Summary of "Nabeshima's Cat Incident: Saga Prefecture's Night Cherry Blossoms"
//Summary - Level-C2//
Nabeshima Tango-no-kami, obsessed with Go, kills his retainer Matashichiro in anger. Matashichiro's mother commits suicide, and their cat, Tama, becomes a vengeful monster. The monster cat terrorizes Tango-no-kami, driving him mad. Shinzaemon confronts the beast, who disguises himself as his mother, leading to a dramatic battle. The monster cat ultimately escapes, continuing its menace.
[Explanation]
1)
In the early Edo period, a family dispute occurred between the Nabeshima and Ryuzoji clans in the Hizen Saga area. The legend of a monster cat was associated with it and became famous as "Nabeshima's Monster Cat Incident." It became very popular as a Kabuki play in the late Edo period and as a film in the early Showa period.
2)
The lord of the Hizen Saga domain, Nabeshima Tango-no-kami, kills his retainer, Ryuzoji Matashichiro, in a dispute over a game of Go. Matashichiro's mother mourns her son's death and commits suicide, but the cat that licked his blood turns into a monster cat. The monster cat appears every night to torment Tango-no-kami.
[Synopsis]
3)
Nabeshima Tango-no-kami of the Hizen Saga domain is obsessed with Go. One day, Tangonokami plays a game of Go with his retainer, Ryuzoji Matashichiro, but Tangonokami keeps saying, "Wait,". Matashichiro refuses to listen to Tangonokami's request, and Tangonokami becomes angry and cuts off his head.
The retainers bury Matashichiro's head in the garden and deliver his body to his mother. The mother is in mourning. Two or three days later, the family cat "Tama" brings Matashichiro's head to the mother and holds it in her mouth. After the funeral, the mother, angry with Tangonokami, commits suicide by stabbing herself in the neck with a short sword. The cat Tama licks the blood, turns into a monster cat and leaves the scene.
4)
From then on, every night, a monster cat, said to be over a metre tall, appears in the Nabeshima household and targets Tangonokami. Tangonokami soon goes mad. The lower residence of the Nabeshima family is located in Shibuya and is looked after by a man named Komori Shinzaemon.
At Shinzaemon's urging, Tangonokami enjoys a drinking party while admiring the cherry blossoms at night. When he gets drunk and goes out into the garden, he sees an eyeball glaring at him from behind the bushes. The monster cat jumps at Tangonokami, but he dodges it just in time. Shinzaemon stabs the monster cat with his spear, piercing its forehead.
5)
Shinzaemon then slashes at the monster cat's legs as it flees. There are spots of the monster cat's blood on the ground. Shinzaemon chases after it and arrives at the Foot Soldier's residence. The blood has disappeared by the time he reaches the veranda.
Has the monster cat escaped underneath the residence? Shinzaemon and a man named Shigejiro get under the floorboards. When they dig into the mound of earth, they find a "skull". Above it is Shinzaemon's mother's room.
6)
When Shinzaemon returns to his room in the mansion, he finds his mother with a bandage on her head and dragging her leg. She also adds "nya" to the end of her sentences.
Perhaps the monster cat has killed and eaten his mother and taken on her appearance. When he consults Tangonokami, he is told that it must be a monster cat and that he should kill it. However, Shinzaemon is unsure if it is a monster cat or its mother.
7)
When he sees his mother in the morning, he finds her as usual, joking with the maid. His mother, who had slept in the middle of the night, suddenly gets up from her futon. When he opens the cupboard, he finds lots of kittens and gives them fish. He sits before the dressing table and removes the bandage, revealing a large wound between her eyebrows.
8)
When Hanzaemon tries to stab her with his spear, she dodges it—his mother's appearance changes before his eyes.
As expected, she was a monster cat. Shinzaemon attacks the monster cat with his spear, but it kicks open the shutters and flees. This monster cat will continue to attack the Nabeshima family, but we'll save that story for another time.
Summary of "Nabeshima's Cat Incident: Saga Prefecture's Night Cherry Blossoms"
http://koudanfan.web.fc2.com/arasuji/05-05_nabesima.htm
Add info No1)
Kanda Matsunosuke "Nabeshima's Cat Incident"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MNXl8r0un0
A)
One evening in the spring of March 1640, tired from cherry blossom viewing, Lord Katsushige went to bed when a gust of fresh wind blew in the windless moonlit night, scattering the cherry blossoms.
B)
Puzzled, Senbu Hon'emon Kuniyuki stared intently toward the south garden. In the darkness, a monster of unknown origin appeared. He slashed at it, screaming, and it fled into the shadow of an artificial hill.
After this incident, a series of strange incidents occurred, including the insanity of Lord Katsushige's close aide and the mysterious death of his illegitimate son. Lord Katsushige himself often had nightmares and felt unwell for days.
C)
Then, one night, around midnight, a strange presence was felt near Lord Katsushige's bedroom, and when a close attendant rushed to the scene, his beloved wife, O-Toyo, scolded him, telling him to get out of the way. When Hon'emon learned that the same thing had happened for two nights, he and a samurai named Shigematsu hid themselves in a place where they could see Lord Katsushige's bedroom and kept watch from early evening.
D)
In the middle of the night, he felt a warm breeze and thought he heard a cat meowing in the distance. So he fell asleep, and when he woke up, it was already dawn.
Then, having sensed something suspicious the night before, the close attendant rushed to the bedroom, and as usual, O-Toyo scolded him harshly. When they looked inside, they found Lord Katsushige writhing in pain on the bed. However, they could do nothing because it was his lord's beloved wife.
E)
The next night, Hon'emon resolved to himself, "Tonight is the night to see the truth," with the dagger between his legs, he waited for midnight as if the dagger would stab him as he slept. After a while, he looked over at the bedroom, and even though both Katsushige and O-Toyo should have already fallen asleep, he saw O-Toyo's shadow reflected in the shoji screen.
F)
When he looked closely, he sensed something unusual in the bedroom. Inside, O-Toyo's shadow seemed to be groaning in pain. Every time O-Toyo's shadow moved, and every time she appeared to be struggling in pain, he could hear the sound of a woman's chuckling. This seemed to be repeated several times, and then, after a period of intense cries of agony, when O-Toyo's shadow turned to the side, Hon'emon saw, without a doubt, the shadow of a cat.
G)
The cat's shadow seemed to mock the suffering of its master, Lord Katsushige and was trying to exact revenge.
Add info No2)
Ghost of Saga Mansion (1953) [Colorized, Full Movie]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2n8zIHmZ0Y
The Japanese film Ghost of Saga Mansion, released September 3, 1953 (Showa 28), has been colourized and enhanced with AI.
It's a ghost story about a monster cat. Daiei's first postwar monster cat film. The subject is a family dispute known as the Nabeshima Disturbance. Takako Irie's first attempt at a dual role, transforming from a beautiful woman into a monster cat.
Add info No3)
KODAN-SHI = Storyteller, Kanda Hakusan
http://cms.sanin.jp/p/miraichushin/mirai/4/1/7/
"The difference between 'Kodan' and 'Rakugo' is that it's fiction and non-fiction," says Mito. The difference between how Kodanshi and Rakugoka talk is that Kodanshi gives the impression of narration with stage directions. Rakugo brings to mind a scene through conversation, through conversation alone. Kodan is narrated, giving the feeling of being seen from a bird's-eye view."
