THEATRE STUDIES Journal of Japanese society for Theatre Research
Online ISSN : 2189-7816
Print ISSN : 1348-2815
ISSN-L : 1348-2815
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  • Fashioning the Image of Ishikawa Goemon in the Edo Period Kabuki Theater: Focusing on Scenes of Goemon Carrying a Tsudura Basket on His Back
    Wakako TAKAHASHI
    2023 Volume 77 Pages 1-19
    Published: December 15, 2023
    Released on J-STAGE: January 17, 2024
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.18935/jjstr.77.0_1
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
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    During the Edo period (1603-1868), kabuki plays featuring Ishikawa Goemon, a robber who lived during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), were often performed. These plays regularly included scenes in which Goemon carries a tsudura basket on his back. This article will examine the changing depictions of such scenes throughout the Edo period to reveal how this image became combined with that of Goemon as a historical figure.

    The spectacle of Goemon carrying a tsudura basket is thought to have first appeared in Kamagafuchi futatsu domoe (1737). Thereafter, in Konoshita kage hazama gassen (1789), Goemon disappears while wearing a tsudura basket by means of witchcraft. Hade kurabe Ishikawa-zome (1796) subsequently features a scene in which Goemon disappears via witchcraft, leaving only the tsudura basket, which appears as if hanging in mid-air, visible to other characters. The play Kinoshita Soga megumi no masagoji (1851) similarly employed a stage mechanism called tsuduranuke to lift up tsudura basket, such that audiences could only see the tsudura basket floating in the air.

    As it evolved throughout the above process, the staging of Goemon carrying a tsudura basket on his back became an image firmly linked to Goemon even beyond the world of kabuki, due to the connection between these kabuki plays and Goemon jitsuroku-tai shōsetsu novels, which treated Goemon as a historical figure.

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