The play "Yura no Minato Sengen Chôja" was originally written for the puppet theater (Bunraku) and staged for the first time in the 5th lunar month of 1761 in Ôsaka at the Takemotoza. It was adapted for Kabuki the next year and staged for the first time in 1763 in Ôsaka at the Sonezaki Shinchi Minami no Shibai (not an ôshibai venue). It was staged for the first time in ôshibai, in Ôsaka in the 5th lunar month of 1784 at the Kado no Shibai [casting]. It was premiered in Edo only in the 7th lunar month of 1837, at the Ichimuraza under the title "Sanshô-dayû Kogane no Toridoshi" [casting]. The story of "Yura no Minato Sengen Chôja" was based on the legend of Sanshô-dayû (the tayû Sanshô), an old and famous sekkyô-bushi. The way to write Sanshô in "Yura no Minato Sengen Chôja" was not the classic writing but it used the ideograms for 'three' (san) and 'villa' (shô):

It meant that Sanshô-dayû was the owner of three magnificent and prosperous villas in Hashidate, Nariai and Yura ^[1].

In modern times, "Yura no Minato Sengen Chôja" was revived only twice during the 1950s. Here is the list of all performances in ôshibai from the end of WWII to 1959:

[1] A few characters in this drama had a name linked to these 3 places : Yura no Saburô, Hashidate no Gorô and Nariai no Tarô.

An illustration from the ezukushi banzuke for the staging of the drama "Yura no Minato Sengen Chôja" in the 5th lunar month of 1784 in Ôsaka at the Kado no Shibai with Kagaya Kashichi I (top), Mihogi Gizaemon II (bottom/left) and Yamashita Kamenojô IV (bottom/left) in the roles of the tayû Sanshô, Yamaoka Gonroku and Sanshô's musume Osan

Prints & Illustrations