OTOSHIDAMA

['The Announcement at the New Year']

STORY :

Please look forward to the New Year's greetings given by the actors before the performance begins.

EHON TAIKŌKI
Amagasaki kankyo no ba

['The Retreat in Amagasaki' from 'The Picture Book of Taikō']

CAST :

Takechi Mitsuhide

Ichikawa Somegorō

Takechi Jūjirō, Mitsuhide's son

Nakamura Takanosuke

Hatsugiku

Nakamura Tamatarō

Satsuki, Mitsuhide's mother

Nakamura Kamenojō

Satō Masakiyo

Onoe Sakon

Misao, Mitsuhide's wife

Nakamura Tsurumatsu

Mashiba Hisayoshi

Nakamura Kangyoku

STORY :

This is a 'jidaimono' history play portraying General Akechi Mitsuhide's life after his rebellion. Mitsuhide has killed his lord Oda Harunaga and taken over the country, but after a few days, he is in danger of losing all that he has gained to his rival general Mashiba Hisayoshi. Mitsuhide intends to attack Hisayoshi with a bamboo spear, but finds that he has fatally wounded his own mother. His mother and wife reprimand him for the disloyal act of killing his lord, but he refuses to repent. His will of steel is only broken when his son arrives to report on the battle and dies from his injuries.

Kanadehon Chūshingura
MICHIYUKI TABIJI NO HANAMUKO
Ochiudo

['The Lovers' Journey' from 'The Treasury of Loyal Retainers']

CAST :

Okaru, a lady-in-waiting

Nakamura Kangyoku

Sagisaka Bannai

Nakamura Tamatarō

Hayano Kanpei

Nakamura Hashinosuke

STORY :

'Kanadehon Chūshingura' is based on a true incident in which a feudal lord attacked another in the shogun's palace and was immediately sentenced to commit ritual suicide and his domain was confiscated. In this dance, after the death of his lord, the retainer Kanpei and his lover, the lady-in-waiting Okaru flee to Okaru's home, a farmer's house in the country. Kanpei feels responsible for the calamity which befell his lord because at the crucial time he was having a romantic tryst and was not at his master's side. He tries to commit suicide but Okaru stops him and convinces him that they should go to her home as husband and wife and wait for the right moment for him to apologize.

OTOSHIDAMA

['The Announcement at the New Year']

STORY :

Please look forward to the New Year's greetings given by the actors before the performance begins.

HARU NO SHIRABE MUSUME NANAKUSA

['The Soga Brothers and the Seven Spring Herbs']

CAST :

Soga no Gorō

Onoe Sakon

Shizuka Gozen

Nakamura Tsurumatsu

Soga no Jūrō

Nakamura Tamatarō

STORY :

Every New Year in the Edo period, plays were staged about the medieval vendetta carried out by the Soga brothers Jūrō and Gorō. This colorful, old-fashioned dance mixes this tradition with the custom of eating porridge containing seven auspicious herbs on the seventh day of the New Year. As the brothers Jūrō and Gorō prepare to face their father's murderer and take revenge, they cut the herbs together with beautiful Shizuka Gozen, as a symbolic act of vengeance.

EHON TAIKŌKI
Amagasaki kankyo no ba

['The Retreat in Amagasaki' from 'The Picture Book of Taikō']

CAST :

Takechi Mitsuhide

Nakamura Hashinosuke

Takechi Jūjirō, Mitsuhide's son

Nakamura Tsurumatsu

Hatsugiku

Onoe Sakon

Satsuki, Mitsuhide's mother

Nakamura Kamenojō

Satō Masakiyo

Nakamura Takanosuke

Misao, Mitsuhide's wife

Nakamura Kangyoku

Mashiba Hisayoshi

Ichikawa Somegorō

STORY :

This is a 'jidaimono' history play portraying General Akechi Mitsuhide's life after his rebellion. Mitsuhide has killed his lord Oda Harunaga and taken over the country, but after a few days, he is in danger of losing all that he has gained to his rival general Mashiba Hisayoshi. Mitsuhide intends to attack Hisayoshi with a bamboo spear, but finds that he has fatally wounded his own mother. His mother and wife reprimand him for the disloyal act of killing his lord, but he refuses to repent. His will of steel is only broken when his son arrives to report on the battle and dies from his injuries.

BŌ SHIBARI

['Battle of Ideas for Saké']

CAST :

Jirōkaja

Nakamura Takanosuke

Tarōkaja

Ichikawa Somegorō

Sone Matsubē

Nakamura Hashinosuke

STORY :

A dance play based on a classical Kyōgen farce. The master, Sone Matsubē, is irritated that his two servants always drink his saké while he is out. He plots with one of these servants, Tarōkaja, to trick the other servant, Jirōkaja, and talks him into demonstrating his skill at stick fighting, tying him to the stick. The master then ties up Tarōkaja as well. However, despite the fact that they are tied up, the two successfully drink up their master's saké and end up dancing exuberantly.