Early spring, on the beach at Takasago in Banshu. On his way to Kyoto, Tomonari, Guardian of the Shrine of Aso in Higo, sees an elderly couple sweeping needles from around the base of a pine tree, and asks which is the pine-tree of Takasago, which together with the pine tree of Sumiyoshi is part of a phrase meaning “to grow old together”, even though Sumiyoshi is far from this place. The couple gets into a boat and sails away.
Tomonari also sails to Sumiyoshi, and the holy dance of prayer for the Emperor and for the land takes place. It is the beginning of spring, and the mood is calm in its unchanging green. The elderly couple, symbolizing the long ages of the pine tree, also stand for a long and happy married life.

A visiting monk from Yoshino stands gazing at the flowers of a plum tree at the foot of the steps of an imperial palace in the Ichijo Omiya area of Kyoto. A woman appears from under the eaves, where no one had seemed to be. She tells him that here the nobles of ancient times held poetry and music gatherings. The monk, suspicious, asks the woman’s name, and she says she is a butterfly with a deep connection to flowers who grieves because she knows nothing of the plum blossoms. She has appeared in this form because she wishes to have the Lotus Sutra read and thus ascend to Lord Buddha and join herself with the plum blossoms. She promises to appear in the monk’s dreams, and vanishes. 　The monk begins to chant the sutra, and the spirit of a beautiful butterfly appears. Delighted that through the power of the Lotus Sutra she has joined with the plum blossoms, she dances among them, and disappears into the sunset clouds. Besides the novelty and the butterfly’s loveliness as inspired by this story of her yearning for the plum blossoms, the piece can also be thought to aim for the elegance of the flowers themselves. It is as well an exercise in spiritual improvement, with the butterfly attaining her innocent wish through Lord Buddha.

A lady of seemingly noble rank and her attendants are out in the mountains for a party to view the autumn leaves. The warrior Taira no Koremochi, out with his attendants hunting deer, finds it strange that they should be viewing the leaves in such a place but, unwilling to disturb their revelry, dismounts from his horse, changes his path, and is trying to pass quietly by when the noblewoman stops him and invites him to join their party. With a beautiful woman pouring for him, he drinks more than he can remember, and falls asleep, at which point the watching women vanish.　As Koremochi dreams, a god appears with a message. In surprise, Koremochi awakens to find that the women have revealed themselves as the demons they really were. Koremochi, however, does not flinch. Calling on the Hachiman Daibosatsu, Taira no Koremochi stands against the demons and vanquishes them. While there are other plays involving demons in the mountains, this contrasts the hero vanquishing the demon with an autumn flower viewing party, and speaks to both the attraction of a beautiful woman, and to the truth of the proverb “Saint without, devil within”.