Izutsu

Noh piece. Third piece. Five-school current piece. A masterpiece representing Zeami's mysterious Noh. The original is "The Tales of Ise." Zeami made the first condition for a Noh piece that it be based on a source material, calling it a "honzetsu." Autumn evening. A traveling monk (waki) visits the ruins of Ariwara-dera Temple, and the ghost of Izutsu's woman (mae shite) appears in the form of a village girl, telling the story of Ariwara no Narihira, who was Tsutsui Izutsu's childhood friend, and how she gradually fell in love with him, and how the woman overcame a crisis and stuck to her love because of her pure heart. In fact, the Izutsu woman calls herself "herself" and disappears.

The Go-Shite appears in the travelling monk's dream wearing a costume given to him by Narihira, crystallising the passionate feelings of love in a beautiful dance, pushing aside the pampas grass and projecting his image in men's clothing at a well of memories, where he remembers his lover. This image of Narihira in men's clothing overlaps with the image of Narihira himself, and Zeami uses the same techniques developed in later films, such as overlap, narration and flashback. The eternity of love is beautifully portrayed using the techniques of Mugen Noh, which condense the time of life and all of love, from a point in time hundreds of years after death.

Furthermore, the aikyougen (interlude) is a story told by a villager, but in some productions this is omitted and the performer changes to the after-shite (funso) costume on stage, enhancing the consistency of the lyricism.

[Masuda Shozo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

能の曲目。三番目物。五流現行曲。世阿弥(ぜあみ)の幽玄能を代表する名作。原典は『伊勢(いせ)物語』。典拠正しい題材であることを、世阿弥は本説(ほんぜつ)とよんで作能の第一条件とした。秋の夕暮れ。在原寺(ありわらでら)の廃墟(はいきょ)を訪れた旅の僧（ワキ）の前に、井筒の女の亡霊（前シテ）が里女の姿で現れ、筒井筒の幼なじみからしだいに恋に移行していった在原業平(ありわらのなりひら)と女のこと、女の純情ゆえに危機を乗り切り、愛を貫いたことを物語り、実はその井筒の女は自分と名のって消えていく。

　後シテは業平の形見の衣装を身に着けて旅の僧の夢のなかに現れ、恋の情念を美しい舞に結晶させ、薄(すすき)を押し分けて思い出の井戸に男装の姿を映して恋人をしのぶ。この男装の姿は、業平自身のイメージとも重なり合い、後世映画が開発したオーバーラップやナラタージュ、フラッシュ・バックなどと同じ手法を世阿弥は用いている。死後何百年もの時点から、生の時間を、愛のすべてを凝縮する夢幻能の手法によって、恋の永遠性がみごとに描かれている。

　なお間狂言(あいきょうげん)は里人による物語だが、これを省略し、舞台上で後シテの扮装(ふんそう)に変わり、叙情の一貫性を高める演出もある。

［増田正造］

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