Matsukaze


Matsukaze is a play of the third category by Kan'ami, revised by Zeami Motokiyo. One of the most highly regarded of Noh plays, it is mentioned more than any other in Zeami's own writings, and is depicted numerous times in the visual arts.

Plot

The two main characters are the lingering spirits of the sisters Matsukaze and Murasame, who once lived on the Bay of Suma in Settsu Province, where they ladled brine in order to make salt. A courtier, Middle Counsellor Ariwara no Yukihira, dallied with them during his exile to Suma for three years. Shortly after his departure, word of his death came and they died of grief. They linger on as spirits or ghosts, attached to the mortal world by their sinful emotional attachment to mortal desires; this is a common theme in Noh.
The play opens with a traveling priest asking a local about a memorial he sees. The local explains that the memorial is to the two sisters. This is followed by a scene in which the sisters, ladling seawater into their brinecart at night, become fascinated by the sight of the moon in the water, and try to capture it.
The priest dreams that he meets them when asking for lodgings. After revealing their identities, they explain their past, and grow overcome with their love and longing for Yukihira. Matsukaze, after donning the courtly hunting robe and hat left to her by the courtier, mistakes a pine for her love, and Murasame joins her briefly in madness, before recovering, passing on from the mortal world of emotional attachment, and leaving her sister behind.

Opera

Matsukaze became the subject of an opera by Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa, written for the dance company of Sasha Waltz. It was commissioned by and first performed at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in 2011 It has been hailed as a triumph for contemporary opera and for the composer. The production toured to Warsaw, Luxemburg, Berlin and Lille.