OSAMARU MIYO NAGORI NO EMAKI

[ 'A Farewell Play to the Heisei Era' ]

CAST :

Lady Tokiwa

Nakamura Fukusuke

Taira no Munekiyo

Bandō Yajūrō

STORY :

This is a brand-new play commemorating the end of the Heisei era.
Set during the time when the Genji and the Heike clans were at war, the people of both clans appear one after another. The first will be Lady Tokiwa, mother of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, together with the Heike warrior Taira no Munekiyo. They grasp the white banner of the Genji clan.

SHINPAN UTAZAIMON
Zamasha, Nozakimura

[ 'Zama Shrine' and 'Nozaki Village' from 'A New Ballad to the Gods' ]

CAST :

<Zamasha>

Osome, daughter of the Aburaya pawnshop

Nakamura Jakuemon

Hisamatsu, an apprentice of the Aburaya

Nakamura Kinnosuke

Yamagaya Sashirō

Ichikawa Monnosuke

Kosuke, a sales clerk of the Aburaya

Nakamura Matagorō

<Nozakimura>

Omitsu, Kyūsaku's daughter

Nakamura Tokizō

Osome, daughter of the Aburaya pawnshop

Nakamura Jakuemon

Hisamatsu, an apprentice of the Aburaya

Nakamura Kinnosuke

Kosuke, a sales clerk of the Aburaya

Nakamura Matagorō

Kyūsaku, a farmer

Nakamura Karoku

Otsune, Osome's mother

Kataoka Hidetarō

STORY :

Hisamatsu is an apprentice at the Aburaya and becomes intimate with Osome, the daughter of the pawnbroker. As he meets Osome at the Zama Shrine, he is swindled out of the money he collected from the shop's customer and is falsely accused of embezzling it by Kosuke, a sales clerk of the Aburaya. By this accident, Hisamatsu was brought back to Kyūsaku's house where Hisamatsu grew as an adopted child. Kyūsaku's daughter Omitsu rejoices to hear that Kyūsaku intends to unite her with Hisamatsu. When Osome visits this place, Omitsu learns that Osome and Hisamatsu are determined to commit lovers' double suicide...

SAKAE KOTOHOGU FUJI NO SUEHIRO
Tsuru Kamé

[ 'Celebrating Tōjūrō's Prosperity' ]

CAST :

Empress

Sakata Tōjūrō

Tortoise

Ichikawa Ennosuke

Attendant

Nakamura Kazutarō

Attendant

Nakamura Kikaku

Crane

Nakamura Ganjirō

STORY :

This is a dance celebrating Sakata Tōjūrō's 88th birthday performed by himself, his son and his grandson.
The Empress appears in the palace at the time of the spring festival. A crane and a tortoise dance in front of her to celebrate longevity; the crane is believed to live for 1,000 years while the tortoise is said to live for 10,000 years.

GOZONJI SUZUGAMORI

[ 'Gonpachi and Banzuiin Chōbē' ]

CAST :

Shirai Gonpachi

Onoe Kikugorō

Banzuiin Chōbē

Nakamura Kichiemon

STORY :

This is a short scene from Tsuruya Nanboku's play 'Ukiyozuka Hiyoku no Inazuma'.
The young samurai Gonpachi is ambushed near the execution grounds of Edo on a dark night, but he manages to escape after a gruesome but humorous fight scene. Watching from a nearby palanquin, Chōbē, a chivalrous townsman, is impressed with Gonpachi's fighting skills and agrees to give him shelter in the city. This meeting between the handsome young Gonpachi and the heroic Chōbē is one of the most famous meetings in kabuki.

Genpei Nunobiki no Taki
SANEMORI MONOGATARI

[ 'The Tale of Sanemori' from 'The Genji and the Heike at Nunobiki Falls' ]

CAST :

Saitō Sanemori

Kataoka Nizaemon

Koman

Kataoka Takatarō

Seno'o no Jūrō

Nakamura Karoku

STORY :

This is a jidaimono history play set at the end of the Heian Period (12th century).
The play's subject concerns the early days of the rivalry between the Genji and the Heike military clans. Lady Aoi, widow of the Genji clan's leader, is pregnant and is in hiding at the house of Kurosuke, a fisherman. Sanemori, a warrior who was once of the Genji clan but has now joined the Heike, comes to Kurosuke's house with the Heike warrior Senoo. Should Lady Aoi's child be a boy, it could become the future head of the Genji clan, and so Sanemori is ordered to kill the baby if it is indeed male. But to everyone's surprise, the 'baby' turns out to be a woman's severed arm. Seno'o is amazed, but Sanemori assures him that there is a similar event in history. The highlight of this play is when Sanemori recounts how he severed the woman's arm.

KUROZUKA

[ 'The Black Mound on Adachi Plain', one of the 10 Masterpieces of Ichikawa En'ō ]

CAST :

Iwate, an old woman, in reality hag of Adachigahara

Ichikawa Ennosuke　

The High priest, Yūkei

Nakamura Kinnosuke

STORY :

A woman has grown bitter at the world after being rejected by her husband and now lives in seclusion on the wild moors of Adachi Plain. Having become a kind of demon, she kills and devours passing travelers. However, when she gives shelter to a holy man and his party, she rejoices at this opportunity to find salvation. Going off to find firewood, she seeks absolution under the full moon. However, while she is away the porter in the holy man's party looks in her back room where he finds the bodies of her victims, and they all leave in a panic. The old woman is furious at being betrayed and this transforms her into a demon, which is finally vanquished by the power of the holy man.

NININ YŪGIRI

[ 'The Two Yūgiri' ]

CAST :

Fujiya Izaemon

Nakamura Ganjirō

The Second Yūgiri

Kataoka Takatarō

Iyakaze

Bandō Yajūrō

Okisa

Nakamura Tōzō

The First Yūgiri

Nakamura Kaishun

STORY :

Izaemon, the son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka, fell in love with a courtesan named Yūgiri and was disowned by his parents. Now, Izaemon lives with the second Yūgiri after hearing that the first Yūgiri had died. He makes a meager living by teaching his pupils how to entertain themselves in the pleasure quarters. However, the first Yūgiri was not dead but had hidden herself so as not to be ransomed by a man whom she disliked. The first Yūgiri and the second Yūgiri begin to quarrel, but Okisa, the proprietress of the Yoshidaya mediates between them and the news comes that Izaemon is allowed to return home. He decides to live happily with both Yūgiris.