Higaki

Noh piece. Third piece. Current piece of the five schools. However, the Konparu school was restored in 1970 (Showa 45). A piece about an old woman written by Zeami. It is noteworthy that the only third pieces confirmed to be written by Zeami, whose ultimate goal was mysterious beauty, are this "Higaki" and "Izutsu". Together with "Sekidera Komachi" and "Obasute", they are called the "Three Old Women" and are treated as the innermost Noh pieces.

There was an old woman (mae shite) who offered water to a monk (waki) on Mt. Iwado in Higo Province every day. When the monk asked her name, she said that the poem "As the years go by, my black hair has grown old, until the waters of the Shirakawa River begin to water" from the Gosenshu was her own song, and she told him about her past as a Shirabyoshi dancer, praying for the dedication of her soul, before disappearing. When the monk went to the banks of the Shirakawa River, the spirit of the old woman (go shite) appeared from a hermitage made of higaki (Japanese wooden fence) in front of her, and she repented of her past, telling him of the suffering of a beautiful dancer who, because of her lavish lifestyle, must drink water from hell for all eternity. The play ends with her reciting a poem when Fujiwara no Okinori asks for water, reminiscing about her past as a Shirabyoshi dancer while lamenting her old age, and praying to attain nirvana. The Kongo school script ends with her attaining nirvana. This masterpiece of Noh depicts the profound world of women and aging through a double flashback format, where the performer reminisces about her glamorous past from an old age and then looks at her past from hell.

[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1970年（昭和45）の復曲。世阿弥(ぜあみ)作の老女物。幽玄の美を最高目標とした世阿弥作として確認される三番目物は、この『檜垣』と『井筒(いづつ)』だけであるのも注目される。『関寺(せきでら)小町』『姨捨(おばすて)』とともに「三老女」とよばれ、最奥の能として扱われる。

　肥後国岩戸(いわど)山の僧（ワキ）のもとに、毎日水を捧(ささ)げる老女（前シテ）があった。僧が名を尋ねると、『後撰(ごせん)集』の「年経(ふ)ればわが黒髪も白川(しらかは)のみづはくむまで老いにけるかな」は自分の歌といい、白拍子であった過去を語り、回向(えこう)を願って消える。白川のほとりに出向いた僧の前に、檜垣の庵(いおり)から老女の霊（後シテ）が現れ、美しい舞姫の、おごりの生活であったがゆえに、地獄で永遠に業火(ごうか)の水をくまねばならぬ苦しみを述べ、昔を懺悔(ざんげ)する。藤原興範(おきのり)に水を所望されて歌を詠んだこと、老いの身を嘆きつつも白拍子の昔をしのび、舞を舞った思い出を再現し、成仏を願って終わる。金剛流の台本は、成仏を果たした結末になっている。華やかな過去を老いた時点から回想し、その生の時間をさらに地獄から眺めるという、いわば二重の回想形式をとり、女と老いの深い世界を描く、能の名作である。

［増田正造］

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