ATARU TATSUDOSHI KABUKI NO NIGIWAI
Gonin Sanbasō, Hanabusa Jishi

['Quintuple Sanbasō' and 'The Geisha and the Lion Dance' from 'The Bustling Kabuki Theatre in the Year of the Dragon']

CAST :

<Gonin Sanbasō>

Sanbasō

Nakamura Fukunosuke

Sanbasō

Nakamura Takanosuke

Sanbasō

Nakamura Utanosuke

Sanbasō

Nakamura Tamatarō

Sanbasō

Nakamura Toranosuke

<Hanabusa Jishi>

A geisha

Nakamura Jakuemon

Chief of a fire brigade

Nakamura Ganjirō

Chief of a fire brigade

Nakamura Matagorō

STORY :

Gonin Sanbasō
This dance is a special five-person version of ''Sanbasō'', an auspicious dance based on the ritual play 'Okina' in the classical Nō Theatre. Five Sanbasō dance energetically praying for national tranquility and a bountiful harvest of grain.

Hanabusa Jishi
A geisha and chiefs of fire brigades dance gorgeously. A chic and lively dance is performed celebrating the beginning of the New Year.

ARAKAWA JŪDAYŪ

['Arakawa Jūdayū']

CAST :

Arakawa Jūdayū

Onoe Shōroku

Matsudaira Oki no kami Sadanao

Bandō Kamezō

Ōishi Chikara

Onoe Sakon

Sugita Gozaemon

Nakamura Kichinojō

Chōon, a priest of Sengakuji Temple

Ichikawa En'ya

Horibe Yasubē

Ichikawa Chūsha

STORY :

The street in front of the Sengakuji Temple is bustling with people who come to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the death of the loyal retainers of Akō domain. Arakawa Jūdayū, a foot guard of the Matsudaira clan in Iyo Province, comes to visit the grave in fine attire which is unsuitable for a warrior of lower rank. Sugita Gozaemon, an inspector of the same clan who happens to be present, rebukes him for assuming a false rank which is a serious crime for a warrior. Later at court, as his lord Matsudaira Oki no kami interrogates him about the reason why he assumed a false rank, he begins to talk about the day when he acted as second for Horibe Yasubē, one of the loyal retainers of Akō domain, as he committed 'seppuku' ritual disembowelment and …

Edo Miyage
KORIKORI BANASHI

['Bewitching Foxes and Badgers']

CAST :

Inosuke, a towel vendor

Matsumoto Kōshirō

Okiwa, Inosuke's wife

Onoe Ukon

Mataichi, Inosuke's servant

Ichikawa Somegorō

Jūzen, a high-ranking priest

Nakamura Kinnosuke

STORY :

In Japan, foxes and tanuki badgers are said to have the power to take on human shape, and in that form, they play mischievously, sometimes causing great harm. In this play by Hōjō Hideji (1902-1996), they do not appear, but the scheming of human beings is no less crafty than theirs. A former geisha is living with a former kabuki 'onnagata' (a female role specialist), but she is tired of him and plots with her boyfriend, a dissolute Buddhist priest, to poison him. Her husband tries to teach her a lesson by pretending to have been killed and then to have come back to life. The fight is on.

TSURU KAMÉ

['The Crane and the Tortoise']

CAST :

Empress

Nakamura Fukusuke

The tortoise

Onoe Shōroku

An attendant

Onoe Sakon

An attendant

Ichikawa Somegorō

The crane

Matsumoto Kōshirō

STORY :

The brilliant spring festival is held in the Imperial Palace at the New Year, and a crane and a tortoise perform an auspicious dance in the presence of the Empress as a dedication of long life. The crane is said to live for a thousand years and the tortoise is said to live for ten thousand. Together, they are a traditional symbol of longevity. This dance borrows lyrics from a Nō play of the same title, setting them to 'Nagauta' music. The piece is a representative work of festive kabuki dance. Enjoy the beauty and elegance of this courtly masterpiece.

KOTOBUKI SOGA NO TAIMEN

['The Auspicious Confrontation of the Soga Brothers']

CAST :

Kudō Saemon Suketsune

Nakamura Baigyoku

Soga no Jūrō Sukenari

Nakamura Senjaku

Soga no Gorō Tokimune

Nakamura Shikan

Kewaizaka no Shōshō

Ichikawa Komazō

Kobayashi no Asahina

Bandō Yajūrō

Oniō Shinzaemon

Nakamura Tōzō

Ōiso no Tora　

Nakamura Kaishun

STORY :

This scene is one act of a history play based on the legend of the Soga brothers' vendetta. In the Edo period, plays about the vendetta carried out by the Soga brothers, Gorō and Jūrō, were performed at times of celebration. 'Soga no Taimen', in which the brothers meet their nemesis, has its roots in the earliest of these plays. This play has ceremonial aspects and features each of the important kabuki character types, including the bombastic 'aragoto' style of Gorō and the soft 'wagoto' style of Jūrō.

MUSUKO

['The Son']

CAST :

The old guard of a fire watchhouse

Matsumoto Hakuō

A policeman

Ichikawa Somegorō

Kinjirō

Matsumoto Kōshirō

STORY :

An old guard makes a fire at a lonely fire watchhouse on the outskirts of Edo (the old name for Tokyo) on a night of heavy snow. He is so stubborn that he does not speak to those whom he dislikes. He does not speak to the policeman who visits there. A young man then appears who is looking for his parents. The old man tells him that he has a good son who went to the Kansai region 9 years previously. The young man is, in reality, the old guard's son Kinjirō who has become a scoundrel. He realizes that the old guard is his father, but …

KYŌKANOKO MUSUME DŌJŌJI

['The Maiden at Dōjōji Temple']

CAST :

Hanako, a shirabyōshi dancer

Nakamura Kazutarō (2nd - 14th）

Onoe Ukon (15th - 27th）

STORY :

This dance is a masterpiece for 'onnagata', female role specialists. It is spring and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. A 'shirabyōshi' court dancer who calls herself Hanako visits Dōjōji Temple where a ceremony is to be held to celebrate the installation of a new temple bell. She performs various dances in order to be permitted to see the bell. However, in reality she is the spirit of Kiyohime, a maiden who once transformed into a serpent out of bitter resentment. Kiyohime had fallen in love with a priest, but shocked at her advances, he ran away to this temple and hid himself under the temple bell. Pursuing him all the way here, Kiyohime turned into a fiery serpent and burnt both the bell and the priest beneath. Now her spirit has returned to destroy the new bell.