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Wow. Just - wow.
Datemusumune Koi no Higanoko - Hinomi Yagura no Dan(Oshishi's Burning Love - The Fire Watchtower) by Suga Sensuke, Matsuda Wakichi and Wakatake Fuemi from 1775.
Tayu (chanters): Toyotake Rosetayu and Takemoto Aikodayu
Shamisen: Toyosawa Tomisuke, Takezawa Dango, Toyosawa Ryouji
Master puppeteer: Yoshida Seizaburo (and unnamed assistants)
Sixteen year old Oshichi (reading of her lover's fate, above) has fallen in love with a handsome samurai named Kichisaburo who has lost a treasured heirloom sword and is sentenced to die. She recovers it but is unable to leave the city because of the curfew. Knowing the penalty is death, she climbs the fire tower to ring a false alarm in a desperate effort to reach him. (Crappy resolution video from Youtube of Oshichi climbing the ladder.)
Tayu: Takemoto Tsukomadayu
Shamisen: Takezawa Danshichi, Takezawa Dango
Puppeteers: Yoshida Kazuo (performing Osato), Yoshida Tamame (performing Sawaichi).
Blinded by disease, Sawaichi notices his wife slips out of the house every night before dawn and accuses her of meeting a lover. She explains that she visits the temple daily to pray to Kannon, Goddess of Mercy to restore his sight. Moved by her devotion, Sawaichi agrees to go with her to pray and fast. Osato leaves him at the shrine to run home for a few things. Sawaichi, believing he is too great a burden on his wife, throws himself from the cliff in her absence. Osato returns, sensing something amiss, sees Sawaichi's abandoned staff and zori and then looks down to see his body in the gorge. In despair, she leaps to her death. Moved by the devotion of the pair, Kannon the Merciful brings them back to life and restores Sawaichi's sight. The play ends with the couple singing and dancing with joy and praise of Kannon.
Within moments the presence of the puppeteers became secondary and I was drawn into the action. Young Oshichi's frantic resolution and desperate climb up an icy ladder in the snow was utterly magical.
I gazed in delight as Osato "threaded" a needle and sewed kimono, biting thread with a dainty jerk of her head. I sighed in awe as her blind husband played a shamisen - his hand movements in perfect synch with the live musician seated at the side of the stage. By the time Sawaichi removed his zori and crawled along the cliff side feeling for the edge, my heart was with them.
Absolutely amazing!
Urtatim and I finished with a lovely dinner at Isobune in Oakland. She had an assortment of sushi and I had saba shioyaki (mackerel, salted and grilled).
Datemusumune Koi no Higanoko - Hinomi Yagura no Dan(Oshishi's Burning Love - The Fire Watchtower) by Suga Sensuke, Matsuda Wakichi and Wakatake Fuemi from 1775.
Tayu (chanters): Toyotake Rosetayu and Takemoto Aikodayu
Shamisen: Toyosawa Tomisuke, Takezawa Dango, Toyosawa Ryouji
Master puppeteer: Yoshida Seizaburo (and unnamed assistants)
Sixteen year old Oshichi (reading of her lover's fate, above) has fallen in love with a handsome samurai named Kichisaburo who has lost a treasured heirloom sword and is sentenced to die. She recovers it but is unable to leave the city because of the curfew. Knowing the penalty is death, she climbs the fire tower to ring a false alarm in a desperate effort to reach him. (Crappy resolution video from Youtube of Oshichi climbing the ladder.)
Tsubosaka Kannon Reigenki - Saiwachi Uchi Yori Yama (Miracle at the Tsubosaka Kannon Temple - Sawaichi's House and the Mountain)
Tayu: Takemoto Tsukomadayu
Shamisen: Takezawa Danshichi, Takezawa Dango
Puppeteers: Yoshida Kazuo (performing Osato), Yoshida Tamame (performing Sawaichi).
Blinded by disease, Sawaichi notices his wife slips out of the house every night before dawn and accuses her of meeting a lover. She explains that she visits the temple daily to pray to Kannon, Goddess of Mercy to restore his sight. Moved by her devotion, Sawaichi agrees to go with her to pray and fast. Osato leaves him at the shrine to run home for a few things. Sawaichi, believing he is too great a burden on his wife, throws himself from the cliff in her absence. Osato returns, sensing something amiss, sees Sawaichi's abandoned staff and zori and then looks down to see his body in the gorge. In despair, she leaps to her death. Moved by the devotion of the pair, Kannon the Merciful brings them back to life and restores Sawaichi's sight. The play ends with the couple singing and dancing with joy and praise of Kannon.
( The Text )
Within moments the presence of the puppeteers became secondary and I was drawn into the action. Young Oshichi's frantic resolution and desperate climb up an icy ladder in the snow was utterly magical.
I gazed in delight as Osato "threaded" a needle and sewed kimono, biting thread with a dainty jerk of her head. I sighed in awe as her blind husband played a shamisen - his hand movements in perfect synch with the live musician seated at the side of the stage. By the time Sawaichi removed his zori and crawled along the cliff side feeling for the edge, my heart was with them. Absolutely amazing!
Urtatim and I finished with a lovely dinner at Isobune in Oakland. She had an assortment of sushi and I had saba shioyaki (mackerel, salted and grilled).
