Kabuki Plus
Famous lines
Ojo’s speech on the riverbank about the misty moon is among the most famous in Kabuki’s long history. It is based on alternating five- and seven-syllable lines, a traditional Japanese poetic form (it is the basis for haiku) brilliantly drafted here by the master craftsman Kawatake Mokuami. Numerous other lines throughout the play have similarly become well known.
References to Oshichi
notable!The historic Oshichi was the daughter of a vegetable shop owner who was punished for arson. She is portrayed in numerous novels, puppet plays, storytelling skits and dramas. The basic story features a family living in temporary housing in Kishoin Temple after a fire. Oshichi falls in love with the temple servant Kichisaburo and believes that she can see him if her house is also destroyed by fire. She commits arson and is punished to death by burning. In this drama, references to this event include the name Kichisa; Ojo’s background as a boy who had been raised in a vegetable shop as a girl named Oshichi, and the Kishoin Temple. The Hongo watchtower scene is an adaptation from another show called “Oshichi of the Watchtower”.
Koshin (or kanoemaru)
This play debuted in January 1860, when the year of the monkey (saru) in the 12-year animal cycle coincided with metal (kanoe) in the five-year cycle of the elements, an event occurring only once in 60 years. Children born in the kanoesaru year, also pronounced koshin, are said to have a habit of stealing. The koshin year has three monkey messengers (see no evil, etc), which connects with the three thieves. Also, the three thieves meet on the Okawabata Koshin Monument, and the legendary dagger that they are chasing is called Koshin-maru.
Original title
The play, originally titled “The Three Kichisas and the First Purchase in the Pleasure Quarters”, included a tragic love story concerning Juzaburo’s master Kiya Bunri and the courtesan Hitoe, Obo’s sister. This section was later cut and the current title, implying a three-way team of thieves, was adopted. It then became a major hit.
