Noh Kanawa 
("The Iron Crown")
Based on an account in the Heike Monogatari about a 9th
century incident, a woman whose
husband has left her for another wife prays nightly at the Kibune Shrine for revenge. A shrine
attendant tells her that he has received an oracle that the gods have agreed to honor her wish to be
turned into a demoness and she is told to dress in red, put an iron crown on her head surmounted
with burning tapers, and let her fury take her over. Meanwhile, her former husband visits a diviner
and finds out his life is in danger due to his former wife's jealousy. The diviner makes dolls to which
the woman's fury can be transferred and prays vigorously. The woman appears as a demoness and
after exhausting her hatred on the dolls loses her power and disappears.
Author: Unknown. Though sometimes attributed to Zeami (1363?-1443?), a later author is more
likely.
Scene: Autumn, the Kibune Shrine in Yamashiro Province, in the present Sakyô Ward, Kyoto; then
the home of Seimei of Kamigyô in the capital, the present Kamigyô ward in Kyoto.
Category: Fourth category miscellaneous (demoness) play, present-time (genzai) noh in two acts,
with taiko stick drum.
Performance practice: Current in all five shite schools.
Characters (in order of appearance)
- Ai/Ai-kyôgen (interlude actor) : a shrine attendant.
- Maejite (first half shite main actor): a woman of the capital. Wears a female spirit (deigan) mask.
- Wakizure (accompanying waki actors): the woman's former husband.
- Waki (secondary actor): Abe no Seimei, a diviner.
- Nochijite (second half shite) : the woman turned demoness. Wears a female demoness
(hashihime or namanari) mask.
Synopsis: scene by scene.
1. Ai entrance/narration: A shrine attendant enters and tells how he dreamt that a woman would
come to the shrine that night to pray, that the gods have told him to tell her that they would grant
her prayer, and that he is to inform her of what she must do.
2. Shite entrance: A woman enters to shidai music and sings of the many days and ties which bind
her into her robe of love, the fickleness of a man drawn in two ways, the anguish suffered from a
false pledge of love, and her visit to Kibune Shrine to pray for revenge. She sings a travel song
of her night journey referring to having often traveled this road, her troubled and joyless mind,
the darkness along the Kurama rive, and her arrival at Kibune Shrine.
3. Ai/Shite exchange: The shrine attendant tells the woman that he has received an oracle about
her nightly prayers and that the gods will grant her wish to become a demoness. She is to dress
in red, daub her face red, crown her head with an iron tripod and attach burning torches to its
legs, and fill her heart with fury. The woman denies such a wish, but the attendant is certain and
describes how the woman is already taking on a sinister mien. He runs off in fear.
4. Shite's exit: The woman says she will return home to do as the oracle commands. The chorus
describes the change in the woman's appearance as she becomes a demoness, and how black
clouds gather in the sky, and wind and thunder roar. The woman exits quickly.
5. Wakizure entrance: The woman's former husband enters in silence and says that he is on his
way to see the diviner Seimei because of repeated nightmares which he hopes the diviner can
explain to him.
6. Wakizure/Waki exchange: The man calls out at Seimei's home and the latter enters. The man
tells about his repeated nightmares and the diviner immediately recognizes that the man is the
victim of a jealous woman and that his life is in danger that very night. The man tells how he
recently divorced his wife and the diviner explains that his former wife has received strength by
repeated prayers and is preparing to attack him. His only hope is to transfer her anger to
something else. The man begs him to pray, then exits.
Stage assistants place on stage a prayer stand on which is a wig and samurai hat to represent the
husband and his new wife, and a Shinto paper wand. A cloth-covered platform is placed in front of
the stand.
7. Waki's action: Seimei describes the preparations he has made. Accompanied by notto prayer
ceremony music, he begins to pray saying that men and women should not be interfered with
evil spirits. The chorus describes how he prays to all the gods and buddhas, and to the sun,
moon, and stars, and how rain pours, winds blow and thunder and lightning fill the air terrifying
the diviner.
8. Nochijite entrance: The demoness appears to deha music and sings of change which rules all
things, of the cycle of action and retribution, of taking revenge on people by whom she was
wronged. She describes herself as a flaming red demoness. The chorus describes how she
draws near to her husband's pillow and greets him.
9. Shite's lament: The demoness sings of her hatred due to a broken pledge which should have
lasted ages. With the chorus, she describes her bitter tears of rejection and torment, how feeling
of love well up then again turn hatred, how whether awake or asleep she cannot escape her
despair, and how he must learn retribution.
10. Shite's action: With the chorus, she sings of her grief, her intent to kill the couple, her striking
them in retribution, and then the appearance of numerous gods which rebuke her and the loss of
her demonic powers. Saying she has lost now but her turn will come again, she disappears.
[Richard Emmert].