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This work is based on the Noh theatre play "Tsuchigumo (ground spider)".
Minamoto no Yorimitsu, a military commander, was suffering from an illness. A handmaid, Kocho (butterfly), visited him with medicine, but his illness worsened. After Kocho left, clouds and fog filled his room at night, and an unknown Buddhist monk appeared, who asked about his condition. Yorimitsu had doubts and asked who he was, and the monk approached him while whispering a poem from a Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry.
He discovered the monk was a spider monster, and it attempted to bind him with thread. Yorimitsu reached for a sword and attacked the monster, which disappeared.
Hearing the trouble, courtiers rushed to the scene. Yorimitsu, who seemed to have forgotten his illness, ordered one of the courtiers, Doku-musha to punish the monster.
Following the blood of the spider, the courtier found an old gravesite. When they broke the grave, a spirit of the ground spider appeared and sprayed thread. After struggling, they took down the spider.
Since the scene changes in various ways, be careful not to lose tension through pause and loss of timbre. Pay attention to overall balance and ensemble organization.
(Tomohito Matsushita)
