GENPEI NUNOBIKI NO TAKI
Yoshikata Saigo, Chikubushima Yūran, Sanemori Monogatari

['The Death of Yoshikata', 'Excursion to Chikubu Island' and 'The Tale of Sanemori' from 'The Genji and the Heike at Nunobiki Falls']

CAST :

<Yoshikata Saigo>

Kiso no Senjō Yoshikata

Kataoka Ainosuke

Orihei, Yoshikata's footman,
actually the Genji warrior Tada no Kurando Yukitsuna

Onoe Ukon

Yabase no Heinai

Nakamura Kikaku

Koman, Kurosuke's daughter

Nakamura Kazutarō

<Chikubushima Yūran>

Saitō Bettō Sanemori

Kataoka Ainosuke

Koman

Nakamura Kazutarō

Taira no Munemori

Nakamura Kikaku

<Sanemori Monogatari>

Saitō Bettō Sanemori

Kataoka Ainosuke

Koman

Nakamura Kazutarō

Koyoshi, Kurosuke's wife

Kamimura Kichiya

Seno'o no Jūrō Kaneuji

Nakamura Ganjirō

STORY :

Yoshikata Saigo ['The Death of Yoshikata']
The farmer Kurosuke takes his daughter Koman and his grandson Tarokichi to the warrior Kiso Yoshikata who aims to revive the Genji clan. However, Yoshikata's ambition is found out by the Heike. As his mansion is surrounded by enemy Heike troops, he entrusts the pregnant Lady Aoi and the white banner of the Genji clan to Kurosuke and others, and dies a heroic death.
Chikubushima Yūran ['Excursion in Chikubu Island']
Keeping the white banner that Yoshikata entrusted to her close about her person, Koman loses sight of her father Kurosuke and others along the way. She shakes off her pursuers and jumps into Lake Biwa with the white banner. Noticing her, Heike warriors who have come to visit the shrine on Chikubu Island on the pleasure boat try to rescue her, but the warrior Saitō Sanemori who is on another boat suddenly cuts off Koman's arm.
Sanemori Monogatari ['The Tale of Sanemori']
Yoshikata's widow Lady Aoi takes shelter at Kurosuke's house on Lake Biwa. Kurosuke and his grandson Tarokichi have been fishing and bring home a woman's severed arm holding a white banner, the treasured symbol of the Genji clan. Two Heike samurai, Saitō Sanemori and Seno'o no Jūrō, arrive to interrogate Lady Aoi who is pregnant. As the baby boy of the Genji warrior is to be killed, Kurosuke wraps the woman's arm in baby clothes and insists that Lady Aoi gave birth to it. Hearing that, Seno'o is enraged, but it is none other than Sanemori who stops Seno'o and tries to convince him of it.

SHINPAN UKINA NO YOMIURI
Choinose

['A New Scandalous Love' commonly known as 'Putting a Sheet of Ballad on the Head']

CAST :

Zenroku, the head clerk of the Aburaya pawnshop

Nakamura Ganjirō

Hisamatsu, an apprentice of the Aburaya

Nakamura Kazutarō

Osome, daughter of the Aburaya

Onoe Ukon

Omine, a widow of the Aburaya

Kamimura Kichiya

Matsuya Gen'emon

Nakamura Kikaku

Yamagaya Seibē

Kataoka Ainosuke

STORY :

Osome of the Aburaya pawnshop is in love with Hisamatsu, a shop apprentice. She is at a loss as her mother tells her to marry Yamagaya Seibē. The head clerk Zenroku is secretly in love with Osome though he is much older than her. He plots with Matsuya Gen'emon to take over the Aburaya pawnshop, but Seibē prevents all of their schemes. Playing the role of the comical character Zenroku requires the acting style of Kamigata kabuki, and ningyōburi (a way of kabuki acting which imitates the exaggerated motions of the puppets in the Bunraku puppet theatre) is one of the highlights.

RENJISHI

['Parent and Child Lion Dance']

CAST :

The actor Ukon, later, the spirit of the parent lion

Nakamura Senjaku

The actor Sakon, later, the spirit of the lion cub

Nakamura Toranosuke

STORY :

A dance adapted from a tale featuring the legendary 'shishi', a mythical lion-like beast. It is based on the belief that a 'shishi' will push its cubs over a steep cliff as a test of their strength, only nurturing those cubs strong enough to climb up by themselves. Two entertainers dance the tale of the legendary 'shishi' that live at the foot of a holy Buddhist mountain. The dance portrays a parent 'shishi' forcing its cub to undergo harsh training in order to grow up strong. In the finale, the 'shishi' themselves appear and perform their dance with the wild shaking of their long manes.

SONEZAKI SHINJŪ

['The Lovers' Suicide at Sonezaki']

CAST :

Ohatsu, a courtesan from the Tenmaya

Nakamura Kazutarō

Hiranoya Tokubē

Onoe Ukon

Aburaya Kuheiji

Nakamura Kikaku

Hiranoya Kyūemon, Tokubē's uncle and master

Nakamura Ganjirō

STORY :

Tokubē, a shop clerk, and Ohatsu, a courtesan, have promised themselves to each other. One day, Kuheiji swindles money out of Tokubē, money that he must return to his uncle, and humiliates him in public. That night, Ohatsu hears Kuheiji harshly denounce Tokubē. Tokubē gives Ohatsu a signal of his determination to prove his innocence by killing himself, and resolving to join him, Tokubē and Ohatsu determine to be reunited in the next world.