ŌMORI HIKOSHICHI

['Ōmori Hikoshichi']

CAST :

Ōmori Hikoshichi Morinaga

Ichikawa Udanji

Dōgo Saemon

Ichikawa Kudanji

Princess Chihaya

Nakamura Kotarō

STORY :

This dance drama is set in the period of the Northern and Southern courts in the 14th century, the tumultuous era in which two courts existed simultaneously. The feast to celebrate the great exploits of Ōmori Hikoshichi, who sided with the Northern court, for defeating Kusunoki Masashige, who sided with the Southern court, is to be held. Princess Chihaya lies in wait in the mountains for Hikoshichi who is making his way to the place. However, she is in reality, …

FUNA BENKEI

['Benkei in the Boat']

CAST :

Shizuka Gozen / The spirit of Taira no Tomomori

Ichikawa Danjūrō

Musashibō Benkei

Ichikawa Udanji

Minamoto no Yoshitsune

Nakamura Toranosuke

Kamei no Rokurō

Ichikawa Kudanji

Kataoka Hachirō

Ōtani Hiromatsu

Ise no Saburō

Nakamura Utanosuke

Suruga no Jirō

Ichikawa Shinjūrō

Namizō, a boatman

Nakamura Fukunosuke

Iwasaku, a boatman

Bandō Minosuke

Mihotayū, a boat captain

Nakamura Baigyoku

STORY :

Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his retainers, Musashibō Benkei and others, are fleeing from the capital to distant Kyushu, escaping the wrath of Yoshitsune's brother Yoritomo. They arrive at Daimotsu Bay where they decide that Yoshitsune's lover Shizuka should return to the capital. Shizuka dances expressing her sadness at parting from Yoshitsune. As they depart across the bay led by the boat captain, the spirit of Taira no Tomomori who died in the battle at Dannoura confronts them.

TAKATOKI

['Takatoki']

CAST :

Hōjō Takatoki

Bandō Minosuke

Kinugasa, Takatoki's favourite concubine

Nakamura Kotarō

Adachi Saburō

Nakamura Fukunosuke

Akita Nyūdō

Ichikawa Shinzō

Nagisa, Adachi Saburō's mother

Nakamura Baika

Osaragi, Lord of Mutsu

Kataoka Ichizō

STORY :

First performed in 1884, and one of the 'Shin kabuki Jūhachiban' ('New Eighteen Favorite Kabuki Plays of the Ichikawa Danjūrō Family'), this play is one of the most famous of the 'Living History' category that replaced the historical fantasies of the Edo Period with a new attention to factual accuracy. Hōjō Takatoki, the regent in the late Kamakura Period, has an unusual love of dogs. He is arrogant and much taken with ritual music and dancing. He sentences Adachi Saburō to death after he slays his pet dog, but reconsiders as it is the anniversary of the death of his ancestor. His beloved concubine Kinugasa serves him with saké and he drinks again. Suddenly a roll of thunder is heard and we see him mocked by a band of flying tengu goblins, an event presaging the end of the rule of the Hōjō family.

MOMIJIGARI

['Maple Viewing']

CAST :

Princess Sarashina, in reality the demon of Mt. Togakushi

Ichikawa Danjūrō

Tagoto, the chief lady-in-waiting

Nakamura Kotarō

Nogiku, a maid

Ichikawa Botan

The Mountain God

Ichikawa Shinnosuke

Sagenta, a retainer

Nakamura Toranosuke

Ugenta, a retainer

Ōtani Hiromatsu

Iwahashi, a lady-in-waiting

Ichikawa Omezō

Taira no Koremochi

Matsumoto Kōshirō

STORY :

This is one of the most beautiful and spectacular dance dramas in the kabuki repertory. Taira no Koremochi, a great general, is traveling through the mountains while the autumn leaves are at their height. He and his retinue encounter Princess Sarashina who is giving a banquet in the mountains, and the princess mysteriously invites him to join a party. They all drink and celebrate and Koremochi soon dozes off. The princess is actually a demon waiting for the general to fall asleep so she can make her attack.

ONIHEI HANKACHŌ
Kettō

['Blood for Blood' from 'Samurai Detective Onihei']

CAST :

Hasegawa Heizō

Matsumoto Kōshirō

Fugen no Shishizō

Ichikawa Danjūrō

Koyanagi Yasugorō, a constable

Ichikawa Chūsha

Hioki Genba

Bandō Minosuke

Omasa

Bandō Shingo

Hasegawa Tetsusaburō

Ichikawa Somegorō

Omasa in childhood

Ichikawa Botan

Enma no Tomogorō

Ichikawa En'ya

Otane, Sanjirō's wife

Ichikawa Emiya

Omon, a prostitute

Ichikawa Emisaburō

Sukejirō, the master of Gotetsu

Ichikawa Juen

Sagami no Hikojū, a homeless and jobless

Ichikawa Seiko

Kimura Chūgo, a samurai officer

Nakamura Kichinojō

Okoma, a prostitute

Sawamura Sōnosuke

Yoshima no Nisaburō

Ōtani Hirotarō

Shinobishi no Kuhē

Matsumoto Kingo

Tazugane no Chūsuke

Ichikawa Monnosuke

Sajima Chūsuke, a constable

Ichikawa Komazō

Sagami no Hikojū

Nakamura Matagorō

Hisae, Heizō's wife

Nakamura Jakuemon

Hasegawa Nobuo

Matsumoto Hakuō

STORY :

'Samurai Detective Onihei' was written by the great author of period novels Ikenami Shōtarō. It is a masterpiece of period novels in which he portrays the lives of ordinary people with great flair, setting the head of the special police as the hero. It is early summer in Edo (the old name for Tokyo). Hasegawa Heizō, who has assumed office as the new Superintendent General of the investigation agency specializing in theft, armed robbery and arson, is the talk of Kishimojin Shrine. He is feared as 'Heizō the demon' and is nicknamed 'Onihei.' An arrest made by him receives great attention in Edo. A woman disguised as a street musician who wears a braided hat and carries a shamisen hears rumours of him. She is Omasa, the daughter of a bar owner, who loved him when he was young and a libertine called 'Honjo no Tetsu (Tetsusaburō)'. She herself has been assisting thieves as her father was formerly a thief, but resolves to quit this. She now offers to be his secret agent, as she knows that he was appointed the head of the special police. Heizō declines her offer, but she begins to investigate on her own when she gets information of a vicious crime and …

CHŌ NO MICHIYUKI

['The Butterflies' Journey Through the Afterworld']

CAST :

Sukekuni

Ichikawa Somegorō

Komaki

Ichikawa Danko

STORY :

When people die, it is said that their spirits become butterflies. Having committed double suicide, the butterfly spirits of Sukekuni and Komaki dance in human form remembering the time they first met and their love for each other. But their happiness is brief as they again suffer the torments of hell.