Ointment - Kouyakuneri

The title of a Kyogen piece. Miscellaneous Kyogen. Kamakura and Kyoto ointment practitioners decide to compare the effectiveness of sucking ointments, and take turns telling each other the origins of the names of the ointments and the types of medicine they use, boasting to each other, but unable to decide which is better, they begin comparing the types of ointment they use. They stick pieces of paper with ointment on their noses, and as they suck each other in, suck them back, twist and untwist, the Kyoto actor (shite) defeats his opponent with a jerking move and wins. The lines in the first half and the actions in the second half are extremely exaggerated, and both are nothing short of fantastical. The names of the ointments used are "Uma-sumi Ointment" (horse-sumi ointment) by the Kamakura actor, who sucked in a famous horse's livestock, and "Ishi-sumi Ointment" (stone-sumi ointment) by the Kyoto actor, who sucked in an enormous rock. The types of medicine used also vary depending on the school, with things like blackened snow and stone innards.

[Ikeda Eigo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

狂言の曲名。雑狂言。鎌倉と京都の膏薬煉が吸出し膏の効能比べをすることになり、交互に膏薬の名の由来や薬種を語り聞かせて自慢しあうが、優劣定まらず、膏薬の吸い比べを始める。鼻に膏薬のついた紙を貼(は)り、互いに吸い寄せ、吸い戻し、ねじゆがめねじ戻しするうちに、京都方（シテ）がしゃくり引きで相手を倒して勝ちとなる。前半の台詞(せりふ)、後半の動作は極端に誇張された内容で、いずれも奇想天外というほかはない。吸出し膏の名は、鎌倉方が名馬生食(いけずき)を吸い寄せた「馬吸い膏薬」、京都方がとてつもない大石を吸い付けた「石吸い膏薬」である。また薬種は雪の黒焼き、石のはらわたなどのたぐいで、流派によって異なる。

［池田英悟］

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