FIRST MAN: May you turn into a three-horned devil! FIRST
SAMURAI: What!
SECOND SAMURAI: You dare defy us?
The samurai chase the people, who scatter. The people laugh, clown
about, and dance as they scatter.
The samurai return and address Kagekiyo.
THIRD SAMURAI: If you’re really a biwa-hoshi, sing for us.
SECOND SAMURAI: Yeah, hurry up...
FIRST SAMURAI: Sing.
Kagekiyo has no choice, so he plays.
Here on my lap the biwa my hand knows so well I play it I make it sing
ah what a cheery song whose child listens it is my daughter.
The three samurai and the people from the festival all listen.
Kagekiyo stops playing and stands.
KAGEKIYO: The biwa has many modes, the heart has many registers,
harari hararin.
The samurai mimic Kagekiyo.
FIRST SAMURAI: It is my daughter, harari hararin.
The samurai depart, laughing.
Kagekiyo goes off in the opposite direction.
The people watch him leave.
The morning glory eaten by insects the fate of flowers this too when
autumn comes the sighing of distant fields the bank of a river in my dream
as I sleep I yearn to meet my father.
