| February 5(Fri)-21(Sun) |
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| Program Ⅰ (from 11:00AM): |
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HANAKURABE
SHIKI NO KOTOBUKI
【The Four Seasons】
Earphone-Guide Commentator: Bach
This is a series of dances showing themes tied to the four seasons.
It begins with ‘Manzai,’ showing performers of celebratory songs and
dances on New Year days who go from door to door. Then summer is represented
by ‘Ama,’ showing a female diver. But this particular dance is based
on a classical Noh play that shows a diver who sacrifices her life
to recover a precious jewel from the undersea palace of the dragon
king. In autumn there is ‘Sekidera Komachi,’ which shows the fabulous
beauty Ono no Komachi, now an old, withered hag living near a temple.
But even in decay, she still shows signs of her former glory as she
dances to the music of a festival. Finally for winter, there is ‘Sagi
Musume,’ the Bunraku version of the famous dance that shows the spirit
of the heron as a beautiful woman.
MUSUME
KAGEKIYO YASHIMA NIKKI
Commentator: Dixon
This is a very rare performance of a period play. The Heike general
Kagekiyo is famous for having put his eyes out rather than see the
world that is ruled by the enemy Genji clan. Now he is blind and in
exile, but his daughter visits him to try to persuade him to return
home with her. He is torn between his pride as a warrior and affection
toward her as her father. |
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| Program Ⅱ (from 2:45 PM): |
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DAIKYOJI MUKASHI
GOYOMI
【Osan and Mohei】
Commentator: Oshima
One of the most famous plays by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, this shows a
pretty woman named Osan who is dissatisfied with her dull husband,
who is a calendar maker. She jokingly begins to flirt with their servant
Mohei, but before they know it, they have actually become a couple.
They must flee because in the Edo period, adultery could be punished
by death. |
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| Program Ⅲ (from 6:30 PM): |
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SONEZAKI SHINJU
【The Love Suicides at Sonezaki】
Commentator: Dixon
First performed in 1703, this play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon dramatized
a true incident virtually overnight. It created a sensation, first
by transforming a scandal among the lower classes into a tragic drama
full of pathos, second, by making a new poetic world in the final
michiyuki or travel scene, where the lovers go to their death.
A young merchant named Tokubei has long been in love with the courtesan
Ohatsu and is diligently trying to buy out her contract. But he is
swindled out of his money by someone he considered a friend. Then
he is beaten and humiliated in the precincts of the Ikutama shrine.
He sneaks into the teahouse where Ohatsu is and she hides him under
the veranda. At this point, Tokubei’s “friend” comes and calls him
a criminal. Ohatsu fiercely defends Tokubei and asks whether he is
prepared to defend his honor by committing love suicide. Silently,
from under the veranda, he holds her bare foot and draws it across
his neck.
The journey to the forest where they commit love suicide is like a
dream, halfway between this world and the next and has some of the
most famous lines in Japanese theatre. “Farewell to this world and
to this night, farewell. To what should we who go to our deaths be
likened? We are like the frost on the road leading to the graveyard,
vanishing with each step.” |
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