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KIKUGORO KABUKI COMPANY.

SHIMBASHI EMBUJO.

NEW YEAR 1955.

PART I.

[[underlined]] SAKAZAKI DEWA-NO-KAMI [[/underlined]]

Written for Onoe Kikugoro VI by Yamamoto Yuzo.

4 Acts. 5 scenes
1. Chausuyama G.H.Q. of Ieyasu
2. On the boat from Kuwana to Miya on way to Sumpu.
3. Isyasu's Tea-room as in the Sumpu Castle.
4. Drawing Room of Sakazaki

Main Characters actor's name
Ieyasu (Shogun)  Sadanji
Sakazaki-Dewa (Hero) Shoroku
Suden (priest)  Hikosaburo
Genrokuro  Kuroemon
Senhime  Fukusuke
Heihachiro  Ebizo

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who brought about the unification of Japan, died in 1598, his heir was a child of six years old. The power was seized by Hideyoshi's most able assistant, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who subsequently  received from the Emperor the title of Shogun. For reasons of policy Ieyasu married ^[[his]] grand-daughter Sen-hime to Hideyoshi's young son, Hideyori, but as long as this youth remained alive and a rallying point for dissatisfied elements in the country, Ieyasu could not rest easily. After some uneasy years of armed truce and civil strife, Ieyasu laid siege to Hideyori's castle at Osaka in 1615. The castle was reputed the strongest in Japan but it was finally destroyed by Ieyasu's troops. Hideyori committed suicide amid the flames and Ieyasu's authority was henseforth unquestioned.

This play tells the story of Sen-hime, Tokugawa Ieyasu's grand-daughter. She was with her husband in Osaka Castle and when the destruction of the castle was inevitable, Ieyasu called for a volunteer among his samurai to rescue the princess from the burning pile. He promised to give her in marriage to the man who saved her life. Sakazaki Dewa-no-kami who had loved Sen-hime since whe was a child, volunteered. He penetrated into the fortress and carried away Sen-hime, but while doing so a blazing beam fell upon him, disfiguring his face with terrible burns. When, in accordance with his promise, Ieyasu commanded his grand-daughter to marry Sakazaki, Sen-hime refused, partly because Sakazaki's disfigurement made him repulsive to her, partly because she had fallen secretly in love with a handsome young samurai at her grand-father's court, Honda Heihachiro. Sen-hime's stubbornness was too much for her grand-father, and Ieyasu was forced to tell Sakazaki that he could not fulfil his promise. He offerred him any compensation he might name, but Sakazaki would take nothing but the princess. Ieyasu therefore solemnly undertook that since Sen-hime would not marry Sakazaki, she should marry no-one else but should become a nun.

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