Edo Sodachi Festival Sashichi

A Kabuki play. A domestic drama. Three acts. Written by Kawatake Shinshichi III. Commonly known as "Omatsuri Sashichi." It premiered in May 1898 (Meiji 31) at the Kabukiza in Tokyo, with Onoe Kikugoro V as Sashichi and Onoe Baiko VI as Koito (Eizaburo at the time). Koito, a geisha in Yanagibashi, who lives with her lover Omatsuri Sashichi, a roofer, is tricked by her mother-in-law, who is asked by a samurai who is her love rival, into making out with the man without really thinking about it, and in anger Sashichi kills Koito on the Yanagiwara embankment. It is a rewrite of "Kokoro no Nazo Toke Tairoito" (A Mystery of the Heart) by Tsuruya Nanboku IV, and is one of the plays that deal with the love stories of Koito Sashichi, which are a type of Kabuki and Joruri, and is the one that has been performed the most in modern times. The story follows a typical sewamono (traditional Japanese drama) structure in which a break in ties leads to murder, but it is notable for the crisp, Edokko-like tone of the characters, including the roofer and the Yanagibashi geisha.

[Toshiaki Matsui]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

歌舞伎(かぶき)脚本。世話物。3幕。3世河竹新七作。通称「お祭佐七」。1898年（明治31）5月東京・歌舞伎座で5世尾上(おのえ)菊五郎の佐七、6世尾上梅幸（当時栄三郎）の小糸により初演。恋仲の鳶(とび)の者お祭佐七と暮らしていた柳橋芸者小糸が、恋敵の侍に頼まれた義母にだまされて、心にもなく男へ愛想(あいそ)づかしをするので、怒った佐七が柳原土手で小糸を殺すという筋。4世鶴屋南北作『心謎解色糸(こころのなぞとけたいろいと)』を書き換えたもので、歌舞伎、浄瑠璃(じょうるり)の一系統である小糸佐七の情話を扱った作の一つだが、そのなかで現代ではもっとも上演回数が多い。世話物の一類型である縁切りから殺しへ発展する構成だが、鳶の者と柳橋芸者の江戸っ子らしい歯切れのよさが特色である。

［松井俊諭］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例