鎌倉三代記（Kamakura Sandaiki (Three Generations of Kamakura)）

“I shall defeat Tokimasa. I’d even kill my father to serve my lover.” The blind love of the Red Princess.

A lover amid the shifting alliance of wartime can well become the enemy. Princess Toki, who has defied her father to look after her fiancé’s ill mother, is confronted by her lover with a cruel choice: he demands that she kill her father. This story depicts the wistful love of a man and woman and the touch choices brought by the hell of war.

Synopsis

by Komiya Akiko

Lover over parent

Miuranosuke, a Kyoto warrior fighting the forces from Kamakura, comes back from the battlefield in concern over his mother’s illness. He is in dire condition, but is comforted by his lover Princess Toki, the daughter of the Kamakura general Hojo Tokimasa. The princess has been looking after Miuranosuke’s mother. She begs him to marry her, but he refuses to marry the enemy’s daughter.

【Left】Miuranosuke Yoshimura（Nakamura Baigyoku）　April 2014　Kabukiza Theatre

【Right】Princess Toki（Nakamura Jakuemon）　March 2016　Kabukiza Theatre

Mysterious man

The disconsolate princess tries to commit suicide. Just then, a soldier from her father’s side, Tozaburo, appears. Her father has given him permission to marry her if he rescues her. This angers the princess, who attacks him. He jumps into a nearby well to escape.

［from left］Tozaburo, actually Sasaki Takatsuna（Bando Mitsugoro）、Princess Toki（Nakamura Fukusuke）　December 2007　Kabukiza Theatre

“I shall defeat Tokimasa”

When Princess Toki attempts again to kill herself, Miuranosuke comes running out and stops her. He proposes a challenge: he will marry her if she murders her father. The shocked princess is tormented by the decision but agrees in the end, choosing lover over parent.

Princess Toki（Nakamura Kaishun）　April 2014　Kabukiza Theatre

The double

At this, Miuranosuke shouts into the well that his tactics worked. The man who emerges from the well proves to be Sasaki Takatsuna, a high-ranking Kyoto official. He had found a peasant named Tozaburo who was virtually his double and paid him to die in his place. Takatsuna has since taken over the peasant’s identity. He had been caught by Tokimasa but managed to fool him into thinking he was a harmless peasant. He received a tattoo on his face intended to distinguish him from the enemy, and now uses that as proof that he had been caught and released by Tokimasa.

［from left］Miuranosuke Yoshimura（Onoe Kikugoro）、Tozaburo, actually Sasaki Takatsuna（Nakamura Kichiemon）　March 2016　Kabukiza Theatre

A woman’s fidelity

The princess grips her spear to show her resolution to kill her father. Miuranosuke’s mother suddenly rushes in and stabs herself with the spear, so that her son can fight the enemy without worrying about her health. She encourages him to marry the princess. Miuranosuke returns to the battlefield, while the princess and Takatsuna head to her father’s camp.

［from left］Miuranosuke Yoshimura（Onoe Kikugoro）、Tozaburo, actually Sasaki Takatsuna（Matsumoto Koshiro）、Princess Toki（Nakamura Jakuemon）　January 2004　Kabukiza Theatre

Kamakura Sandaiki (Three Generations of Kamakura) （ ）