Reading Kakitsubata (Iris): Who is “I” in the Narration of “I as the Savor of All the Human Beings”?

Abstract

Noh plays, even popular ones, are rarely read as drama and given correct interpretations. The present writer tries to read a noh play, Kakitsubata, as a drama and determine to whom the “I” actually refers means, when the spirit of kakitsubata (iris), that is, the spirit of Lady Nijo, utters “I as the savor of all the human beings” in the story of Ariwara no Narihira. The writer concludes, examining some secret Medieval literatures on “waka”, a traditional form of Japanese poetry, that the “I” is not the spirit of the story-teller kakitsubata, Lady Nijo, but Narihira himself.