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One day, the daughter is told by a serving girl named Yûgiri (an actor in the ''ai-kyôgen'' role) that her precious chicken has died. The daughter, grief-stricken, then organizes a week-long prayer session to pray for the enlightenment of Hatsuyuki's spirit. In the second act, following the end of the prayer session, the spirit of Hatsuyuki, the chicken, appears and performs a celebratory dance.  

One day, the daughter is told by a serving girl named Yûgiri (an actor in the ''ai-kyôgen'' role) that her precious chicken has died. The daughter, grief-stricken, then organizes a week-long prayer session to pray for the enlightenment of Hatsuyuki's spirit. In the second act, following the end of the prayer session, the spirit of Hatsuyuki, the chicken, appears and performs a celebratory dance.  

Today, it is common for the chicken's spirit to be played by the same actor as the daughter, as a ''nochishite'' role. However, originally, it was standard for the chicken to be played by a child actor (''kokata''). In addition to the unusual choice of a chicken as the focus of the plot, this play is further unusual in that it features no male characters, and no ''waki''; since ''waki'' actors typically do not wear masks, a ''waki'' actor would have had to play a male role. Scholar Beng Choo Lim has suggested that this indicates that the all-female cast of characters in this play was a deliberate choice.

Today, it is common for the chicken's spirit to be played by the same actor as the daughter, as a ''nochishite'' role. However, originally, it was standard for the chicken to be played by a child actor (''kokata''). This is but one of several ways in which this play stands out as unusual among the Noh repertoire. [[Zeami]] himself advised that playwrights should take care to give all the most significant lines and parts to the ''shite''; here, Zenpô gives the closing dance, a dramatic and spectacular ''[[jo-ha-kyu|kyû]]'' section normally given to the ''shite'', to a ''kokata'', who in dancing this part upstages the ''shite''. On a practical level, Zenpô states that he did this in order to help provide opportunities for young actors to perform; yet, still, it stands out against Noh norms.

 

This play is further unusual in that it features no male characters, and no ''waki''; since ''waki'' actors typically do not wear masks, a ''waki'' actor would have had to play a male role. Scholar Beng Choo Lim has suggested that this indicates that the all-female cast of characters in this play was a deliberate choice.

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==References==

==References==

*Beng Choo Lim, "Performing Furyû Nô: The Theatre of Konparu Zenpô," ''Asian Theatre Journal'' 22:1 (2005), 36.

*Beng Choo Lim, "Performing Furyû Nô: The Theatre of Konparu Zenpô," ''Asian Theatre Journal'' 22:1 (2005), 36-37.

[[Category:Muromachi Period]]

[[Category:Muromachi Period]]

[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]

[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]