Hagoromo (play)

is among the most-performed Japanese Noh plays.Kinoshita, June & Nicholas Palevsky. Gateway to Japan. Kodansha International (1998), p121. .Tyler, Royall. Japanese No Dramas. Penguin Classics (1992), p96. . It is an example of the traditional swan maiden motif.Young, Serinity. "Gender and Sexuality: Reading Females, Males and Other in Asian Folktales". In: A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity. Vol. 1 – Antiquity (500 BCE to 800 CE). London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. pp. 62-63.

Sources and history The earliest recorded version of the legend dates to the eighth century.Blacker, Carmen. Collected Writings of Carmen Blacker. Routledge (2000), p44. . The play however apparently combines two legends, one concerning the origins of the Suruga Dance (Suruga-mai) and another the descent of an angel onto Udo Beach. A parallel story may also be found in the 14th volume of the fifth-century Sou-shen chi. A poem by the 11th century poet Nōin is quoted.

The authorship of the Noh play Hagoromo is unknown. The earliest references to the play in historical records date to 1524, which suggests that it was written well after Zeami's time.

Plot

A fisherman is walking with his companions at night when he finds the Hagoromo, the magical feather-mantle of a tennin (an aerial spirit or celestial dancer) hanging on a bough. The tennin sees him taking it and demands its return—she cannot return to Heaven without it. The fisherman argues with her, and finally promises to return it, if she will show him her dance or part of it. She accepts his offer. The Chorus explains the dance as symbolic of the daily changes of the moon. The words about "three, five, and fifteen" refer to the number of nights in the moon's changes. In the finale, the tennin disappears like a mountain slowly hidden in mist.Pound, Ezra. "Noh", Or, Accomplishment: A Study of the Classical Stage of Japan. Macmillan (1916), p165. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.Clouston, W. A. Popular tales and fictions: their migrations and transformations. Edinburgh; London: W. Blackwood. 1887. p. 190-191.

Adaptations W. B. Yeats' At the Hawk's Well drew extensively from the Hagoromo legend.Murphy, Maureen. "Some Western Productions of At the Hawk's Well, with a Mythological Footnote". In Tumult of Images: Essays on W.B. Yeats and Politics (ed. Peter Liebregts and Peter van de Kamp). Rodopi (1995), p71. .

An abridged version of the plot of play is attested in German, with the name Das Federkleid, in Japanische Märchen und Sagen (1885).Brauns, David. Japanische Märchen und Sagen. Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich. 1885. pp. 349-350. An English translation exists in the book Green Willow; and other Japanese fairy tales, with the name The Robe of Feathers.James, Grace; Goble, Warwick, Ill. Green Willow and other Japanese fairy tales. London: Macmillan and Co. 1910. pp. 142-147.

A literary treatment of the play was given as The Fisherman and the Moon-Maiden in Japanese Fairy World (1880).Griffis, William Elliot. Japanese Fairy World: Stories from the Wonder-lore of Japan. J. H. Barhyte. 1880. pp. 264-272. Another version exists with the name The Angel's Robe.Nixon-Roulet, Mary F. Japanese folk stories and fairy tales. New York, Cincinnati [etc.] American book company. 1908. pp. 46-49.

Osamu Tezuka based a short story in his Phoenix series on the story of the Hagoromo, but with a sci-fi twist, featuring a time-displaced human girl from the distant future instead of a tennin. A 2004 short film based on Tezuka´s Phoenix features a drastically different retelling. The story was later adapted into the manga and anime series Ceres, The Celestial Legend.Drazen, Patrick. Anime Explosion!: The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press (2003), p41. .

See also The princess and the cowherd Tsuru no Ongaeshi

References

Hagoromo (play)

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