Page:The Surviving Works of Sharaku (1939).djvu/111



o text for this play,, is known to have survived but the title, which may fairly be translated as “A Medley of Tales of Revenge,” when considered with the lists of the dramatis personae available, suggests that the play was a composite drawn from three vendetta stories which had common characteristics. In each of the three, two children avenged their father: the brothers Jirō and Gorō in the Soga story; the sisters Miyagino and Shinobu in ; and Taminosuke and his sister O-Teru in.

That part of the action of the piece which has to do with the characters represented by Sharaku is outlined in an old play-bill: Shiga Daishichi, an evil minded retainer of Minamoto no Yoriiye, kills his virtuous fellow retainer Matsushita Mikinojō, and a companion of Daishichi named Sasaki Ganryū kills Shinoda Sayemon. The two daughters of Mikinojō, the courtezans Miyagino and Shinobu, are in the licensed quarter when Daishichi and Ganryū come there with the worthies shown in print number 29. Gorōbei, the fishmonger, whose place of business is at Sanya near the Yoshiwara, helps the two girls and in the end their vendetta is accomplished.