KAIDAN BOTAN DŌRŌ

['The Ghost Story of the Peony Lantern']

CAST :

Tomozō

Bandō Minosuke

Omine

Onoe Ukon

Okuni

Bandō Shingo

Miyanobe Genjirō

Nakamura Hashinosuke

Hagiwara Shinzaburō

Ichikawa Somegorō

Otsuyu

Onoe Tatsunosuke

Iijima Heizaemon

Kawarasaki Gonjūrō

San’yūtei Enchō / Kyūzō, a packhorse driver

Matsumoto Kōshirō

STORY :

One of the most famous ghost stories in Japan, this play portrays the ghost of a beautiful young girl who visits the man she loves every night. Her way is lit by a lantern decorated with peonies. 'Karannn… koronnnn…', the clatter of her wooden clogs announces her appearance. The story, originally from China, became a Japanese classic when it was transformed into a long rakugo story by San'yūtei Enchō (1839 - 1900).
Otsuyu the daughter of a samurai family falls in love with a young samurai named Shinzaburō, but falls sick and dies longing for him. Her ghost begins to visit him nightly, the way led by the ghost of her nursemaid carrying a lantern decorated with peonies. Shinzaburō welcomes these meetings, not realizing she is dead. However, a priest sees the signs of death and protects Shinzaburō with holy amulets and a powerful Buddhist statue. Trying to take the amulets away, the ghosts bribe Shinzaburō's greedy servant Tomozō and his wife Omine. Once the amulets are taken away, Shinzaburō is killed by the ghosts. Tomozō and Omine run away with the money, but the money doesn't bring them happiness. Tomozō gets involved with Okuni, a waitress at the restaurant Sasaya, and visits it frequently to see her. Omine learns this and questions him closely. The lantern decorated with peonies flies to them from nowhere as they quarrel. This version of the story is not just a tale of ghosts, but shows human treachery, greed and the revolving ironies of fate.

Nemuruga Rakuda Monogatari
RAKUDA

['Rakuda: Party with a Corpse']

CAST :

Kyūroku, a waste paper collector

Nakamura Kankurō

Chōname no Hanji

Matsumoto Kōshirō

Oiku, Sahē’s wife

Sasano Takashi

Rakuda no Umatarō

Kataoka Ichizō

Sahē, the landlord

Bandō Yajūrō

STORY :

This is a popular dramatization of a rakugo comic story. A petty gang member called Rakuda has died after eating blowfish. Hanji, one of his evil companions, finds him and hopes to hold a wake, but has no money. Every neighbor is overjoyed to hear that such a nuisance is dead, but when Hanji tries to get them to contribute, they refuse to contribute a single penny to his burial. Hanji threatens Kyūroku, the waste paper collector, and demands that he go to the landlord's house carrying Rakuda's corpse to obtain condolence money. The plan works and they succeed in having the saké delivered. They start drinking together, but as they drink, the hapless Kyūroku becomes surprisingly aggressive.

Momochidori Okitsu Shiranami
KIJIN NO OMATSU

['Plovers over White Waves Off Shore' commonly known as 'The Female Bandit Omatsu']

CAST :

The female bandit Omatsu

Nakamura Shichinosuke

Natsume Shirojirō

Onoe Ukon

Fujinami, Mondo’s sister

Nakamura Yonekichi

Shibahei, Shirotarō’s servant

Nakamura Toranosuke

Kosuke, a robber, in reality Kinezumi

Nakamura Utanosuke

Shinohara Ichigaku

Nakamura Fukunosuke

Natsume Shirotarō

Nakamura Kashō

Makimura Mondo

Nakamura Senjaku

STORY :

Natsume Shirojirō’s devoted wife, Omatsu, hides a secret: she is the leader of a band of female outlaws determined to recover the treasured sword that was stolen from her husband’s lord—a loss that brought disgrace upon Shirojirō and reduced him to a masterless warrior. One day, Omatsu kills a travelling swordsman, only to discover to her horror that he was Shirojirō’s own brother. As tragedy deepens, Shirojirō, having been deceived into accepting a counterfeit of the treasured sword, prepares to take his own life in ritual suicide. Preventing his death, Omatsu sets out into the pitch-dark night in search of the genuine blade. Her quest leads to a climactic battle at a dilapidated temple, where she fights desperately to reclaim the treasured sword—but...

BUKAKU SETSUGEKKA

['Three Dances on Snow, the Moon and Cherry Blossoms']

CAST :

<First Scene>
The spirit of the cherry blossom

Nakamura Shichinosuke

<The Next Scene>
A matsumushi (pine cricket)

Nakamura Kantarō

A matsumushi (pine cricket)

Nakamura Chōzaburō

<The Last Scene>
Snowman

Nakamura Kankurō

STORY :

It is common in Japan to celebrate beauty through themed sets, and this dance presents three seasonal images. The first dance evokes the cherry blossoms of spring, the second describes the songs of 'matsumushi' insects under the moon in autumn, and the third dance evokes a snowman or 'yuki daruma' to complete the set with a scene of winter.

YUKI

['Snow']

CAST :

Bandō Tamasaburō

STORY :

This dance is accompanied by a masterpiece of 'jiuta' music (songs from the Kyoto/Osaka region) that was composed in the 1780s. It is about a former geisha and her sad yet beautiful feelings. A geisha who is now a nun recalls the days of her past when she waited for her lover's visit alone on a snowy night.

ZANGETSU

['The Lingering Moon of Dawn']

CAST :

Bandō Tamasaburō

STORY :

This work is said to have been composed in memory of the premature death of the daughter of Matsuya, a pupil of Minezaki Kōtō, and the title of the piece is said to have been inspired by her posthumous Buddhist name. Enjoy Tamasaburō's exquisite 'jiuta-mai' dance, which quietly portrays the imagery of a moon that appears and disappears, and the fleeting fragility of the young woman's life.