Kinuta (砧) Noh with Script & Synopsis

SCRIPT (PDF) SYNOPSIS A feudal lord of Kyūshū, the Lord of Ashiya, has been up to Kyōto for three years for the purpose of bringing a lawsuit and his wife is left alone, longing for his return. In the autumn of the third year of their separation, Yūgiri, the family maidservant, returns to Ashiya alone. The Lady laments her husband’s heartlessness, and seeking solace, she sends for a kinuta*: a fulling-block on which the women of the village beat their cloth, which she strikes in hope that its sound will carry her feelings to her husband in the capital.