Characters
Satsuma Gengobei, actually Fuwa Kazuemon
In reality a servant to the Enya household by the name Fuwa Kazuemon. He was removed from his position after losing money that had been entrusted to him. Immediately after that, Enya Hangan’s household was terminated in the incident at the core of the great revenge drama Chushingura. Kazuemon was allowed to join the vendetta if he could come up with 300 ryo. He was just 100 ryo short of this goal. He received the final amount from his uncle, but lost it in a ruse by the geisha Koman, with whom he was infatuated. His resentment at her deception drives him to murder and madness.
Sasanoya Sangoro
The boatman running the Sasanoya Inn in Fukugawa. He was the son of Tokuemon (now the monk Ryoshin). He was disinherited due to his bad behavior, but when asked by his father to raise money, he worked fervently to succeed in order to get back in his father’s good graces. He has his wife Koman work as a geisha to earn funds, and took advantage of Gengobei’s passion for Koman in order to steal the young samurai’s money. When he later discovers that his father was Gengobei’s servant, he realizes that the money sought by the father was for the vendetta. His deep guilt leads him to suicide.
Koman
A popular geisha nicknamed Dakki after an evil woman in ancient China. She is actually named Oroku and is married to Sangoro. Formerly a worker in a prominent household, she becomes a geisha to raise money for her husband. She participates in a heartless deception of the hopelessly infatuated Gengobei in a bid to win his money. In the end, her evil deeds drive him to murder both her and her child.
