Hui Lán Jì (English: Hui Lán Jì)

Japanese: 灰闌記 - かいらんき（英語表記）Huī lán jì

A Chinese play from the Yuan Dynasty written by Li Xingfu. It is one of the court cases of Bao Zheng, a famous judge of the Song Dynasty. The play judges a case in which the wife of a wealthy man who had an adulterous affair with an official poisoned her husband, pinned the blame on a concubine, and then tried to monopolise the concubine's son by falsely claiming it was her own. It is a masterpiece that depicts the reality of ordinary people in detail, involving the concubine's brother, who is lazy but honest and good. The climax of the play features a famous scene in which two mothers fight over the baby within a lime-painted frame, and the one who lets go first is recognized as the real mother. This has been seen in tales from several countries around the world since ancient times, and was imported to Japan through the novel Bao Koan, which is based on this play or a lecture, and is included in Ooka's Mandanchō.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

中国，元代の戯曲。李行甫作。宋の名判官包拯（ほうじよう）の裁判劇の一つ。役人と姦通する長者の正妻が夫を毒殺し，その罪を妾に負わせたうえ，妾腹の男児をわが子と偽って財産の独占を図る事件を裁く。怠惰ながら率直で善良な妾の兄をからませて，庶民の真実をこまかに描いた傑作。そのクライマックスには，石灰で描いた枠内でふたりの母に幼児を争奪させ，先に手を放したほうを実母と認める著名な場をおくが，これは古くから世界の数ヵ国の説話にみられ，この劇ないし講釈にもとづく小説《包公案》を通じて日本にも輸入され，大岡政談中に採り入れられている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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