Hagoromo (play) explained

Hagoromo
Name Ja:	羽衣
Name En:	The Feather Mantle
Category:	3
Chars:	shite angel waki Hakuryō, a fisherman wakizure companion(s)
Place:	Pine Grove of Miho, Suruga Bay
Time:	spring, at night
Sources:	Tango fudoki (8th century) Nōin (11th century)
Schools:	all

is among the most-performed Japanese Noh plays.^{[1] [2]} It is an example of the traditional swan maiden motif.^[3]

Sources and history

The earliest recorded version of the legend dates to the eighth century.^[4] The play however apparently combines two legends, one concerning the origins of the Suruga Dance (Suruga-mai) and another the descent of an angel onto Udo Beach. A parallel story may also be found in the 14th volume of the fifth-century Sou-shen chi. A poem by the 11th century poet Nōin is quoted.

The authorship of the Noh play Hagoromo is unknown.^[2] The earliest references to the play in historical records date to 1524, which suggests that it was written well after Zeami's time.^[2]

Plot

A fisherman is walking with his companions at night when he finds the Hagoromo, the magical feather-mantle of a tennin (an aerial spirit or celestial dancer) hanging on a bough. The tennin sees him taking it and demands its return—she cannot return to Heaven without it. The fisherman argues with her, and finally promises to return it, if she will show him her dance or part of it. She accepts his offer. The Chorus explains the dance as symbolic of the daily changes of the moon. The words about "three, five, and fifteen" refer to the number of nights in the moon's changes. In the finale, the tennin disappears like a mountain slowly hidden in mist.^{[5] [6] [7]}

Adaptations

W. B. Yeats' At the Hawk's Well drew extensively from the Hagoromo legend.^[8]

An abridged version of the plot of play is attested in German, with the name Das Federkleid, in Japanische Märchen und Sagen (1885).^[9] An English translation exists in the book Green Willow; and other Japanese fairy tales, with the name The Robe of Feathers.^[10]

A literary treatment of the play was given as The Fisherman and the Moon-Maiden in Japanese Fairy World (1880).^[11] Another version exists with the name The Angel's Robe.^[12]

Osamu Tezuka based a short story in his Phoenix series on the story of the Hagoromo, but with a sci-fi twist, featuring a time displaced human girl from the distant future instead of a tennin. Recently, the story was adapted into the manga and anime series Ceres, The Celestial Legend.^[13]

See also

• The princess and the cowherd
• Tsuru no Ongaeshi

Further reading

• Miller . Alan L. . Of Weavers and Birds: Structure and Symbol in Japanese Myth and Folktale . History of Religions . 1987 . 26 . 3 . 309–327 . 10.1086/463082 . 1062378 . 161301399 .
• Miller . Alan L. . Myth and Gender in Japanese Shamanism: The 'Itako' of Tohoku . History of Religions . 1993 . 32 . 4 . 343–367 . 10.1086/463346 . 1062826 . 162209767 .
• Petkova . G . Propp and the Japanese folklore: applying morphological parsing to answer questions concerning the specifics of the Japanese fairy tale . Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques . 2009 . 63 . 3 . 597–618 . 10.5167/uzh-23802 .
• Rumpf . Fritz . Über Japanische Märchen Hagoromo (Das Federkleid) . T'oung Pao . 1937 . 33 . 3/4 . 220–267 . 10.1163/156853237X00145 . 4527134 .
• Sato . Toshihiko . A Study of a Noh, "The Robe of Feathers" . CLA Journal . 1972 . 16 . 1 . 72–80 . 44328479 .
• Yasuda . Kenneth K. . The Structure of Hagoromo, a Nō Play . Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies . 1973 . 33 . 5–89 . 10.2307/2718885 . 2718885 .

External links

• English translation of the Hagoromo Noh play by Arthur Waley
• English translation of the Hagoromo Noh play by Ezra Pound
• Hagoromo Noh play Photo Story and Story Paper

Notes and References

1. Kinoshita, June & Nicholas Palevsky. Gateway to Japan. Kodansha International (1998), p121. .
2. [Royall Tyler (academic)|Tyler, Royall]
3. Young, Serinity. "Gender and Sexuality: Reading Females, Males and Other in Asian Folktales". In: A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity. Vol. 1 – Antiquity (500 BCE to 800 CE). London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. pp. 62-63.
4. Blacker, Carmen. Collected Writings of Carmen Blacker. Routledge (2000), p44. .
5. [Pound, Ezra]
6. Clouston, W. A. Popular tales and fictions: their migrations and transformations. Edinburgh; London: W. Blackwood. 1887. p. 190-191.
7. Book: Iwao . Seiichi . Sakamato . Tarō . Hōgetsu . Keigo . Yoshikawa . Itsuji . Akiyama . Terukazu . Iyanaga . Teizō . Iyanaga . Shôkichi . Matsubara . Hideichi . Kanazawa . Shizue . Hagoromo densetsu . 9–10 . https://www.persee.fr/doc/dhjap_0000-0000_1981_dic_7_1_890_t2_0009_0000_4 . Dictionnaire historique du Japon Année . 1981 . 7 . 1 .
8. Murphy, Maureen. "Some Western Productions of At the Hawk's Well, with a Mythological Footnote". In Tumult of Images: Essays on W.B. Yeats and Politics (ed. Peter Liebregts and Peter van de Kamp). Rodopi (1995), p71. .
9. Brauns, David. Japanische Märchen und Sagen. Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich. 1885. pp. 349-350.
10. James, Grace; Goble, Warwick, Ill. Green Willow and other Japanese fairy tales. London: Macmillan and Co. 1910. pp. 142-147.
11. Griffis, William Elliot. Japanese Fairy World: Stories from the Wonder-lore of Japan. J. H. Barhyte. 1880. pp. 264-272.
12. Nixon-Roulet, Mary F. Japanese folk stories and fairy tales. New York, Cincinnati [etc.] American book company. 1908. pp. 46-49.
13. Drazen, Patrick. Anime Explosion!: The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press (2003), p41. .