SODE NIKKI BANSHÛ MEGURI
   
Play titles Sode Nikki Banshû Meguri  In Japanese
Kane-ni Urami Kasane Furisode  In Japanese
Himeji-jô Oto-ni Kiku Sono Ishizue  In Japanese
Authors Namiki Gohê
Namiki Jûsuke I
History

Namiki Gohê's drama "Sode Nikki Banshû Meguri" was premiered in the 3rd lunar month of 1779 in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai [more details]. The opening day was the 16th day of the 3rd lunar month of the 8th year of the An'ei era, which was the 2nd of May 1779 in the western calendar. It ended with a dôjôjimono dance-drama entitled "Kane-ni Urami Kasane Furisode" starring Nakamura Tomijûrô I, with Toyotake Sadayû as jôjûri singer and Ônishi Tsumajirô as shamisen player. The production was very successful and it was stgaed up to the 7th day of the 6th lunar month of the 8th year of the An'ei era, which was the 20th of July 1779 in the western calendar. It fell into oblivion and was revived only in March 1991, in Tôkyô at the National Theatre [more details]. It was revived and revised a second time, in January 2019 at the National Theatre. This second revival used the title "Himeji-jô Oto-ni Kiku Sono Ishizue" [casting | more details].

Structure

The original drama was in 6 acts (11 scenes):

Act Scene In Japanese In English
I 1 曽根天神 Sone Tenjin
At the Tenjin Shrine in Sone
  2 桃井館 Momonoi Yakata
At the Momonoi Mansion
  3 桃井館城外 Momonoi Yakata Jôgai
Outside the Castle Walls of the Momonoi Mansion
II 1 姫ヶ城門前 Hime-ga-Jô Monzen
In front of the Gate of Hime-ga-Jô Castle
  2 姫ヶ城城内 Hime-ga-Jô Jônai
Inside the Hime-ga-Jô Castle
III 1 舞子の浜 Maiko no Hama
At the Maiko Beach
IV 1 平作住居 Heisaku Sumai
Heisaku's House
  2 尾上鐘楼 Onoe Shôrô
The Onoe Bell Tower
V 1 妬屋宿屋 Toya Yadoya
At the Toya Inn
VI 1 印南内膳屋敷 Innami Naizen Yashiki
At Innami Naizen's Mansion
  2 印南内膳屋敷庭内 Innami Naizen Yashiki Teinai
Inside the Garden of Innami Naizen's Mansion
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  • In March 1991, the tôshi kyôgen production of "Sode Nikki Banshû Meguri" at the National Theatre skipped the first scene of Act I, Act V and the the first scene of Act VI.
  • In January 2019, the opening scene "Sone Tenjin" was revived but Act V was still skipped. Act V told the story of Toya Otsuyu, the daughter of the Toya inn, who fell in love with Momonoi Yaegikumaru. Her sad story was quite similar to the story of Princess Kiyo and the priest Anchin at the Dôjôji Temple. This act was loaded with shittogoto and led to the dôjôjimono dance-drama "Kane-ni Urami Kasane Furisode" to end the play.
  • Key words Ashikaga Yoshimasa
    Banshû
    Daimyô
    Harima
    Hime-ga-Jô
    Himeji-han
    Himeji-jô
    Hôin
    Hyakushô
    Jûnihitoe
    Kahô
    Karô
    Keisei
    Kitsune
    Kôro
    Kuruwa
    Maiko no Hama
    Migawari
    Miuke
    Muromachi Jidai
    Murotsu
    Ôkuradani
    Onoe no Kane
    Ôzume
    Seppuku
    Shôrô
    Shôya
    Teppô
    Wakadono
    Yakko
    Yari
    Yôkai
    Summary

    Act I, scene 2: Momonoi Yakata
    At the Momonoi Mansion

    This drama was set in the Muromachi period, during the reign of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the 8th Ashikaga Shôgun. The Momonoi Clan rules the Himeji Domain [1] in the province of Harima (also called Banshû). Two emissaries come from the Muromachi Shogunate, Ikuta Hyôgonosuke, the younger brother of the lord of the Himeji Domain and the evil Shikama Daigaku. Momonoi Shuridayû, daimyô of the Himeji Domain, receives them. They tell him that the Shôgun has ordered to requisition two great tea ceremony treasures (kahô) that the lord possesses. The first one is a precious vase; the second one is an incense burner (kôro). In addition, they report that Shuridayû's son Momonoi Mutsujirô [2] has not yet come for an audience with the Shôgun, claiming illness. Shuridayû answers that he will present the two treasures to the Shôgun immediately and, as soon as the wakadono Mutsujirô recovers, he will send him to Kyôto for an audience with Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Shikama Daigaku answers that Mutsujirô is not sick, but has been busy amusing himself with the courtesans in the pleasure quarter (kuruwa) of the port city of Murotsu [3]. Only confiscating the domain is likely to cure this illness. Just at this point, Momonoi Mutsujirô himself arrives, accompanied by a large crowd of courtesans including the keisei Onoe, who is his lover. Daigaku confronts Mutsujirô with a poem card that he has dedicated to a shrine and maliciously twists its meaning to suggest that he is plotting against the Ashikaga Yoshimasa.

    The situation is at an impasse when Innami Naizen, one of the two senior retainers (karô) of the domain, appears. He reveals that tempting Mutsujirô to go to the pleasure quarter of Murotsu was part of a plot evilly crafted by his younger brother, Innami Daizô, to take over the Himeji Domain. He shows a secret letter as proof and orders his own brother Daizô to be expelled from the clan and from the domain. Everyone is impressed by Naizen's honesty and impartiality.

    Momonoi Mutsujirô brings out the wooden boxes with the two precious treasures, but, when he opens them, he finds that there is nothing in it. Instead of the two heirlooms, there is a document certifying that Mutsujirô has bought Onoe's contract out (miuke). Desperately, Mutsujirô tries to explain himself, but is unable due to a congenital stutter. This Mutsujirô was the reason that he has not been allowed to meet the Shôgun. As he cannot speak clearly, he has to write his explanation but Naizen calmly burns it sheet by sheet. Seeing what has happened, Mutsujirô faints with a burning and powerless rage.

    Innami Naizen explains that he has done this on purpose. Mutsujirô's anger was necessary for a secret cure for stuttering to work and Naizen asks for permission to administer the medicine. The drug works miraculously and now Mutsujirô can talk normally. He should therefore be allowed to meet the Shôgun. Only the two heirlooms are now needed for the emissaries' mission to be completed. Naizen promises to find the two treasures.

    Ikuta Hyôgonosuke and Innami Naizen are left on stage alone. Naizen attempts to commit seppuku to atone for the loss of the two treasures, asking the other senior retainer Kosakabe Mondo [4] to continue the search, but Hyôgonosuke, moved by the depths of Naizen's loyalty to the Momonoi clan, urges him to delay his seppuku and search for the treasures himself. Naizen agrees and they go into the back of the mansion. Mutsujirô appears suffering from sudden agonizing pains. As Onoe tries to comfort him, the karô Kosakabe Mondo comes running. He checks the medicine that Naizen has given to Mutsujirô and discovers that it is actually a lethal poison. Naizen is in reality not the protector of the Momonoi Clan but an evil plotter working at the destruction of the Momonoi Clan in order to seize power for himself. Mutsujirô has just the time to entrust his son Kunimatsu, whose mother is Onoe, to Mondo's care. This was the last gasp of the dying wakadono Mutsujirô.

    Act I, scene 3: Momonoi Yakata Jôgai
    Outside the Castle Walls of the Momonoi Mansion

    Innami Naizen tells Momonoi Shuridayû that assassins are searching after him so, for Shuridayû's own safety, he exchanges palanquins with him. Kosakabe Mondo comes rushing in search of Naizen, sees his palanquin and plunges in his spear (yari), only to find that he has killed his master instead of his enemy. Naizen suddenly shoots with a teppô the shocked Mondo. Onoe and her father Kondô Heijibê come running and they find Mondo's body. They lament that the only man who could avenge the murder of their daimyô and his son is unfortunately dead. Suddenly and mysteriously, Mondo revives. He laughs and says that he cannot die now, just when his most important mission is about to start.

    Act II, scene 1: Hime-ga-Jô Monzen
    In front of the Gate of Hime-ga-Jô Castle

    A year has passed since the Momonoi Clan was abolished after losing two generations of masters at once. We are now at Hime-ga-Jô Castle [5]. First, a samurai named Kakogawa Sanpei, who is a former retainer of the Momonoi Clan, sneaks into the castle. Then a crowd of farmers (hyakushô) represented by the shôya Nibê [6] come to petition the neighboring daimyô Shikama Daigaku and Ushimado Jûnai to investigate and exorcise the castle of its ghostly apparitions (yôkai), which have been troubling them. At this point a samurai named Yumiya Tarô [7] appears. He claims to be a coward, who always clings to his bow and arrow and has been disowned by his family, but he would like to have the chance to prove his bravery by cleansing the castle of its ghosts in order to be reinstated. He is allowed by Shikama Daigaku and Ushimado Jûnai to go into the castle.

    Act II, scene 2: Hime-ga-Jô Jônai
    Inside the Hime-ga-Jô Castle

    Yumiya Tarô and the yakko Okihei, a henchman of Shikama Daigaku, are wearing a mask in order to scare away the ghosts. They are joined by Kakogawa Sanpei. Sanpei feels particularly strong ties to the Momonois since his mother was Mutsujirô's nurse. Sanpei encounters the ghost of the castle, a beautiful woman in a many-layered court robe (jûnihitoe). She sends Sanpei to the banquet hall of the castle. Then, she suddenly and magically disappears.

    Yumiya Tarô appears with somebody who seems to be a young woman. Tarô tries to seduce her but learns that the girl is actually a boy. Meanwhile, Shikama Daigaku and the yakko Okihei [8] come to try to climb to the castle main tower. Through a massive thunder roar, the power of the spirits makes them faint.

    Yumiya Tarô vows to call the spirits by plucking his bow. The beautiful woman in many-layered court robe reappears and addresses him as Tajimi Juntarô, which is Tarô's real identity. Far from being a coward, he is the brave son of a faithful retainer of the Momonoi Clan. She recognized him by his secret household art of plucking a bow to summon spirits. She reveals that she is not a ghost but Kinuta-no-Mae, the second wife of Momonoi Shuridayû. The boy that Tarô has encountered earlier is her own son Momonoi Yaegikumaru. She has spread the rumor that the castle is haunted in order to protect her son, the last of the Momonois, the only remaining and eligible heir. She is also gathering enough forces for the restoration of the clan.

    Shikama Daigaku and the yakko Okihei have regained their senses and have heard everything. They rush to report this to the Shôgun, but Sanpei quickly takes care of Okihei. Daigaku has one of the Momonoi heirlooms with him, the precious incense burner, and a secret scroll containing all the names of the conspirators against the Momonoi Clan. The list begins with the name of the evil Innami Naizen. Juntarô grabs these two precious items and easily kills Shikama Daigaku. Impressed by Juntarô's strength and courage, Kinuta-no-Mae asks him to protect Yaegikumaru and to work hard to restore the Momonoi Clan.

    Act III, scene 1: Maiko no Hama
    At the Maiko Beach

    Kosakabe Mondo has returned to his native village in Harima and, using the name of Heisaku, lives as a simple farmer (hyakushô). He is married to Kondô Heijibê's older daughter Otatsu, who is de facto Onoe's sister. They take care of Momonoi Kunimatsu, the son of Mutsujirô and Onoe, and Heijibê's grandson. They have disguised his identity by calling him Heikichi. As the scene begins, Otatsu has come together with Heikichi and Heijibê for a visit at a temple near Maiko Beach. They take elaborate care of the young boy, putting him in a palanquin, and the palanquin bearers come to suspect the real identity of this boy.

    A mother, the spitting image of Otatsu, and her child appear in search of the boy's father. They encounter Innami Daizô, an expellee from the Momonoi Clan who has wandered from shady business to crooked trade and is now a street hôin calling himself Dôrakubô [9]. He grabs the woman as he plans to sell her to a house of assignation but he is stopped by Kondô Heijibê who rescues the woman, as he believes she is his own daughter Otatsu. The palanquin bearers have tipped off followers of Innami Naizen led by a henchman named Hayakawa Banzô and they come in pursuit at Maiko Beach. Heijibê goes to fight them. After the commotion and chaos of the fight, Heijibê is grieved and shocked to come upon the body of the woman whom he has just rescued from Dôrakubô's clutches. He recognizes her as Otatsu but, Heijibê not knowing it, she is in reality a female fox named Kojorô.

    Act IV, scene 1: Heisaku Sumai
    Heisaku's House

    Otatsu and Heikichi return home at Heisaku's home in the village of Ôkuradani in the province of Harima. Then, a mysterious lost child appears. Otatsu takes care of him and sends him to play with Heikichi in the back of the house. Heisaku and Onoe appear and he admonishes her for appearing at his home since that may endanger herself and the others. A former retainer of the Momonoi house, Kuzumi Shinpei, arrives and accuses Heisaku to be Kosakabe Mondo, the murderer of Momonoi Shuridayû. He produces the spearhead as a proof of the murder. Shinpei is about to arrest Mondo on suspicion of plotting to take over the Himeji Domain when Onoe tries to commit suicide to atone for being part of a family that has killed it's lord. Mondo promises to settle the matter by this evening and asks Shinpei to wait. Shinpei agrees to wait until the evening.

    Heijibê returns carrying a funeral tablet for his dead daughter Otatsu and is surprised to hear that she has safely returned home with Heikichi. Hayakawa Banzô appears with his men and demands the head of the boy, calling him Momonoi Kunimatsu, not Heikichi. Heijibê promises that he will behead himself the young boy after dark and Banzô, too, agrees to wait until the evening. Otatsu suggests that the only way that they can save the life of their lord's only heir is to kill a substitute (migawari) and suggests they use the lost child who is now playing with Heikichi. Heisaku agrees, until he sees who the child is. Suddenly, a ghostly fox spirit appears and tells Heisaku that he must go take up guard over an Inari Shrine in the vicinity. Finally, Heisaku must reveal everything. In fact, Heisaku is no more the human being named Kosakabe Mondo but, in reality, a fox named Yokurô. In Japanese tradition, foxes are said to have magical powers and are, in general, treacherous creatures. Yokurô is not a perfidious fox but a loyal one, loyal to the Momonoi Clan. He explains that Yokurô's child was about to be killed by Mutsujirô's hunters but Momonoi Mutsujirô decided to spare the life of the young fox. Yokurô has always wanted to repay his huge debt of gratitude and, when Innami Naizen killed Kosakabe Mondo, he magically replaced Mondo, in order to protect the Momonoi Clan. The woman who was killed at the Maiko Beach was not the real Otatsu but Yokurô's fox wife Kojorô. The boy they were going to sacrifice as a substitute of Kunimatsu is his own fox son Fukuju. It goes without saying that they now, knowing the truth, cannot sacrifice Fukuju. Now that he has revealed his identity, Yokurô must leave the human world forever and go to be the guardian of a local Inari Shrine. Suddenly Innami Daizô appears. He plans to kill Kunimatsu and use this killing to ensure his rise in the world. A terrible fight is about to start...

    Act IV, scene 2: Onoe Shôrô
    The Onoe Bell Tower

    The fight extends to the Onoe Temple [10], a temple famous for its bell named Onoe no Kane, where the fox Yokurô now is. With his magical fox powers, he helps to defeat the enemies, led by Innami Daizô and Hayakawa Banzô. After the victory, the fox Yokurô tells the surviving members of the Momonoi Clan where the last missing Momonoi heirloom is. Otatsu was betrothed to Kosakabe Mondo, a.k.a. Heisaku, a.k.a. the fox Yokurô, but she has never consummated the marriage as the human Mondo was killed before the wedding ceremony. She has shared the fox Mondo's bed but now she has lost both husbands, the human one and the fox one. She commits suicide near the Bell Tower (shôrô) to join Mondo in the afterlife.

    Act V, scene 2: Innami Naizen Yashiki Okuniwa
    In the Inner Garden of Innami Naizen's Mansion
    This scene was the ôzume for the 1991 revival of "Sode Nikki Banshû Meguri"

    The loyal retainers of the Momonoi Clan led by Ikuta Hyôgonosuke finally punish Innami Naizen for his evil deeds in a final and spectacular tachimawari in the garden of the mansion of the arch-villain of this play. Innami Naizen is defeated and the Momonoi Clan is finally restored. As it is often the case in Kabuki or Bunraku, the arch-villain is not killed on stage but all agree to meet later on a battlefield. Momonoi Kunimatsu is made its new head, with Momonoi Yaegikumaru acting as his second-in-command. This brings a peaceful and auspicious ending for this turbulent series of events that have shaken the province of Harima.

    Notes

    [1] The Himeji Domain was established in 1600 but it was never managed by a Momonoi Clan. The ruling clans were Ikeda, Honda, Matsudaira, Sakakibara or Sakai. Not the Momonoi Clan.

    [2] Kogajirô, not Mutsujirô, in the 2019 revival of "Sode Nikki Banshû Meguri".

    [3] Also simply called Muro.

    [4] The name Kosakabe could be phonetically seen as an allusion to the legend of Princess Osakabe, a famous yôkai inhabiting Himeji Castle [more details].

    [5] This was in reality the Himeji Castle.

    [6] He was replaced by Mokubê, the son of the shôya, in the 2019 revival of "Sode Nikki Banshû Meguri".

    [7] Literally 'Bow and Arrow Tarô'.

    [8] Okisuke, not Okihei, in the original drama.

    [9] Dôrakubô is the bonze Dôraku, a word meaning many pleasure-related things: a hobby, a pastime, one's favorite amusement, a mania, dilettantism and dissipation.

    [10] Onoe Temple? Onoe Shrine? To be clarified! The scene is set near the famous Onoe Bell Tower (Onoe no Kane). This bell was built in the Yamato Hasedera Temple in the province of Yamato, not in the province of Harima, but the scene was set in the latter province.

    The cover of the ezukushi banzuke for the staging of the drama "Sode Nikki Banshû Meguri" in the 3rd lunar month of 1779 in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai with Arashi Hinasuke I (bottom/left) and Nakamura Tomijûrô I (top/right) in the roles of Kosakabe Mondo (alias the fox Yokurô) and Kinuta-no-Mae

    Prints & Illustrations

     
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