White Rabbit Chronicle - Hakutoki

China's first Nanqu in the late Yuan and Ming dynasties. Author unknown. Liu Zhiyuan, the first emperor of the Han dynasty during the Five Dynasties, was poor and left his wife Li Sanniang at home to join the army, where he was favored by the commander and became his son-in-law. Sanniang was abused by her brother and sister-in-law, and even her son Kosei was in danger of being killed, so he sent her to Zhiyuan. A dozen years later, while hunting for a white rabbit, Kosei encounters a farmer's wife exhausted from fetching water. He realizes for the first time that she is his real mother and takes her home, where Sanniang is reunited with her husband. Sanniang, a farmer's daughter, endures the persecution of her brother's wife and lives like a slave, but still refuses to remarry. Her strong character and simple lyrics are moving. His previous works include the Song dynasty tale "New Edition of the History of the Five Dynasties" and the Jin dynasty tale "Liu Zhiyuan's Various Palaces". Folk legends became novels and scripts for lectures, and then developed into full-length plays. The "White Rabbit Chronicle" in the "Ming Era Storytelling Tales" series conveys the old format without dividing the scenes. Another version in circulation is the "Ming Sixty Songs."

[Keiko Hiramatsu]

"The Complete Works of Masaji Aoki, Volume 3: History of Early Modern Chinese Drama" (1962, Shunjusha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、元末明(みん)初の南曲。作者不明。五代の漢の高祖、劉知遠(りゅうちえん)は家が貧しく、妻李三娘(りさんじょう)を実家に残して軍隊に投じ、長官に気に入られ、婿となる。三娘は兄夫婦に虐待され、子供咬臍(こうせい)まで殺されかねないため、知遠のところに送る。十数年後、狩りで白兎を追う咬臍は水くみに疲れ果てた農婦に出会い、初めてそれが実の母と知って連れ帰り、三娘は夫と再会する。農家の娘三娘が兄嫁の迫害に耐え、奴隷のような生活をしてもなお再婚を拒否する、その強い性格と、素朴な歌詞が感動をよぶ。先だつ作品に宋(そう)代話本『新編五代史平話』、金(きん)の語物『劉知遠諸宮調』がある。民間伝説が小説や講釈の脚本となり、さらに長編戯曲に発展したものであろう。『明化成説唱詞話叢刊(そうかん)』のなかの『白兎記』は齣(せき)（場）を分けず古い形式を伝えている。ほかに『明六十種曲』本が通行している。

［平松圭子］

『『青木正児全集3　支那近世戯曲史』（1962・春秋社）』

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