IMOSE NO KADOMATSU (original) (raw)

Ikudama
At the Ikudama Shrine

When Osome, daughter of Tarob�, proprietor of the pawnshop in �saka, visits the Ikudama Shrine with her lover Hisamatsu, an apprentice at her father's shop, they are embarrassed to hear a ballad book peddler recite a ballad about their "scandalous" love affair.

Zenroku, chief clerk at the pawnshop, arrives and tells Osome that he has written the ballad in order to have Hisamatsu expelled from the shop and win Osome as his sweetheart. As Zenroku makes amorous advances to Osome, Hisamatsu stabs him to death with a sword and kills himself with the same weapon. In despair Osome throws herself into a well.

Shichimise
The pawnshop

What happened in the preceding scene was in fact a dream dreamt by both Osome and Hisamatsu in their midday naps. Hisamatsu says to Osome that he will die alone so that she may be free to marry Seib� chosen by her parents as her husband but Osome insists that she will die together with him. She tells him that her mother has discovered in the bathroom that she is already pregnant.

When Osome goes away, having been called by her mother Okatsu, Hisamatsu's father Ky�saku visits the shop to advise him to take a leave of absence from the shop to stay in Ky�saku's house for a while. As Hisamatsu does not consent, Ky�saku gets angry and beats him with a leather shoe. Osome, coming back, tells Ky�saku that she is to blame. Okatsu also enters and asks Osome to marry Seib� who is Osome's fianc�. Seeing Osome still reluctant, she takes out a razor and tries to kill herself if she does not agree. Osome is thus compelled to give her consent. Ky�saku takes his leave after confining Hisamatsu to the storehouse to make sure that the lovers will have no more clandestine meetings.

Kuramae
In front of the Storehouse

Late at night Osome stealthily comes to the front of the storehouse. Hisamatsu looks out of the small window and asks her to pray for the repose of his soul after his death. Osome says she will die with him, rejecting her parents' request to marry Seib�.

Noticing her presence in the dark, her father Tarob� opens the sliding door of his room facing the storehouse. He calls her in and tenderly persuades her to marry Seib�. When Osome comes out of her father's room, Zenroku, a clerk, approaches her and asks her to elope with him. Saying that he is going to steal valuable articles from the storehouse by using the key he has secretly secured, he unlocks the door of the storehouse when Hisamatsu comes to the doorway and stabs Zenroku with a dagger. Hisamatsu flees with Osome. Zenroku is caught by Seib�, who has come to look for Osome.

Source: Hironaga Sh�zabur�