Historical material

A type of script for Bunraku puppet theatre and Kabuki theatre. From the Edo period onwards, it refers to works based on historical events and in which people of the upper classes, such as samurai, aristocrats and monks, play a major role. It is the opposite of sewamono, which is based on everyday events in the Edo period. In the narrow sense, only works that are based on the samurai era from the Genpei period to the Winter and Summer Battles of Osaka, such as "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura," "Honcho Nijushikou," and "Ehon Taikoki," are called jidaimono, while works that cover events before the Heian period, such as "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" and "Imoseyama Onna Teikin," are called oudaimono, and works that dramatize events involving feudal lords in the Edo period, such as "Meiboku Sendaihagi," are called iemono. Because the stage often features scenes in palaces with golden sliding doors, they are also commonly known as kinbusumamono (plays with golden doors), and because period pieces are generally characterized by stylized scenes, costumes, and acting, the term is also used like an adjective to describe them, such as 'period dialogue', 'period direction', or 'great old-fashioned (especially old-fashioned and exaggerated) scenes'.

[Toshiaki Matsui]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

人形浄瑠璃(じょうるり)、歌舞伎(かぶき)脚本の一種別。江戸期からみて通俗史上の事件に取材し、武家・貴族・僧侶(そうりょ)など上層階級の人物がおもに活躍する作品をいう。江戸時代の市井の事件に取材した世話物に対する語。狭義には『義経千本桜(よしつねせんぼんざくら)』『本朝廿四孝(ほんちょうにじゅうしこう)』『絵本太功記(えほんたいこうき)』など、源平時代から大坂冬夏の両陣に至る武家時代を題材にしたものだけを時代物とよび、『菅原伝授手習鑑(すがわらでんじゅてならいかがみ)』『妹背山婦女庭訓(いもせやまおんなていきん)』など平安朝以前の事件に取材したものを王代(おうだい)物、『伽羅先代萩(めいぼくせんだいはぎ)』など江戸期の大名の事件を脚色した作をお家物と分けてよぶこともある。舞台に金色の襖(ふすま)の御殿の場面が出ることが多いため、金襖(きんぶすま)物という俗称もあり、一般に時代物の場面、扮装(ふんそう)、演技は様式的であるのを特徴とするので、「時代な台詞(せりふ)回し」「時代な演出」「大(おお)時代（とくに古風で誇張の多いこと）な場面」などと形容詞のように使われもする。

［松井俊諭］

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