Sanemori & Japanese Culture

Sanemori

a Noh Play

Saitō Bettō Sanemori (斉藤別 当実盛) first made his appearance in episode seven of chapter seven of Tale of the Heike, beginning as an eastern warrior with history with the Minimoto, but one who chooses to remain loyal to the Taira during the Genpei war (Varley 1994). The disgraceful flight of the kari-musha from the Battle of the Shinohara leads to the retreat of the entire Taira force and the sets the stage for Yoshinaka’s advance upon the capital. In these desperate times, Sanemori becomes emblematic of great heroism for the Taira. In a compelling character arc, his story comes to a climax when, at the Fuji river, the Taira was startled by a flock of birds and fled without fighting and he failed to fire a single arrow, he proclaims that he wishes to die at the battlefield at Shinohara. Therefore, he seeks permission from Lord Munemori and disguises his age and identity by putting on the red barocade of a general and dying his hair black. In the challenge with Tezuka no Mitsunori, Sanemori is killed.

Zeami Motokiyo created a warrior play, Sanemori, which is often seen as more loyal to the original story in the Tale of the Heike than any other noh play (Hare 1995). Takeuchi states that because of the nature of oral and theatrical performances, the narrations can be altered when converting one form into the other. The narrations become more unclear in nō as there is no narrator to preserve the distinctions between characters’ speech and acts. Sanemori is an example of a close link between the waki (the subordinate actor) and the shite (the principal actor) resulting in specific people praying for famous warriors (Hare 1995). In the play Reverend Father Tawami, a disciple of the founder of Ji sect Buddhism, is visited by the ghost of the warrior Sanemori telling him about his death and asking to be saved.

Works Cited:

Hare, Thomas Blenman. Zeami’s Style: the Noh Plays of Zeami Motokiyo. Stanford University Press, 1995.

Oyler, Elizabeth, and Michael Geoffrey Watson. Like Clouds or Mists: Studies and Translations of Nō Plays of the Genpei War. East Asia Program, Cornell University, 2013.

Varley, Paul H. Warriors of Japan as Portrayed in the War Tales. University of Hawai’i Press, 1994.