Hiroshima City Kagura Troupe Performances Series April - June [Yuki Lodge]

Held on the 2nd and 4th Sundays from 2024/4/14 (Sun) to 6/23 (Sun)

Mt Katsuragi-zan
Long ago in Yamato-no-Kuni (current Nara Prefecture), high on Mt. Katsuragi-zan, there lived an ancient spider demon bent on throwing the world into chaos. When the great general Minamoto-no-Raiko falls terribly ill, the demon seizes on the opportunity to be rid of him. Raiko sends his maid, Koch, to fetch some medicine to cure him, but before she can return, the demon attacks her and possesses her body. The demon then brings Raiko poison, telling him that it is a potent medicine. Raiko takes the medicine, but realizes that Kocho has been possessed by the spider demon and attacks with his sword, a family heirloom with magical powers. The spider demon, bleeding, fees to its lair on Mt. Katsuragi-zan. Raiko entrusts the magical sword to his men and sends them to Mt. Katsuragi-zan to slay the spider demon.

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Mt. Hiko
Having slayed the demon spider, Urabe-no-Rokurō Suetake heads home to the capital with his legendary sword, Kumokiri-maru, and companion Sakata-no-Kintoki. However, the demon Shuten-dōji, who lives on Mt. Hiko in Kyushu, has other plans. Aiming to take over Japan, he uses his sister, Ryūko-Takiyasha, to steal Suetake’s sword. Just as she is about to kill Suetake and Kintoki, the great god Iwashimizu Hachiman Daibosatsu appears, saving their lives. Hachiman tells Suetake where to find the demons so he can take back his sword and take on the demons.

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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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Rashōmon
At Rashōmon, Watanabe-no-Tsuna cuts off the left arm of the demon Ibaraki-dōji and brings it back home with him. When Shuten-dōji learns that his underling’s arm has been severed, he hatches a plan to get it back by transforming into Tsuna’s old nurse, Shirotae. The demon’s plan works and Shuten-dōji attacks Tsuna with magic before reattaching Ibaraki-dōji’s arm. The demons then use their power to fly back to their home on Mt. Ōeyama. (This is the second play in the Mt. Ōeyama trilogy.)

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Tenjin Ki
In the Heian period, Emperor Daigo’s Minister of the Right, Sugawara-no-Michizane, was relagated to a lower position in Dazaifu, Kyushu, as part of a plot by the Minister of the Left, Fujiwara-no-Tokihira. Shortly after going to Dazaifu, Michizane tragically dies.The play opens with Michizane on his deathbed, speaking to his son, Kan-no-Shūsai.  Michizane speaks of his bitterness toward Tokihira for conspiring against him with others in his clan. With his dying breath, he tells his son to return to the capital to destroy the entire Fujiwara clan, and then to faithfully serve the emperor once more. Michizane’s deep hatred for the Fujiwara clan transforms him into the god of lightning and he watches as his son leaves for the capital to avenge his death. However, Tokihira and his men are one step ahead of Shūsai and are already waiting for him. Before they fight, the two engage in a waka poetry battle. When Tokihira realizes his poetry is no match for Shūsai, he draws his sword. Just as it looks like Shūsai is about to be defeated, the god of lightning appears, and together, they defeat Tokihira and the entire Fujiwara clan. Sugawara-no-Michizane is known today as the god of education and study; however, he also the strongest vengeful spirit in all of Japan, often appearing in different stories.

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Masuya Oren
There once was a woman named Oren and she was the wife of the village leader in the countryside of Sekishū. Oren wasn’t an extrorodinary beauty, but she was beautiful nonetheless and blessed with an incredibly kind heart. When she was a young woman in her prime, her parents told her to marry the village leader, and she did as she was told, despite never having met him. She loved her husband, Hisaemon, and did everything she could to support him, to take care of their household, and to take care of him. However, one thing you can count on through the ages is the selfishness of men. The years pass for Hisaemon, unable to see the meaning in the marriage his parents arranged for him and unaware of the deep love in her heart. He begins to see a young lady in the next village, not returning home for days. Even still, Oren believes that this dalliance is nothing but a fling, that one day, her husband will return home and they can make it work. It is this thought that she clings to, suffering through her sadness, until one day, that sadness begins to chip away at her sanity. Now filled with hatred, she loses her senses and performs a ritual for revenge, hammering a straw voodoo doll into a tree at her local shrine in the middle of the night. On the night of the ritual, led perhaps by a god who took pity on her, or perhaps the devil himself, she becomes a demon. My beloved Hisaemon… why can’t you see how much I care? I’ll just have to make you see, so you’ll never stray from me ever again…! Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

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Mt. Suzuka and the Sanmyō Sword
During the reign of Emperor Kammu (781-806), the Great Demon Ōtake-maru was committing countless atrocities and terrorizing the people of Mt. Suzuka, located on the border between Ise Province (current central Mie Prefecture) and Oumi Province (current Shiga). Saka-no-ue Tamuramaro was ordered by the emperor to destroy the demon.

When faced with Saka-no-ue Tamuramaro’s forces, Ōtake-maru summons roaring thunder and rains down fire. Evenly matched, the two sides have been locked in battle for years. At the same time, there was a heavenly maiden named Suzuka Gozen descended from heaven above. Ōtake-maru falls in love with her and transforms into a handsome young man to win her affection. He visits her night after night, but to no avail. Unable to win her love, the demon is filled with rage. One day, Tamuramaro meets Suzuka Gozen, as prophesized to him by an old man. He then learns that she descended from heaven to help him defeat Ōtake-maru.

According to her, the reason that Tamuramaro hasn’t been able to defeat Ōtake-maru is because he possesses a sword called the Sanmyō Sword, which was bestowed upon him by Asura, a fierce demigod. The sword is comprised of three swords, the Daitōren, the Shōtōren, and the Kenmyōren. Together, Suzuka Gozen and Tamurmaro hatch a plan to steal the Sanmyō Sword: Suzuka Gozen will go to Ōtake-maru’s manor and tell him that Tamuramaro is out to kill her. She then asks him for his sword to protect herself, thereby successfully taking the Daitōren and Shōtōren swords. Then, Tamuramaro, hiding nearby, will ambush Ōtake-maru.

Ōtake-maru falls for their plan and, once ambushed, uses his dark powers to replicate himself multiple times. But Tamuramaro is under the divine protection of the Merciful Thousand-Armed Kannon and Bishamonten, god of war. A fierce battle rages between the demon god and Tamuramaro, but at last, our hero is able to defeat Ōtake-maru using the Sohaya Sword.

While the play ends here, the story of Ōtake-maru doesn’t. Despite having been decapitated during the battle at Mt. Suzuka, he becomes a demon god again through the divine power of the Kenmyōren, one of the three swords of the Sanmyō Sword, and once again causes disaster and calamity in the land. Ōtake-maru is feared as one of Japan’s top three yōkai monsters, along with Shuten Dōji and Tamamo-no-Mae, the Nine-Tailed Fox spirit.

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Subjugating the Bandits of the Eastern Province: Kongō, the Legendary Great Axe
After her husband, Sakata-no-Tokiyuki, perishes in battle, Yaegiri is exiled from the capital and ends up living on Mt. Agero as a mountain bandit with her son, Kaidō-maru. Yaegiri decides to have her son inherit his father’s great axe, known as Kongō, and gives him a strict training routine. Kaidō-maru trains diligently, polishing his technique and cultivating a tenacious spirit.

At the same time, Minamoto-no-Raikō is ordered to subjugate the bandits of the Eastern Province and heads out on his mission with Watanabe-no-Tsuna. While on the way, they become lost on Mt. Agero and ask to stay the night at a local home, one that belongs to none other than Yaegiri. They attack Raikō in his sleep, but his superior fighting skills win the day and Yaegiri and her son surrender. Yaegiri begs for them to spare her son’s life and Raikō, moved by the love she has for her son, makes Kaidō-maru his retainer. He then forgives Yaegiri and allows her to escape with her life. As Kaidō-maru has inherited the great axe Kongō, Raikō renames him Sakata-no-Kintoki. The newly renamed Kintoki takes pride in his name and becomes a legendary figure in history as one of Raikō’s Four Heavenly Generals.

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