Bunraku

• 心中宵庚申 (Shinju Yoi Goshin), 2/12/18 (Sun), Tokyo
• 摂州合邦辻 (Gappo’s Daughter Tsuji), 2/13/18 (Mon), Tokyo

Shinju Yoi Goshin (Double-Suicide on Koshin Eve): The penultimate show in the great Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s long career and his final sewamono (home drama), staged in 1722. It was based on an actual double-suicide that occurred, according to one source, only two weeks (!) earlier, though as usual interpreted creatively by the author. It apparently competed with another show staged simultaneously by his erstwhile rival Ki no Kaion on the same theme – they worked fast in those days. (Another source puts the actual suicide in the previous year, which would make more sense.) The production today didn’t include the curious first act, where Hanbei chooses a suitor for his younger brother – all males lusting after a male companion with surprising words of passion. The suitors point out that the castle town in the play doesn’t have any laws against this as exist elsewhere, and neither brother seems to have a problem with the boy becoming effectively a male wife. Hanbei chooses one who is willing to make a noble sacrifice. An interesting footnote in gay Japanese theater, if such a genre exists.

Ochiyo returns to her parent’s home after having been thrown out of her married home for an unspecified reason by her mother-in-law while the husband was away. This would mark her third divorce, a shame to the family (though the first was from her husband’s ruin and the second from her husband’s death, neither of which would seem her fault). Her husband happens by to visit his wife’s sick father and is surprised to find her there. Shocked upon learning the circumstances, he renews his loyalty to his wife and says he will bring her back home. The relieved family, having run out of saké, instead celebrate with an exchange of cups of water, which ominously happens to be a traditional parting before death. The parents also light a flame upon the couple’s departure to guide dead spirits, showing that the wife is supposed to be dead to her family. That signals what the title has already told us.

The second act moves to Hanbei’s home, where his no-nonsense mother is shown busily bossing around the servants and lording over the household affairs. She is none too happy to learn that Hanbei has brought Ochiyo back and insists against Hanbei’s arguments that the girl go. Hanbei, apparently giving in, agrees to divorce Ochiyo and throws her out in front of everyone, which delights the mother. He signals to his wife, however, that as he is unable to keep her in life, he will secretly join her and commit double-suicide in order to remain together in the next life. Events spiral on from there.

The mother’s motives, the driving force behind the entire tragedy, are strangely unexplained. That serves to dilute the events, though the michiyuki (death journey) scene is as accomplished as ever. The mother’s prayers are humorously interspersed with less noble thoughts (“namu amida butsu namu amida butsu Don’t you dare steal the fruits namu amida butsu”). That has been interpreted as a poke at religion but seems more a criticism of the woman’s hypocrisy given that Buddhism is portrayed favorably elsewhere in the show. At any rate, her nastiness, from wherever it springs, makes her the most memorable character on stage, with plenty of good lines and scenes. Hanbei is an interesting creation as a brainy samurai, but his reserve isn’t particularly exciting; his own double-suicide decision, for instance, seems rather passive under the circumstances. It seems more a wise judge role than a young lover. His loyalty to his parents also feels strange given his mother’s obnoxious behavior. I’m not surprised to know that this play was scratched out in two weeks. Other characters are pretty much by the book.

The Koshin Eve in the title refers to the night before a big festival when everyone is supposed to refrain from sex (any children conceived that night were said to become criminals). I’m not sure what that has to do with events here, but the pious father berates his wife at one point by referring to a sermon at the temple that pinned all the ills of the world on the akagai clam between her legs – if you’ve seen the clam, you’ll get it. There was an interesting reference to “the last procession of the sheep” (最期の羊の歩み) that seemed a rather Christian image but, I discovered, is apparently Buddhist as well.

Overall, not the most accomplished of Chikamatsu’s love suicide plays, but it has its moments. Hope they get around to that first act sometime.

Gappo ga Tsuji (Gappo’s Daughter Tsuji) marked the accession of the former Sakihotayu (咲甫太夫) to the name Oritayu VI (六代目織太夫). The accession ceremony was performed in great style by a somewhat hoarse 咲太夫. Unlike Kabuki, the person being celebrated doesn’t speak in Bunraku (even though he’s a narrator), so Sakitayu had the floor to himself, which he made the most of. He also narrated the second section of Gappo prior to Oritayu’s appearance in the crucial third section.

The story, dating from 1773, is as wacky as they come: it’s again about a wicked mother as in the first show (must be a theme this month), but this time it’s a woman named Tamate Gozen with apparently incestuous thoughts about her stepson Shuntokumaru (from the Noh play Yoroboshi, with which this show is loosely tied). He has become blind and disfigured, and she admits that it was she who is responsible by poisoning him out of jealousy of his young wife. Her father Gappo, already unhappy with her behavior (he had only let her back into the home at his wife’s urging), is outraged at her confession and stabs her. Tamate then reveals that this was all a ploy: she had feared that her younger stepson was trying to usurp Shuntokumaru’s position and wanted to protect him, but couldn’t hurt the younger boy, who is after all her son as well. Her blood, being from a woman of a certain zodiac sign, can cure her elder stepson if served from the same vessel that held the poison. She thus stabs herself again and pours the blood into the abalone shell that started the trouble (a clam was responsible for trouble in the preceding show – another theme, maybe?). He drinks it and is cured, regaining his sight only to see Tamate, transformed from villain to hero, die before his eyes. She is overjoyed that she has cleared her honor and can pass on pure of heart, making this a happy ending of sorts.

The high drama, encompassing much screaming and crying and anguish and other emoting, gives the narrators a real workout, and it was a great choice for a coming-out piece. Oritayu easily reached the heights required in the piece. I’ve never seen him this animated before, maybe because we were sitting in the row directly next to him – I was sure his spit would come flying on us (it didn’t). Very impressive debut under his new name.

The Noh play, incidentally, focuses on Shuntokumaru’s father, who, wracked with guilt for throwing his son out of the house, has come to a temple to pray for his soul. He then discovers the boy, now a blind beggar in rags, and joyfully reunites with him. The boy’s disability is never explained, though it is implied that it stems from his poverty-stricken life rather than any plot against him. That is a far cry from this play, where the boy is just there as a prop to justify the stepmother’s transformation. But the Bunraku version is still terrific entertainment, especially when done as well as this month.