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A Good Child Invites His Own Tragedy.

Sugawara-no Michizane is well known as a great doctor of literature and as a great politician at the same time. So he has been respected by students preparing for an examination for long years. He is one of the most popular persons in Japan. But he had been caused his downfall in 901. "Sugawara Denje Tenarai Kagami" was written based to the real incident of Sugawara-no Michizane.

Children in Kabuki have a tragic destiny. Moreover if he was a good child, he could be the most unfortunate child. Because a good child has no method to escape, he has to die silently. In Edo period, of course persons loved their children. It meant that he could be a good worker for his parents after a child has grown up enough. And parent wasn't sure if children could grow up or not. So if he had died for the loyalty of his parent before he grew up, it must have been a delight matter. There was a morality like that at old Japan.

But recently, the rights of children have been protected since they were unborn babies. Audiences should know the old morality was a mistake rather than a prepared rule for the children's tragedy in Kabuki stories. And I hope audiences of Kabiki to have a conscience like getting angry against the morality full of mistakes. Actually the morality of old Japan wasn't wrong. But people had misunderstood it at that time. If you wanted to know real morality of old Japan, I would recommend you to read “Bushido” that was written in English by Nitobe Inazo.

This time Koshiro performed Matsuo-maru. He was excellent at act-3 “Terakoya”. Matsuo-maru lamented for his brother Sakura-maru who had committed a suicide for loyalty. Sakura-maru's loyalty didn’t give anything for anyone. It was just a death. Matsuo-maru thinks the suicide of Sakura-maru was useless death. In Kabuki story, the ritual suicide for loyalty means a great action usually. But Matsuo-maru didn't think so. Koshiro played this scene with full of lamenting. I could see a kind of conscience of Kabuki story in the performance by Koshiro.

Sugawara-no Michizane was appointed a Japanese envoy to China in 894. He suggested to the authorities the abolition of sending the envoy, because China had a civil war at that time. At the result, the system that had been continued for over 200years was abolished and he didn't go to China. Michizane was accused in 901, because he plotted the abdication of emperor. He died in despair after two years. Most Japanese think he was innocent, but historians haven't been saying that he was innocent clearly. Nobody knows the truth. But he might have thought that it had been better to go to China.