Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900

by Shirane, Haruo, ed.

  IEMON: Mother, I’m glad to see that you’re safe and healthy.

  OKUMA: Iemon, after hearing all these rumors, I’ve been worried about you. I couldn’t be happier to have met you here. As you know, I left your foster father Genshiro and then went to serve as a maid in the mansion of Lord Moronao. I helped the lord seduce Lady Kaoyo, but that stubborn woman ruined everything and her silly husband attacked Lord Moronao. At the time Lord Moronao was thankful for everything that I did and said that if I ever needed anything, I should just come to him. (She takes out a document wrapped carefully in a cloth, unwraps it, and gives it to Iemon.) This document is from Lord Moronao. I knew that you had become a masterless samurai, so I asked for this to get you out of trouble. But I couldn’t do anything with it, since my current husband is a servant of a retainer of the Enya household, Lord Moronao’s enemy. Then I heard that a masterless samurai named Iemon killed his wife and the people next door. So I thought up this trick to protect you. (Holds out the sotoba) If I had a Buddhist name put on this grave marker, no one would know that it was you. So I had the priest write, “In life, his name was Tamiya Iemon.” This way, everyone will think that you’re dead. How about that! It still takes a lot to outsmart your old mother.

  IEMON: Mother, I’m extremely grateful for all your kindness. But I’ve already made sure that my fellow samurai Kanzō and his retainer take the blame for the killings. Nothing is likely to touch me. But if it will make you feel better, let’s just put up this grave marker here. (He sticks it into a clump of grass on top of the dike.)

  OKUMA: Let’s do that. This dike is the perfect place for it. If you want to see me, I’m living near all the temples in Fukagawa, with a poor man named Hotoke Magobei. Be sure to visit.

  IEMON: Mother, I’ll be sure to visit you soon. (Shamisen music with the dull thumping of a wooden Buddhist gong. Okuma exits. Naosuke has been listening from below. From the top of the dike, Iemon looks at the river.) This looks like a good place to fish. (He gets out his fishing pole, drops the line into the river, and plants the pole in the ground so that it sticks out over the edge of the dike. He gets out his pipe, but then realizes that he doesn’t have anything to light it with. He notices Naosuke smoking on the riverbank below.) Excuse me, could you give me a light?

  NAOSUKE: Here you are. (He takes Iemon’s pipe and puts the bowls of the two pipes together. As the two pose, one above, the other below, it creates a handsome image. Naosuke peeks under Iemon’s hat and speaks in a light but somewhat menacing tone.) Hey Iemon, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

  IEMON (warily): Is that you, Naosuke?

  NAOSUKE: Yeah, I’m Naosuke, but I go by the name Gonbei now. Iemon, you’re the murderer of my sister-in-law.

  IEMON (startled): Are you joking? What are you talking about?

  NAOSUKE (in the grand tones of heroes in a kabuki history play): Iemon, how could you forget! My wife’s older sister is Oiwa. My wife is her younger sister Osode. That means that we are enemies and that I must avenge the death of my wife’s sister. How fortunate to meet here. Prepare for your death, Tamiya Iemon. Stand and we’ll fight it out here. (Switches to a conversational tone) That’s what I should say, but I’m not going to. But I overheard you talking about that document from Kō no Moronao. When you find success, I’ll pay you a little visit to take my share. When I come, don’t say that you’re not at home.

  Iemon and Naosuke smoke pipes and fish at the embankment next to a wooden water gate. Iemon, in a black silk–crested kimono and armed with two swords, sits on a straw mat and holds a fishing rod. A large, basket-shaped straw hat conceals his identity. Naosuke, dressed as an eel fisherman with a cotton cloth (tenugui) around his head, crouches beside him. A straw basket for Naosuke’s catch sits on the upper dike.

  IEMON: Of course not. That’ll be perfect for me. The moment I find success . . .

  NAOSUKE: If you plant the seeds, then Gonbei will dig them up. I’ll be by to see you soon.14

  IEMON: I understand. How fortunate for things to be settled this way. (There is a tug on the fishing line, and Iemon pulls up a small fish.)

  NAOSUKE: You caught something. (Iemon throws the line in again and almost immediately catches a large fish. He pulls it onto the dike, where it flops vigorously.) It’s getting away. (Naosuke grabs the sotoba with Iemon’s name on it and uses it to hold the fish down. After Iemon has the fish, Naosuke tosses the sotoba toward the river, but it falls right by Oyumi and revives her. She picks up the sotoba and is shocked when she reads the name on it.)

  OYUMI: Oh no! Tamiya Iemon’s grave marker! That means that the killer of my father and daughter must already be dead. (Hearing her voice, Iemon tries to make himself inconspicuous. He tugs at Naosuke’s sleeve and signals for him to speak for him.)

  OYUMI: Excuse me, I wish to ask you something.

  NAOSUKE: What is it?

  OYUMI: The name on this grave marker is Tamiya Iemon. Do you know whether he died of illness?

  NAOSUKE (without thinking, answers carelessly): What? Tamiya Iemon? He’s not dead, he’s right . . . (Iemon tugs at his sleeve and urgently signals for him to say that Iemon is dead. Immediately Naosuke changes his tone.) I mean, he’s dead. Of course he’s dead. Look, because he’s dead, his family put up this grave marker. Nobody goes around putting up grave markers for living people. He’s dead. (In a burst of enthusiasm) Dead, dead, dead!

  OYUMI: When did he die?

  NAOSUKE: When? Um . . . today, er, that is, today marks forty-nine days since his death.

  OYUMI: What, forty-nine days have already passed since he died. Oh no! (Weeps bitterly)

  NAOSUKE: To be crying and carrying on like that, you must be family or something.

  OYUMI: No, Tamiya Iemon killed my father and daughter. Even though I am only a woman, I’ve been searching for him to avenge the deaths in my family. But now there is no hope left for me, since the murderer has died peacefully. (Iemon writes instructions to Naosuke on how to respond.)

  NAOSUKE: But listen, even if by some chance Tamiya Iemon were alive, he is not the one that killed your father and daughter.

  OYUMI: What? Who is it?

  NAOSUKE: The real killers are Chōbei, Kanzō, and his retainer Bansuke. These three men are the real killers.

  OYUMI: But those are the three men that served as go-betweens when Iemon married my daughter Oume. Why did they turn on us like that? Those ingrates. Outrageous! (She speaks passionately. Meanwhile, Iemon sneaks up behind her and unceremoniously kicks her into the river. There is the boom of a drum, suggesting the splash as she falls in. Iemon takes off his hat and poses, staring at the water. This is the first time the audience sees his face in this scene.)

  NAOSUKE (impressed with the casual way that Iemon killed Oyumi): Iemon, you’re a real villain indeed.

  IEMON: I learned it all from you.

  NAOSUKE: I’m ashamed to hear it. But now I’m nothing more than a crooked eel fisherman. In the end, my body will be split lengthwise, just like that of an eel.

  IEMON: Even if my head is cut off, I’ll keep moving anyway.

  NAOSUKE: Nice! (As Naosuke leaves, he keeps an eye on Iemon. As the music fades, there is the gloomy sound of a temple bell, indicating that night is approaching. Iemon is left alone on stage.)

  IEMON: Just because that woman showed up where she had no business being, I was forced to take a life needlessly. (There is a tug on his fishing pole, and he pulls up the line immediately, but there is nothing on it.) Damn, the fish swam away with the bait. (Iemon puts some more bait on the line and drops it into the river again. To shamisen music, Chōbei comes rushing along the runway, in the somewhat ragged robes of a masterless samurai. But now his hair is rather messed up, and he wears a light blue cloth tied as a hood to hide his face. He sees Iemon and shouts at him.)

  CHōBEI: There you are Iemon, I’ve found you!

  IEMON: Shh.

  CHōBEI (in a quieter voice): You killed Oiwa and Kohei and then killed Itō Kihei and his granddaughter. But you
put all the blame on the three of us. You have made three innocent men into murderers. The only way that we can clear our names is to go to the authorities and report your crimes. The real murderer is Tamiya Iemon. This is the only way we can escape. You can’t complain about that. I’ve explained our situation, and now I am leaving.

  IEMON: Listen, how could you forget all that I’ve done for you in the past? Don’t worry about all that. As they say, gossip lasts for only seventy-five days. If you just stay put, things will clear up eventually.

  CHŌBEI: That’s easy enough for you to say, but we are the ones who will suffer. We’ve decided to go away and lie low for a while, but we need some travel money.

  IEMON: I would like to give you something, but I’m scraping by myself.

  CHŌBEI: In that case, do you want us to turn you in?

  IEMON: Don’t do that!

  CHŌBEI: Then give me some money.

  IEMON: I want to, but . . .

  CHŌBEI: If not, I’m going to turn you in. What are you going to do about that?

  IEMON: Well . . .

  CHŌBEI: Well . . .

  BOTH: Well, well, well. (The exchange between the two becomes a kuri-age in which one character presses another for an answer. As the rhythm of the lines intensifies, it culminates in a series of “wells” spoken first alternately and then together.)

  Iemon flips over the wooden door to hide Oiwa’s body, only to find Kohei’s body on the other side. The cross-eyed look expresses his astonishment. Kohei, bound to the door, extends his right arm, asking for the medicine.

  CHŌBEI: What are you going to do about it? (Iemon reconsiders and brings out the document that Okuma earlier gave to him.)

  IEMON: This document that my mother got me guarantees my future with Lord Moronao. For the time being, I will give it to you and, as soon as I get the money, I’ll exchange it for this document. Listen (Whispers).

  CHŌBEI: Got it. For the time being, I will keep this instead of cash.

  IEMON: I’ll pay you well when I can.

  CHŌBEI: You’d better. See you later, Tamiya.

  IEMON: Akiyama.

  CHŌBEI: Take good care of yourself. (Music. Temple bell. Carrying the document, Chōbei exits running along the runway. Iemon gazes after him.)

  IEMON: Because Chōbei showed up, I had to hand over the valuable document just to keep his mouth shut. What terrible luck. (Looks up at the sky) It will be dark soon. I should put away my fishing pole. (Eerie music. Temple bell. He picks up his fishing pole. A wooden door with a body on it covered with a straw mat comes floating down the river from stage left. When it reaches the center of the stage, it sinks in the water, then bobs up again and stands up against the dike. Without thinking, Iemon approaches and takes the mat off the door. Doro-doro drums from the geza, the music room. The dead body of Oiwa appears. She is holding the amulet taken by the rat earlier in this scene. Then the corpse opens its eyes and glares at Iemon.) Oiwa, forgive me. I was wrong.

  Iemon strikes Kohei’s body with his sword, turning it into a skeleton that slides into the river.

  OIWA: My hatred will not rest until the whole bloodline of the Tamiya family is dead and every branch and leaf of Itō Kihei’s clan has withered. (She holds out the amulet. Iemon cannot endure her gaze and covers the body with the straw mat again.)

  IEMON: Hail Amida Buddha, Hail Amida Buddha. The passion of a woman never dies. Haven’t you found salvation yet, Oiwa? Maybe if the crows consume her body, her sins will disappear and she will find rest. (Without thinking about it, he turns over the door. This side of the door is covered with a thick layer of water weeds.) Oh no, there is something on the other side too. (With soft mysterious drums, the water weeds drop, revealing Kohei’s body. Kohei opens his eyes.)

  KOHEI: Master, master, lend me the medicine. (He stares entreatingly at Iemon.)

  IEMON: Another ghost!

  Iemon draws his sword and strikes at the body. With doro-doro drums, the body immediately turns into a skeleton that falls apart and drops into the water. Iemon releases his breath in relief but does not relax his defensive pose. With a loud clack from the tsuke clappers, several characters appear. From the shadow of the statue of Jizo, Naosuke appears holding his eel rake. The sluice gate below opens, and Yomoshichi (Osode’s former lover, played by the same actor who plays Oiwa and Kohei) appears dressed in a colorful, handsome cotton kimono. He has a secret letter wrapped in oiled paper hanging from his neck and carries his swords wrapped in a straw mat. This is followed by a dammari, or fight in the dark. To slow, dreamy music, all the characters grope through the dark. Their dance-like movements reveal their personalities as they confront one another, and the objects they carry move from person to person. The problems created by the loss or discovery of these objects will motivate the plot of later acts. Iemon grabs the letter around Yomoshichi’s neck, and the three of them fight over it. Then, when Naosuke holds out his eel rake, Iemon cuts at it with his sword and ends up with the head of the rake; Yomoshichi ends up with the handle of the rake, which has Naosuke’s name “Gonbei” burned into it; and Naosuke ends up with the letter. All three take hold of Iemon’s fishing basket, and suddenly, with a sudden flaring up of a spirit flame and mysterious drums, the basket turns into the face of Oiwa. They throw away the basket and part as the curtain is pulled shut to the continuous clapping of the ki clappers.

  This woodblock print by Utagawa Toyokuni III (1786–1864) depicts the discovery of the bodies of Oiwa and Kohei at the dike. The actors portrayed here starred in the 1861 performance at the Nakamura Theater in Edo. In this triptych, the central images, of Kohei and Oiwa, can be interchanged by flipping a piece of paper. PlayingSatō Yomoshichi (left) is Bandō HikosaburōV (1832–1877); Iemon, holding the long sword and pulling up the door, is acted by Kataoka Nizaemon VIII (1810–1863); both Kohei and Oiwa, clutching an amulet and strapped to the door, are played by Bandō HikosaburōV; and Naosuke (Gonbei), carrying an eel rake from which a fishing basket is suspended, is acted by Seki Sanjūrō III (1805–1870). Phrases promoting the play, such as “big hit” and “great success”, are written on the wooden stupas in the background. (Courtesy of the National Theatre of Japan)

  Curtain

  [Tōkaidō Yotsuya kaidan, SNKS 45: 122–225, translated by Mark Oshima]

  ________________________

  1. A translation of Scarlet Princess appears in James Brandon, ed. and trans., Kabuki: Five Classic Plays (1975; reprint, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1992).

  2. Kohei’s former master, Matanojo, is another retainer of Lord Enya of the Chūshingura story. Matanojo is extremely ill, and Kohei is desperate to get the medicine so that Matanojo can recover enough to participate in the vendetta.

  3. The lines attributed to these three are not spoken entirely in unison. Usually one or another of them speaks, with the others joining in for the last few words or for a laugh together at the end of the line.

  4. In act 1, Oiwa’s father, Yotsuya Samon, learned that Iemon had stolen from his master and demanded that Iemon give up Oiwa. Wanting to keep her, Iemon killed her father without her knowing and then cynically promised to avenge his death if Oiwa remained with him.

  5. Many rōnin dearly wished to find service in a samurai household so that they could serve in a position befitting their social rank and receive a stipend. For Iemon, this is perhaps the most attractive aspect of marrying Oume, even though Moronao was responsible for his former master’s death.

  6. Iemon announces that he will be adopted into the Itōclan and serve Lord Kō no Moronao, the enemy of his own master, Lord Enya. It was a common practice to adopt a son-in-law as one’s heir

  7. Iemon has the gold coins he received from Kihei, but he is pawning Oiwa’s possessions to get her to leave him of her own volition or at least to throw her into Takuetsu’s arms.

  8. It was customary for married women to blacken their teeth, but Oiwa has not done this since giving birth.

  9. This is a grotesque parody of a
kabuki tradition in which scenes of combing hair (kamisuki), often with a woman dressing her lover’s hair, are intimate and erotic moments.

  10. The rat represents Oiwa’s spirit, since she was born in the year of the rat. In the original version, this was a more elaborate scene with a cat, thought to be able to raise the spirits of the dead, appearing and then being pursued and killed by a huge rat.

  11. In early performances, several puppet rats would enter. The first one would grab the baby’s clothing and tug, and the others would line up, each grabbing the tail of the one in front. They would attempt to carry off the baby, but Iemon would chase them away.

  12. The snake is an incarnation of the spirit of Kohei, who was born in the year of the snake.

  13. At the time of the first performance, there had been a sensational incident in which an eel fisherman had discovered the bodies of a man and a woman floating in the Onbōbori River.

  14. This is a play on the popular saying that “If Gonbei plants seeds, the crows will dig them up.”

  Chapter 22