Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 315: Kojiki (3)

Dragon Raja 3

During the intermission, no one made noise in the lounge; everyone was still absorbed in the performance. Some were lost in thought, while others whispered quietly.

The second half, however, was a lively and heroic story about Susanoo’s triumph over the Yamata no Orochi.

The subtitle screen introduced Susanoo as a brave young warrior who, with only his sword Ame-no-Habakiri, wandered to a place called “Izumo.” There, he met a beautiful girl named Kushinada-hime, the last daughter of an elderly couple. Her seven sisters had all been devoured by the gigantic Yamata no Orochi, a serpent with eight heads. Every year, the Orochi demanded a girl to devour, and this year, it was Kushinada-hime’s turn. Susanoo fell in love with Kushinada-hime and decided to kill the Orochi to save her and rid the land of the threat. He prepared eight vats of strong sake, turned Kushinada-hime into a comb, and placed her in his hair while waiting for the Orochi. The serpent drank the sake and fell into a drunken stupor. Seizing the opportunity, Susanoo used Ame-no-Habakiri to chop the Orochi into pieces. When he reached the tail, he found that even the divine sword had broken a notch. Susanoo discovered that inside the tail was an even sharper sword, the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. He presented the Kusanagi to his sister, Amaterasu, and married Kushinada-hime.

This time, Ruri played the role of the Yamata no Orochi. He wore a scaly robe over his plain costume, and his dance was identical to when he played Izanami, except without lyrics.

The audience began murmuring, something rare among the typically etiquette-conscious Japanese crowd. But the second half of the performance was indeed strange. The battle with the Orochi, which should have been a fierce clash, appeared more like a dance between a woman and a boy. Susanoo’s sword repeatedly struck Ruri, with bright red dye flowing down the scales. Finally, Ruri collapsed in the center of the stage. Susanoo knelt beside him, holding Ame-no-Habakiri aloft. After a brief pause, he plunged it into Kazama’s heart. Cold fireworks erupted from all sides of the stage, and amid the glittering sparks, Susanoo tore off Ruri’s scaly robe, revealing a blood-soaked woman underneath, lying silently in the spotlight, like a fallen maple leaf.

A voice-over of Ruri’s low, mournful singing echoed, as desolate as a lone soul weeping in a well:

“Weary, so weary, to face the ghostly bones of the lord,

The path ahead is lost, looking back brings only emptiness.

The broken elixir floats on the sea, gazing upon the lonely city:

Still, I remember the heavy bond of yesterday, but the waters of hatred flow ever east.”

After a brief silence, an elderly man in a kimono stood up and let out a long, admiring shout. Then the entire audience rose, applauding thunderously.

The ending was extraordinary: the Yamata no Orochi was revealed to be the reincarnation of Izanami. After many years, she had returned to the human world in the form of a serpent, seeking vengeance for being abandoned by her husband, but Susanoo put an end to her path of revenge. The innovation of the “New Kojiki” lay in its ending—it was the tale of a forsaken wife seeking revenge on her husband and the world he had created. Although revenge itself is evil, when considering the pain she had endured, it stirred a sense of pity in the audience. Ruri’s portrayal was breathtakingly beautiful, and his sorrowful singing was too haunting. A pall of grief seemed to blanket the Kabuki-za, pulling the audience in and out of the realm of myth and reality.

An excited Kabuki critic rushed onto the stage to embrace Ruri, hoarsely praising it as the most perfect Kabuki performance he had ever seen in his life. The entire audience was moved to tears, and the low sounds of sobbing rippled through the hall like waves.

Caesar and Chu Zihang quietly left the venue. As soon as the performance ended, an attendant delivered a white envelope to their private box. Inside was a special invitation card, inviting Caesar and Chu Zihang to visit backstage.

Series Navigation

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