Notes on specific plays - 'Sekidera Komachi'

Sekidera Komachi - for reading suggestions related to Ono no Komachi, click here

Sekidera Komachi - Misc

The Chôan-ji mentioned in Tyler's introduction to the play; the site of the temple where, legend has it, Komachi lived out her later years of life

On the Komachi legend ...

The main elements of the pre-15th century Komachi legends [as described by Yukihiro Goto in his Asian Theatre Journal, Vol. 12 No 1 (spring, 1995) review of Ono no Komachi: Poems, Stories, Nô Plays by Roy E. Teele, Nicholas J. Teele, and H. Rebecca Teele. New York and London: Garland, 1993 (out-of-print)]:

“Teele notes sixteen basic characteristics of the Komachi legend: she was born in the province of Dewa; she was the reincarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy; she was active during the ninth century; she was an excellent poet; she was versed in Buddhism; she was beautiful; she was very passionate; she was extravagant and proud; she had many lovers (or was married more than once); she demanded that one suitor court her one hundred nights in a row before she would allow him to enter her chamber; she lived in different parts of Japan; members of her family died leaving her poor; she became poor and her house fell into disrepair; she became destitute; she moved near Seki Temple; she died alone in a field.”

Sekidera Komachi - Scenes (click on image for full-sized image)

Sekidera Komachi - Masks (click on image for full-sized image)

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