Welcome to our site.
This is the website of MORINORI, which holds small Heikyoku (a recitation of the Tale of the Heike accompanied by Heike biwa) performances and lectures. On this page, we introduce a modern translation of the summary of the Tale of the Heike, Volume 10, “Yokobue”. It’s still a bit rough, but please take a look if you like. In addition, we will introduce a small Heikyoku performance, “The Tale of the Heike, listened to in one’s sleep, on the shore of Nachi” in the second half of the page.
The Tale of the Heike Listened to by Heike Biwa|About Us
https://morinorijapan.com/about/
▼Also, please try this▼
Modern translation of the summary of the Tale of the Heike, Volume 10, “Koremorijusui”
https://morinorijapan.com/tale-of-the-heike/koremorijusui-nachinookinite
A simple summary of the Heike Monogatari, Volume 10, ‘Yokobue
Komatsuno sanmino chujo (Tairano Koremori) was staying in Yashima, but his heart was set on returning to the capital. Before dawn on the 15th day of the 3rd month of the Juei era, he secretly left Yashima and set off for the Kii Road with Yosoubyoueshigekage, Ishidoumaru and Takesato, who rowed the boat. Although he wanted to return to the capital, he remembered that his uncle Tairanoshigehira had been taken prisoner alive, so he decided to go to Koyasan, where Takiguchi Nyudo (Saito Takiguchi Tokiyori) was.
Takiguchi Nyudo was originally a retainer of Komatsudono (Taira no Koremori’s father, Shigemori), and when he was 13, he fell in love with Yokobue, a maid of Kenreimonin, but his father dissuaded him, and at the age of 19, he became a monk and entered Ojoin Temple in Saga. Yokobue heard about this and became sad, and went to Saga, but Takiguchi Nyudo did not let her see him and sent her back. After that, Takiguchi moved to Koyasan, and Yokobue also became a nun. Yokobue lived at Hokkeji Temple in Nara, but she died not long after.
Takiguchi Nyudo devoted himself to ascetic practice, and his father forgave him for his lack of filial piety. When the third chief minister visited Takiguchi Nyudo, he looked different from his former glamorous self, thin and dark like an old monk, and his diligent practice of asceticism seemed wise. This appearance seemed to be no less than that of the sages of old.
The Tale of the Heike, Volume 10, “Yokobue” – Modern translation of the entire synopsis
At that time, Komatsuno sanmino chujo (Tairano Koremori) was physically in Yashima, but his heart was in the capital. The image of his young children, whom he had left behind in his hometown, always came to mind, and he could not forget them. He lamented the fact that he was unable to do anything for them, and secretly left his mansion in Yashima before dawn on the 15th day of the 3rd month of the Juei era. He took Yosoubyoueshigekage, Ishidoumaru and Takesato, who rowed the boat, and set off from Yukiura in Awa Province, rowing past Narutoura and heading for the Kii Road.
They passed the shrine of Hime no Mikoto, the deity of the Waka poem, and arrived at the port of Kii. From here, he took a mountain path to the capital, hoping to see his loved ones again, but he thought it would be even more painful to be captured and have to paint his father’s corpse with his blood, even though he was already feeling regretful about having been captured alive and disgraced in the capital and Kamakura. A thousand times I tried to go, but each time I changed my mind, and in the end I decided to go to Koyasan.
There was a holy priest (high priest) I had known for many years at Koyasan.
Tokiyori Saito Takiguchi, the son of Sanjo Saito Saemon Shigeyori, was originally a retainer of Komatsudono (TairanoShigemori). When he was 13, he came to Honjo, where he met a woman called Yokobue, who was a lady-in-waiting (a woman who took care of the personal needs of the nobility) to Kenreimonin, and Tokiyori fell deeply in love with her.
When his father heard about this, he strongly admonished him, saying, “I had hoped to make you the son-in-law of a powerful person in the world so that you could serve him with peace of mind, but now you have fallen in love with someone of lowly birth.” Takiguchi replied, “There was once a person called Queen Mother of the West, but she no longer exists. There was also a person called Dongfang Shuo, but I have only heard his name and have never seen him. Life is like a single momentary flash, without distinction of age. Even if a person lives a long life, they will not live past seventy or eighty years old, and the prime of their life is only a little over twenty years. In this dreamlike world, there is no point in continuing to see ugly things. If trying to see the person I love would go against my father’s wishes, then this is good knowledge (Buddhist guidance). I want to leave this world and enter the true path.” and at the age of 19, he cut his hair and entered Ojoin Temple in Saga.
Yokobue heard about this and thought, “I resent the fact that he left me and became a priest. Even if he was leaving the world, why didn’t he tell me? I want to go and visit him and clear the air once and for all.” With these thoughts, one evening he left the capital and headed towards Saga.
It was past the 10th day of the second month, and the spring breeze in the village of Umezu was nostalgic, and the moonlight on the Ooigawa River was wrapped in mist and indistinct. He thought about who was to blame for his misery.
I had heard that it was Ojoin Temple, but I didn’t know exactly where it was, so I stopped here and there, but I couldn’t find it. I heard the sound of chanting in a deserted thatched hut, and the woman I was with said, “Even if the situation has changed, I wanted to see you, so I came here.” Takiguchi Nyūdō’s heart was pounding, and when he looked through the shoji screen, he saw that the hem of his robe was wet with dew and his sleeves were damp with tears, and it looked as if even the most hardened of monks would be moved to tears.
He sent someone out to say, “There is no one here. Perhaps you have come to the wrong gate,” and in the end, he sent her home without seeing her. Yokobue felt miserable and resentful, but there was nothing she could do, so she held back her tears and went home.
Later, Takiguchi Nyudo told the other monks at the temple: “This place is also quiet and secluded from the world, and it won’t be a hindrance to my chanting of the Buddha’s name, but a woman I left behind with lingering feelings saw my residence, so even if I have once steeled my heart, if I feel longing again, my heart will be disturbed. I would like to take some time off.” and left Saga to go up to Koyasan, where he decided to live at Seijōshin-in.
When he heard the news that Yokobue had become a priest, Takiguchi Nyudo sent him a poem. “Until I shave, I have nothing but resentment, but I will enter the true path, and I am happy.” In response to the Yokobue’s reply, “Even if I shave, I have nothing but resentment. If I am to remain a yokobue, I must have a heart that is not easily swayed.”
After that, Yokobue was at Hokkeji Temple in Nara, but he died not long after, perhaps because his feelings for her had grown stronger. Takiguchi Nyūdō heard the news and became even more deeply devoted to his training. For this reason, his father also forgave him for his lack of filial piety. All of his close friends called him “Kōya Hijiri”.
When the third-ranking general visited Takiguchi Nyūdō, he was a man who, when he was in the capital, would wear a plain kariginu robe with a tall eboshi hat, and would groom his hair and comb his sideburns to look dashing, but after he became a priest he looked wise, with a thin, dark complexion like an old monk, wearing the same dark-dyed robe and kasaya as the monk, and smelling of incense smoke. The scene of the Shanshan bamboo grove where the Seven Sages of the Jin and the Four Sages of the Han lived seemed no better than this.
The Tale of the Heike, Volume 10, “Koremorijusui” – Modern translation summary is here.
https://morinorijapan.com/tale-of-the-heike/koremorijyusui-nachinookinite
After this, the Tale of the Heike continues with the chapters “Takanomaki”, “Yoshimori’s Ordination”, “Kumano Pilgrimage” and “Koremorijusui”, but in the concert “On the Beach at Nachi”, Heikyoku “Yokobue” and “Koremorijusui” are performed.
The Tale of the Heike, listened to in one’s sleep by Heike biwa, off the coast of Nachi
Click here for the feature page
https://morinorijapan.com/nachinookinite2024
Thank you for reading this far.
I hope we meet again someday.
