Sotoba Komachi

Sotoba Komachi (卒塔婆小町) is one of the stories in Five Modern Noh Plays by Yukio Mishima. The original work was written by Kanami and was later reworked by Mishima Yukio for modern theatre. The kanji 卒塔婆 means stupa and小町 is the synonym of belle or beautiful woman. The story was written in 1952 and published in 1956. It is translated by a Japanese literature expert Donald Keene into English in 1957. Sotoba Komachi is the third story of The Five Modern Noh Plays.

In relation to Sotoba Komachi by Kanami

The original work, Sotoba Komachi written by Kan'ami, was originally a conversation between two priests and a 99-year-old lady at a Buddhist shrine. She later admits that she is Ono no Komachi (one of the six great waka poets in Heian period). She is then possessed by Captain Fukakusa (one of Komachi’s suitors) angry spirit and confesses him visiting Komachi for 99 nights in order to earn her love but lacking one and dying in agony. Mishima reworked the story and borrowed the characters (the old lady and Captain Fukakusa) from Kanami’s Sotoba Komachi.

Plot

Mishima reset the story in a 1950s urban park. At the beginning of the story, five couples were sitting on the benches and embracing. A 99-year-old lady appeared in the scene and was questioned by a drunk poet, who was sitting alone observing her actions. They started a conversation and the old lady later confessed that she was once a beautiful woman when she was young and was admired by Captain Fukakusa. Suddenly the poet found themselves in the Rokumei Hall, a ballroom where many splendid-looking ladies and gentlemen were dancing. Everyone in the ball room were amazed by the beauty of the old lady (whom they recognized as the beautiful Komachi). The poet was surprised that the old, ugly and wrinkled woman became this beautiful young lady and fell in love with her. Not knowing the fact that all men who complimented Komachi’s beauty would die, he was not able to stop his affection towards her and spoke the taboo words. His last words before he died were ““I will meet you again, I am sure, in a hundred years, at the same place.”.Everything was back to reality again and the corpse was carried away by the policeman.

Plays

Sotoba Komachi is one of the most popular plays among The Five Modern Noh Plays. The play has been performed in different countries other than Japan such as United States, Malaysia, and France etc. A series of DVD adapted from The Five Modern Noh Plays is released to celebrate Mishima’s 90th birthday. Both Sotoba Komachi and Aoi no Ue are released on October 31, 2013. This is the first time for The Five Modern Noh Plays to be adapted in video format.