the barrier of Osaka walking behind pack-ponies,
    How long shall I serve in sadness these hucksters of gold?
    Here where once the blind harper * lay sorrowing
    On a cottage-bed, far away from the City,
    Thinking perhaps some such thoughts as I do now.
    We have passed the plain of Awazu. Over the long bridge of Seta
    The hoofs of our ponies clank.
    We cross the hill of Moru, where the evening dew
    Lies thick on country paths and, caught in the slanting light,
    Gleams on the under-leaves till suddenly night
    Comes on us and in darkness we approach
    The Mirror Inn.
    KICHIJI
    We have traveled so fast that we have already reached the Mirror Inn. Let us rest here for a little while.
    MESSENGER
    I am a servant in the Palace of Rokuhara. I have been sent to fetch back young Ushiwaka, Lord Yoshitomo's son, who has escaped from the Temple of Kurama. It is thought that he has taken service with the merchant Kichiji and has gone up-country with him; so they sent me to bring him back. Why, I believe that is he! But perhaps he is not alone. I cannot be sure. I had better go home and fetch help, for if I were one against many, how could I hope to take him?

    USHIWAKA
    I think it is about me that this messenger is speaking. I must not let him know me. I will cut my hair and wear an eboshi, * so that people may think I am an Eastern boy.
    (He goes to the curtain which separates the green-room from the entrance-passage. This represents for the moment the front of the hatmaker's shop. )
    May I come in? (The curtain is raised. )
    HATMAKER
    Who is it?
    USHIWAKA
    I have come to order an eboshi.
    HATMAKER
    An eboshi at this time of night? I will make you one tomorrow, if you like.
    USHIWAKA
    Please make it now. I am traveling in a hurry and cannot wait.
    HATMAKER
    Very well then; I will make it now. What size do you take?
    USHIWAKA
    Please give me an eboshi of the third size, folded to the left.
    HATMAKER
    I am afraid I cannot do that. They were worn folded to the left in the time of the Minamotos. But now that the Tairas rule the whole land it would not be possible to wear one folded so.
    USHIWAKA
    In spite of that I beg of you to make me one. There is a good reason for my asking.
    HATMAKER
    Well, as you are so young there cannot be much harm in your wearing it. I will make you one.
    (He begins to make the hat. )
    There is a fine story about these left-folded eboshi and the luck they bring. Shall I tell it you?
    USHIWAKA
    Yes, pray tell me the story.
    HATMAKER
    My grandfather lived at Karasu-maru in the Third Ward.
    It was the time when Hachimantar ō Yoshi-iye, having routed * the brothers Sadat ō and Munet ō , Came home in triumph to the Capital.
    And when he was summoned to the Emperor's Palace, he went first to my grandfather and ordered from him A left-folded eboshi for the Audience. And