1. A Shingon 真言 priest (1143-79), who was
an anti-Taira 平 conspirator, and a tragic exile. The story of Shunkan (1143-79)
appears in literature, drama, and art. An administrator of Hosshouji 法勝寺, Shunkan
was allied with the circle of retired Emperor Goshirakawa 後白河 (r.1155-58) who
plotted against Taira no Kiyomori's 平清盛(1118-81) rule at the Shishigatani 鹿が谷
villa in 1177. Shunkan, along with co-conspirators Fujiwara no Naritsune 藤原成経
and Taira no Yasuyori 平康頼 was exiled to Kikaigashima 鬼界が島, south of Kyuushuu 九州.
According to HEIKE MONOGATARI 平家物語 (The Tale of The Heike), a year after
banishment, an amnesty was declared and although Naritsune and Yasuyori were pardoned,
Shunkan was forced to remain on the island. The Tale also tells of Ariou 有王, Shunkan's
young disciple, who traveled to the distant island after hearing that Shunkan would not be pardoned. Finding the old man in a ravaged and beggarly condition
staggering along the beach, Ariou took Shunkan back to his tiny grass shack where
the old man died. The dramatic moment when the imperial messenger arrives with
pardons for Naritsune and Yasuyori and takes them from the island, leaving Shunkan alone, is the subject of the *nou
能 play SHUNKAN. The story was considerably amended in Chikamatsu Monzaemon's
近松門左衛門 (1653-1724) joururi 浄瑠璃 "Heike Nyogo-no-Shima 平家女護島" of 1719,
in which Shunkan receives a pardon but nobly decides to stay on the island so
that Naritsune's islander wife can accompany him back to the capital. The envoy
forbids this but Shunkan kills him and remains on the island. The Shunkan theme
was further elaborated in the joururi "Hime Komatsu Nenohi no
Asobi 姫小松子日遊" of 1757 by Yoshida Kanko 吉田冠子, also called "Horagatake no
Shunkan 洞が嶽の俊寛", best known for the episode known as "Shunkan Shima-monogatari
俊寛島物語." In this version, the morning after Shunkan was left alone, a secret
messenger came to tell Shunkan that Taira no Shigemori 平重盛 (1138-79) forgave him
and thus Shunkan secretly returned to the capital and lived in hiding at Horagatake
under the name of Raigen 来現. Later he helped the imperial concubine Kogou no Tsubone
小督の局 escape from Kiyomori's oppression to bear a son. The various plays and *kabuki
歌舞伎 variants were illustrated in *ukiyo-e
浮世絵 actor prints *musha-e
武者絵 by artists such as Katsukawa Shunsho 勝川春草 (1726-92), Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川豊国
(1769-1825), and Andou Hiroshige 安藤広重 (1797-1858). Typically in illustrations
of "Heike Nyogo-no-Shima," Shunkan is depicted as a wild beggar wandering
on a rough beach, or killing the messenger. The long-haired Shunkan of "Horagatake
no Shunkan," looks in a mirror held by the wife of the servant who has called
him to help at the birth of Kogou's son.
2. Noh mask *noumen
能面 made for the play SHUNKAN and representing a warrior of the Murakami
Genji 村上源氏 line who at age 37 was exiled by Taira no Kiyomori 平清盛 along with two
others to the island of Kikaigashima 鬼界が島. When a reprieve arrives, he is elated,
only to fall into bitter despair when he realises that he alone is to remain on
the island unpardoned. Sadly he watches his two companions sail back to the capital.
Each of the five noh schools has its own rendition of the character, but all show
a middle-aged man whose expression combines the desolation of exile, the hopes
of expected pardon, and the despair of being forsaken. While the Kanze 観世 version
( dated 1606 with an inscription reading 'Hie Gonnokami") has a sour negativism
in the drooping eyes and mouth, the Houshou 宝生 Shunkan mask bears a pained dignity
with softened lines and broader features. The Kongou 金剛 mask is more abstractly
modeled with sharp corners. |
