Product Description
108 minutes, English commentary and subtitles, Region Code All, NTSC. One of the most popular tachiyaku (male role) actors, Kataoka Nizaemon is joined by onnagata (female role) actor Nakamura Fukusuke and one of the greatest contemporary actors, Nakamura Shikan. Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees) was originally written for the Bunraku puppet theatre and staged for the first time in 1747, and in kabuki the following year in 1748. It has some of the most performed and popular acts in all kabuki. The story is set during the Genji-Heike civil wars of the 12th century. The Heike have suffered defeats at several battles and Yorimoto has established himself as the shogun in Kamakura. Yoshitsune is his younger half brother, a succesful warrior, but the object of Yoritomo's jealousy. Tokaiya (The House of the Boatman Tokaiya Ginpei) is Act II, Scene II, when Yoshitsune and his men arrive at Daimotsu and hire a boat from Tokaiya Ginpei. Daimotsu no Ura (the Beach at Daimotsu) is the following scene III, set by the seashore where Suke no Tsubone and other ladies in waiting await the outcome of a battle and with the battle lost, some of them leap to their deaths. Yoshitsune saves the child emperor, Antoku, who says they should make peace.
