Narration (title) - katari

...In the late 17th century, the custom of making the number of characters odd was adopted to emphasize good luck, and the number of characters in the Shichigosan format was favored, but as a result, sometimes unnatural characters were used. A short couplet that is added above the title to suggest the content is called kakugaki, and a summary of the work written in a beautiful style above the title on a signboard or ranking is called narration. There are four types of titles: the o-myōdai, which expresses the gist of the work, the ko-myōdai, which are added to each act, the jōruri-myōdai, which is used for jōruri and other narrations performed during the play, the shōsa-myōdai, which is used for shōsagoto, and the ni-mai-dai, which is used for the second kyōgen. ...

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Narration (title)" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…17世紀後半，縁起を重んじて字数を奇数に整える習慣を生じ，七五三の文字数が好んで用いられたが，その結果，無理な造字が行われることもあった。名題の上に添えて内容を示唆する短い対句を〈角書〉，また，看板や番付で，名題の上に，作品の概要を美文調で記したものを〈語り〉と呼ぶ。名題には，作品の趣旨を表す〈大（おお）名題〉，各幕に付ける〈小（こ）名題〉，劇中，出語りで演奏される浄瑠璃などのための〈浄瑠璃名題〉，所作事のための〈所作名題〉，二番目狂言に付ける〈二番目名題〉の別がある。…

※「語り（名題）」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

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