by A. L. Sadler
KEMMOTSU: Well, where are they? Let us see their work.
JUICHIBEI: Certainly, Your Honor. I’ll send someone for them at once.
(Goes to do so. A voice is heard from the left.)
SANNOSUKE: There is no need. Here I am.
JUICHIBEI: Ah, there you are, Sannosuke. And where is Sutezō?
SANNOSUKE: I think he is not coming. I have brought the drum he is sending in with me. Please submit them to His Excellency.
(Puts the two boxes on the veranda.)
JUICHIBEI: Which is which, then?
SANNOSUKE: The black box is mine and the white Sutezō’s, sir.
(Points to them with his finger. Juichibei nods and then hands them up to the officials.)
JUICHIBEI: These are the work of Kambei’s apprentices, Your Honor.
ROKU-NO-JŌ (taking the drum from the black box): This is yours, Sannosuke, is it?
SANNOSUKE: It is, Your Honor.
ARINOBU: Try it.
ROKU-NO-JŌ: Ha!
(Bows. Fits on the head.)
FIRST DRUM-MAKER: These are the last two. It lies between Sannosuke and Sutezō.
SECOND DRUM-MAKER: Ah! You know it’s said that you and Kura-ko are attached to each other, don’t you? Well, they’re whispering now that Kambei has given you some help with that drum on the sly.
SANNOSUKE: What’s that you say? What d’you mean? D’you think anyone as straight as everyone knows the master is would do a thing like that? And even if he offered to do so, I couldn’t stand it. It’s doing a thing with your own hand that satisfies you. I don’t want to succeed even in love through other people’s help. It’s my very best work, every bit of it, even if it isn’t a masterpiece. Why can’t you wait and hear how it sounds before giving your opinion, anyway? If I get the credit of passing off the master’s work as mine I shan’t have any reputation left. It’s a big falsehood.
THIRD DRUM-MAKER: Well, if you say so, that’s all right. We don’t believe it, so you needn’t be so angry.
SANNOSUKE: Anyone would be if they were suspected of a thing like that.
THIRD DRUM-MAKER: Oh, he wasn’t serious about it. You can say anything to a friend. So forgive him and don’t say any more about it.
(Placates Sannosuke. Meanwhile Roku-no-j ō has prepared the drum and strikes it. Arinobu listens.)
ARINOBU: Ah! Now this is a drum. As I expected of a pupil of Kambei. This is the finest we have heard so far. Now try the other.
ROKU-NO-JŌ: Certainly, Your Excellency. (Takes the drum out of the white box.) This belongs to your fellow apprentice Sutezō, does it not?
SANNOSUKE: Yes, Your Honor. (Roku-no-j ō fits the head to it.)
FOURTH DRUM-MAKER: Ah, he says Sannosuke’s is the best so far.
FIFTH DRUM-MAKER: I expect his will be chosen. And he’ll get Kura-ko as well. He’s a lucky fellow.
SIXTH DRUM-MAKER: No, no. It isn’t decided yet.
(Roku-no-j ō strikes the drum. The tone is exceedingly fine.)
ROKU-NO-JŌ: How is that, Your Excellency?
ARINOBU: Once more, please.
ROKU-NO-JŌ: Ha!
(Strikes it again. Arinobu looks delighted.)
ARINOBU: Splendid! This is a masterpiece! I’ve never heard such a fine-toned drum before. Loosen the cords and let me look at it.
ROKU-NO-JŌ: Ha!
(Sannosuke looks very surprised. The other six look astonished also.)
FIRST DRUM-MAKER: Did you hear that? Sutezō’s is the best of all!
SECOND DRUM-MAKER: Ah, and the lovely Kura-ko’s bridegroom…
THIRD DRUM-MAKER: Will be a cripple as ugly as the devil.
ALL: The cripple! The cripple!
(Meanwhile Roku-no-j ō has handed the drum to Arinobu.)
ARINOBU: The work in this is simply amazing. You would hardly think a man could do it. The greatest craftsmen of Nara have never done better. This is quite fit for the use of our Imperial Court.
SANNOSUKE: That drum is to be chosen for the Imperial use!
JUICHIBEI: It’s a credit to the craftsman and a great honor to our village. We ought to be grateful to him indeed.
(Enter Kambei from the left with Sutezō.) Ah, Kambei Dono, your son-in-law is to be Sutezō.
KAMBEI: What’s that you say?
JUICHIBEI: Sutezō ’ s drum has been chosen for use at Court.
(Sutez ō starts in surprise.)
KAMBEI: Sutezō’s drum is the best, you say?
JUICHIBEI: His Excellency declares that even the work of the great masters of Nara is no better.
KAMBEI: Is Sutezō’s work as good as that? Well!
SUTEZŌ: Master! I have a confession I must make. I did not make that drum. It is really the work of Sannosuke here.
SANNOSUKE: How? What do you mean?
SUTEZŌ: I wished you to win. And so I put my drum into your case.
SANNOSUKE: Oh!
(Looks more astonished.)
SUTEZŌ: I was proud of my skill and I thought that my work was far better than yours. It was because I wanted to help you to marry the girl who loves you that I changed the two drums. I had no bad intention. It was only my unfortunate pride. I hope I may be forgiven since I really meant well.
JUICHIBEI: Then that drum is Sannosuke’s.
(He and the six drum-makers look very astonished. Kura-ko runs in suddenly from the left).
KURA-KO: Ah, Sannosuke, we are saved then! I can marry him after all, can’t I, father?
KAMBEI: Why, what’s this? How dare you say such a thing before His Excellency? Off with you at once!
SANNOSUKE: No, no. It is Sutezō that Kura-ko will have to marry after all.
KURA-KO: What do you mean? As your drum has been declared the best, I am to be given to you as my father promised. Your wife in the sight of all the world.
SANNOSUKE: No. That drum is not mine. It is Sutezō’s I tell you.
KURA-KO: But how can that be?
SANNOSUKE Ah, I’m ashamed to say what an evil thing I did. As I came along here I could think of nothing but how much I wanted you Kura-ko, and when I came to the Kurahashi River with the two boxes in my hand, a disgraceful thought came into my mind and I slipped into the hut by the ferry and there, in the half darkness, I hurriedly changed the drums, and so I handed them to His Excellency. And all I did by this wretched fraud was to punish myself, for so I reversed the kindness that Sutezō meant to do me and put the drums just as they were in the first place. But Sutezō of course knew nothing of this and thought the one in the white box was mine, and so he has confessed to his own most innocent and kind deceit and filled me with the greater shame that I understand how fine his nature is. Ah, my eyes were blinded by love, and I thought to blind those of others too. I am a thief who tried to steal another man’s skill. It is my own hand that has brought my love to nothing. Sutezō tried to save Kura-ko but my folly has ruined it all. It’s all my fault. I’m the guilty one. Here, Sutezō, you can do what you like to me!
(Throws himself down in front of Sutezō. Kambei, who has said nothing thus far, now breaks in.)
KAMBEI As to what you deserve I think that’s for me to say.
(Turning to Arinobu)
I am indeed ashamed at the disgraceful conduct of my apprentices. I don’t know how to apologize to Your Excellency.
ARINOBU It’s not so very bad. What Sannosuke did he did for love. It’s more pathetic than evil. So don’t blame him too much.
KAMBEI Your Excellency is too considerate altogether. I can’t help feeling my responsibility for their behavior. Still it seems that this fine drum is Sutezō’s work, and we must all be very thankful that it is considered worthy to be chosen for the Imperial Court.
ARINOBU Indeed I shall have the honor of presenting it there.
FIRST DRUM-MAKER Now, Kambei Dono, we shall expect to see you assert your authority as a parent, whatever Kura-ko may say, and give her to Sutezō as well as making him heir to your property as you promised.
SECOND DRUM-MAK
ER Yes, you promised us faithfully you would just now, and you won’t go back on that.
THIRD DRUM-MAKER So we shall come round this evening to the celebration.
(Kura-ko bridles up at this.)
KURA-KO: Father, I don’t want to marry Sutezō. Please let me go into a nunnery.
KAMBEI: What, more of that obstinacy? You’re very fortunate. You ought to be proud to become the wife of a man like Sutezō, drum-maker to the Imperial Court.
KURA-KO: I don’t care for famous craftsmen. I want the man I love. You think of nothing but drums, father, but a woman thinks only of her lover. Ah, how I wish my mother was still alive. She wouldn’t have treated me in this way.
KAMBEI: Eh, you shut up! You’ve always got too much to say by half. What do you mean by always quoting your mother as an excuse for your unfilial ways? You think it was only your mother who is dead who was kind to you and that your father doesn’t know what affection means, do you? I tell you it is parental kindness that makes me wish to see you married to a fine craftsman so that people may treat you with consideration and respect. If I do tell you to give up your lover, that won’t kill you. Yes, my words may seem harsh, no doubt, but you must know that behind them there lurk tears that should be like balm, for they show how deeply a parent has his child’s real welfare at heart. So now say you will give up Sannosuke and marry Sutezō. Here in the presence of His Excellency and all the village. It’ll make an impression on them all, I can tell you. They’ll say how they admire your spirit, the kind of spirit they would expect Kambei’s daughter to show. Come now. (But Kura-ko goes on crying and does not answer.) Why don’t you answer when I tell you all this. Do you refuse? Would you disobey me, you unfilial hussy? Ah, yes, I'll show you!
(Picks up the hatchet that is lying by and steps forward. Sutezō also steps forward toward him.)
SUTEZŌ: Master! Wait a minute. I’ve a better use for that hatchet.
(Takes it from his hand, steps quickly up to the raised veranda, and with a blow splits his own drum in half. Kambei springs forward in astonishment.)
KAMBEI: What have you done? (Thrusts him back so that he falls. As he goes to get up he stands over him glaring.) Are you mad then?
SUTEZŌ: Oh no, not in the least. But my drum is ill-omened. Can’t you see that? It is a portent of evil. How can a thing like that be of any value? It isn’t seemly that it should be used at Court. (To the officials): But please take this drum that Sannosuke has made back with you to the capital. It is really a fine one, and I should be so extremely grateful if you would.
ARINOBU: Ah, I see. Sutezō is a craftsman with a noble mind as well as a sensitive hand. Gladly I will present Sannosuke’s drum to the Court.
SANNOSUKE: But that evil thing I did.
KURA-KO: His Excellency does not blame you.
ARINOBU: So the drum is chosen and all is well ended.
KAMBEI: Ah, but that precious masterpiece —
SUTEZŌ: Well, and what of it? If the drum is split in halves, these two have been brought together.
CURTAIN
RAIZAN
BY ENOMOTO TORAHIKO
PERSONS OF THE DRAMA
KONISHI RAIZAN A RETIRED DRUGGIST
KONISHI SEIBEI HIS NEPHEW
CHUĒMON HIS CLERK
YAKICHI HIS FIVE NEIGHBORS
KUHEI
KEISHICHI
CHŌSUKE
SAKUZŌ
TOKOI IYO-NO KAMI LORD WARDEN OF OSAKA CASTLE
ARIMURA ICHIGAKU A SAMURAI OF SATSUMA
KO-FUJI A GEISHA
O MACHI A WAITRESS
O MATSU A NURSE-MAID
TOMPACHI A JESTER
TWO PALANQUIN-BEARERS
The villa of Konishi Raizan at Imamiya near Osaka. It is a tastefully built thatched cottage of twenty-four feet frontage, and stands in the center of the stage. It has a bamboo veranda on three sides, and under the eaves a wooden tablet with the three characters Jū-man-do written on it in white. To the right there is a tokonoma with a plain plastered wall next to it, while to the left are two sliding doors. The picture is by Ko-rin. To the right of the main building is a small, detached room nine feet square connected by a veranda, the shōji of which are shut. This also is thatched. Outside is the usual fence and rustic gate with a small garden inside, with stepping-stones and a stone lantern or two. The seven herbs of autumn are in flower. Beyond is an autumn view of the village of Imamiya. Within the room are arranged a writing-table with inkstone, brush and paper and some tea utensils. In a conspicuous place is a female doll made of pottery. It is two o’clock in the afternoon. The curtain rises to an antique melody. The waitress O Machi and the jester Tompachi come strolling in from the left.
TOMPACHI: O Machi San! Where’s this villa of the Shimaya we’ve got to go to? Master Arimura has hurried on in front with Ko-fuji in a kago and left word that we are to come on there after him. I wonder where it can be.
O MACHI: I’ve never been this way before, so it’s no good asking me.
TOMPACHI: Well, here’s a pretty go! I thought you knew all about it, and so I didn’t ask before I started. I’d better see if they know here. (Approaches the garden gate.) Hi! I say! The villa of the Shi-maya tea-house must be somewhere near here. Can you tell me which is the road to it?
(As he opens the gate Chuēmon comes out of the house. He is dressed in the style of a merchant’s clerk.)
CHUĒMON: The master is out just now, and I don’t belong to these parts. I’ve only just come here, so I’m afraid I can’t tell you.
O MACHI: There! D’you hear that? This gentleman doesn’t know either. What are you going to do now, Tompachi San?
TOMPACHI: Well, I suppose there’s nothing for it but to knock at each door we come to and ask.
(They make to move on when the nursemaid O Matsu enters singing a lullaby.)
O MATSU: Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby, baby! Where has your nurse-maid gone?
TOMPACHI: Ah! Hullo! I say, little nursemaid, d’you know the way to the villa of the Shimaya tea-house?
O MATSU: Oh yes, I know. It’s just behind here,
O MACHI: And which is the best way to get there?
TOMPACHI: Yes, show us the way, there’s a good girl,
O MATSU: That’s easy enough, but I don’t care to do it for nothing.
TOMPACHI: Oh, what a greedy little nurse-girl!
O MACHI: Here, wait a moment. Here’s something for you.
(Gives her a coin.)
O MATSU: Oh! Is this for me, auntie?
O MACHI: Yes, that’s to buy something for yourself,
O MATSU: Very many thanks. Now, what shall I buy? Bean-jam buns or rice-jelly? That’s the question. (Goes off to the left with the pair chanting this as a kind of refrain.)
CHUĒMON: Seeing these people of the gay quarter naturally makes me think of the young master and his troubles. He gets more and more dissipated. When the master comes back I must certainly ask him to see if he cannot remonstrate with him or do something.
(As he waits Raizan appears coming up the road with his five neighbors, Heishichi, Chōsuke, Sakuzō, Kuhei, and Yakichi. He is dressed in the black “jittoku” or coat worn by professional and retired gentlemen, and his head is shaven like that of a Buddhist priest. He has manacles on his wrist. The others are in hakama and haori.)
KUHEI: Well, Raizan Dono, we will say good-bye here.
RAIZAN: Oh, won’t you come in and have a cup of tea before you go home?
HEISHICHI: No thanks, we won’t trouble you now.
CHŌSUKE: Yes, I am afraid you have trouble enough with this affair, but you know the saying, “You can’t beat a crying child and the local official.”
SAKUZŌ: True enough. However much right you may have on your side it’s not much good where the magistrate thinks otherwise. It is better to be resigned to it.
YAKICHI: And I suppose we may look for more of this treatment, so we had better be careful how we make our verses in future.
RAIZAN: This is a
magistrate without any taste. His judgment is enough to surprise anyone.
KUHEI: Now that’s not the way to take it. The safest thing is to say nothing, and see nothing, and hear nothing like the three monkeys.
HEISHICHI: Well, farewell, Raizan Dono.
RAIZAN: Much obliged to you all.
KUHEI: We’ll be going then.
(Exit to the left. Raizan opens the gate and goes in. The stage makes a half turn.)
RAIZAN: So unexpected misfortune does not spare an old recluse like me, who does nothing more than croon to the flowers and recite to the moon. But it might be a good deal worse. The only drawback is that I can’t do my own cooking.
(Chuēmon comes in.)
CHUĒMON: So you are back again, master? But what is the meaning of those manacles?
RAIZAN: These manacles are the price I have had to pay for making a poem.
CHUĒMON: What’s that?
RAIZAN: I was summoned to the watch-house today, and when I reported myself an official appeared and said, “Here you are, Raizan. You’re sentenced to seventy-five days manacles for having insulted the Bugyo.”* I can tell you I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was as if cold water had been poured into my ear when I was asleep! And when I recovered myself so far as to ask what the insult might be, they re minded me of the verse I had made which runs, you remember:
“And so I have got through the year
Without even knowing the name of the Bugyo.”
It seems to have caught people’s fancy and got repeated until it came to the ear of the Bugyo himself. He flew into a great rage, declaring that for anyone living within the jurisdiction of Osaka to say that he didn’t know the name of the Bugyo implied an insult to a high official that was not to be overlooked. I protested that I had never dreamed of such a thing, but that it was merely my way of suggesting innocently enough the feeling of living a life quite remote from the world. But they wouldn’t have it, and I got the manacles as you see.
CHUĒMON: What a terrible affliction. The Bugyo is certainly quite devoid of taste. However we must find a way to obtain the good offices of His Excellency the Lord Warden and get a pardon from him. We’ll get you offif it can be done however much money it may cost.