Tamamo no Mae's Morning Sleeves - Tamamo no Mae's Morning Sleeves

Joruri Gidayu-bushi. Historical piece. Five acts. A collaboration between Chikamatsu Baishiken and Sagawa Tota. First performed in March 1806 (Bunka 3) at the Goryo Keidai Theater in Osaka. The story is based on the legend of the nine-tailed golden fox, which has been passed down in Mikuni, and is intertwined with the rebellion of Toba-in's brother, Usugumo no Ouji. It is a major revision of the Joruri of the same title, which premiered in January 1751 (Kan'en 4) at the Toyotake Theater in Osaka, by Namioka Kitsuhei, Asada Iccho, and Yasuda Akei. The third act, "Michiharu Yakata," is famous, and it is often performed independently in kabuki. Prince Usugumo desires to marry Princess Katsura, the elder daughter of Minister of the Right Fujiwara Michiharu, but when she rejects his request, he orders Washizuka Kintouji to kill her. Michiharu's concubine, Hagi, tries to offer up her younger daughter, Princess Hatsuhana, to show her loyalty to the foundling Princess Katsura, but Kintouji beheads her, reveals that she was his real daughter, and dies confessing the prince's evil plan. Highlights of the play include the pathos of Princess Katsura and Princess Hatsuhana, who compete at the game of sugoroku to see who will willingly sacrifice themselves, Hagi's complex expression of maternal love, and Kintouji's "return" (an expression of returning from evil to good). After this, Princess Hatsuhana visits the palace, where a nine-tailed fox possesses her and becomes the demon princess Tamamo-no-Mae, causing a commotion. In recent years, the play has sometimes been performed in its entirety in puppet theater and kabuki.

[Toshiaki Matsui]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

浄瑠璃義太夫節(じょうるりぎだゆうぶし)。時代物。五段。近松梅枝軒(ばいしけん)・佐川藤太合作。1806年（文化3）3月大坂・御霊境内(ごりょうけいだい)芝居初演。三国伝来の金毛九尾の狐(きつね)の伝説に、鳥羽(とば)院の兄薄雲王子(うすぐものおうじ)の反逆を絡ませた構成で、浪岡橘平・浅田一鳥(いっちょう)・安田蛙桂(あけい)合作により1751年（寛延4）1月大坂・豊竹(とよたけ)座初演の同題の浄瑠璃を大幅に改訂した作。三段目切(きり)の「道春館(みちはるやかた)」が有名で、歌舞伎(かぶき)でもしばしば独立して上演される。薄雲王子は右大臣藤原道春の姉娘桂(かつら)姫を妻に望み、退けられると、鷲塚金藤次(わしづかきんとうじ)に命じて姫を討たせようとする。道春の後室萩(はぎ)の方は拾い子の桂姫に義理をたて、妹娘初花(はつはな)姫を差し出そうとするが、金藤次は桂姫の首を打ち、自分の実の娘だったことを告げ、王子の悪計を白状して死ぬ。進んで犠牲になることを競って双六(すごろく)で勝負する桂姫・初花姫の哀れさ、萩の方の複雑な母性愛の表現、金藤次の「もどり」（悪から善に立ち返る表現）などが見どころ。なお、このあと、参内した初花姫に九尾の狐がのりうつり妖姫(ようき)玉藻前となって騒動を起こすという展開で、近年、人形浄瑠璃でも歌舞伎でも通しで上演されることがある。

［松井俊諭］

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