Hanjo - Hanjo

Noh piece. Fourth piece. Five-school current piece. Based on the historical story of Ban Jieyu (Banjo), a palace lady of Emperor Cheng of Han, who wrote a poem comparing her body, which was declining in the Emperor's favor, to an autumn fan, this is a masterpiece by Zeami that depicts the deep sensuality and sorrowful love of a prostitute. Hanago (mae shite), a prostitute at an inn in Nogami, Mino Province, is chased out by the hostess (ai) because she does not appear in front of the other guests while holding the fan that she exchanged with her lover as a vow of love. When her lover Yoshida Shosho (waki), who heard about Hanako's wanderings, visits the Tadasu Shrine in Kyoto, famous for matchmaking, Hanako (later shite), who has become a mad woman and is nicknamed Hanjo, a play on an autumn fan, which represents an abandoned woman, and a Chinese legend, also comes to offer a prayer. When a man from the capital (a man who is Shosho's attendant in modern productions - a wakitsure) teases Hanako, asking what happened to Hanjo's fan, Hanako dances, lamenting the man's cruelty while expressing the sadness of an unrequited love. Eventually, the fan becomes a connection between Hanako and Shosho, and the play ends with them being reunited. Since the father of the play in "Sumidagawa" was also Yoshida Shosho, later literary and theatrical works have often combined the two. There is also a "Hanjo" story in Yukio Mishima's "Modern Noh Plays."

[Masuda Shozo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

能の曲目。四番目物。五流現行曲。漢の成帝の宮女班婕妤(しょうよ)（班女）が君寵(くんちょう)の衰えたわが身を秋の扇に例えて詩をつくったという故事を踏まえ、遊女の濃艶(のうえん)、哀切な恋を描いた世阿弥(ぜあみ)の名作。美濃(みの)国野上(のがみ)の宿の遊女、花子(はなご)（前シテ）は、恋人と愛の誓いに取り交した扇を抱いて他の客の前に出ないので、女主人（アイ）に追い出される。花子の流浪を聞いた恋人の吉田少将（ワキ）が、男女縁結びで名高い京都の糺(ただす)の社(やしろ)に参詣(さんけい)していると、捨てられた女を意味する秋の扇、中国の故事にかけて班女とあだ名される狂女となった花子（後シテ）も、祈りを捧(ささ)げにやってくる。都の男（現在の演出では少将の供の男――ワキツレ）が、班女の扇はどうしたとからかうと、花子は男の無情を嘆きつつも、会いえぬ恋のせつなさを訴えて舞う。やがてその扇が縁となって、花子は少将と再会して終わる。『隅田川』の父も吉田少将ということから、後世の文芸、演劇では、この二つをいっしょにした趣向が凝らされた。また三島由紀夫の『近代能楽集』に「班女」がある。

［増田正造］

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