Uta Andon

by Izumi Kyōka · 1910

Two old men, a retired Noh drummer and a Noh master, travel the old Tokaido road to Kuwana, playing at Yaji and Kita from Shank's Mare. In a noodle shop and an inn they hear how a wandering minstrel once chanted a blind masseur to death, and how he taught a luckless girl to dance, until the master himself takes up the chant in the moonlit street.

Books mentioned in Uta Andon (1)

• Shank's Mare by Jippensha Ikku: “"Still, it's a good idea. I never fall asleep easily, so tonight I think I'll read it by the lamp at my pillow." "Don't. Reading it tightens your chest and keeps you awake even longer." "What nonsense! Who ever wept over Shank's Mare?" [auto-translated]”