Kabuki Plus
Kamakura Era on stage
Several New Kabuki classics in the early 20th century were set in the 12th-century Kamakura Era. For example, Tsubouchi Shoyo wrote the Kamakura Crime History Trilogy, Yamazaki Shiko’s Yoritomo was the play that opened Tokyo’s Imperial Theater in March 1911, and Enomoto Torahiko wrote Kamakura Bukan (translation of French drama) for Tokyo’s Kabukiza in November 1911. The writers took varying approaches toward the period and main characters. The Death of Yoritomo was created during this period.
Cause of Yoritomo’s death
notable!It is not clear how Yoritomo died since that information is missing from the official records, Azuma Kagami, written immediately after his death. This has given rise to several hypotheses, including a fall from a horse, liver failure, diabetes and assassination. One folk tale is that he was killed by mistake while secretly visiting a woman. This idea was used as the basis for the present work, where it becomes a secret that could bring down the household. It features an interesting contrast between Yoriie as a curious man determined to find the truth and Amamidai as the widow who, though hurt by her late husband’s behavior, is ready to pay any price to protect her household’s reputation.
Yoriie’s character
notable!The historic Yoriie, the second shogun, failed to take effective control of the government and was imprisoned and assassinated. Another important New Kabuki play in which he features is Okamoto Kido’s Shuzenji Monogatari. The present work shows Yoriie as serious and studious, but short tempered and rash in his determination to find the true cause of his father’s death. His personality has been compared to Hamlet.
The Puppet Ship
notable!This play is a revised version of another play, Kugutsubune (The Puppet Ship), first performed at Tokyo’s Meijiza in November 1919. In the original, Kozuo accompanies an older woman named Komika, a descendant of a kingdom lost 197 years earlier. It opens with a puppet show and sword dance performed by Komika and other refugees, lending the scene an exotic atmosphere. Komika reveals to Kozuo that she is in fact her mother, and the latter tells her that Shigeyasu has confessed the secret of Yoritomo’s death. At the finale, after Kozuo is killed, Komika is enraged with Shigeyasu and bitterly criticizes the warrior’s code that led to her daughter’s death. Having come from another country, Komika is not bound by the rules of samurai society in Japan and seeks revenge. The portrayal of such characters in The Puppet Ship is influenced by 19th-century romanticism and presented on a scale far beyond the much shorter derivative version Yoritomo’s Death. There are a number of politically sensitive portions in the source material from the standpoint of modern sensibilities, but it is worthy of reconsideration for showing a different side of Mayama Seika, who normally sticks closer to historical fact.
