[WIP]Kagamiyama & Iwafuji

The two plays “Kagamiyama Kokyō no Nishikie” (1783) and “Kagamiyama Gonichi no Iwafuji” (1860) are together a classic story of revenge in the women’s quarters in the household of a feudal lord. 

Kagamiyama Kokyō no Nishikie

The story starts in the household of a feudal lord where the overbearing senior lady-in-waiting, Iwafuji, challenges middle lady-in-waiting to a duel with bamboo swords, hoping to ridicule her commoner background. However she is saved by Onoe’s maidservant Ohatsu who fights in her place. Iwafuji is infuriated and determines to disgrace Onoe.

Onoe has been entrusted with a box containing a precious Buddhist statue but when asked to present it finds that Iwafuji has substituted it with a zori sandal. Iwafuji beats her with the sandal in front of the other women and Onoe is determined to take her life as she can no longer live with the shame.

Ohatsu tries to talk Onoe out of committing suicide but she is sent away with a box, which she later finds contains Onoe’s suicide note and the fateful zori sandal. She runs back to Onoe but is too late and she has committed suicide. Ohatsu vows to carry out her mistress’s revenge on Iwafuji.

Ohatsu finds Iwafuji in the garden and tells her that Onoe is sick and needs help. Iwafuji is suspicious because she knows Onoe is dead but plays along but says she is suffering from cramps. Ohatsu tells her she has a special amulet to help but when she pulls it out it is the zori sandal, which Ohatsu proceeds to beat Iwafuji with. The two fight to the death and Iwafuji is killed, foiling her plans to take over the clan. The lord of the clan praises Ohatsu and gives her Onoe’s name and position in his entourage.  

A delightful 1871 orange-background print with a beautifully painted dragon screen.

[temporary auction photo]

Presumed to be the final duel in the garden from “Kagamiyama Kokyō no Nishikie”

Print Date: 1886
Meshitsuka Ohatsu [召仕おはつ] Nakamura Fukusuke IV [中村福助]
Iwafuji [岩藤] Kataoka Gadō III [片岡我童]

Text:

• [?] by [嵐和三郎] Arashi Wasaburō II or III
• [中老尾上] Chūrō Onoe by [中村福助] Nakamura Fukusuke IV
• [局岩藤] Tsubone Iwafuji by [市川団十郎] Ichikawa Danjūrō IX
• [召仕お初] Meshitsuka Ohatsu by [岩井松之助] Iwai Matsunosuke IV
• [?] by [市川好蔵] Ichikawa Kōzō

Kagamiyama Gonichi no Iwafuji

Five years have passed since the previous play and the scene opens with Lord Tairyō viewing cherry blossoms with his favourite mistress Oryū, ignoring his wife Lady Ume. He doesn’t know that Oryū is actually scheming with her husband Danjō to destroy Lord Tairyō and take over. Tairyō’s loyal young retainer Hanabusa Motome admonishes his lord for his behaviour but is sent into exile for his words. 

Matasuke, Motome’s servant goes to Tairyō’s residence to plead with Hasebe Tatewaki (Tairyō’s chief retainer) for his master and to tell him about Oryū. Matasuke is persuaded by Kanie Ikkaku, one of the plotters, that he should kill Oryū, but Matasuke is tricked and he actually stabs to death Lady Ume.

Meanwhile, Onoe II (once called Ohatsu), meets Iwafuji’s ghost on her way back from visiting her old mistress’s tomb. The apparition of Iwafuji rises from bones on the river banks before declaring her intention to destroy Lord Tairyō. She exits by floating over the stage and the hanamichi in a white kimono.  

Torii Matasuke nurses Motome, who has fallen ill at his home, assisted by his pretty younger sister Otsuyu who is in love with Morome. Hasebe Tatewaki tells Matasuke the truth that he killed Ume instead of Oryū and so Matasuke commits suicide to atone for his mistake.

The ghost of Iwafuji appears in the house of Lord Tairyō and strikes Onoe II furiously with a zori sandal, as she did her mistress Onoe in the previous play. Danjō is possessed by the ghost of Iwafuji to plot against his lord but on hearing of his wife Oryū’s suicide he kills himself as well. After her final assault on Onoe II Iwafuji’s ghost evaporates, overpowered by a tiny image of Amitabha Buddha held by Lord Tairyō to fend her off.

Variants on both plays

https://www.kabuki21.com/onna_seigen.php

Visual clues in the artworks

There are a few visual clues present in most of the artwork to do with both these stories. There are also variants on these famous plays but I’ll try to concentrate on the standard versions. 

• Iwafuji usually appears in a light kimono with Wisteria flowers on it, often holding a zori sandal. This sandal can be wielded at Onoe I if it is the first story and Onoe II if it is the latter. Another woman in the scene is usually Ohatsu.
• The presence of butterflies in the scene imply spirits and so you can assume that the print is showing the ghost of Iwafuji. Paul Morris Griffith says “According to Buddhist belief in Japan, butterflies have the power to go back and forth between this world and the next. Therefore, they are a symbol of impermanence and the cycle of transmigration (輪廻転生). In this case, since Iwafuji is a ghost, the appearance of butterflies is very appropriate.“
• Names:
  • Ohatsu [おはつ] or Maidservant Ohatsu [召使おはつ] or Onoe II (二代目尾)
  • Iwafuji [局岩] or Tsubone IwaFuji [局岩ふじ]
  • Onoe [尾上] or middle lady-in-waiting Onoe [中老尾上]
  • (lord) Taga Tairyō [多賀大領] appears in some prints