Suitengu Megumi no Fukagawa - Suitengu Megumi no Fukagawa

A Kabuki play. A domestic drama. Three acts. Written by Kawatake Mokuami. It was first performed by Onoe Kikugoro V at the Chitoseza Theater in Tokyo in February 1885 (Meiji 18). It is a "zangirimono" (a piece of fictionalized ... Having lost his stipend due to the Meiji Restoration, Funatsu Koubei lost his wife and, with his blind daughter and three children, lived a poor life selling brushes, but after being tortured by an unscrupulous moneylender, he went mad and drowned himself while holding his infant child. However, he was saved by the blessings of Suitengu Shrine, a shrine he trusted, and regained his senses. Thanks to the kindness of kind people, he was able to get his life back on track. The author is said to have based his own experience on the story, and so he excels in his portrayal of the social conditions. In particular, he uses the Kiyomoto Yosogoto Joruri piece "Kaze ni Kuruu Kawabe no Meyanagi" for a tragic scene, using a flashy melody to accentuate the pathos. The role of Kobei was played by the 6th Kikugorou, who inherited it from the 5th, and demonstrated the pinnacle of realism in the play. In recent years, the 17th Nakamura Kanzaburo has made this a specialty of his.

[Toshiaki Matsui]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

歌舞伎(かぶき)脚本。世話物。3幕。河竹黙阿弥(もくあみ)作。1885年（明治18）2月東京・千歳座(ちとせざ)で5世尾上(おのえ)菊五郎が初演。明治維新後の新世相を写した「散切物(ざんぎりもの)」で、没落した旧士族の筆売り幸兵衛に盗賊小天狗(こてんぐ)要次郎を絡ませた作だが、幸兵衛のくだりだけが後世に残った。通称「筆幸(ふでこう)」。維新によって扶持(ふち)を失った船津幸兵衛は妻に死別、盲目の娘を頭に3人の子を抱え、筆を売り歩いて貧しい暮らしを送っていたが、因業な金貸しに責めたてられたあげく心に異常をきたし、乳飲み子を抱いたまま入水(じゅすい)するが、日ごろ信ずる水天宮の利生(りしょう)により助かって正気に戻り、情けある人々の親切で暮らしも立ち直る。作者が実見した光景に取材したといわれるだけに世相の描写に優れ、ことに余所事浄瑠璃(よそごとじょうるり)の清元(きよもと)『風狂川辺(かぜにくるうかわべ)の芽柳(めやなぎ)』を悲惨な場面に使い、はでな旋律で逆に哀感を浮き出した手法が傑出。幸兵衛の役は5世から受け継いだ6世菊五郎が写実芸の極致を示し、近年は17世中村勘三郎が得意芸にしていた。

［松井俊諭］

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