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Living National Treasure Onoe Kikugorô, Living National Treasure Nakamura Kichiemon, Living National Treasure Nakamura Tôzô, Nakamura Tokizô, Nakamura Jakuemon, Nakamura Kaishun, Onoe Kikunosuke, Nakamura Kinnosuke, Ichikawa Ennosuke, Onoe Shôroku, Ichikawa Sadanji, Nakamura Matagorô,
Bandô Minosuke, Nakamura Hayato, Nakamura Baishi, Onoe Ukon, Bandô Kamezô, Nakamura Mantarô, Onoe Ushinosuke, Bandô Kamesaburô
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No great yearly Dankiku festival this year for the Naritaya and Otowaya guilds, which usually commemorates in May 2 great stars of
the Meiji era: Dan = Ichikawa Danjûrô IX
and Kiku = Onoe Kikugorô V. The Otowaya guild is present with 3 generations of actors but not the Naritaya guild.
The performances from the 3rd to the 11th of may 2021 are cancelled because of the third state of emergency declared by Japan's central government due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sannin Kichisa:
(Three Thieves Named Kichisa)
The playwright Kawatake Mokuami excelled at portrayals of thieves and this short scene,
with its music and poetic lines, is one of his most famous.
A beautiful young woman helps out a woman who is lost on the road.
But she is actually Ojô Kichisa, a male thief who is disguised as a woman.
He steals an immense sum of money that the woman is carrying and this leads to
an encounter on this riverbank of three thieves, all with the name Kichisa.
The two others Kichisa are Oshô Kichisa, a bonze turned thief, and Obô Kichisa, an ex-samurai turned thief
Though they start out as rivals, they decide to become blood brothers
and form a gang. Featuring Onoe Ukon as Ojô Kichisa, Bandô Minosuke as Oshô Kichisa and Nakamura Hayato as Obô Kichisa.
Tsuchi-gumo: a dance play adapted from the classical Nô theatre.
The samurai Lord Minamoto Raikô is famous in legend for ridding Kyôto of demons.
While Raikô is confined to bed with illness, a priest (Onoe Shôroku) from a prominent
temple comes to pray for his health. In fact, the priest is actually the spirit
of the earth spider which has caused Raikô's illness in the first place
and hopes to destroy him. The spider's plan to kill Raikô is defeated
by his retainers (the famous shitennô) in an exciting fight.
Featuring Ichikawa Ennosuke as Raikô.
Michiyuki Tabiji no Hanamuko: here are few plays more popular in Kabuki than "Kanadehon Chûshingura" ('The Treasury of Loyal Retainers').
This is based on a true incident in which a feudal lord attacked another in the Shôgun'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 (Nakamura Kinnosuke) and his lover, the lady-in-waiting Okaru (Nakamura Baishi) 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.
Kanpei Harakiri: the retainer Kanpei (Living National Treasure Onoe Kikugorô) lives a poor life with Okaru at her parents' rural home.
He desperately wants to take part in the vendetta against his lord's enemy, but must come up
with the money necessary to finance his part in it. Secretly, Okaru (Nakamura Tokizô) and her family decide that
the only way to raise the money is to sell her to the pleasure quarters. On a lonely highway,
while Okaru's father is on his way home from sealing the deal a thief named Sadakurô kills him and
steals the money. In a bizarre twist of events, however, Kanpei then kills the robber accidentally while
out hunting and he finds the money. Later, the fabric of the wallet seems to prove that Kanpei has murdered
his father-in-law. Kanpei takes responsibility for both the death of his father-in-law and also for being absent
when his lord needed him, and commits ritual suicide. Featuring also Living National Treasure Nakamura Tôzô, Ichikawa Sadanji, Nakamura Kaishun and Nakamura Matagorô.
Hachijin: this is a jidaimono period
piece that dramatizes true historical events. Katô Kiyomasa (1562~1611) was one
of the fiercest generals under Toyotomi Hideyoshi and continued to defend
the family and Hideyoshi’s young heir Hideyori even after the world came to
be ruled by crafty Tokugawa Ieyasu, who searched for any excuse he could find
to destroy the clan of his most powerful rival. In the Edo period,
the Shogunate banned all mention of contemporary events on stage and was
especially sensitive to all mention of the Toyotomi clan and anyone associated
with it. On stage, Katô Kiyomasa always appeared under the thinly disguised
name of Satô Masakiyo. In this play, the aged Masakiyo defends the young
heir of his late lord when he is summoned to a meeting with an old feudal
lord who now rules the land. Masakiyo does not budge from his post even
when he is weakened by poison. Starring Nakamura Karoku (instead of Living National Treasure Nakamura Kichiemon) and Nakamura Jakuemon as
Masakiyo and Hinaginu (the wife of Masakiyo's son).
Kagami Jishi: one of the most important dances for onnagata female
role specialists and is an audience favorite. The maidservant Yayoi performs an
auspicious lion dance for the Shôgun in his opulent palace, but she gradually finds
herself under the control of the lion spirit. In the second half of the dance,
the lion spirit itself appears and performs its crazed dance among peonies and
fluttering butterflies. Starring Onoe Kikunosuke as both Yayoi and the spirit of the lion.
Sources: Earphone Guide Website or Shôchiku Kabuki Official Website
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