The Felicitous Soga Encounter

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The Felicitous Soga Encounter

February 1676, Edo

The word taimen (encounter) in Kabuki effectively means a play about the Soga brothers. Because this type of show has been revived every year for centuries, there are over 1,000 variations. The current version is said to be a rewrite by the famed Kawatake Mokuami, debuting at Tokyo’s Kabukiza in March 1903. It is based on an actual revenge by Juro and Goro Soga in the early Kamakura Period. The story is a simple encounter between the brothers and their father’s murderer. But the play is full of stylized beauty with many archetypal characters filling the stage. It is performed frequently on celebratory occasions such as New Year’s and actor successions. The previous scene, commonly as the “Soga Stone Steps”, is also played separately under the title Kichirei Kotobuki Soga.

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［from left］Onio Shinzaemon（Nakamura Karoku）、Kewaizaka no Shosho（Bando Minosuke）、Kobayashi Asahina（Nakamura Kasho）、Soga Goro Tokimune（Bando Mitsugoro）、Soga Juro Sukenari（Nakamura Baigyoku）、 Oiso no Tora（Nakamura Shibajaku）、Yawata Saburo Yukiuji（Nakamura Tanetaro）、Kajiwara Heiji Kagetaka（Nakamura Kichinosuke）、Kudosaemon Suketsune（Nakamura Kichiemon）、Kajiwara Heizo Kagetoki（Sawamura Yoshijiro）、Omi Kotota Narie（Nakamura Matsue）　January 2011　Shimbashi Enbujo Theatre

●publish on the web　January15 2015