Cormorant Stage - Unodan

...The old man reveals that he is actually dead and has gone to hell, and that he was found using a cormorant in a place where killing is forbidden, and was killed by being drowned in the river. He then performs a show of cormorant fishing just as he did when he was alive, saying that it was to atone for his sins (Cormorant Scene), but then disappears into the darkness. When a monk writes the characters of the Lotus Sutra on a pebble as a memorial service, a demon from hell appears, tells him that the old man has attained nirvana through the merit of the monk's stay and the power of the Lotus Sutra, and praises the sutra (Rongi)....

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Unodan" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…老人は，実は自分はすでに死んで地獄に落ちている者だと打ち明け，殺生禁断の場所で鵜を使ったのが見つかり，川に沈めて殺されたのだと物語る。そして罪滅ぼしのためにといって，生前そのままに鵜飼いをして見せるが(〈鵜ノ段〉)，やがて闇の中へ消え去る。僧が小石に法華経の文字を記して弔うと，地獄の鬼が現れ，一僧一宿の功徳と法華の力で老人は成仏したと告げ，この経を賛美する(〈ロンギ〉)。…

※「鵜ノ段」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報