Visiting Historical Sites of Noh
no.5
OMINAMESHI
(Damsel Flower)
ominameshi(damsel flower)
blooming at the foot of Mt. Otokoyama(Man Mountain)
A priest from Kyushu(west part of Japan) begins his journey to the capital(Kyoto). He arrives at the foot of Mt. Otokoyama(Man Mountain) in the southern suburbs of the capital. He remembers that Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, standing at the top of Man Mountain, is related to his home shrine in Kyushu. he decides to visit the shrine. In his way to the shrine, he finds beautiful ominameshi(damsel flowers). When he tries to pick the flowers, comes an old flower guardian. He tells the priest not to pick the flowers. After having an argument with the priest, the old man finds that the priest knows very well about classical poems related to damsel flowers and allows him to pick the flowers. The old man guides him up to the shrine. At the top of the mountain, the priest asks the old man about the story of the damsel flower and Man Mountain. According to the old man, the tombs of the woman and man of the story are at the foot of the mountain. The old man takes him back down the mountain and shows him the tombs. The old man explains that the woman was from the capital and the man, Ono no Yorikaze, lived here on the mountain. The old man hints that he is the ghost of Ono no Yorikaze and vanishes.
When the priest prays for the soul of the woman and man, the ghosts of Ono no Yorikaze and the woman appears. They tells him about the story as follows:
Yorikaze lived here at the foot of Man Mountain and the woman in the capital. When Yorikaze visited the capital, they loved each other. But Yorikaze went out of the capital and never came back to the capital. The woman visited Man Mountain and found Yorikaze's house. When she asked his servants, they answered he was out at the top of the mountain. She thought that he had betrayed her. She threw herself into Hohjoh River(Life Releasing River) and died. When he came back down the mountain, he found her lifeless body floating in the river. He buried her body. Later a damsel flower grew up just where she was buried. Yorikaze thought that she changed into the flower, and drew near. But the flower bent away when he drew near. Tortured by guilt and sorrow, Yorikaze also threw himself into the river.
The last scenen of the Noh "Ominameshi" is Yorikaze's tornment in the Hell of Sword Trees, a hell reserved for those obsessed with passion. Tortured by his lost love, Yorikaze's ghost asks the priest to go on praying and fades out.
Otokoyama and Hohjoh River
Toms of Yorikaze and the woman
The Ominameshi Conference
Back to the First Page