MAHĀBĀRATA SENKI

['The War Chronicles of the Mahabharata']

CAST :

Karna / Shiva

Onoe Kikunosuke

Surya

Bandō Yajūrō

Krishna, a hermit

Nakamura Kinnosuke

Indra

Bandō Hikosaburō

Yudhishthira

Bandō Kamezō

Bhima

Nakamura Mantarō

Princess Kunti

Nakamura Yonekichi

Arjuna / Brahma

Nakamura Hayato

Nakula

Nakamura Takanosuke

Ghatotkacha / Ganesha

Onoe Ushinosuke

Dushasana

Ichikawa En'ya

Adhiratha

Kawarasaki Gonjūrō

Radha

Ichimura Manjirō

Vaisravana

Ichikawa Aragorō　*

Mahakala

Bandō Rakuzen

*Due to Ichikawa Danzō's absence, the cast has been changed

STORY :

This is a new kabuki production adapted from 'The Mahabharata', one of the world's three greatest epics, the other two being 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey' of ancient Greece. 'The Mahabharata' is a mythical epic of ancient India and one of the two greatest Indian epics together with 'The Ramayana'.

We are in the place where the gods assemble. Many gods such as Surya, Mahakala, Indra, Brahma and Shiva look down on the human world. Shiva is astonished at the absurdity of human beings and laments their state. Surya begets a child by the very young Princess Kunti and tries to make him a savior to reign over the human world peacefully. But Indra is opposed to the Surya. He also begets a child by Princess Kunti and intends to have him rule the human world by force. Surya's child is Karna and Indra's child is Arjuna. Princess Kunti gives birth to Karna, but she floats him down the Ganges.
The years pass by and Karna grows up to be a youth of natural born abilities. Before he bids his parents farewell to travel away for archery training, his mother Radha confides in him that she is not his real mother. Karna comes to the capital where five princes including Arjuna, who are brought up as members of the royal family, are in competition for the throne against Karna's cousins, Princess Duryodha and her brother. Hermit Krishna arbitrates and they agree to decide which one deserves the throne by way of a tournament. Karna also takes part in the tournament and confronts Prince Arjuna, but he is mistreated because his origins are unknown. Noticing that Karna is her son whom she floated down the Ganges, Princess Kunti feels unsettled and cannot hide her feelings. Karna promises to assist Princess Duryodha as she ennobled him by making him King of Anga.
More years pass and the rivalry for the throne becomes more intense. Prince Arjuna laments over the vanity of the situation that has relatives oppose each other, but despite that, the war begins in Kurukshetra. Karna takes Princess Duryodha's side and confronts the five princes including his predestined rival, Prince Arjuna.

MATSUURA NO TAIKO

['Lord Matsuura and the Drum of Chūshingura']

CAST :

Matsuura Shizunobu

Kataoka Nizaemon

Ōtaka Gengo

Onoe Shōroku

Ukai Sajima, an attendant

Ichikawa En'ya

Egawa Bundayū, an attendant

Nakamura Hayato

Fuchibe Ichiemon, an attendant

Nakamura Takanosuke

Satomi Ikunojō, an attendant

Nakamura Kichinojō

Hayase Kingo, an attendant

Ichimura Kitsutarō

Onui

Nakamura Yonekichi

Takarai Kikaku

Nakamura Karoku

STORY :

This play describes events that took place at the same time as the revenge of the forty-seven loyal retainers that was made famous by the play "Chūshingura". Lord Matsuura is disgusted because the loyal retainers do not seem to be interested in avenging the death of their lord. Moreover, he learns from a haiku teacher that Ōtaka Gengo, one of the retainers, is forgetting his loyalty toward his former lord, which makes Lord Matsuura furious. However, then his haiku teacher shows him the poem that Ōtaka Gengo had left him. As Lord Matsuura is thinking over the meaning of the poem, the sound of the drum is heard in the distance, signaling that the attack has begun. Finally, Ōtaka Gengo comes to Lord Matsuura's mansion to report the success of the revenge.

KAMAKURA SANDAIKI

['Chronicles of Three Generations at Kamakura']

CAST :

Miuranosuke Yoshimura

Nakamura Tokizō

Tokihime, Miuranosuke's betrothed

Nakamura Baishi

Okuru

Ichikawa Komazō

Tonda no Rokurō

Nakamura Matsue

Nagato, Miuranosuke's mother

Nakamura Tōzō

Sasaki Takatsuna

Nakamura Shikan

STORY :

This is a 'jidaimono' history play set in the Kamakura Period (13th century).
Miuranosuke is a young samurai serving the lord of a besieged castle. Tokihime, the woman to whom he is betrothed, is the daughter of the lord leading the attack on the castle. While he is away at battle, Tokihime comes to a lonely farming village to care for Miuranosuke's sick mother. Miuranosuke comes back from the battle to see his mother, but she refuses to let him in since he has come away from his duties. In turn, Miuranosuke refuses to see Tokihime because she is the daughter of the enemy. Finally, all is revealed to be a plot by the brilliant strategist Takatsuna, to force Tokihime to assassinate her father.

KAOMISEZUKI HANA NO SUGATAE
Haru no Shirabe Musume Nanakusa, Sanja Matsuri, Oshiegusa Yoshiwara Suzume

['Dances by Young Actors for the 'Kaomise' Production']

CAST :

<Haru no Shirabe Musume Nanakusa>

Soga no Gorō

Nakamura Tanenosuke

Shizuka Gozen

Onoe Sakon

Soga no Jūrō

Ichikawa Somegorō

<Sanja Matsuri>

The spirit of 'evil'

Bandō Minosuke

The spirit of 'good'

Onoe Ukon

<Oshiegusa Yoshiwara Suzume>

A male bird seller, in reality, the spirit of a sparrow

Nakamura Matagorō

A bird catcher, in reality, a samurai practicing falconry

Nakamura Kashō

A female bird seller, in reality, the spirit of a sparrow

Kataoka Takatarō

STORY :

Haru no Shirabe Musume Nanakusa ['The Soga Brothers and the Seven Spring Herbs']
In the Edo period, plays about the medieval vendetta carried out by the Soga brothers Jūrō and Gorō were staged every New Year. This colorful, old-fashioned dance mixes this tradition with the auspicious custom of eating porridge containing seven herbs on the seventh day of the New Year.

Sanja Matsuri ['The Sanja Festival']
Two fishermen are casting nets in the Sumida River. This illustrates the legend of the origins of the Asakusa Shrine, where two brothers fished a statue of the Buddhist deity Kannon out of the water. As the two perform a light-hearted dance, a cloud suddenly appears and they lose consciousness. When they wake up again, they are each possessed by the spirit of 'good' and the spirit of 'evil'. They start to dance again...

Oshiegusa Yoshiwara Suzume ['The Sparrows of Yoshiwara']
A pair of bird sellers has come to Nakanochō Boulevard in the Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarters in Edo (the old name for Tokyo). The two portray in dance the origin of the Hōjō-e, a Buddhist ceremony in which one gains merit by releasing living animals, as well as a romantic meeting between a courtesan and her lover. A bird catcher joins them, making the dance livelier. When he suspects their behavior, they reveal their true identities as the spirits of two sparrows. Seeing this, he …