save the nobles. Koremori, Naishi, and Rokudai then return, alive and safe, disguised as tea merchants. Koremori finds a poem on Yoritomo's cloak which indicates that something is inside it; cutting it open, he finds a Buddhist monk's robe. Seemingly, Kajiwara intended all along to spare Koremori, and granted him in this indirect way a disguise with which to safely escape. Koremori cuts off his topknot, becomes a lay monk, and separates himself from both his families for the final time. Yazaemon offers to accompany Rokudai and Naishi, and Osato stays with her mother, loyally maintaining the home and the shop in her father's absence. The act ends with Gonta's death, one of the most famous examples in Japanese traditional drama of the interference of the affairs of nobles and samurai into the lives of common people, and the death and destruction it brings. Act Four The fourth act begins with a michiyuki dance scene, which follows Shizuka as she seeks to catch up with Yoshitsune and his party. The journey is narrated by an offstage narrator, in the bunraku style, and there is very little dialogue. As she travels through the countryside, Shizuka decides to play the Hatsune Drum, in order to entice birds to follow her, not knowing the magical or metaphorical significance of the drum. As soon as she does so, a white fox emerges, romps across the stage and then disappears behind a low hill, from which emerges Tadanobu. Placing the drum atop Yoshitsune's armor, granted Tadanobu in the second act, the two dance, their gestures and motions mimicking the actions of the narration. The narration indicates their desire to follow Yoshitsune to Yoshino, and then drifts into a retelling of the events of the battle of Dan-no-ura, ending with the pair's arrival at a Buddhist temple, the Zaō Hall in Yoshino. After a very brief scene showing the pair's arrival, attention is shifted to Kawatsura Hōgen, head of the temple, who discusses with his fellow monks what stance they should take towards Yoshitsune. Several of the monks here are known to be enemies of Yoshitsune, and a letter has just arrived from the capital asking them to hunt him down. The monks discuss, and even those normally hostile to Yoshitsune decide that as monks it is their duty to aid people in need. Hōgen, however, even after admitting that he thinks Yoshitsune blameless, fires an