SOURCE: Mueller, Jacqueline. “The Two Shizukas: Zeami's Futari Shizuka.” Monumenta Nipponica: Studies in Japanese Culture XXXVI, no. 3 (autumn 1981): 285-98.

In the following essay, which introduced her translation of The Two Shizukas, Mueller examines Zeami's treatment of the tragic character Shizuka in light of other depictions of this traditional figure. In this reprinting, ideographic characters have been silently deleted.

Futari Shizuka (The Two Shizukas), by Kanze Motokiyo Zeami, 1363-1443, is a play of the third, or woman, category. Like many other works of the noh repertory, it is based on events in the war between the Minamoto and the Taira clans, 1180-1185, and its aftermath.¹ The Minamoto hero, Yoshitsune, 1159-1189, flees from the forces of his half-brother, Yoritomo, 1147-1199, who suspects him of treachery. He tries to sail south from the main island of Japan, but his boat is blown back to shore. Later in his flight Yoshitsune is...