Ebira 箙
Act 1.
On his way to Kyoto from the west, a Buddhist priest saw a beautifully
blooming ume (Japanese apricot) tree at Ikuta (near Kobe). He
asked a man just came there whether the ume tree had the special
name. The man answered, "It is called as 'Ebira-no-Ume',
because, when a battle was took place between the Genji and Heike
clans in this vicinity, Kajiwara-Genta-Kagesue, a young soldier
of Genji clan, took a branch of this blooming tree and put it
into an EBIRA (a back-packing cylinder for keeping arrows). He
got a great success in the war and thought that keeping the branch
with him during the battle might have brought him this success.
Hence, he worshiped the tree and the people in the neighboring
villages call the tree as 'Ebira-no-Ume'." Then he talked
about the battle of Ichinotani in detail, and disappeared, saying
that he is the ghost of Kagesue.
Act 2.
When the priest was praying for the eternal rest of Kagesue,
Kagesue appeared in the war costume with a branch of blooming
ume in the Ebira. He showed the scene of the battle to the priest,
and disappeared with the dusk of the dawn.