Page:The Surviving Works of Sharaku (1939).djvu/283



n 1795 it had been for many years a custom to produce in the first month a play about the Soga brothers, but in order to avoid the monotony of repeating the same thing over and over, changes constantly were being made in the course of the action, and various dances and jōruri episodes were introduced. Many of these had little or nothing to do with the central story and really were in the nature of interpolations, although it was the practice to include them under the title of the chief play.

In connection with the present production it is interesting to note that for the first time in a number of years the nibanme or second part was formally recognized as being a distinct entity by giving it a separate title. In our arrangement the prints having to do with this nibanme are listed as numbers 122 to 127, and the outline of the plot is given in its place.

The Soga story with which the following three prints (numbers 119 to 121) are concerned already has been outlined in connection with the previously listed production, and in spite of differences in the subsidiary episodes of that play and , it is unnecessary to go into further detail because for both productions Sharaku seems to have illustrated only the invariable central scene of the story in which the villain is confronted by the two heroes.