Characters
Benten Kozo Kikunosuke
A handsome thief who took the name Benten Kozo, having been raised at the Benzaiten Shrine in Kamakura (kozo means little boy). He had a habit of stealing even as a child and was expelled from the shrine, and these days works with his senior colleague Rikimaru. In the less-performed Hatsuse Temple scene, he disguises himself as a member of a warrior’s family and hoodwinks a princess. When he joins Daemon’s gang, he disguises himself as a beautiful woman and aims for blackmail. In the full-length performance, he ultimately cuts open his stomach while standing on a temple rooftop in a gruesome end.
Nippon Daemon
The don of the thieves. He turned to crime after being abandoned by his parents, and has a child who he himself abandoned. He disguises himself as a distinguished samurai and comes to Hamamatsuya as a guest, planning to steal the shop’s fortune. The character’s name was taken from a real thief, Nippon Saemon.
Nango Rikimaru
Originally a fisherman. He and Benten Kozo have become a criminal duo. He later joins Daemon’s gang.
Tadanobu Rihei
Serving in Daemon’s gang. When he meets Akaboshi along Inase River, he is impressed and tries to give him money he had gained earlier, whereby Akaboshi invites him to join his group.
Akaboshi Juzaburo
Originally a mid-ranking servant in the Shinoda family and a gentle-looking playboy. In Hatsuse Temple, he steals 100 ryo in donations to prove his loyalty to his gang but is captured. He witnesses the death of Princess Senju at Inase River and starts to kill himself, but meets Rihei and joins the gang.
Hamamatsuya Kobei
Head of a kimono shop in Kamakura. He had a child but lost him in a crowd, and adopted a child of a similar age instead. A servant in a samurai family, he is looking for a treasured butterfly-shaped incense case that has been lost.
Hamamatsuya Sonosuke
Originally an abandoned street boy, he was adopted by Kobei. He has made an under-kimono sleeve from the clothes he wore when he was abandoned so as not to forget his real father.
Tobigashira Seiji
Head fireman near the Hamamatsuya shop.
Princess Senju
A princess who only appears in the full-length performance. She falls in love with Benten Kozo, who has disguised himself as her fiancée. When she learns she was duped, she drowns herself in the river.
Aoto Fujitsuna
Real-life judge during Kamakura Period, known as fair and wise. The play’s original title is named after him. He appears in the final act and confronts Daemon. A well known story in Kamakura has it that the real-life Fujitsuna offered to pay 50 mon to purchase a torch in order to find 10 mon he lost in the river, saying that the loss of the original money would have been too much to bear. This is incorporated in the play’s final scene. Gappo Doshin in the noted drama Gappo ga Tsuji is Fujitsuna’s son.
