Japanese Literature Summaries
日本語

The Priest and His Disciples — Summary and Characters

Between love and faith

Author
Kurata Hyakuzō
Published
November 1916
First appeared in
Seimei no Kawa
Genres
  • Historical
  • Romance
Setting
  • Kyoto
Length
123,785 characters
Reading time
About 4 hr 8 min
Orthography
Modern script and kana

About this work

A play in six acts written under the guidance of the Tannishō. Serialized in the magazine Inochi no Kawa from 1916 into the following year and published by Iwanami Shoten in 1917, it went through edition after edition and was read throughout the Taishō era. The author was twenty-seven. From the house of a man who beat the travelling Shinran on a night of snow, through his son becoming a disciple and falling in love with a courtesan in Kyoto, to Shinran's death at ninety, it moves among love and faith, sin and forgiveness. A Buddhist play written in transparent dialogue that carries something of the Bible, and famously admired by Romain Rolland.

Summary

On a night of heavy snow, the traveling priest Shinran and his party ask shelter at the house of Hino Saemon. Saemon, who has been living a rough life, beats the priest and drives him away, and Shinran and his companions pass the night outside the door with stones for pillows. But when Saemon sees the image of Amida that he has broken with his staff, he collapses in tears at the depth of his own karma, and is forgiven as he is. Fifteen years later Saemon's son Matsuwaka, now called Yuien, is serving the aged Shinran at his temple in the capital. Shinran has a son of his own, Zenran, who, unable to follow his father's way, has sunk into the pleasure quarters and ruined himself with drink and women. Taken by Zenran to a teahouse, Yuien meets Kaede, a girl of sixteen in the quarter, and falls deeply in love with her. His conduct becomes known throughout the temple, and the monks line up before Shinran demanding that their master judge him. But Shinran will not judge his disciple: "It is I who am at fault," he says; and he teaches Yuien the way of a pure love — not to promise the future, and not to curse his lover, or others, or himself — and tells him to pray that, if the tie is there, the two may be joined. Another fifteen years pass. Shinran, ninety years old, lies dying, and Yuien has taken Kaede for his wife and has two daughters by her. And to that deathbed, at last, comes Zenran, who has held out against him so long.

Characters

Chapter-by-chapter synopsis

The app covers this work chapter by chapter (full text in the app).

  1. 1. About This Work
  2. 2. Main Characters
  3. 3. Major Supporting Characters
  4. 4. Prologue — “The One Who Dies”
  5. 5. Act I — A Lodging on a Snowy Night
  6. 6. Act II — Kyoto, Fifteen Years Later
  7. 7. Act III — Father and Son in the Pleasure Quarter
  8. 8. Act IV — Love at Kurodani
  9. 9. Act V — A Judgment That Does Not Judge
  10. 10. Act VI — The Death of Shinran
  11. 11. Key Motifs and Foreshadowing

The opening (original text)

This play is dedicated to my devout aunt The man of gravest evil has only to call the Buddha's name; I too am within that embrace. Though the passions blind my eyes and I cannot see, the great compassion never wearies, and shines on me always. (from the Shōshin Nenbutsu Ge) Prologue That Which Dies — A vision of a certain day — MAN (walking upon the earth): I was born. And I live, bathed in the light of the sun and breathing the air. Truly I am alive. Look at that fine arched color of the sky. And the black earth my bare feet are treading so firmly. The grass and trees growing thick, the birds and beasts flying and running about, and then the goodness of woman, the sweetness of children — ah, I want to live, I want to live. THE VEILED ONE (appearing): What are you? MAN: I am a human being. THE VEILED ONE: Then you are That Which Dies.

The Priest and His Disciples by Kurata Hyakuzō (Aozora Bunko)

The ending (original text)

ZENRAN (the muscles of his lips twitching painfully; he starts to say something and hesitates; at last, in despair): My own wretchedness.... I do not understand.... I cannot decide. (He prostrates himself. Shōshin's face turns white.) SHINRAN: Ah. (He closes his eyes.) A stir passes through the company. THE PHYSICIAN: This, gentlemen, is the moment of his passing. A deep inward agitation reaches its height. Yet not a sound is made. The disciples draw near the pillow. One after another they moisten Shinran's lips. SHINRAN (his lips move faintly. A look of anguish comes over his face. Then the look grows gradually calm, and turns at last into a still expression of peace such as only the blessed have. In a small but steady voice): It is well as it is. Everyone is saved.... It is a good, harmonious world. (A beauty not of this world shines over his face.) Ah, peace! The farthest, the innermost. Namu Amida Butsu. THE PHYSICIAN: He has breathed his last. A holy emotion. The company becomes as still as water. All press their palms together. The sound of Namu Amida Butsu rises for a while, then ceases. A moment of silence. Peaceful, heavenly music, to show that Shinran's soul has returned to heaven. — Curtain —

The Priest and His Disciples by Kurata Hyakuzō (Aozora Bunko)

Read the original

The original Japanese text is available at Aozora Bunko, and the app downloads the same text for its vertical-text reader.

Aozora Bunko library card

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