Characters
Kochiyama Soshun
Tea master charged with serving high officials and conducting tea affairs in Edo Castle. While his position is not particularly high, he is able to speak directly to the Shogun, a privilege he uses to his advantage to extract favors from others. He is not easily shaken and does not yield easily to authority. When he visits a pawnbroker to borrow money, he learns of the daughter’s difficulties and undertakes her rescue for the considerable sum of 200 ryo, for which he barges into the mansion of Lord Matsue.
Omaki
Widow at the pawnbroker Joshuya. She manages the shop after her husband’s death and is counting on the help of her sole daughter Ofuji, who is engaged to be married. However, the daughter falls into trouble at the home at which she serves, and the mother desperately wants to save her.
Izumiya Seibei
Antique dealer and relative of Joshuya owner. He becomes Omaki’s guardian after she is widowed. He gathers his relatives at Joshuya and discusses how to rescue Ofuji, but dealing with a lord is extremely tricky. He asks Kochiyama’s help with the promise of a substantial reward.
Lord of Matsue
Lord of Matsue Province. Though from a privileged family related to the shogun, he is short-tempered and selfish. He threatens to kill Namiji for defying his orders.
Namiji
Daughter of Joshuya owner. Her real name is Ofuji. To learn social manners, she has taken up as a servant in the Matsue household. The lord likes her and asks her to be his concubine, but she refuses as she is already engaged to be married. Angered, he then imprisons her in the household.
Takagi Kozaemon
Senior retainer of Matsue household. He is sensible and not afraid to lecture the master on the latter’s misbehavior. Even after Kochiyama’s identity is revealed, he makes an evenhanded decision to send him back as a disguised monk so that the household’s reputation is not compromised.
Kitamura Daizen
High-ranking retainer of Matsue household. He is interested only in his own position and regularly accompanies his master to Edo Castle. He exposes the disguised Kochiyama, recognizing the mole on the latter’s face, but is conversely put down decisively by Kochiyama.
Miyazaki Kazuma
Young samurai serving as secretary to the Matsue household. When he sees the master holding a sword and taking Namiji, he stops the master, prompting suspicions that he is in a relation with Namiji.
Kataoka Naojiro
A fallen gangster who was formerly a government servant, nicknamed Naozamurai. He is the lover of the courtesan Michitose and a subordinate colleague of Kochiyama. In the original play, he accompanied Kochiyama under a false name when Kochiyama bursts into the Matsue household. When his involvement in illegal gambling is revealed, he is on the run from the police. He slips a letter to his lover through a colleague and seeks to meet her once more before vanishing from sight.
Michitose
Courtesan in Yoshiwara. She is deeply in love with Naojiro and becomes sick with grief when he disappears without a trace. She is recuperating at the brothel’s property in Iriya when she meets her lover after a long separation. When she learns he plans to escape on his own, she begs him to take her along or kill her.
Joga
Blind masseur who is treating Michitose. He comes across Naojiro in a noodle shop and is given a letter to pass to Michitose.
Dark Ushimatsu
Gambler under Naojiro. While on the run from his crimes, he chooses to betray Naojiro to the police in exchange for a reduction in his own punishment.
Kihei
Gardener who serves the pleasure house and looks after the Iriya property. He is officially the supervisor, but has been granted permission to give Michitose a certain freedom. Because he and his children receive great favor from Naojiro and Michitose, he urges the couple to run away together without considering the consequences.
