This ugly plaster represents the 2 Soga brothers, the younger Soga Gorô Tokimune standing in a fearsome pose and the elder Soga Jûrô Sukenari kneeling and holding back his brother

The Soga brothers really existed and avenged in 1193 the murder of their father, killed by their uncle Kudô Saemon Suketsune in 1175. The event became the core of the "Soga Monogatari", a tale focusing on the conflict between the shogunal authority and the brothers loyalty, highlighting the irreconcilability between the brothers' heroic vendetta and the feodal system which must condemn them. The story was extremely popular in the Edo era and it was adapted for Nô, Bunraku and Kabuki, where several hundreds plays based on the Soga world were written and performed in Edo for centuries. It is still a custom in Kabuki to perform at least one sogamono every New Year.

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