Son - Son

A play by Osanai Kaoru. One act. Published in Mita Bungaku in July 1922 (Taisho 11). It premiered at the Imperial Theatre in March of the following year, with the son of Onoe Kikugoro VI, Onoe Matsusuke IV as the old man, and Morita Kanya 13 as the police officer. At the entrance to Edo in the late Tokugawa period, a snowy December night falls in a fire watch hut. A young man appears and speaks to the old man as he is building a bonfire on the dirt floor. The young man is his son Kinjiro, who left home nine years ago for Kamigata and is now a wanted man. The old man does not notice this in the dark, but continues to talk to him. However, the police officer who had been watching them realizes that he is there, and as whistles pass by in the distance, he disappears, leaving behind the word "Chan." This is an adaptation of Harold Chapin's "Augustus in Search of His Father," a masterpiece of a one-act play that has been completely adapted for Japan, and is often performed in amateur theater productions.

[Tsutomu Ohshima]

"Son" (Future Theatre Production Script Series [1], 1978, Miraisha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

小山内薫(おさないかおる)の戯曲。一幕。1922年（大正11）7月『三田(みた)文学』に発表。翌年3月、6世尾上(おのえ)菊五郎の息子、4世尾上松助の老爺(ろうや)、13世守田勘弥(かんや)の捕吏により帝国劇場で初演。徳川末期の江戸の入り口、雪の降りしきる師走(しわす)の夜半過ぎの火の番小屋。土間で焚火(たきび)をする老爺のところに若い男が現れて話しかける。彼は9年前に家を出て上方(かみがた)に行き、いまや御尋ね者となった息子の金次郎である。老爺は暗がりでそれとは気づかず、なにくれとめんどうをみて、話を続ける。しかし、ようすをうかがっていた捕吏に悟られ、遠く呼笛(よびこ)の行き交うなか、「ちゃん」の一声を残して消え去る。イギリスのハロルド・チャピンの『父を捜すオーガスタス』の翻案だが、完全に日本化された一幕劇の傑作で、アマチュア演劇でもたびたび上演されている。

［大島　勉］

『『息子』（『未来劇場上演用台本シリーズ〔1〕』1978・未来社）』

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