The play "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" was originally written for the puppet theater (Bunraku) and staged for the first time in the 8th lunar month of 1746 in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza. It was adapted for Kabuki the following month and staged for the first time in Kyôto at the Kitagawa no Shibai, produced by Nakamura Kiyosaburô I [casting]. It was also performed for the first time in Edo, at the Ichimuraza, in the 3rd lunar month of 1747 [casting].

This great play is based on the life of Sugawara no Michizane (845~903), a renowned scholar who was promoted up to the prestigious rank of udaijin ("Right Minister", one of the 2 close advisors of the Emperor). Falsely accused by Fujiwara no Shihei, the "Left Minister" (sadaijin), of trying to hatch a plot with Prince Tokiyo to seize the power, Sugawara no Michizane was exiled to Kyûshû. He dedicated his last years in writing poems, expressing both his homesickness and his innocence. After his death, the Emperor's residence was often struck by lightning and people thought it was done by the vengeful spirit of Sugawara no Michizane. A shrine was built in Kyôto to appease the spirit, the Kitano Tenmangû, and Sugawara no Michizane was revered as a the God of calligraphy. In the play Sugawara no Michizane is called Kan Shôjô.

"At the time when the authors were working on the play, a great stir was caused in Ôsaka by the birth of triplets. It was therefore decided to make use of triplets in the new production and thus it was that Matsuômaru, Umeômaru and Sakuramaru came into being. For the purpose of the story, the triplets are the sons of Sugawara's retainer, Shiratayû. When they were born, Sugawara stood sponsor to all three and named them after the trees he loved best, Matsu (Pine), Ume (Plum) and Sakura (Cherry). On their father's retirement, Umeômaru took his place as Sugawara's personal retainer. At the same time his two others brothers were found equally worthy employment, one as the retainer of Prince Tokiyo and the other in the household of Sugawara's colleague, Fujiwara no Shihei. When Shihei's jealousy brought about Sugawara's downfall, the triplets became the victims of divided loyalties" (Aubrey and Giovanna Halford in "The Kabuki Handbook").

"Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" is made up of 5 acts:

A standard tôshi kyôgen production of "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" is made up of Act I scene 2 ("Kamo Zutsumi"), Act I scene 3 ("Hippô Denju"), Act II scene 3 ("Dômyôji"), Act III scene 1 ("Kurumabiki"), Act III scene 2 ("Ga no Iwai") and Act IV scene 3 ("Terakoya").

Act II scene 2 ("Yasui no Hama") and Act IV scene 2 ("Kitasaga") have never been staged since the end of WWII. Both scenes fell into oblivion.

Others scenes are sometimes revived at the National Theatre.

Act I, scene 1: Ôuchi
The Imperial Palace
--> A dedicated summary: "Ôuchi"

Act I, scene 2: Kamo Zutsumi
The Banks of the Kamo River
--> A dedicated summary: "Kamo Zutsumi"

Act I, scene 3: Hippô Denju
The Transmission of the Secrets of Calligraphy
--> A dedicated summary: "Hippô Denju"

In Scene 1 Chinese priest arrives to paint a portrait of the emperor. Due to the emperor’s illness, Shihei and Sugawara discuss a stand-in for the emperor. Shihei nominates himself in a move calculated as a step towards the throne, but the emperor selects Prince Tokiyo. Shihei perceives favoritism for Sugawara whose younger daughter, Kariya, is Tokiyo’s betrothed. The emperor also orders Sugawara to pass on his calligraphy secrets to a disciple of Sugawara’s choice. In the second scene on the banks of the Kamo River, Sakuramaru arranges an assignation between Tokiyo and Kariya. A spy spots the couple, reports back to Shihei, and returns with support to attack the young lovers’ rearguard, Sakuramaru’s wife, Yae, who escapes. The significance of the first two scenes (which are often omitted) is the rousing of Shihei’s wrath for Sugawara. The play normally commences with Scene 3: “The Transmission of the Secrets of Calligraphy.” Sugawara summons his best disciple, Genzô, who was previously dismissed for falling in love with a maid, Tonami, in Sugawara’s service. The couple have since established a remote village school (terakoya). After Sugawara passes on his calligraphy secrets, the emperor summons him to court. Sugawara’s hat falls off, in what is seen as an ill omen, and Shihei falsely accuses Sugawara of coveting the throne via the marriage of Kariya to Tokiyo. The emperor exiles Sugawara. Genzô, realizing the threat to Sugawara’s son, Kan Shûsai, runs off with the young boy to the country.

Act II, scene 1: Michiyuki Kotoba no Amaikai
The Travel Dance of the Sweet Talking Candy Peddler of Love
--> A dedicated summary: "Michiyuki Kotoba no Amaikai"

Act II, scene 2: Yasui no Hama
The shore at Yasui
--> A dedicated summary: "Yasui no Hama"

Act II, scene 3: Dômyôji
At the Dômyôji Temple
--> A dedicated summary: "Dômyôji"

Shihei’s spies have caught up with Tokiyo and Kariya. Tokiyo has been taken away and Kariya placed in the care of her older sister, Tatsuya, who lives near Dômyôji Temple. Sugawara is staying under the same roof pending the arrival of an escort at cockcrow to take him to Dazaifu. Angry at Kariya for her love affair which has been used to disgrace Sugawara, Kakuju, mother of Tatsuta and Kariya, beats Kariya with a stick. Sukune Tarô and his father Hyôe, Shihei’s minions, conspire to assassinate Sugawara. Tatsuta, who is Tarô’s husband, overhears their plan to make a cock crow before daybreak, is murdered by Tarô, and her corpse thrown into a pond. The cock crows when it is held over the corpse, in accord with superstition, and the false escort leaves with Sugawara in a litter. Kakuju discovers Tatsuta’s corpse, spots cloth missing from Tarô’s kimono used as a gag, and stabs Tarô. The real escort arrives, learns of the skullduggery and is about to set off in pursuit when the false escort returns having discovered that its passenger was, in fact, a wooden statue of Sugawara. However, Sugawara emerges from the litter, the false escort is arrested, and Hyôe summarily executed. Kariya tearfully sees off Sugawara.

Act III, scene 1: Kurumabiki
The Struggle for the Carriage
--> A dedicated summary: "Kurumabiki"

Act III, scene 2: Ga no Iwai
The Celebration
--> A dedicated summary: "Ga no Iwai"

“The Struggle for the Carriage” (Kuruma-biki) Scene brings together the triplets for the first time. Sakuramaru and Umeômaru, dispossessed of their masters (Tokiyo and Sugawara) and consequently unemployed, encounter Matsuômaru, retainer of Shihei, the cause of their plight. In order to represent the differences between the triplets, each acts in a different style (Sakuramaru — the weak, romantic; Umeômaru — the hero; and Matsuômaru — the villain), and each wears a distinctive costume with the sleeve bearing his flower emblem (cherry, plum, or pine) and makeup that indicates his role. Sakuramaru and Umeômaru attack Matsuômaru for his loyalty to his master and, when Shihei’s carriage arrives, pull apart the carriage. Shihei, in ceremonial court attire, long wig, and blue makeup, which denotes his role as an evil noble, emerges and glowers with malevolence from the top of the carriage. Terror-struck, Sakuramaru and Umeômaru agree to settle differences with Matsuômaru at Sugawara’s forthcoming birthday celebration.

In Scene 2, the triplets gather at the home in Sata Village of Shiratayû, their father and elderly retainer of Sugawara. Umeômaru and Matsuômaru soon begin fighting. Deprived of swords by their wives, they toss large straw bales and snap a branch from Sugawara’s favorite cherry tree just before he appears. Sugawara and Shiratayû disown Matsuômaru, who departs in anguish. Sakuramaru commits suicide as the result of an omen: the breaking of the branch that signified his responsibility for the act of bringing Tokiyo and Kariya together which has led to Sugawara’s downfall. Shiratayû’s heartbreak is compounded because he is obligated to live on in order to continue serving Sugawara. Sakuramaru’s wife, Yae, shares Shiratayû’s fate.

Act IV, scene 1: Tenpaizan
Mount Tenpai
--> A dedicated summary: "Tenpaizan"

Act IV, scene 2: Kitasaga
In North Saga
--> A dedicated summary: "Kitasaga"

Act IV, scene 3: Terakoya
The Village School
--> A dedicated summary: "Terakoya"

One year later on Mt. Tenpai, in Kyûshû, Sugawara dreams that his favorite plum tree has been transported to a neighboring temple. Shiratayû accompanies Sugawara on a visit to the temple where their plum blossom-viewing is interrupted by a duel between Umeômaru and Heima, a retainer sent by Shihei to assassinate Sugawara. Sugawara decapitates Heima with a plum branch and then ascends to heaven. This scene is rarely performed.

“The Village School” (Terakoya), the most famous scene of the play, begins with Sugawara’s son, the noble-looking Kan Shûsai, standing apart from the rough village children. Shihei has learned that Genzô, the school’s teacher, is harboring Kan Shûsai. His soldiers surround the village and order Genzô to surrender the child’s head. Chiyo escorts her son, the gentle-looking Kôtarô, into the schoolyard for Tonami, Genzô’s wife, to enrol him. The touching separation of Chiyo and Kôtarô is parodied by that between Sansuke, Chiyo’s servant, and her idiot son. As soon as Tonami introduces Kôtarô, Genzô realizes that the head of Kôtarô might substitute for that of Kan Shûsai, and he consults Tonami.

Shihei has ordered Matsuômaru to verify the head of Kan Shûsai. As a sign of the tragedy to follow, Matsuômaru wears a bushy wig, signifying sickness, and a magnificent kimono bearing a bleak design of snow-covered pines. The nasty Genba and a band of police encircle the school to ensure that Kan Shûsai does not escape. Matsuômaru compares the number of desks with the number of children, whose faces he inspects as they leave, and concludes that, as he has ordered, his own son, Kôtarô, has been brought to the school in the hope that Genzô will substitute his head. He orders Genzô to produce the head and then listens to the sickening sound of a decapitation indoors. Matsuômaru staggers sickeningly in a famous pose. Genzô returns with a box and, in the play’s climax, Matsuômaru grips the box and stares inside unable to betray whether it is the head of his son or that of Kan Shûsai. He declares that it is Kan Shûsai’s head and then departs with the resolution that illness has compelled him to leave Shihei’s service.

Chiyo comes to collect Kôtarô, and Genzô attempts to kill her to conceal the substitution. Chiyo defends herself by holding up Kôtarô’s desk, out of which falls his burial clothes, revealing the plan of Chiyo and Matsuômaru. The parents, joyous at preserving the life of Kan Shûsai and grieving for Kôtarô, remove their clothes disclosing white mourning kimono, and are joined by Sugawara’s wife. The mixture of exultation and sorrow lends the closing pose by all the parents especial poignancy.

Act V, scene 1: Ôuchi Tenpen
Disaster at the Imperial Palace
--> A dedicated summary: "Ôuchi Tenpen"

The final act is not often performed. Sugawara has died vowing retribution on Shihei. Catastrophes strike successively until a priest divines the cause. Kan Shûsai kills Shihei, Sugawara’s name is restored, and Sugawara is declared a god.

Paul Kennelly (source)

The upper part of the poster for the tôshi kyôgen production of "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami", which was staged at the Kabukiza in February 2002

Prints & Illustrations