Accumulating Love and Snow at the Mountain Gate (Tsumori koi yuki no sekinoto | 積恋雪関扉), 1784
Premiere: 1784
Venue: Kiriza theatre (桐座) ー Sub-theater of Ichimuraza theatre (市村座控櫓)
First Performer: Segawa Kikunojō III (三代目瀬川菊之丞)
Choreographer: Nishikawa Senzō II (二代目西川扇蔵)
Ranshou’s First Performance: 2019 (National Theatre, Tokyo); and Sapporo Civic Hall with Rankoh Fujima (藤間蘭黄)and Ainosuke Kataoka (片岡愛之助)
The performance features Komachi Sakura no Sei, the spirit of the cherry blossom, disguised as the courtesan Sumizome (傾城墨染). Against the backdrop of a snowy landscape with cherry blossoms in full bloom with the color of light gray (strangely), the actor expresses a dance filled with elegance, pathos and hatred that the Sumizome has because her lover was unfortunately killed.
The setting of the play is a road checkpoint (関所) at the foot of Mt. Aosaka, near the location where the waka poet Kamitsukeno no Mineo once wrote “Oh… cherry blossoms, if you have a heart, bloom in the color of Sumizome (墨染)” after losing his best friend (墨染 as a color means light gray in Japanese, serving as a metaphor for the poem and the story).
“傾城” (a high-rank courtesan with beauty and knowledge) is a characteristic of onnagata (female role) in that era, and “Tsumoru Koi Yuki no Sekinoto” is now considered one of the masterpieces of Kabuki dance.
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雪中に桜満開となり、傾城・墨染の姿をした「小町桜の精」が現れ、恋する人を殺されたことを悲しみ憎しみ、妖美・情念たっぷりに踊ります。
舞台となる逢坂山麓の関所は、かつて友を亡くした平安時代の歌人・上野岑雄が「桜よ、もし心があるならば、墨染め色に咲け」と詠んだ場所のちかく、雪中のその満開の桜も墨色がかっているのでした。
「傾城」が登場するのはこの時代の女形の特徴で、「積恋雪関扉」は歌舞伎舞踊の傑作の一つ、振付も江戸時代のものが今にも伝わるとされています。