Page:The Surviving Works of Sharaku (1939).djvu/59

 Genzō avenged their father by killing Akabori Gengoyemon who was otherwise known as Fujikawa Mizuyemon, an action so similar to that of the Soga brothers that the two Ishii came to be known as the “Genroku Soga.” The Tokugawa Shogunate did not look with favor on representations in the theatre of acts of violence that had occurred during their regime, and therefore the story of revenge with which we are here concerned was set backwards in time to the Bunroku era of the late sixteenth century; and in order to be sure to avoid conflict with the authorities the names of the characters also were changed, so that the Ishii brothers were called Gennojō and Hanjirō, while their brother-in-law and chief aid became Ishii Genzō and, incidentally, the real hero of the play.

We introduce first two married couples who had subsidiary parts in the action.