In the play Ichi-no-tani sen.iin given then, Kanze Motomasa played
• — “ (28)
the part of Yoshitsune and made his entrance on a horse . The To’-no-mine performances were recognized to he in a distinct style of their own, hut as military accoutrements are the only things mentioned as heing real in records describing performances of
- 170 -
(29)
this kind , it looks as if the characteristic for which they were noted was not so much realistic production in general as realistic treatment of plays featuring v/arriors. Such plays were made as spectacular as possible so that, in the words of a phrase much used to describe performances in the Muromachi period, they
did indeed 1arnase the eyes and ears' of the audience. To-no-mine is in Yamato and the ceremony which the Sarugaku schools of that province were required to attend there was the Hokke hakko-e, the Eight headings of the Lotus Sutra, held annually in the tenth moon. Not all the four schools attended every year, however. Two
schools served there each year and when, in iJLj.63P the performances were given by the Komparu and Kongo schools, it may have been the
(30)
first time they had fulfilled this duty for thirty years . This ceremony of reading the Lotus Sutra usually consists of the eight books of the sutra being read in turn, one each night and morning,
so that the eight readings last four days. Thus, when the 'Saru gaku dangi* refers to the To-no-mine ceremony as Shiko, 'The Four Readings', commentators have sought to explain it by saying
that it was given this name because the Sarugaku players attended
(3.1)
for four days . The explanation is unconvincing in itself and there are other points which, taken together, throw doubt on its accuracy. The strongest evidence is that of an entry in a fif-
(3?-)
teenth century record which states that the Sarugaku began on the thirteenth day of the tenth moon and ended on the follow ing day. The 'Sarugaku dangi' also mentions two days in connect-
(33)
- 171 -
attendance demanded of members of the Kanae group, states, 'Kara no On-matsuri, Tan-no-mine wa sengo yokka no aida', literally,
'The Nara On-matsuri /and7 Tan-no-mine. from first to last a
~ (3U)
space of four days.' This is capable of two interpretations^ either that the players were required to assemble for the Wale a- miya Festival and the To-no-mine ceremony for four days on each
occasion, or that attendance at the two together amounted to four days. In view of the other points mentioned, the second meaning seems more likely to be correct and, since Sarugaku was normally given at the On-matsuri on only two consecutive days, even the first interpretation would entail the conclusion that two extra days were being allowed for assembly, preparation, and dispersal. In either case, the evidence appears to shov/ that, although the ceremony of the sutra readings was usually spread over four days, at To-no-mine the performances by a particular Sarugaku group, if not the ceremony itself, lasted only two days.
Like Sarugaku, Dengaku was connected from early times with religious ceremonies. Indeed, insofar as Dengaku
originated in songs and dances performed in the fields to encour age the gods to provide bountiful harvests, it had such a connect ion from the very beginning. The pleasure it gave to the people who saw and heard it would, In any case, soon have led to its being used to entertain the gods in religious ceremonies else where in the same way as G-igaku, Bugaku, and early Sarugaku, of which it came to form a part.
The earliest known records which clearly speak of .Dengaku "being given as an independent entertainment at religious ceremonies date from about the same time as the first mentions of professional ^engaku players and Dengaku 2a; that is to say, there are hardly any earlier than the second quarter of the twelfth
(35)
century * In the Kyoto area, Dengaku is known to have been
given at the G-ion Festival from 1127* and at the Kamo and Shin-Hie shrines, in the Ml-toshiro Festival in the sixth moon and the
Ko-satsulci-e in the fifth moon respectively, from the fiE^st half of the thirteenth century® There are fewer records of such per formances around Kara but there are mentions of Dengaku at the Todai-ji in 1102 and in the Kasuga Wakamiya Festival from 1137
onwards®
Sarugaku players also participated in the Wakamiya Festival from this date, but a comparison of records giving details of the procession shows that the precedence enjoyed by Dengaku
in the early years was later lost to Sarugaku® Until at least 1168 Sarugaku came after Dengaku in the procession, but by 1190
(36)
the order was reversed and has remained so ever since. The reason for this is not clear but is probably to be found in the different conditions under which Dengaku and Sarugaku players took part in the festival® The differences are thus relevant to this question, as well as being interesting in themselves®
The first of them concerns the office of gakuto, the person appointed to organise the entertainment at any parti cular festival® While records make no mention of anyone belonging
- 173 -
to the Kofuku-ji being appointed gakuto to deal with the Sarugaku players who performed there, from as early as 11:50 thex^e are
frequent mentions of the yearly appointment of priests as Dengaku- (37)
jto, 1 heads of Dengaku’. Usually two in number, these priests were charged with the duty of looking after either the Dengaku
s (38)
Iionza or ^hinza group . Nor was this duty regarded as an unim portant one, to be allotted to junior priests. Although, in years when there were two gakuto. those appointed were not of the high est rank, on one or two occasions when there seems have been
- (39) only one gakuto, the office was held by no less than a so jo • Furthermore, valuable costumes formed part of the rewards to the Dengaku players and were presented to them at a special gathering distinct from the festival itself. The custom of presenting robes or lengths of cloth to singers and dancers as a mark of appreci ation was common as early as the Iieian period, and when first Dengaku and then Sarugaku became popular in the Kamakura and Ivluromachi periods, such gifts regularly formed part of the per-
quisites enjoyed by the players . The robes were used in performances and this, together with the tradition of lavish presentation found in such religious entertainments as Dnaen and Shushi, has led to the magnificence of No costume today. Although the practice of making such gifts often led to wild extravagance,
(ki)
followed by orders forbidding it altogether , it always began again before long. Since the end of the Heian period it had been common for robes to be presented to entertainers, not after a performance to express appreciation, but before it began, so that
- m -
they might he worn in the performance itself. Certainly, at the Wakamiya Festival, the costumes were presented to the Dengaku
(42)
players on the evening before the day of the festival , and
(43) the players, in return, performed No before the assembled priests. Sarugaku players, however, were not given presents of robes at
(UI+) the festival - at any rate, not until the time of Zenchiku - and were probably provided with little more than victuals for the
J45)