Aya no Tsuzumi

The gardener at the Palace of Chikuzen has fallen in love with the Imperial Consort. She sends a message to the gardener that she will meet him at the pond if he beats the drum which she has placed in a laurel tree in the garden. He tries but the drum has been made with twill (aya) and so cannot sound. Realising that he has been made a fool of, the gardener drowns himself in the pond and returns as an evil ghost who torments the princess. ==Adaptations==

Japanese playwright Yukio Mishima wrote his own adaptation of the play in his collection Kindai Nogakushu in 1957. Wilford Leach and John Braswell's ETC Company staged an English-language adaptation of Aya No Tsuzumi, called Demon, in repertory at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club throughout the 1970s. ==References==