The Frolic of the Beasts

Translator’s Note: The Origins of The Frolic of the Beasts

Yukio Mishima was an avowed fan of traditional Japanese Noh theater, and in fact, he wrote several Noh plays himself. The Frolic of the Beasts is considered a parody of the classical Noh play Motomezuka, written in the fourteenth century by the playwright Kiyotsugu Kan’ami.

Motomezuka tells the story of a priest and his companions who journey from the western provinces to Kyoto but stop en route in the village of Ikuta in Settsu Province. There they encounter several village girls who relate to them the story of the maiden Unai.

In the girls’ telling, Unai is courted by two young men from the village, Sasada and Chinu. Loath to declare her love for one and disappoint the other, she ignores their overtures. Her parents intervene and attempt to resolve the impasse by having the suitors compete for her hand, but each contest ends in a draw. Finding herself in an impossible quandary, Unai plunges into the Ikuta River and kills herself. Brokenhearted, Sasada and Chinu follow suit, stabbing each other to death and descending to hell.

The priest chants prayers for the repose of Unai’s soul but to no avail; she is powerless to break her attachment to the Burning House (a Buddhist metaphor for the secular world) and the Eight Great Hells, through which she must endure unending torment by her demons.

The love triangle between Unai, Sasada, and Chinu is mirrored in the novel in the relationship between Yūko, Ippei, and Kōji, as well as in Kiyoshi’s and Matsukichi’s courtship of Kimi.

Noh productions are characterized by their use of highly stylized masks that represent specific characters, and references to these masks can be found throughout The Frolic of the Beasts. Kōji remarks that his own face “is like a well-crafted, carved wooden mask,” and the “interminable smile” worn by Ippei recalls the fixed expression of a Noh mask. Similarly, Yūko’s defining feature, her thick, dark lipstick, is likely a direct reference to the quintessential “young woman” character found in Noh theater.