Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami

Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami
菅原伝授手習鑑
Nakazō Nakamura II as Matsuō-maru (left) and Noshio Nakamura II as Chiyo in the May 1796 production of Terakoya from Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami, by Toyokuni.
Written byTakeda Izumo I
Takeda Izumo II
Miyoshi Shōraku
Namiki Sōsuke
CharactersKan Shōjō, Fujiwara no Tokihira, Umeōmaru, Sakuramaru, Matsuōmaru
Date premieredAugust 1746, Takemoto-za, Osaka (jōruri)
September 1746, Kitagawa no Shibai, Kyoto (kabuki)
Place premieredJapan
Original languageJapanese
Genrejidaimono
SettingVarious sites in Japan

Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (菅原伝授手習鑑, Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy)[1] is an ancient Japanese play that has been performed in bunraku and kabuki, and was jointly written by Takeda Izumo I, Takeda Izumo II, Namiki Sōsuke and Miyoshi Shōraku.[2] Along with Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura and Kanadehon Chūshingura, it is one of the three most famous and popular plays in the kabuki repertoire. Sugawara was first performed as a puppet play in August 1746 at the Takemoto-za in Osaka, debuting on the kabuki stage the following month in Kyoto. The Edo debut was held at the Ichimura-za the following March.[2]

The play is set in the 9th century, and is based on the life of Heian period court noble and government official Sugawara no Michizane (referred to as Kan Shōjō[3] in the play), who was exiled to Kyushu when he lost favor at court and was falsely accused of conspiring to seize the throne. A fictional set of triplets named Umeōmaru, Sakuramaru, and Matsuōmaru, characters invented for the play, also play a major role, each individually proving their loyalty and service to Kan Shōjō in different scenes.[4] The antagonist is Fujiwara no Shihei (藤原時平), whose name is written with the same kanji as the historical Fujiwara no Tokihira of Fujiwara clan.

Like most full-length five-act kabuki plays, Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami is very rarely performed in full. Instead, a selection of scenes will be chosen, or a single scene will be combined with scenes from other plays, dance dramas, or other pieces to form a day's program. The most popular, and most frequently performed, scene from this play is Terakoya ("temple school"), the third scene of Act IV. The Kurumabiki (Act III, first scene) scene is considered to be a paragon of the aragoto form, and of the essence of kabuki.[5]

The play was brought to Europe by the early 20th century and translated into French and German; it was the basis for Felix Weingartner's opera Die Dorfschule, as well as an early work by Carl Orff.

  1. ^ The title is frequently translated as "Sugawara no Michizane and the Secrets of Calligraphy" or variations thereof. It might more literally be translated as "A Mirror of Sugawara's Instruction by Hand."
  2. ^ a b Shōriya, Aragorō. "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami." Kabuki21.com. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  3. ^ The "Kan" in Kan Shōjō (菅丞相) is an alternate pronunciation of the "Suga" in Sugawara; "Shōjō" means, roughly, "Prime Minister." Thus, the term as a whole simply means "High Minister Sugawara."
  4. ^ Miyake, Shutarō. Kabuki Drama. Tokyo: Japan Travel Bureau, Inc., 1971. p98.
  5. ^ "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami." Kabuki Encyclopedia (歌舞伎事典, kabuki jiten). Japan Arts Council, 2001-2003. Retrieved 4 December 2008.