Biwaki - Biwaki

Nanqu, late Yuan Dynasty, China. Scene 42. Written by Gao Ming (1305?-80?). Cai Boyi is ordered by his father to leave his newly-wed wife Zhao Wuniang and travel to the capital, where he passes the examination with a high grade. He is chosen as the husband of Prime Minister Niu, who refuses but is not allowed to accept it. He continues to live as a newlywed couple with the Prime Minister's daughter in Niufu. Famine continues in his hometown, and Wuniang survives by eating rice bran and shows filial piety to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, but both of them die. Five Girls sells her hair to bury the two, then paints their portraits and carries them on her back, playing the biwa and begging to go to the capital to find her husband. After encountering several difficulties, she arrives at Ushifu, where she is met by the new Lady Ushi, who accepts her husband and they end up happily together.

The story of Cai Sheng and Zhao Nu has been used in folklore since ancient times, and the title "Cai Bo Kai" appears in the Jin Court manuscript, and the Yuan Qu also has a reference to a Zhao Nu carrying earth in her skirt to build a grave for her father-in-law and mother-in-law. In the early Nanqu "Nu Zhao Zhennu Cai Er Lang," Bo Xi takes up an official position in the capital and hits his ex-wife, who comes to visit him, with his horse, and he is struck by lightning and dies. In "The Original Story of Zhang Xie," Zhang Xie marries a poor woman who saved his life, but after he is promoted, he hates her lowly status and slashes at her, but ironically remarries his ex-wife, and there are many plays in which a man rebels against his lowly ex-wife and yearns for wealth and nobility. The Pipa-ki is based on the popular plays from Wenzhou (Gaoming's hometown), in which the protagonist lives a double marriage while caring for his wife and parents back home, and the ending is changed to a monogamous marriage. It is said that the Pipa-ki was the first time that literati turned their brushes to the folk art of Nanqu. It alternates between depicting the plight of the hometown and the luxurious life of Niufu, contrasting the brave lifestyle of the Wuniang with Bo Xi's suffering. It was highly praised for its simple, truthful lyrics, and was used as a model for chuan-qi (full-length dramas) throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is an important work in the history of drama. There are more than a dozen extant texts, but the Annotated Original Pipa-ki (annotated by Qian Nanyang, 1980, Shanghai Guji Publishing) is a useful reference.

[Keiko Hiramatsu]

"Hamaichi's translation of "Biwa-ki" (included in "Complete Works of Classical Chinese Literature 33", 1969, Heibonsha)" ▽ ""Complete Works of Masaji Aoki 3: History of Early Modern Chinese Drama" (1962, Shunjusha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、元末の南曲。42齣(せき)（場）。高明(こうめい)（1305？―80？）作。蔡伯喈(さいはくかい)は父の命令で新婚の妻趙五娘(ちょうごじょう)と別れ上京し、会試に状元(じょうげん)で及第する。牛丞相(ぎゅうじょうしょう)の婿に選ばれ、固辞するが許されず、そのまま牛府で丞相の娘と新婚生活に入る。故郷では飢饉(ききん)が続き、五娘は糠(ぬか)で飢えをしのぎ、舅(しゅうと)と姑(しゅうとめ)に孝養を尽くすが2人とも死ぬ。五娘は髪を売って2人を埋葬し、その肖像をかいて背負い、琵琶を弾き物ごいをしながら夫を尋ねて上京する。いくつかの困難にあい、牛府にたどり着くと、新夫人牛氏の同情を得て夫と対面し、牛氏とともに夫人に認められ団円に終わる。

　蔡生と趙女の話は民間の語物に古くから扱われ、金の院本(いんぽん)には『蔡伯かい』の題名がみえ、元曲にも趙女が裳裾(もすそ)で土を運び舅や姑の墓をつくることが引かれている。早期の南曲『趙貞女蔡二郎』は、伯喈が都で官につき、尋ねてきた前妻を馬ではね、彼も雷に打たれて死ぬ。また『張協状元』は、命を救ってくれた貧女と結婚した張協が、出世後、彼女の卑しい身分を嫌い切りつけるが、再婚した相手は皮肉なことに前妻だった話で、身分の卑しい前妻に背き富貴にあこがれるという劇が少なくない。『琵琶記』はこうした温州（高明の故郷）に流行していた劇をもとにして、主人公は故郷の妻や両親を気にしつつ二重結婚の生活を送り、結末も一夫二妻の団円に改められた。民間芸能であった南曲に文人が筆を染めたのは『琵琶記』に始まるといわれ、故郷の窮状と牛府の豪奢(ごうしゃ)な生活を交互に演出し、五娘のけなげな生き方と伯喈の苦悩を対照的に描く構成は、素朴で真実味あふれる歌詞とともに高い評価を受け、明清(みんしん)を通して伝奇（長編戯曲）の手本とされた。戯曲史上重要な作品である。現存テキストは十数種に上るが、『元本琵琶記校注』（銭南揚注、1980・上海(シャンハイ)古籍出版）が便利である。

［平松圭子］

『浜一衛訳『琵琶記』（『中国古典文学全集33』所収・1969・平凡社）』▽『『青木正児全集3　支那近世戯曲史』（1962・春秋社）』

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