Figures of Modern Stage #12 – Onoe Shôroku II as Danshichi Kurobei in “Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami” (Summer festival, mirror of Osaka)

Series
Figures of Modern Stage

Series Number
12

Title in English
Onoe Shôroku II as Danshichi Kurobei in “Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami” (Summer festival, mirror of Osaka)  – Series Figures of the Modern Stage #12

Title in Japanese
現代舞台藝蕐(12) 團七  二代目尾上松緑 
Gendai Butai Sugata 12 – Danshichi Onoe Shoroku II

Title in French
Onoe Shôroku II dans le rôle de Danshichi Kurobei dans “Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami” (Fêtes d’été, miroir d’Osaka)  – Série Portraits de la scène moderne No.12

The play
The play “Summer festival, Mirror of Osaka” is based on a real event that took place in 1685 when, in the middle of winter, a murder was committed and the corpse, hidden under the snow was not discovered until the spring. The play was originally written for the Bunraku Puppet theater in 1745, but was so successful that it was immediately transcribed for the Kabuki theater. It was first performed in Kyoto, then a few months later in Osaka in three different theaters which competed fiercely, advertising their cast and their production. The play was then performed in Edo (Tokyo) in 1747 and is still very popular today.
The play had nine acts, but today only act III (In front of the Sumiyoshi shrine gate), act IV (The curio shop at Uchihonmachi), act VI (In Tsuribune Sabu’s home), act VII (The back alley in Nagamichi) and more rarely act VIII (At Danshichi’s house in Tajima-chô) are played.

The story