Atsumori

[kitsuno]

I've seen 2 or 3 different "versions" of Nobunaga's "favorite" verse from Atsumori, so I want to try to see if I can get the original text version - this is the version from the online shinchoko-ki PDF:

人間五十年
下天の内をくらぶれば
夢幻の如くなり
一度生を得て
滅せぬ者のあるべきか (I notice this is followed by　"とて" - is that just the particle tagging it for the following verb as it being "sung" or is that actually part of it?)

So, is that the "original" text? And is there anywhere online with the original Japanese text? I've found an old english version (which gave me no indication where this line comes in), but I'd be interested in seeing the Japanese version.

[Ashigaru]

The とて simply indicates that the passage is a quote.

This site has the full text for the Noh Atsumori, but it notes that the famous quote isn't present at all in the Noh version, only in the Kouwakamai (a different kind of theatre) version. I haven't had any luck finding an online transcription of the Kouwaka Atsumori (Nobunaga's favorite phrase is all over the place, however), but the Kouwakamai songs/plays were collected in books called "Mai no Hon". Searching for 幸若舞 and 舞の本 might help narrow down your search.
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[kitsuno]

[Tai]

I appreciate you both posting the info on Noh Atsumori. We returned from Japan and my wife bought a DVD that we both really enjoyed. It is hard to find any info on it. Done in 1992 and is simply called ODA NOBUNAGA and stars Watanabe Ken and Sanada Hiroyuki, Chiba no Sonny, Way Tomaisaburo. I mention a few of the actors because none of them have any info on this fine movie. At 4 hrs long, it has a very well enacted Kouwakamai by Ken. Separately it has an outtake with a famous Noh instructor giving Ken some instruction.
Anyway I appreciate your post now I know that there is not much published on this subject. I did not think it would be hard to find.
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[MexSamurai]

u mean Taira no Atsumori???
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[AJBryant]

[MexSamurai]

oh.. I got it. Arigato, AJBryant.
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Bushi no Nasake

[MexSamurai]

[img][/img]

Nobunaga exhibit a Noh Atsumori actor.
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Bushi no Nasake

[shikisoku]

Atsumori will be performed at Oetenma shrine in Fukuoka Jan 20.

Here
http://www.fukuokayokatoko.com/spot_temple/chikugo/no_009.html
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[the_khan]

I dont suppose any of you guys have nobunaga's favourite song and dance in mp3 format? If so, can I have it? (Assuming of course something written several centuries ago is now part of public domain )

[Ashigaru]

Not mp3, but Youtube has several varieties of the Kouwakamai Atumori. Here's one.
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Meditate upon exile, torture, wars, diseases, shipwreck, so that you may not be a novice to any misfortune.
- Seneca

[owari no utsuke]

Thanks Ashigaru. Loved it.

nobu-chan
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http://www.otsuke.blogspot.com

[owari no utsuke]

I found an article on Atsumori.

"Oda Nobunaga ga Aishita Maboroshi no Geino Kowaka Mai," Bijuaru Nihon no Kassen, 28 June 2005, pp. 20-21.

It has some decent information on Nobunaga and Atsumori.

nobu-chan
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http://www.otsuke.blogspot.com

[Obenjo Kusanosuke]

[owari no utsuke]

The article has a picture of the Atsumori performance at Oetenma Shrine in Fukuoka. Performed every Jan. 20th. It also describes the orgin as well giving the history of Taira Atsumori. It gives more detail on a meeting between a monk from Owari and Takeda Shingen.

Owari no utsuke de Owaru ka. Tenka wo Toru ka

nobu-chan
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http://www.otsuke.blogspot.com

[lordameth]

The verse is also inscribed on a stone at Kenkun Shrine at Funaoka-yama in Kyoto:



I have been trying to find a good translation, but the only one I've found (just through Google and such. The library's closed at the moment. so shoot me.) is one from James Araki, which I must say I don't much care for.

In his Ballad-Drama of Medieval Japan (which I do not have my hands on at the moment, but which I found quoted online), he writes:

"Should man, after his fifty years, scan the sub-celestial realm, all will prove a dream, an illusion; to acquire life and perish not ... this cannot be."

He captures the basic gist of the whole thing, obviously, but fails to produce - if I might be so bold to say so - anything approaching a direct literal translation.

I attempted my own - which I will fully acknowledge is also horribly inadequate; and, after all, I'm no professional literary scholar and translator like Araki. I stumbled mainly over the phrase 下天, which just serves to make the translation as a whole seem all the more awkward.

I don't suppose anyone has come across a better translation?
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紫水晶殿 - The Amethyst Lord

[kitsuno]

Man, what a blowhardy translation! There are much better (less ridiculous?) ones out there. Come on - "sub-celestial"?? Tenka is typically simply translated as "the realm" - as in "Nobunaga wanted to solidify his hold on the realm".
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[ltdomer98]

[kitsuno]

[lordameth]

I thought it was Tenka too at first.. but then I looked again, and realized Katen is not a word I am familiar with. at all.
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My blog on Japanese art & history: http://chaari.wordpress.com

紫水晶殿 - The Amethyst Lord

[Bethetsu]

[lordameth]

Yeah. I should have thought to look in Kojien or another encyclopedia. Duh. How stupid am I?

Thanks for the definition!

Also, thanks to nagaeyari for prodding me to realize it's probably pronounced 'geten', not katen.

The proof in the Daijisen pudding: http://kotobank.jp/word/下天.

Mahalo, sir.
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My blog on Japanese art & history: http://chaari.wordpress.com

紫水晶殿 - The Amethyst Lord

[Obenjo Kusanosuke]

How is this for a translation? I've played around with the Japanese and trying to optimize many, many translations into something that actually flows fairly well in sensible English.

A man has but 50 years
to live under Heaven.
Life is but a fleeting dream,
Does anything last forever?
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[owari no utsuke]

I have no problem with that Obenjo.
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You'll Never Walk Alone!

http://www.otsuke.blogspot.com

[lordameth]

Since I know you guys love Atsumori so much:

A blog post and video of the final scene, from a recent performance by Theatre Nohgaku in PA:

http://theatrenohgaku.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/atsumori-%E6%95%A6%E7%9B%9B-final-scene/
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My blog on Japanese art & history: http://chaari.wordpress.com

紫水晶殿 - The Amethyst Lord