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Two Butterflies and a Tale of the Pleasure Quarters

Background Information

'Futatsu Chocho Kuruwa Nikki' was first performed in July 1749 as a puppet play. And it was first performed as kabuki in August of the same year. It was written by Takeda Izumo, Miyoshi Shoraku, and Namiki Senryu, and they are well known as the playwrights who wrote the big three kabuki plays. A butterfly is a cho in Japanese, and the title 'Two Butterflies' means that there are two men who have 'cho' in their name in this play, Nuregami Chogoro and Hanaregoma Chokichi.

Story

Act-1

Scene; In front of a temporary theatre for Sumo,
the Horie district of Osaka

Cast

There are crowds at the theatre of Sumo today, because of the popularity of the champion sumo wrestler Nuregami Chogoro. Nuregami hasn't lost his match in the 7 days since the beginning day. Hanaregoma Chokichi who is an amateur wrestler is his opponent today, and people expect its result very much.

Yamazakiya Yogoro is one of them, and he cheers Nuregami as a backer. Yogoro has been waiting his lover Azuma in front of the theatre, and she comes there. Azuma is a geisha of the pleasure quarter, Fujiya, and she has a problem. Yogoro intends to buy her from Fujiya, but the other man, Hiraoka Gozaemon also intends to buy her. Although Azuma wouldn't like to be a lover of Gozaemon of course, she has to be a lover of a man who buy her unconditionally. She has no choice. Yogoro is worried if Gozaemon might buy Azuma before he makes enough money to buy her. For a while later, Yogoro makes Azuma go to a bar, and he goes into the sumo theatre in order to watch the match of Nuregami against Hanaregoma.

The match finished as an unexpected result. Hanaregoma won to Nuregami. Yogoro is disappointed very much. Nuregami makes Yogoro go to a bar to see Azuma, and he makes a man go to take Hanaregoma there. Then, Hanaregoma comes there. Nuregami asks Hanaregoma to make Gozaemon stop buying Azuma, because Gozaemon is a backer of Hanaregoma. But Hanaregoma refuses it. Nuregami says that Hanaregoma should accept his wish, because he lost the match intentionally. Hanaregoma gets angry with Nuregami very much. Hanaregoma thinks that if Nuregami had a request, Nuregami should have said it after he beat Hanaregoma overwhelmingly. Nuregami thinks that there is nothing to say any more. And they promise to fight in the near future.

Act-2

Scene 1; A rice store in the Daihoji-machi district of Osaka

Cast

Oseki is an elder sister of Hanaregoma. After their parents died, Oseki has brought up Hanaregoma alone. And she manages a rice store almost alone, because Hanaregoma doesn't help her. Now Oseki worries about Hanaregoma, because he doesn't come home as usual.

Then Hanaregoma comes home, but he doesn't care of his kind elder sister. Oseki makes supper for her younger brother without any complaints. Note-no San and Geta-no Ichi visit there and say that Yogoro and Azuma eloped, because Gozaemon made a deposit of buying Azuma. Hanaregoma is very surprised, and he thinks that Nuregami must have hidden them. Hanaregoma says that he can't do anything for them, because he has a promise to fight against Nuregami tonight. Oseki is surprised secretly to hear it, but she says that she will go out. Hanaregoma is in trouble, because he thinks that he should stay at home, because Oseki has gone out really. Hanaregoma asks to his two friends to take Nuregami here.

Nuregami comes to a rice store. He asks to Hanaregoma where Yogoro and Azuma are. Both of them don't know where they are. However they don't think about it, and they start fighting. Then, two men visit to a rice store, and shout that Hanaregoma is a thief. And a man and a woman come there, and shout the same thing. Oseki comes home at the time, and Hanaregoma and Nuregami stop fighting. Nuregami says that he waits until Hanaregoma's trouble is solved.

Oseki makes visitors come into her home. Visitors say that Hanaregoma stole their money and injured them. Oseki says that her younger brother isn't a person who does such a thing. Of course Hanaregoma has no idea why they said so. Oseki shows inside of a chest of drawers in order to prove that his innocence. But there are purses that Hanaregoma could have stolen. Oseki is disappointed, but Hanaregoma has no words to say, because he didn't steal anything. Oseki says that she will repay the stolen money and will ask them not to take Hanaregoma to police. Oseki makes visitors come into another room.

Hanaregoma is very surprised, and he thinks that he has no method to prove his innocence except to commit suicide. When Hanaregoma is going to commit suicide, Nuregami stops him. Nuregami had been staying as an observer in the same room. Nuregami says that Hanaregoma is very lucky because he has a very kind elder sister, Oseki who is worried about him really. Nuregami was abandoned by his mother when he was 5, because his father died. After that, his adopted parents died, and he has had no family since then. Nuregami thinks that Hanaregoma should stop doing anything to make Oseki worry about him. Nuregami says that he also stop fighting, and that he would like to make a good relationship with Hanaregoma as a brother Hanaregoma accepts it with great pleasure, and promises to stop fighting after this.

Oseki and visitors come into the room, and Oseki says that she listened to their talking. Oseki made a plot with visitors in order to make Hanaregoma regret himself. Visitors are in the same trade as a rice store, and everything was a lie that Oseki asked them to say It is a memorial day of their father today, and Oseki thinks that it is a suitable day that Hanaregoma decides to stop fighting. Oseki thanks for visitors, and they leave there.

After that, Note-no San and Geta-no Ichi come there, and say that Gozaemon found Yogoro and Azuma. Hanaregoma is very excited hearing it, and is going to go to the place. Nuregami stops Hanaregoma, and says that Hanaregoma should stay home with his sister, because his promised to stop fighting. And Nuregami goes alone to help Yogoro and Azuma.

Scene 2; Behind the Namba theatre district of Osaka

Cast

Hiraoka Gozaemon and his friend Mihara Ariemon cornered Yogoro and Azuma behind the Namba theatre district. Nuregami rushes to the scene, and he hides Yogoro and Azuma immediately. Nuregami asks Gozaemon to free Yogoro and Azuma. Gozaemon accepts it once, but Gozaemon and Ariemon attack Nuregami with their sword suddenly. Gozaemon and Ariemon injured each other in an accident. They almost die then, and Nuregami kills them as a result.

Yogoro and Azuma appear on the scene, and Hanaregoma arrives there. They all are surprised to see Nuregami and two dead bodies. Hanaregoma says that it would be a good idea that Nuregami hides himself. There is no problem about Yogoro and Azuma, because Hanaregoma takes care of them. Nuregami accepts it, and they leave there. Then Note-no San and Geta-no Ichi appear, and shout that Nuregami is a murderer. They attack Nuregami, and he kills them finally. Nuregami has no method except running away as a murderer. And after that, Yogoro has gone to mad.

Act-3

Scene; Nan Yohei's house in Yawata

Cast

Nuregami visits Nan Yohei's home in order to meet his real mother Okoh. After Nuregami's real father died, Okoh made him a foster child, and married to Nanpo Jujibei. Jujibei died already but he had a son, Yohei between his former wife. Okoh hadn't met her real son Nuregami since she left from him, because she had modesty to her step-son. However, Okoh has been worried about Nuregami anytime, so she was very glad that her real son visited her.

There is Yohei's wife Ohaya at home who was a geisha of the Fujiya pleasure quarters. Okoh talks to Ohaya about her real son Nuregami. Ohaya knew Nuregami when she was a geisha already. So she is also glad to hear that he is a brother-in-law. Ohaya asks Nuregami to stay there until Yohei comes home. But Nuregami says that he has to leave there soon. Although Okoh guesses that Nuregami might have a problem, Okoh says to Nuregami to rest at the room on the second floor, and starts cooking with Ohaya for him.

Nanpo Jujibei was a local magistrate until he died. Although the authority didn't allow Yohei to inherit his father's position soon, he managed to get that position today suddenly, and he went to the local office. Then Yohei comes home with Hiraoka Tanbei and Mihara Denzo. They have a meeting about Yohei's first job at Yohei's home. Tanbei is an elder brother of Gozaemon, and Denzo is a younger brother of Ariemon. They both are family of victims that Nuregami killed. It is Yohei's first job to search for Nuregami, and arrest him. They decided that Yohei is in charge of the night time to search for Nuregami, and that Tanbei and Denzo are in charge of the daytime. After that, Tanbei and Denzo leave there.

Okoh and Ohaya listened to their meeting, and were very surprised. Ohaya asks Yohei to quit that job, because Yohei is weaker than Nuregami. Yohei doesn't care of it, and he shows the wanted poster of Nuregami to two women. Yohei says that he will arrest a criminal of it. There is a picture of Nuregami on the wanted poster really. Yohei washes his hands with water, and he finds someone who is reflected on surface of a stone washbasin. It is Nuregami who peeks from the second floor's window. Ohaya finds that Yohei could have noticed something, and she pulls a rope of the roof window. Then the room becomes dark. Yohei says that it is night already to do his job. Ohaya was flustered, and she says that it is afternoon yet. She pulls a rope again, and the sunlight comes into the room from the roof window. Yohei notices that there is a problem about Nuregami.

Yohei recalls that Okoh had a real son, and he realizes that it could be Nuregami, because Okoh asks Yohei to sell the picture of Nuregami to her. Yohei takes away his two swords, and says that he gives that picture as a civilian to Ohaya, because he doesn't have swords now. A Japanese sword was thought as soul of samurai, bushi. As Yhei leaves from his home, he says loudly that if Nuregami ran away along the secret road to Kawachi, nobody could catch him. And Yohei goes out in order to do his job to search for Nuregami.

As soon as Yohei left, Nuregami rushes to the front door from the second floor in order to surrender, because Nuregami was moved by Yohei's kindness. Okoh stops Nuregami, and asks him to run away along the secret road. Okoh says that if Nuregami didn't run away, she would kill herself. So Nuregami accepts his real mother's wish. And Okoh starts cutting Nuregami's hair in order to make him be disguised. Nuregami has a mole on his cheek, and the wanted poster shows it as a characteristic thing of him. But Okoh can't take a mole off, because Nuregami inherited it from her former husband. At the time, Yohei who peeps everything from a window throws a purse to Nuregami. It hits a shaver that Okoh has, and takes a mole away from Nuregami's cheek. There is money for Nuregami's escape journey in that purse.

Yohei's deep kindness moved Nuregami very much, and he thinks that he should surrender to Yohei. Nuregami says to his real mother Okoh that she should respect a step-son more than a real son. Okoh realizes that it is the human way. Okoh ties Nuregami with a rope of the roof window, and shouts that Nuregami is here. Yohei comes into his home, and cuts the rope that tied Nuregami. Then the moonlight comes into the room from the roof window. Yohei says that it is morning already, and his job finished because he is in charge of the night time only. Yohei said the moonlight as the sunlight in order to make Nuregami run away. Okoh thanks for Yohei very much. And Nuregami leaves there. (2003,1,20)