Note English ◆Explaining the difficult words◆ 0:59【Note1】Seisai (legal wife) : In the Heian era, polygamy was common and a husband had two or more wives. A legal wife is a woman who occupies the position of the first wife. 1:49【Note2】Saigu (imperial ritual lady): An unmarried royal woman serving at the Ise Shrine. 2:09【Note3】Aoi-matsuri (Aoi Festival) : The formal name is Kamo Festival, and it is an annual celebration that takes place at Kamo-Mioya-Jinja Shrine (Shimogamo Shrine) and Kamo-Wakeikazuchi Shrine (Kamigamo Shrine) in Kyoto City on May 15th (the Rooster day in the middle of the fourth month of the lunar calendar) even now. It is named after the Futaba Aoi (also called Kamo Aoi), the family emblem of the Kamo Shrine from ancient times. 2:11【Note4】Gogei (purification ceremony) : To be purified in the Kamo-Gawa river. 3:14【Note5】A Waka poem composed by Miyasudokoro during this scene in The Tale of Genji: “Kage wo nomi Mitarashi-Gawa (Kawa) no tsurenaki ni Mi no uki Hodo zo ito do shiraruru” (The Mitarashi River looks cold showing only its shadow, and I can feel my pain to the bone) 3:20【Note6】Mononoke (evil spirits): Evil spirits (Onryo), dead spirits (Shiryo), and living spirits (Ikiryo) that are said to possess people and cause torment, illness, and even death. 3:29【Note7】Kaji-Kito (incantation and prayer ritual): A prayer ritual of esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyo) or Shugendo (mountain asceticism in which Shugensha or Yamabushi go through self-tormenting training in mountain wilderness to attain enlightenment) to protect people from disease and misfortune. They form hand gestures and recite mantras while they perform the ritual using symbolic instruments. 3:38【Note8】This is a Waka poem composed by Aoi while she was possessed by Miyasudokoro. Prince Genji noticed that the voice was different from Aoi’s usual voice, and suspected it was the spirit of Miyasudokoro. “I am in so much despair that my soul is flailing in the sky. I wish I could tie it down to the Shitamae (hem corner of the lower layer of Kimono) to come to my senses”. It was believed back then that if you tie these parts together, the soul is tied down and you can keep it from straying around. You can also interpret this poem as Aoi’s desperate wish to mend her relationship with her husband and start over in her life. 4:25【Note9】Azusa-Yumi : A bow that a medium uses to make a sound to summon a spirit. It is made of Azusa, a holy and sacred tree. In Noh, the actual bow is not used, and the Tsuzumi (small hand drum) is played in a special repetitive rhythm to symbolize it, creating a shamanistic atmosphere. The medium (Tsure) recites lines to summon the disembodied spirit. 4:31【Note10】Rinne (reincarnation): The endless cycle of life and death in which a person is reborn to San-Gai (The three Three Worlds) and Roku-Do (The Six Realms) that are full of delusions. San-Gai is composed of the following three : Yoku-Kai (Delusion of Desires), a world that is bound to desires and suffering. Shiki-Kai (Delusion of Beauty), a world trapped in superficial beauty. Mu-Shiki-Kai (Delusion of De-enlightenment), a colorless world that is beyond the attachment to beauty, but has not reached enlightenment yet. Roku-Do : The six posthumous realms that sentient beings should go to after death according to their Karma. Ten-Do (Realm of Heaven), Nin-Do (Realm of Humans), Ashura-Do (Realm of War), Gaki-Do (Realm of Hunger), Chikusho-Do (Realm of Animals), and Jigoku-Do (Realm of Hell). 4:37【Note11】Ikiryo: The disembodied spirit of a living human that possesses other people. In Medieval Japan, it was believed that if you had an intense jealousy, grudge or hatred toward another person, your spirit could sneak away from your body and possess the other, causing illness or even death. 4:52【Note12】Ai : The role of the Kyogen-Kata performed in Noh. The word comes from the Kanji (Japanese character) meaning “middle” (pronounced as “Aida”), and “Aida” is shorten to “Ai”. 4:55【Note13】Gyoja (ascetic): A person who has acquired supernatural power through special penance. They perform prayer, prophetic proclamation or fortune-telling. It is believed that their incantation and prayer ritual can cure illness and dispel evil human/animal spirits. 5:55【Note14】Mono no Aware: An important aesthetic to understand the dynastic literature of the Heian period, advocated by Motoori Norinaga, a Japanese classical literature scholar of the late Edo period. It is said that this concept is recognized most evidently in the Tale of Genji. It is characterized by a sense of pathos over mortality, or profound sentiment caused by keen sensitivity. 5:59【Note15】The original manuscript by Murasaki Shikibu has not been found. At that time, there was no printing technology and paper was precious and difficult to obtain, so people hand copied it by brush. Yukio Mishima (1925-1970. Internationally renowned writer representative of postwar Japanese literature. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Major works include Shiosai and Kinkakuji) also wrote a work based on Noh Aoi no Ue in his Collection of Modern Noh Plays (Kindai Nohgakushu). 12:49【Note16】In some special productions in an old-fashioned style called Kogaki, a carriage and an Ao-Nyobo appear on the stage. 12:59【Note17】Uwanari Uchi (beating the second wife) : This was a custom from the Heian period to the seventeenth century. In Japan’s ancient polygamy system, the second and subsequent wives are called “Uwanari”. In the Heian period, the meaning changed to “the second wife”. When a first wife became estranged or divorced, she would attack the second wife with the aid of her friends and servant women using brooms and pestles. The second wife was given advance warning and she would fight back with her own group of women. From this, it refers to a jealous woman chasing another woman who stole her loved one. 16:28【Note18】Myowo : A form of deity transformed from Buddha. To fulfill the order from Dai-Nichi Nyorai, Myowo has a fierce facial expression called Funnu (wrath) in order to scold and save people who are difficult to guide to the teachings of the Buddha. Godai Myowo (Five Great Myowo) : A group of five fierce deities that guard five directions, the center (Fudo Myowo) and the north, the south, the east, the west and the center around the incarnation of Dai-Nichi Nyorai. Center - Fudo Myowo, the incarnation of Dai-Nichi Nyorai East - Gouzanze Myowo, the incarnation of Ashuku Nyorai South - Gundari Yasha Myowo, the incarnation of Hosho Nyorai West - Dai-Itoku Myowo, the incarnation of Amida Nyorai North - Kongoyasha Myowo, the incarnation of Fukuu Joju Nyorai or Ususama Myowo. 16:38【Note19】Shingon (Mantra) : A holy spell cast in esoteric Buddhism and Shugendo. The mantra recited in this scene of Noh Aoi no Ue is Fudo Myowo Jikuge (gatha). 16:42【Note20】A Gemon (a verse that praises the Buddha and Bodhisattva) of Bussetsu Sho-Fudo-Kyo Sutra. The words represent a vow to liberate sentient beings of Fudo Myowo. 19:05【Note21】The last verse of Noh Aoi no Ue, “I am grateful to hear the voice of the recitation…” has exactly the same lyric and melody as one of Noh Michimori. There is a theory that it was originally a different verse and may have been borrowed from the Utai of Noh Michimori later. 23:10【Note22】Monogi : to change a part of the costume in the middle of a Noh performance without leaving the stage.