Banzuiin Chobei

A gangster from the early Edo period. Also known as Hanzui Chobei. The son of a ronin from Karatsu, Hizen, his real name was Tsukamoto Itaro. One theory is that he was saved by the head priest of Hanzui-in temple when he was about to be executed for murdering someone, and became a townsman, while another theory is that he was a relative of the head priest. He lived in Hanakawado, Edo, and started a loan business brokering servants to feudal lords and vassals of the Shogunate. However, his skill, courage, and strong leadership skills made him a successful man who sold his chivalry. Reflecting the bold and free-spirited social climate of the time that still had the atmosphere of the Warring States period, he became the leader of townsfolk slaves such as Token Gonbei and Hanaregoma Shirobei who roamed the streets. As a result, he came into conflict with the hatamoto slaves led by Mizuno Jurozaemon, and was killed in the bathhouse of Mizuno's residence in either 1650 (Keian 3) or 1657 (Meireki 3).

His life has been dramatized in many Kabuki plays, lectures, and since the Meiji period, novels, movies, and other media. In particular, kabuki plays from the Edo period often involve the love story between Shirai Gonpachi and Miuraya Komurasaki, who lived in different historical periods, and they form a single series of plays. The main plays include "Hantzui Chobei Shojin Manaiita" (1803) by Sakurada Jisuke I, and "Ukiyogara Hiyoku no Inazuma" (1823) by Tsuruya Namboku IV, with the "Suzugamori" scene in which Chobei and Gonpachi first meet each other. Today, the play "Kiwametsuke Hatzui Chobei" (1881), written by Kawatake Mokuami in the Meiji period based on the real story, is the one most often performed.

[Toshiaki Matsui]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸初期の侠客(きょうかく)。幡随長兵衛ともよばれる。肥前(ひぜん)唐津の浪人の子で、本名を塚本伊太郎と称したという。人を殺して死罪になるところを幡随院の住職に救われ町人になったという説と、住職の親族だったという説がある。江戸・花川戸に住み、大名・旗本へ奉公人を斡旋(あっせん)する貸元業を始めたが、腕と度胸、強い統率力が役だち、侠気を売り物とする男伊達(おとこだて)としても成功、当時の戦国の気風が残る豪放な世相を反映して、市中を闊歩(かっぽ)していた唐犬(とうけん)権兵衛、放駒(はなれごま)四郎兵衛らの町奴(まちやっこ)の首領格となった。その結果、水野十郎左衛門の率いる旗本奴との対立が高じ、水野邸の湯殿で殺された。1650年（慶安3）とも57年（明暦3）ともいう。

　その生涯は歌舞伎(かぶき)、講釈をはじめ、明治以降は小説、映画などに数多く脚色された。とくに江戸期の歌舞伎脚本は、史実では時代の異なる白井権八と三浦屋小紫の情話に絡ませて扱うことが多く、一つの脚本系列をなしている。おもな作品は、初世桜田治助(じすけ)作『幡随長兵衛精進俎板(しょうじんまないた)』（1803）、4世鶴屋南北(なんぼく)の『浮世柄比翼稲妻(うきよがらひよくのいなずま)』（1823）などで、とくに後者で長兵衛と権八が初めて対面する「鈴ヶ森」の場面が有名。今日では、明治期に実録本に沿って河竹黙阿弥(もくあみ)が書いた『極付(きわめつけ)幡随長兵衛』（1881）がもっともよく上演される。

［松井俊諭］

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