Written by Namiki Gohei III Playwright Namiki Gohei III | Genre jidaimono Original language Japanese Language | |
Characters Yoshitsune, Benkei, Togashi Date premiered March 1840,
Kawarazaki-za, Edo Setting A gate on a post road,
c. 1160–80. Similar Shibaraku, Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura, Kanadehon Chūshingura, Sugawara Denju Tenarai K, Momijigari | ||
Kanjinchō (勧進帳, The Subscription List) is a Japanese kabuki play by Namiki Gohei III, based on the Noh play Ataka. It is one of the most popular plays in the modern kabuki repertory.
Belonging to the repertories of the Naritaya and Kōritaya guilds, the play was first performed in March 1840 at the Kawarazaki-za, in Edo. Ichikawa Ebizō V, Ichikawa Kuzō II, and Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII played the leading roles of Benkei, Togashi, and Yoshitsune, respectively. The lines of Ichikawa Danjūrō and Matsumoto Kōshirō have come to be particularly celebrated for playing the role of Benkei in Kanjinchō.
Though bearing the same name and general narrative concept as a 1702 play, one of the Kabuki Jūhachiban, the modern version of Kanjinchō, going back to 1840, is believed to not be directly derived from or connected to this earlier aragoto piece.
Akira Kurosawa's film The Men who Tread on the Tiger's Tail is partly based on Kanjinchō.
Summary
Taking place in the mid- to late 12th century, the play begins with a local noble called Togashi Saemon, who is charged with defending a particular gate along the road. He warns his men to be vigilant, for Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the great warrior of the Minamoto clan, is said to be traveling on the road, disguised as a porter.
Yoshitsune and his follower Benkei enter to music and begin to explain to Togashi that they are simple priests journeying around the northern provinces, seeking donations for the Tōdai-ji in Nara. Togashi thus asks that they prove themselves to be priests and asks for a kanjinchō, a subscription list of those who have donated already. Benkei, having been a mountain ascetic (yamabushi), is educated in traditional Buddhist teachings and has little trouble passing as a priest. But he does not have a kanjinchō; so, in a particularly famous moment in kabuki, he pulls out a blank scroll and begins reading from it as if it were a real subscription list.
Though Togashi soon gets a look at the blank sheet, he admires Benkei's skill and daring, and lets the pair pass anyway after asking a series of difficult questions about Buddhism and the life of a priest. Benkei, of course, answers these all correctly.
About to escape entirely, the pair are stopped when one of Togashi's guards notices that the porter looks like Yoshitsune. Benkei, thinking quickly, pretends that Yoshitsune is simply his personal porter and begins to beat him for arousing suspicion and causing trouble. The barrier guard insists that they won't pass unless he checks that the porter is not Yoshitsune and Benkei accuses him of trying to steal from their baggages. On the verge of starting to fight, Benkei states that, in to demonstrate that their porter is not Yoshitsune, he will beat him to death (at the time, beating your own master was a lese-majesty crime). Togashi sees through the ruse, but pretends not to, on account of Benkei's devotion to his master. Continuing on past the gate, Yoshitsune thanks his friend, who apologizes for beating him and bursts into tears—for, supposedly, the first time in his adult life.
Togashi returns. Asking forgiveness for his manners, he offers Benkei to drink some Sake with him. He accepts but exaggerates with the alcohol and gets drunk. He starts describing some of his youthness memories accompained by the Shamisen ensemble and then asks Togashi for more Sake. He replies asking instead to dance for him.
Benkei then starts to perform the "dance of longevity". At one point, he signals Yoshitsune and the others to depart while the barrier guards are not watching. As Benkei leaves, he turns a last time to Togashi, who now has to pay with his own life for helping the enemy.
As the curtain falls, with Benkei alone on the Hanamichi, he thanks the gods for allowing his master to pass. The play ends with Benkei performing a special roppō, a Kabuki technique for leaving the scene, called Tobiroppō, jumping on the Hanamichi.