Higashiyama Sakura Soshi

The first Sakura Gimin tale written by Segawa Joko 3rd. 7 acts, 28 scenes. First performed in 1851 (Kaei 4) at the Nakamuraza in Edo. It is the first peasant uprising drama in the history of Kabuki. It was connected to "Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji" to make it a Toyama period story, but having the peasants' opponent be Orikoshi Masatomo, a branch family of the Shogun, also includes the Shogunate in the criticism. The name of the protagonist Sakura Sogo is Asakura Togo. This was probably why these eight scenes were deleted when it was performed again in 1861 (Bunkyu 1). The remaining 20 scenes concretely depict the tyranny of the feudal lord that was the cause of the uprising, and successively depict the various stages of the struggle: a petition by representatives of the peasants in their home provinces, a mass attack on the magistrate's office, a representative petition to the capital, the conflict within the domain between those who govern well and those who exploit, the refusal to submit a representative petition and their imprisonment, and a direct petition to the shogun. They then tell of the torture and brutal murder of Sogo (Tōgo), his wife, and their three children as a result of a shameless crime committed by the elder retainers and magistrates of the exploitative faction, leading to Sogo's ghost coming to haunt the feudal lord. "In any country, if you open a window inside, you will be charged a tax, and if you buy a wooden measure, you will be charged a tax. After five years of hard work, there is no 8,000 koku of rice, and they say they will take even the annual tax. Then how can the little ones eat? They are trying to kill the lower-ranking peasants, so how can we be sorry? What a pitiful lord," said the peasant. "If we leave it like this, the peasants' prestige will fade," said the peasant. "I am the one who works in the storehouse and the kitchen, and I have saved up military funds so that I will not forget the chaos in the government, but I am loyal to the higher-ups." Statements such as those of a senior retainer in the party of exploitation, such as "If the peasants are given money, they will become addicted to glory, which will hinder agriculture, and loyalty to the government is not allowed to hoard gold and silver," by the feudal lord, "The three provinces are within my domain, and not to mention gold, silver, rice, and coins, the common people, even the peasants, do as this government pleases," and a senior retainer in the party of good government, "The world is not the world of one person, it is the world of the people...The peasants are the treasure of the world, and if they are influenced by the selfish will of their lord and become trapped in false politics and flee to other countries, then if there are no people to till the country, even a million koku of rice will become little more than a grassland," well show the growth in social and political awareness of the people at the end of the Edo period. There is no published version, but ledgers are held by the National Diet Library, Waseda University Theatre Museum, and other institutions.

[Hayashi Motoi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

3世瀬川如皐(じょこう)作の最初の佐倉義民伝劇。7幕28場。1851年（嘉永4）江戸・中村座初演。歌舞伎(かぶき)史上最初の農民一揆(いっき)劇である。『偐紫田舎源氏(にせむらさきいなかげんじ)』と絡ませたのは東山時代のことにするためであったが、農民の相手を将軍の分家織越政知(おりこしまさとも)としたことは幕府をも批判の的に含ませることになっている。主人公佐倉宗吾(そうご)の名は浅倉当吾(あさくらとうご)となっている。1861年（文久1）の再演のとき、これら8場が削除されたのは、そのためであろう。残り20場で、一揆の原因となった領主側の暴政が具体的に示され、これに対する農民代表の国元での訴願、代官所の大衆的襲撃、首都への代表出訴、藩内部の善政派と収奪派との対立、代表出訴の拒否と投獄、将軍への直訴(じきそ)という闘争の諸段階が継起的に描かれ、収奪派の家老・代官らの破廉恥(はれんち)罪による宗吾（当吾）夫妻や3人の子供の拷問(ごうもん)、惨殺によって宗吾亡霊が藩主に祟(たた)るまでが語られる。「どこの国にうぬが内へ窓を明(あけ)るにも運上(うんじょう)、升(ます)を買っても運上のと、五ヶ年跡の日照の時に八千石の皆無(かいむ)、其(その)年貢迄(まで)とろうと言出し、それじゃ小前(こまえ)のものはなんで喰(くわ)れう、これァ大かた下(し)もの百姓をほしころそうというのであんべいかい、なさけねへ御地頭(おじとう)さまだ」「此儘(このまま)捨て置く時はお百姓様の威光が薄くなるというもの」と百姓の台詞(せりふ)、「手前などは御納戸(おなんど)兼帯御勝手を相勤(あいつとめ)、治世に乱を忘れずと御貯(おたくわえ)の軍用金、あるが上にもふやすが忠義(ちゅうぎ)、百姓ばらに金を持(もた)せば栄耀(えよう)にふけり、農業の妨げ、金銀をたくはへさせぬがお上(か)ミへの忠義」という収奪派家老の発言、「三ヶ国はわが領内、金銀米銭はいうに及ばず、民百姓はもとよりむしけらに至る迄(まで)、此(この)政知が心の儘(まま)」という藩主の発言、「天下は一人の天下に非(あら)ず、天下の人の天下也(なり)……百姓は天下の宝、其領主の我意につのり、からき政事にうみつかれ、他国へ逃散(ちょうさん)なす時は国に耕す民なければ百万石も草原同然」という善政派家老の発言などは、幕末期の民衆の社会・政治意識の成長のほどをよく示している。刊本はなく、台帳が国立国会図書館、早稲田(わせだ)大学演劇博物館などに所蔵。

［林　基］

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