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The play "Kanadehon Chûshingura" (The Treasure of 47 Loyal Retainers) is the most
popular in the Kabuki repertory and is known throughout the world.
Kabuto Aratame/Shinmotsu/Ninjô: daimyô lords from around the country
gather for an important ceremony in the presence of Tadayoshi, the younger brother
of the Shôgun. Under the watchful eye of the official Moronô (Nakamura Tomijûrô),
lords En'ya Hangan (Onoe Kikugorô) and Wakasanosuke (Nakamura Kichiemon) have been charged
with making sure everything goes according to protocol. En'ya Hangan's wife Kaoyo
(Nakamura Kaishun) is asked to identify a helmet to be used in the ceremony.
Moronô is in love with Kaoyo and tries to woo her, but Wakasanosuke stops him.
In return, Moronô uses his position of authority to berate the young lord and
Wakasanosuke decides to kill Moronô. But the next morning at the Shôgun's mansion,
Wakasanosuke's head retainer bribes Moronô to keep his master from causing an
incident and although Wakasanosuke is about to attack Moronô, the aged official
groveling stops him. As a result, though, Moronô is frustrated and angry and
vents his feelings on En'ya Hangan, especially after Hangan innocently brings him
a letter in which Kaoyo refuses Moronô's love. Moronô steadily insults Hangan,
who tries to ignore the pressure, but finally draws his sword and attacks.
Drawing a sword in the Shôgun's palace is a crime punishable by death,
but Moronô himself escapes with only a slight wound as others within
the mansion hurry in to stop Hangan.
Hangan Seppuku/Shiro Akewatashi: emissaries from the Shôgun arrive at
En'ya Hangan's mansion to announce that he has received the strictest penalty for
his actions. He is ordered to commit ritual suicide and his household is to be
disbanded. Hangan's hate for Moronô grows when he hears that Moronô
has received no punishment. Hangan waits and waits for his head retainer,
but he does not arrive. Finally, Hangan plunges in the blade.
At that moment, his head retainer Yuranosuke (Matsumoto Kôshirô) arrives from their home
province. With his last breaths, Hangan gives Yuranosuke the knife he used to
commit suicide and tells him to take revenge. Now that the clan has been disbanded,
Hangan's men become masterless samurai. Though some urge an immediate attack on
Moronô, Yuranosuke bids them not to do anything rash. When alone in front of the
closed mansion gates, though, he secretly reveals his determination that his
lord will not have died in vain.
Ochiudo: after the death of his lord, the retainer Kanpei (Nakamura Baigyoku)
and his lover, the lady-in-waiting Okaru (Nakamura Tokizô) flee to Okaru's home,
a farmer's house in the country. Kanpei feels responsible for the events
since he was having a romantic tryst and was not at his master's side at
the crucial moment. 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 be reinstated.
Teppô Watashi/Futatsudama/Kanpei Harakiri: Kanpei (Onoe Kikugorô) lives a
poor life with Okaru (Bandô Tamasaburô) at her parents' rural home. Kanpei desperately
wants to take part in the vendetta against Moronô, but must come up with the
money necessary to finance his part in it. Secretly, Okaru and her family
decide that the only way to raise the money is to sell her to the pleasure quarters.
On a lonely highway, a highway thief named Sadakurô (Nakamura Baigyoku) kills her father
while he is on the way home from sealing the deal and the money is stolen. In a
bizarre twist of events, Kanpei kills the robber while hunting on a dark night
and finds the money. The fabric of the wallet, though, seems to prove that he
has murdered his father-in-law. Kanpei commits ritual suicide to take
responsibility, not only for the death of this father-in-law, but also
for being absent when his lord needed him most.
Gion Ichiriki Jaya: Yuranosuke (Nakamura Kichiemon) spends his days and nights
in the pleasure quarters of Kyôto in an effort to make Moronô believe he is not
planning a vendetta. His acting is so good that even men in his own group believe
he has given his life up to pleasure. Moronô is not so easily convinced, though,
and has sent spies, including a former retainer of En'ya Hangan, to find
Yuranosuke's true intentions. Yuranosuke finds himself tested to the limits
by the spy, and is even forced to eat meat on the anniversary of Hangan's death,
a strong taboo. Okaru (Bandô Tamasaburô), now a courtesan, is also at the Ichiriki
Teahouse. She catches a glimpse of a letter to Yuranosuke detailing plans for
the vendetta, but he sees her and offers to buy out her contract, knowing he
must kill her to keep the vendetta a secret. Okaru's brother Heieimon (Kataoka Nizaemon),
a servant in the Hangan household, has also come to the teahouse and when he
hears that Yuranosuke is to buy out her contract, he realizes his true intentions.
Heieimon tries to convince Okaru to let him kill her as such an act may allow
him to take part in the vendetta as well. Hearing that Kanpei is now dead,
Okaru agrees, but observing their loyal actions, Yuranosuke spares Okaru and
allows Heieimon to join the vendetta.
Uchiiri/Okuniwa Sensui/Shibabeya: disguised as firemen, En'ya Hangan's
retainers attack Moronô's mansion on a snowy night. After a fierce fight, they
find Moronô hiding in a charcoal shed and take revenge for their lord's wrongful
death.
Source: Earphone Guide website
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