Nue

Noh piece. The fifth piece. A five-school current piece. Written by Zeami. From the Tale of the Heike, volume 4, "The Story of the Nue." A monk (waki) who has traveled around the country arrives in the village of Ashiya in Settsu Province. After being refused lodging by the villagers (ai-kyogen), he stays at a temple by the river. A mysterious figure (mae-shite) appears from the river and tells the story of how he was the ghost of a Nue that was struck by an arrow by Minamoto no Yorimasa for threatening the Imperial Court every night. The mysterious being has the head of a monkey, the tail of a snake, the limbs of a tiger, and the cry of a Nue. He disappears into the darkness in a dugout canoe, but in response to the monk's prayers, he eventually reveals his true nature (later known as the shite), and his evil intentions of obstructing Buddhism and trying to take the emperor's life are finally destroyed, before sinking back into the dark world. The glory of Minamoto no Yorimasa is told from the perspective of the one he has defeated, but this is one of Zeami's masterpieces, in which the romance of something that is about to perish is entrusted to the monster known as the Nue.

[Masuda Shozo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

能の曲目。五番目物。五流現行曲。世阿弥(ぜあみ)作。出典は『平家物語』巻四「鵺の事」。諸国一見の僧（ワキ）が摂津(せっつ)国芦屋(あしや)の里に着く。里人（間(あい)狂言）に宿を断られ、川のほとりの堂に泊まる。川から怪しい者（前シテ）が現れ、自分は夜な夜な宮廷を脅かしたため、源頼政(よりまさ)の矢にかかった鵺の亡霊であるがと、その最期のさまを語る。頭は猿、尾は蛇(くちなわ)、手足は虎(とら)、鳴く声は鵺に似た怪しい存在である。丸木舟に乗って闇(やみ)に消えるが、僧の祈りにやがてその正体（後(のち)シテ）を現し、仏法を妨げ、天子の命をとろうとしたその悪心も、ついに滅亡したありさまを演じて、また暗い世界へと沈んでいく。退治されたものの側から、源頼政の栄光が語られるわけであるが、滅びゆくもののロマンを鵺という怪物に託した、世阿弥の名作の一つである。

［増田正造］

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