Tug of war - Tsunabi

A small bamboo tube filled with gunpowder is attached to a tension rope, and the tube is launched along the rope. It was used for communication during the Warring States period, but today it is performed as a form of Japanese fire entertainment, and is sometimes used to light things like vertical fireworks and votive lanterns. It does not only fly from one end to the other, but also goes to the other end and returns, or splits into two parts midway along the rope and flies separately.

A folk art form that applies this technique is called "tsunabi" (tug-of-wielding fire), a type of puppetry handed down in the Obari and Takaoka districts of Tsukubamirai City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. There is also a similar one in Joso City, Ibaraki Prefecture. In Obari, it is held at the festival of Atago Shrine on August 24th, and is also called Matsushita-style Sanbon Tsunabi. The puppets are strapped with bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder and tied to ropes, and move around a triangular prism-shaped space about 10 meters high and about 10 meters on each side, separated by three large pillars and one launch pad, spewing fire. In reality, it is the rope mechanism and skillful rope handling that makes it look like they are moving around due to the force of the fireworks. It is said to have been invented by Matsushita Shigetsuna, former warlord of Mikawa and lord of Obari Castle during the Sengoku period. The plays include "Shippoyama," "Kagekiyo's Breakout of Prison," "Nasu Yoichi's Target," and "The Scene of Anchin and Kiyohime on the Hidaka River."

[Masahiro Nishikado]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

竹の小筒に火薬を詰めて張り綱につけ、綱に沿って走り飛ばす仕掛け。戦国時代通信に用いたというが、今日は和火戯(わびぎ)の一つとして行われており、ときに立物仕掛け花火や献灯などの点火にも応用される。一方の端から他方に向けて飛ぶだけでなく、先方へ行って戻ってきたり、綱の途中で左右に割れて分かれて飛んだりする。

　これを応用した民俗芸能に「綱火」とよばれるものがあり、茨城県つくばみらい市小張(おばり)地区・高岡地区に伝承する人形操りをさし、国の重要無形民俗文化財に指定されている。同様のものが同県常総(じょうそう)市にもある。小張では8月24日の愛宕(あたご)神社の祭礼に行われ、松下流三本綱火ともいうが、人形は火薬の詰まった竹筒を背負わされ、綱に結び付けられて、3本の大柱と1本の発射台で仕切られた高さ10メートル前後、一辺十数メートルほどの所定の三角柱形の空間を火を噴きながら動く。実際は綱の仕掛けと巧妙な綱さばきによるものだが、花火の噴射力で動き回っているようにみえる。もと三河の戦国武将だった小張城主松下重綱の考案という。『舟遊山』『景清(かげきよ)の牢(ろう)破り』『那須(なす)与一扇の的』『安珍清姫日高川の場』などの演目がある。

［西角井正大］

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