The Story in Three Lines
Kabuki loses nothing when you know the story in advance. Start with just three lines.
- 01
The single character of the title—two women flanking one man—announces the theme: a first wife's ritual raid on her successor, the old custom called uwanari-uchi.
- 02
It is said to have premiered in 1699, performed by Danjūrō I together with his young son; the boy who would become Danjūrō II won acclaim as Kuretake, a girl possessed by a vengeful spirit.
- 03
No established script survives, and the play long vanished from the stage; revivals have been attempted in the modern era.
Three Things to Watch For
These three points are all the preparation you need. On the day, simply give yourself to the stage.
A one-character title
The character 嫐—woman, man, woman—tells the story before the curtain opens: a title unlike any other among the eighteen.
Jealousy and the spirit
The play is said to have given theatrical form to jealousy made manifest as a vengeful spirit—rendered through the aragoto art of the Ichikawa Sōke.
A phantom play
Because no text survives, each revival has had to be rebuilt anew—so rare on stage that it is best called a phantom of the repertoire.
Characters
- Kōga Saburō Kaneie
- The samurai protagonist of the modern revival stagings, caught between two women's passions.
- Kuretake
- The girl possessed by a vengeful spirit—the role in which the young future Danjūrō II is said to have made his name at the premiere.
Stagecraft and Highlights
Though tradition places the premiere in 1699, no established script remains; by the time Danjūrō VII codified the eighteen plays in the Tenpō era, the piece's details were already obscure.
A 1986 revival at the National Theatre centered on a female role of layered identities—village girl, then mistress, then first wife. The attempt to render jealousy through pure theatrical form continues to this day.
The Ichikawa Connection
One of the Kabuki Jūhachiban, said to have been born from a father-and-son performance by Danjūrō I and II—a play from the deepest stratum of the family's history.
Related terms
Sources
- Author
- KABUKI Universe Editorial Team
- Supervision
- Ichikawa Danjūrō
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 9, 2026
Supervision means Ichikawa Danjūrō has reviewed this page's intent and key points. The text is the editorial team's writing, not Ichikawa Danjūrō's own statements. Editorial responsibility rests with the team, which corrects any error. Read the editorial policy