One million - one million

Noh piece. Fourth piece. Five-school current piece. Mad woman piece. Zeami reworked "Sagamonogurui," thought to have been written by Kan'ami. A spring noh piece of crazy music, with a story of a mother and son reuniting, overlaid with the performances of Hyakuman, a real-life kusemai master. A Yamato man (waki) takes a boy (kokata) he picked up near Saidaiji Temple to a large nembutsu ceremony at the Shakado Hall of Seiryoji Temple in Saga. When the host (ai-kyogen) chants a large nembutsu to show something interesting, Hyakuman (shite) appears, complaining that the rhythm is bad, and leads the chorus with bamboo in his hand. She has become a mad woman, having lost her husband and been separated from her only child. Hyakuman, in a state of confusion, longs for her child, tells her story, dances about the origins of the Buddha statues that have been passed down from India, China, and Japan, and prays to be reunited with her child. The piece ends with a happy marriage between mother and son. Kan'ami learned from Otozuru, a female kumidumai dancer who descended from Hyakuman, and introduced the rhythm of her kumidumai into Noh. Hyakuman is a notable piece for bringing about a revolution in Noh music, which had traditionally been centered on melody, and for marking the beginning of the centrality of the habit of singing, narrating, and dancing in Noh composition.

[Masuda Shozo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

能の曲目。四番目物。五流現行曲。狂女物。観阿弥(かんあみ)作と考えられる『嵯峨物狂(さがものぐるい)』を世阿弥(ぜあみ)が改作したもの。実在した百万という曲舞(くせまい)の名手の芸能尽くしに、母子再会のストーリーを重ね合わせた、春の物狂い能。大和(やまと)の男（ワキ）が、西大(さいだい)寺のあたりで拾った少年（子方）を連れて、嵯峨の清凉(せいりょう)寺釈迦(しゃか)堂の大念仏会(え)に出かける。所の者（間(あい)狂言）がおもしろいものを見せようと大念仏を唱えると、百万（シテ）は、リズムのとり方が悪いといいつつ現れ、笹(ささ)を手に音頭をとる。彼女は夫と死別し、ひとり子とは生き別れになったために狂女となっている。百万は、乱れ心ながら子供を恋いつつ身の上を語り、インド、中国、日本と三国伝来の釈迦像の由来を舞い、わが子との再会を祈る。そしてめでたく親子の名のりで終わる。観阿弥は、百万の末流である女曲舞師の乙鶴(おとづる)に学び、その曲舞のリズムを能へ導入した。従来のメロディ本位であった能の音楽に革命をもたらしたことと、謡い、語り、舞うことのできるクセが能の構成の中心に据えられたことの原点として、『百万』は注目される曲目である。

［増田正造］

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