The Nagauta-based dance-drama "Tsuki no Kao Monaka no Natorigusa" was premiered in the 8th lunar month of 1793 at the Kawarasakiza [casting]. It was revived and entitled "Oniji Hyôshimai" (Oniji came from the actor Ôtani Oniji III, who played the leading male role of this dance-drama for the first time) in February 1922 at the Imperial Theater during the first gala of the Hagoromokai [more details]. It became a classic dance-drama for the Bandô Mitsugorô line of actors.

"Oniji Hyôshimai" is rarely-staged on Kabuki stages nowadays; since the end of World War II, we've found only 5 records of performances in ôshibai between 1950 and 2002 (we did not list the Buyô performances):

The story of this dance-drama is about a woodcutter and a shirabyôshi dancer named Matsu-no-Mae. They meet on a mountain road. The woodcutter, who is in reality the warrior Osada Tarô Kanemitsu, and the shirabyôshi dancer, who is in reality the daughter of Okabe Rokuyata Tadasumi, struggle with each other for the possession of a valuable flute, which is named Aoba. The plot is related to the long-forgotten drama "Hime Komatsu Ne-no-Hi no Asobi" but it has no incidence on this pleasant and beautiful flowing dance-drama. Matsu-no-Mae pretends to seduce Osada Tarô. Getting closer to him in her seduction game, she tries to steal the flute, which he carries with him. The highlights of this dance-drama are the seduction scene (Matsu-no-Mae's kudoki), the spectacular hikinuki of Osada Tarô followed by the closing dance section, which symbolizes the fight for the flute (tachimawari).

Osada Tarô (left) and Matsu-no-Mae (right, holding the flute) in a digital painting made by Shôriya Araemon in 2014