Masked Theater Based on Japanese Medieval Oral Literature
A Japanese Buddhist tale orally transmitted among the outcasts at the time.
Symbolic Expressions Using Masks, Puppets, Live Music and Physical Expressions
Powerful Storytelling with Beautiful Classical Japanese
Prayer for Rebirth and Compassion that Resides in Every Person
An archaic story of Pilgrimage with people relaying a cart toward the sanctuary praying for rebirth
Story
The title of the play, Oguri Hangan, Terute Hime, derives from the adventures which befall these two main characters. For those who like the security of a story line, there follows a brief outline of the plot.
Oguri, son of a nobleman, on a pilgrimage to Kurama, near Kyoto, encounters a boa snake (really a woman disguised) and falls in love with her. Later, many disasters befall the couple and are attributed to their illicit night of love together. As a result, Oguri, together with his servants, is banished to northern parts.
However, on his way he falls foul of love again.
Hearing of the beauty of Princess Terute, he courts her, and a subsequent night of love calls forth more punishment–this time by her family. Oguri is thrown into the stable of a wild horse whom, however, he charms and his life is spared. But not for long. Finally, the dishonor is avenged when Oguri and his servants are given poisoned saké and die. Oguri is buried, the servants cremated.
Meanwhile, Princess Terute is condemned to her own grisly end: death by drowning.
However, her servants take pity on her and spare her life. She swims to safety, only to fall
into the hands of a village mayor who sells her as a slave. She is bought by an inn-keeper who has ambitions for her as a courtesan.
Rather than be dishonored, she takes the job of a lowly maid.
Meanwhile, the scene shifts to hell where Oguri and servants are ensconced. Emma, Prince of Hell, is passing judgement. Oguri’s servants will become his servants while Oguri himself may return to the mortal world. His tomb cracks open to reveal him in a gruesome state. He is rescued and his petrified figure placed on a cart to join a company of monks.
Finally, he is reunited with Princess Terute in the presence of the god Amida.
<Tokyo Journal Junel, 1983>
by Marie Meverscough
Ticket Information
Adults: ¥4000
Children: ¥2000
(Additional ¥500 on the day of the event)
Performance Schedule
July 6th (Saturday) 14:00 – Fujisawa, Yugyoji Temple (Google Map)
July 7th (Sunday) 14:00 – Fujisawa, Yugyoji Temple
July 8th (Monday) 18:00 – Tokyo, Ushigome Tansu Civic Hall (Google Map)
July 9th (Tuesday) 14:00 – Tokyo, Ushigome Tansu Civic Hall
Reservation
MAIL info@yokohama-boattheatre.org
TEL 080-6737-5208
Cast
Goto, Yokoyama, Murakimi, Slaver, Yama (the King of Hell) by Tange Makoto
Court Lady, Onmyoji (shaman), Slaver, Listening-Child by Masuda Miho
Oguri’s Mother, Court Lady, Onikage (man-eating horse), Murakimi’s wife, Seeing-Child by Kiriyama Hitomi
Snake, Oguri’s servant, Saburo, Onikage, Oni-tsugu(Terute’s servant), Kimino-cho(Brothel Manager), Gaki Ami (Oguri Revived as a Sickly Being) by Kawara Jun
Court Lady, Snake, Terute Hime, Smelling-Nose-Child by Kakizawa Ayumi
Kaneiye (Oguri’s father), Court Lady Ietsugu, Onikage, Oni-oh(Terute’s servant), Slaver, Oshonin (a high priest), Gaki Ami by Okumoto Satoshi
Oguri Hangan by Matsumoto Toshihiro
Musician by Real Muscle Izumi
Staff
Script & Masks: Endo Takuo
Script Composition, Direction & Masks: Yoshioka Saya
General Supervision, Stage Design, Costumes & Masks: Horio Yukio
Music: Matsumoto Toshihiro
Costume Assistance: Sazanami Masako
Lighting: Takeuchi Yushi
Stage Manager: Mitsu Hisashi + Shimazaki Aki
Movement Direction: Kei Takei + Laz Brezer
Narration Coaching: Sekkyobushi Masdayu
Production: Okumoto Satoshi + Yokohama Boat Theatre
Production Cooperation: Marmelo
Collaborators: Kondo Haruna + Sano Yuko + Tamayose Chomasa + Murakami Hiroshi
Flyer
Yokohama Boat Theatre
Yokohama Boat Theatre is one of the only boat theatres in Japan where the company offers a variety of plays. Emphasizing the festive aspect and the commemorative function of theatrical arts letting its spectators revisit their history and identity, the company keeps creating contemporary plays inheriting the essence of performing arts that Japan has been nourishing throughout its history within Asian countries. For this purpose, they especially work on expressing the universe that the Japanese language conceives with its sound, symbolic, choreographic body languages, as well as expressions using masks and dolls in order to let the meanings speak themselves through objects, invoking the imagination of audiences. Yokohama Boat Theatre was founded by the director Takuo Endo in 1981.
The company transformed a wooden barge on a river in Yokohama into a theatre, and presented numerous festive plays in their boat theatre such as Oguri Hangan Terute Hime (The Tale of Oguri and Princess Terute) and Mahabharata -The Death of Young Abhimanyu-. Oguri Hangan Terute Hime was performed not only in Japan but also in Asian countries, the U.S, as well as in Europe, and have been internationally recognized.
From 2001 on, having transformed a steel barge into a theatre moored at the port of Yokohama, the company presented numerous aspiring plays such as Praise for Kenji, a masked play based on the works of Japanese novelist and poet Kenji Miyazawa, Koi ni Kuruhite (Madly in Love) from the from the based on Japanese oral tradition, Aigo no Waka historically performed by wandering Buddhist preachers called sekkyoshi inspired by Japanese ancient ritual ‘nagashibina’ (letting dolls float away into a river to avoid bad lucks for children) and Indian Pava Kathakali, as well as Farewell America, Endo’s autobiographical, poetic drama depicting his dilemmatic, evasive state of mind within comical and tragic transitions of people’s beliefs in Postwar Japan.
After the director Takuo Endo passed away, Saya Yoshioka took over as the new director, inheriting the company’s raison d’être and has been experimenting the art of fusioning masked plays and puppet theatre.
The newly-led company has presented Shiroi Kagee (White Shadow Puppet), taking Yoshiro Ishihara as its theme, the poet who had suffered in the Internment in Siberia as war prisoner after World War II, and Inu (The Dog), taking its source from a novel portraying covetous affection between a village girl, a young Muslim officer and a depraved Brahmin during the turbulent war times in Medieval India.They also presented in Tokyo as well as several regions in Northeast Japan Gokuraku Kingyo (Goldfish in Paradise), written by the former director Endo, inspired by folktales from various regions in Japan.
In November 2023, they presented Oguri Hangan Terute Hime (The Tale of Oguri Hangan and Princess Terute) with newly-formed compositions, directions, and casts.
In order to make the current boat theatre a more public-friendly art place, their supporters are now working on the project to maintain and manage the boat theatre in a more sustainable manner.