Miidera was a Noh play centred around a mad woman, and her search for her son at the temple complex of Mii-dera near Kyoto.
Plot Driven mad by the loss of her young son, possibly abducted as a boy prostitute,G Leupp, Male Colors (1997) p. 68 the heroine is urged in a dream to seek him at Miidera temple.Miidera There the woman is much impressed by the temple bell, and recounts a long list of episodes involving temple bells.K Brazell ed., Traditional Japanese Theater (1998) p. 159
When she finally draws attention to herself by striking the bell, she is recognised by and reunited with her sonJ-P Potel, Yeats and Noh (2015) p. 193 - the aesthete Oswald Valentine Sickert considering that "The sounding of the bell is the hinge of everything, a thing of great sentiment".Quoted in A Waley, The Noh Plays of Japan (1976) p. 250
Literary links An early haiku quotes the play: "Hey there, wait a moment / before you strike the bell /at the cherry blossoms".Roger Scruton, The Aesthetics of Music (1999) p. 464
See also Kagema Kannon Nāga
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