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[[File:Ukai-kogyo.JPG|right|thumb|300px|The cormorant fisherman in ''Ukai'', in a woodblock print by [[Tsukioka Kogyo|Tsukioka Kôgyô]] (1920s), from his series "One Hundred Noh Plays." Santa Barbara Museum of Art.]]
*''Author: [[Enami Saemon Goro|Enami Saemon Gorô]]''
*''Author: [[Enami Saemon Goro|Enami Saemon Gorô]]''
*''Revised: [[Zeami]]''
*''Revised: [[Zeami]]''
''Ukai'' ("Cormorant Fisherman") is a [[Noh]] play written originally by [[Enami Saemon Goro|Enami Saemon Gorô]] and significantly revised by [[Zeami]].
''Ukai'' ("Cormorant Fisherman") is a [[Noh]] play written originally by [[Enami Saemon Goro|Enami Saemon Gorô]] and significantly revised by [[Zeami]].
The play centers around the ghost of a cormorant fisherman (''mae-shite'') who was killed when attempting to fish in waters where it was prohibited; he now languishes in hell due to his sinful trade, which violates the Buddhist prohibitions on the taking of lives. The ghost offers lodging to a traveling monk (the ''waki'' character), and asks the monk to pray for his release from hell.
The play centers around the ghost of a cormorant fisherman (''mae-shite'') who was killed when attempting to fish in waters where it was prohibited; he now languishes in hell due to his sinful trade, which violates the Buddhist prohibitions on the taking of lives. The ghost offers lodging to the traveling monk [[Nichiren]]<ref>"Tsukioka Kôgyô, Selected Works from the Series 'One Hundred Noh Plays,'" Gallery labels, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Feb 2014.</ref> (founder of [[Nichiren Buddhism]], here portrayed by the ''waki'' actor), and asks Nichiren to pray for his release from hell.
The play is unusual in that the ''shite'' actor plays different roles in the first and second acts, whereas in many other plays, the ''shite'' role is the same character throughout, albeit quite often in disguise in the first act, only revealing his/her true identity in the second act. Here, in the second act the ''shite'' actor no longer plays the fisherman's ghost, but a hell demon sent to pardon the fisherman and aid him in obtaining salvation, as a result of his show of kindness to the monk.
The play is unusual in that the ''shite'' actor plays different roles in the first and second acts, whereas in many other plays, the ''shite'' role is the same character throughout, albeit quite often in disguise in the first act, only revealing his/her true identity in the second act. Here, in the second act the ''shite'' actor no longer plays the fisherman's ghost, but a hell demon sent to pardon the fisherman and aid him in obtaining salvation, as a result of his show of kindness to the monk.
==References==
==References==
*Shelley Fenno Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', University of Hawaii Press (2005), 72.
*Shelley Fenno Quinn, ''Developing Zeami'', University of Hawaii Press (2005), 72.
<references/>
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
[[Category:Muromachi Period]]
[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]
[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]
