Obasute

Noh piece. Third piece. Current piece of the five schools. However, Konparu school is a revival from the Showa era. Konparu and Kita schools write it as "Obasute". Written by Zeami. A man from the capital (waki) longs for the harvest moon in mid-autumn and climbs Mount Obasute in Shinano Province (Nagano Prefecture). A lonely middle-aged woman (mae shite, sometimes dressed as an old woman) appears and tells him that it is an old site where an old woman who was abandoned long ago wrote a poem: "Looking at the moon shining on Sarashina, Mount Obasute, where my heart cannot be comforted", and she disappears after announcing that she is the old woman and will return with the moonrise. When the moon is clear, an old woman in white robes (go shite) appears, praises the moon, recites a Buddhist sermon related to the moon, and dances quietly. When dawn breaks and the traveller leaves, the old woman is left alone in the mountains once again. The spirit of the old woman does not explicitly portray the sadness of being abandoned or the cruelty of her lonely death, but rather sublimates into a clear and beautiful presence like the fairy of the moon, which is the essence of Noh. The cruelty of the legend of the abandoned elderly is summarized in the villagers' story in the Aikyogen (a story about a man who, at the instigation of his wife, abandons his blind aunt, who he had raised like a mother, in the mountains). This is known as the Three Old Women, and is considered the most profound Noh play after "Sekidera Komachi" and "Higaki." It is a piece that can only be performed by those of advanced age and artistic ability. Nomura Mansaku and others have previously performed "Narayama Bushiko," written by Fukazawa Shichiro, which also has the theme of the abandoned elderly.

[Masuda Shozo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

能の曲目。三番目物。五流現行曲。ただし金春(こんぱる)流は昭和の復曲。金春、喜多流は「伯母捨」と表記する。世阿弥(ぜあみ)作。都の男（ワキ）が仲秋(ちゅうしゅう)の名月にあこがれて信濃(しなの)国（長野県）の姨捨山に登ると、寂しげな中年の女（前シテ。老女の扮装(ふんそう)にする場合もある）が現れ、昔捨てられた老女が「わが心なぐさめかねつ更科(さらしな)や姨捨山に照る月を見て」と詠んだ旧跡だと語り、自分がその本人であり、月の出とともにふたたびと告げて消える。月が澄み渡ると白衣の老女（後シテ）が現れ、月をめでつつ月にちなむ仏説を語り、静かに舞い興じる。夜が明け旅人が去ると、老女はまた寂しく山に残される。老女の霊が捨てられた悲しみも孤独な死のむごさもあらわには再現せず、むしろ月の精のような澄み切った美しい存在に昇華されているところに能の主張がある。棄老伝説の残酷さは間狂言(あいきょうげん)の里人の物語に集約されている（嫁のそそのかしで、男が親同様に養われた盲目の伯母を山に捨てた話）。『関寺小町(せきでらこまち)』『檜垣(ひがき)』に次ぐ最奥の能として、三老女とよばれている。年齢、芸劫(げいこう)に優れないと上演できない曲である。なお、同じ棄老をテーマとする深沢七郎作の『楢山節考(ならやまぶしこう)』を、新作狂言として野村万作ほかが上演したことがある。

［増田正造］

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