The world is all a dream, and he who wak...

The world is all a dream, and he who wakes

the world is all a dream, and he who wakes,

casting it from him, may yet know the real.

(Turns to audience )

You have before you one who in his time was Kumagai no Jiro Naozane, a warrior from Musashi Province. Now I have renounced the world, and Rensho is my name. It was I, you understand, who struck Atsumori down; and the great sorrow of this deed moved me to become the monk you see. Now I am setting out for Ichi-no-tani, to comfort Atsumori and guide his spirit toward enlightenment.

The wandering moon,

issuing from among the Ninefold Clouds,

issuing from among the Ninefold Clouds,

( Mimes walking .)

swings southward by Yodo and Yamazaki,

past Koya Pond and the lkuta River,

and Suma shore, loud with pounding waves,

to Ichi-no-tani, where I have arrived,

to Ichi-no-tani, where I have arrived.

Having come so swiftly, I have reached Ichinotani in the province of Settsu. Ah, the past returns to mind as though it were before me now. But what is this? I hear a flute from that upper field. I will wait for the player to come by and question him about what happened here.

Zeami, Atsumori. Trans. Royall Tyler.

Buddhistdoor: Atsumori