Shinrei Yaguchi No Watashi
or
The Miracle at the Yaguchi Ferry
with the Independent and Separately Named Piece
Played After it in the Same Production
Yomo No Nishiki Kokyō No Tabiji
or
The Homeward Journey to the
Brocade Country[1]
Kiri-za, 20th of the Eighth Month of 1794
Numbers 56 to 66
Outline of the Plot
During part of the 14th Century there were two rival Emperors in Japan, one of whom was backed by the powerful Ashikaga family under Ashikaga Takauji. The other Emperor had among his partisans the Nitta clan, and after their leader Nitta Yoshisada had been killed, the remainder of the army that he had commanded was led by his son Nitta Yoshioki. In the play by Hiraga Gennai entitled Shinrei Yaguchi No Watashi the pertinent episodes of Yoshioki’s career are given somewhat as follows.
When he had become head of the house and was preparing to leave his fief and go out to the war he entrusted his castle, his wife, and his child to the guardianship of a faithful retainer named Yura Hyōgonosuke, and he ordered a younger brother, Yoshimine, who was to remain in attendance on the Emperor, to take special care of two famous arrows that were among the most prized and most coveted heirlooms of the Nitta family.
- ↑ i.e., toward Nara
162
