Hiroshima City Kagura Troupe Performances Series July-September [Yuki Lodge]

Held on the 2nd and 4th Sundays from 2024/7/14 (Sun) to 9/22 (Sun)

The Tale of Momotarō

A long, long time ago there lived a military commander named Momotarō. Ordered to destroy the demons who appeared nightly to steal the treasures of the village, Momotarō set off on a journey to Onigashima Island. On the way to the island, he gave kibi dango sweet millet dumplings to a dog, monkey, and pheasant, who became his friends and travelled with him to defeat the demons. After a fierce battle, Momotarō and his company are triumphant.

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Yamato Takeru-no-Mikoto and the Eastern Expedition

Yamato Takeru-no-Mikoto informs his father, Emperor Keikō, that he has successfully subjugated Kyushu’s Kumaso clan. His father then orders him to suppress the eastern lands and he immediately sets off. He stops at the Ise Shrine along the way and meets with his aunt, Yamato-hime, who gives him the treasured Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds (Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi). Yamato Takeru’s older brother and younger brother, who live in Suruga Province, learn of a rumor that they will be killed for not obeying the emperor’s orders.
Unable to come up with a plan to defeat Yamato Takeru-no-Mikoto, the brothers ask the leader of a gang of thieves for advice. He tells them to lead Takeru and his forces to a large field under the pretense of hunting for a large deer that attacks the locals. The story is, of course, a lie. The leader of the gang of thieves then tells them to set fire to the field, killing Takeru and his forces. The brothers agree and lead Takeru to the field. They set fire to all corners of the field, but when they do, Takeru’s sword falls loose from its cloth covering, slicing the grasses of the field and striking against the flint in the covering to start a counter-fire and defeating the brothers. The Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds is then renamed the Grass-Cutting Sword (Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi) and becomes one of the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan.

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Takiyasha-hime (Lady Takiyasha)

About 1,000 years ago, the aristocrats in Kyoto, the capital of Japan, lived in the lap of luxury while the people living outside of the capital lived in poverty. Angered at this disparity of wealth, General Taira-no-Masakado, a resident of the Kanto area, decided to overthrow the current government and create his own capital province in the east where wealth would be distributed more evenly. However, when the government received word of his plans, they ordered him and his entire family to be killed. This play centers on Takiyasha, the sole survivor of the Taira clan massacre. Seeking revenge, she is gifted dark magical powers by a god and assembles an army to destroy the government forces who murdered her family.

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Ja-kiri (The Eight-Headed Demon Snake) (Akko-den)

Cast out of heaven, Susano-o-no-Mikoto finds himself upstream on the banks of the Hīkawa River in Izumo Province. There, he meets an elderly couple named Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi, who are lamenting the fact that they once had eight daughters, but one was devoured every year by the eight-headed demon snake, Yamata-no-Orochi, and tonight, the demon would come for their eighth daughter, Inada-hime. Susano-o comes up with a plan to get the demon drunk on poisoned sake and then attack with his Totsuka-no-Tsurugi sword while the demon slumbers. The plan works and Susano-o finds a sword embedded in the demon’s tail, which he names the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds and presents it to Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. He then marries Inada-hime.

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Naginata-mai (Dance of the Naginata Pole Sword)

After the death of Pangu (primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology), his five sons, all princes in their own right, begin to fight over dividing their inheritance. This performance begins with the youngest prince, Prince Gorō, practicing with his naginata pole sword before heading into battle against the other princes. It is related to the play Shomōbun, a story of inheritance.

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Momiji-gari (Maple Leaf-Viewing Party)

Originally a Noh chant, it was turned into a kagura play featuring Taira-no-Koremochi, a military commander during the Heian period, as the main character. When rumors reach the capital that demon women, who live deep in the forests of Mt. Togakushi in Shinshū, are terrorizing the people of the surrounding villages, Koremochi is ordered to destroy them and heads to Shinshū. But, the demon women, having heard that Koremochi is on his way, decide to lure him to a maple leaf-viewing party deep in the mountain forest. There, they pour him cup after cup of sake and once he’s inebriated, the demons strike. However, the god Yahata-no-Kami realizes the danger that Koremochi is in and sends his messenger, Takeuchi-no-Kami, to deliver a sacred sword to him. Regaining consciousness thanks to divine intervention, Koremochi uses the divine sword to defeat the demon women.

Chant: In a village without demons in Togakushi, the sun sets and tonight, the faces of demon women await

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Lady Takiyasha（Shōmon-ki）
This story is the last of the Record of Shōmon trilogy that chronicles the life of Taira-no-Masakado (“Masakado” can also be read as “Shōmon”), a historic figure who led an uprising from Shimousa Province in the Kantō region during the time of the Jōhei-Tengyō Rebellion in the Heian period.

During the rebellion, Masakado is killed by Taira-no-Sadamori, a member of his own family, and Fujiwara-no-Hidesato. Years later, Masakado’s daughter, Satsuki-hime, prays to receive dark magic from the Kifune Shrine so she can avenge the deaths of her father and her brother, Yoshikado. In order to fulfil her father’s will, she changes her name to Takiyasha and returns to Sōma in Shimousa Province to gather her henchmen and overturn the imperial government. The government, not liking her plan, orders Ōya-no-tarō Mitsukuni to kill the remaining members of Masakado’s clan.

Mitsukuni heads to Sōma where he meets Takiyasha disguised as a lowly peasant girl. At first, he is deceived by her ruse, but thanks to help from his traveling companion Sadamori, Takiyasha’s true identity is revealed and Mitsukuni uses the full force of his onmyōjutsu elemental magic to defeat Takiyasha and her powerful dark magic.

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Yamata-no-Orochi (The Eight-Headed Snake Demon)

 In the land of Izumo-no-Kuni (current eastern Shimane prefecture), there lived an elderly couple with eight daughters. However, year by year and one by one, their daughters were eaten by a fearsome eight-headed snake demon called Yamata-no-Orochi. Left with only one precious daughter, the elderly couple was in despair over how to save her. It was then that the powerful god, Susano-o, happened upon the elderly couple and their daughter. When he asked why they were so sad, they told him the story, and he agreed to slay the demon in exchange for their daughter's hand in marriage. 'The elderly couple agreed, and Susano-o hatched a plan to slay the demon: he has the elderly couple make a barrel of poisoned sike, then, their daughter stands behind it, so her reflection is visible in the sake. Orochi would then consume the sake, thinking it was the daughter, and be weakened by the poison. Once weakened, Susano-o would attack and triumph over Orochi.
Susano-o’s plan works, and after slaying the demon, a sword falls from its stomach. Susano-o claims the sword as proof of his victory, and is becomes a national treasure.

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The Old Woman in the Woods (Yama-uba)

Minamoto-no-Raikō heads to conquer the Eastern Lands with his retainer, Watanabe-no-Tsuna. They come across Mt. Agero in Shinshū. Living on Mt. Agero is an old woman who was the wife of a warrior. However, when her husband died, she was cast out of the imperial capital. Harboring hatred for the world and its cruel people, she was reduced to becoming a mountain bandit with her only son, Kaidō-maru. The pair try to attack Raikō, but he overpowers them, and Kaidō-maru’s mother begs Raikō to spare her son’s life. Moved by the old woman’s plight to save her son, he forgives her and takes her son as his retainer, renaming him Sakata-no-Kintoki. He goes on to be one of Raikō’s four most trusted generals.

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