Kabuki Plus
Iconic characters of tragic love: Osome & Hisamatsu
A joint love suicide between a young daughter of a large merchant and an adolescent serving the household in 1710 was immediately taken up in song by street troubadours. It was soon turned into a Bunraku puppet drama, spurring a long line of puppet and Kabuki plays and creating an entirely new genre known as Osome-Himatsu love stories. Derivative plays include Osome Hisamatsu Ukina no Yomiuri, which features one actor playing seven roles, including both lovers; the comic Shinpan Ukina no Yomiuri; and the dance piece Michiyuki Ukine no Tomodori.
Two contrasting women
Osome is the daughter of a major merchant and has been raised with no care in the world. She is beautiful and wears an elegant kimono. Though naïve from her sheltered upbringing, she is precocious with an urban sensibility. In contrast, Omitsu is a farmer’s daughter, her dress modest and unsophisticated. She looks after her sick mother and has a strong and loyal nature. This is behind her decisive, heartrending resolve to give up Hisamatsu to her rival and become a nun.
Pilgrimage to Nozaki Temple
Jigenji Temple, commonly known as Nozaki Temple, is an historic institution established by the monk Gyoki during the eighth century. It is located in a panoramic location in the Ikoma mountains some 10 kilometers east of Osaka. Pilgrimages to the temple became popular in the Edo Period as a sightseeing route. A highly popular religious festival in early May to give thanks to all living creatures was called the Nozaki Pilgrimage. There was both a hiking course and boat route. The pier features in a major work by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Onnakoroshi Abura no Jigoku (The Woman-Killer and the Hell of Oil). People believed that an argument between a hiker and boat visitor would bring good luck to the winner for a year. There is a comic rakugo piece Nozaki Pilgrimage that also depicts such events. Moreover, there was a hit song in 1935 called the “Nozaki Song” that began, “Let’s take a boat on a Nozaki pilgrimage…” The lyrics mention the names of Hisamatsu and Osome, a tribute to the wide-ranging knowledge of lyricists in those days.
Onatsu and Seijuro
notable!Kyusaku compares Hisamatsu and Osome’s love to the famous lovers Onatsu and Seijuro. Onatsu, the daughter of a rice merchant, falls in love with the shop’s clerk Seijuro. They run away together but are captured, and Seijuro is executed on the false crimes of embezzlement and kidnapping. Onatsu, confined to her room, eventually goes mad and disappears. This tragedy was featured in many works, including Ihara Saikaku’s novel Koshoku Gonin Onna and Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s drama Gojunenki Uta Nenbutsu. The Meiji Period writer Tsubouchi Shoyo also created a dance piece from the story, Onatsu Kyoran (The Madness of Onatsu), that continues to be performed today.
“Omitting grandma”
One oft-omitted scene shows Kyusaku’s wife (Omitsu’s mother), blind and bedridden from a serious illness. When the scene is skipped, it is called “babanuki” (omitting grandma). This scene reveals that Kyusaku’s urging of a hasty marriage stems from his desire to offer relief to his dying wife.
Double hanamichi
notable!In addition to the usual hanamichi running from the stage to the back of the theater on the left side of the auditorium (from the audience’s perspective), a second hanamichi is sometimes placed in the same spot on the right. The ending of Nozaki Village often uses this setup. The stage rotates, showing a riverbank behind the house. The mother and daughter sail off on a boat down the main hanamichi, which serves as a river, while Hisamatsu travels by palanquin down the second hanamichi, which is the riverbank. They depart to the robust sound of special thick-necked shamisen. The palanquin carriers and shipmen make comical gestures. By presenting this scene with such lively music, it offers a sharp contrast with the dark outlook for Osome and Hisamatsu and the sadness of Omitsu. It is a superior directorial vision.
Production by Kikugoro VI
Omitsu’s tearful breakdown on her father’s shoulder at the end was devised by the famed Onoe Kikugoro VI in February 1930 at Tokyo’s Kabukiza. In a magazine interview the next month, he noted that while there was a long-standing acting pattern for that scene, he went back to the original Bunraku story and imagined how painful inside it must have been for Omitsu to have given up her love. He thus created an ending to reflect that emotion. This new performance style introduced a modern sensibility to this classic work and remains the standard version to this day.
