Colourful Beans - Kasane
//Summary - Level-B2//
Kasane is a tragic dance drama about a young maid who unknowingly falls in love with Yoemon, her mother’s former lover and her father’s killer. They share a deep but forbidden love, and Kasane becomes pregnant. When she learns the truth, her face changes grotesquely as karma takes its toll. After a fight, Yoemon kills her, but she returns as a vengeful spirit. The story explores twisted fate, hidden sins, and retribution, all set to haunting Kiyomoto music. As one line says, “We promised to die together,” but destiny had darker plans.
1)
The man she loves was once her mother's lover.
And then suddenly, her beautiful face changes...
A dance drama in which deep causation is entangled in the misunderstanding between a man and a woman.
2)
A tale of love and tragedy set to the tune of a famous Kiyomoto piece. A young girl named Kasane falls in love with a middle-aged man, but to him, this is merely a game. The man is her mother's lover and the murderer of her father.
A horrifying tale of karma that befalls Kasane, who knows nothing of it.
3)
Synopsis:
Promise to die together:
One summer night after a rain. Kasane, a maid, is rushing alone down a dark road. She had been deeply intimate with Yoemon, a member of the same household, but he left a note saying that he was going to die and then vanished.
When they finally meet on the banks of the Kinokawa River, Kasane clings to him, saying, "We promised to die together," but Yoemon says that for some reason, he cannot die with her. At the time, love between members of the same household was not permitted, but Kasane was pregnant with Yoemon's child.
4)
The joy of love, the determination in one's heart:
Kasane continues to woo him. She tells him how they met at the Obon festival last year, how they shared their feelings and had a wonderful time together, and how she treasures a nishikie print of Yoemon because he resembles a popular actor of the time.
When she finally announces with a bashful look that she is pregnant, Yoemon finally shows his willingness to commit suicide together, and they both break down in tears, apologising for their unfilial actions, having lost their parents so far away.
5)
Floating Skull:
Along with the eerie sound of the wind, a skull floats down the river on a stupa with a sharp sickle stuck in its eye socket. Yoemon picks up the skull and sees that the name "Suke" is written on the stupa.
Shocked, Yoemon splits the stupa in two, but Kasane suddenly collapses from pain in her leg. Surprised, Yoemon pulls out the sickle and splits the skull, and Kasane falls into the bushes, clutching her face.
6)
Standing in the Dark:
In the darkness, a catcher (an official who arrests criminals) appears, and they begin a stand-up routine to arrest Yoemon. The highlights include the beautiful Kiyomoto music and famous lines, and the scene also showcases Yoemon's impressive posture.
During the struggle, the catcher drops a letter, which turns out to be an arrest warrant for Yoemon. The highlight is when Yoemon reads the letter in the moonlight after a slight clearing of the clouds. Fearing that he will be caught, Yoemon tries to leave, but Kasane stops him.
7)
Transformation of Kasane:
Kasane suspects that the letter Yoemon has in his hands is from another woman, and confronts him, asking if he has deceived her. Yoemon is horrified by the hideous transformation of Kasane's face, but Kasane is unaware of the change in her appearance and, dragging her disabled right leg, expresses her love for him.
Kasane's face is distorted and hideous as she laments how happy she would be if she could quit her job as a maid and become a wife to Yoemon, living in town and imagining their future together.
8)
Causation:
Yoemon could no longer bear it and slashed at Kasane from behind with his sickle. He then confronted Kasane in a mirror, showing her his completely changed face.
Yoemon confessed that he had had an affair with Kasane's mother and killed her husband, Suke, and told her the fate of Kasane, who had become deeply involved with her parents' murderer without knowing this.
Yoemon said that he could see Suke's death throes overlapping with Kasane's and that Kasane's transformation was the retribution of karma.
9)
The End of Kasane:
Even as she laments her loss for her nemesis, Kasane chases Yoemon, covered in blood, and after a spectacular fight, she is finally killed on the earthen bridge.
Yoemon flees, but is pulled back by the spiritual power of Kasane, who has become a vengeful spirit. The performance of Yoemon being at the mercy of an invisible force known as Renribiki is also a highlight for the actor.
Colourful Beans - Kasane
https://enmokudb.kabuki.ne.jp/repertoire/1469/
Colourful Beans - Kasane - 2022/8/23
https://realtokyo.co.jp/performance/kasane-iro-moyo-chotto-karimame/
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Colourful Karimame (Colourful Beans) - A Kabuki play with a terrifying layer of grudges.
The official title of the play is "Iro-moyoui Chotto Karimame," but it is often referred to as "Kasane." It depicts a complex human drama between men and women, but is classified as a dance piece rather than a domestic drama.
It premiered at the Edo Moritaza Theatre in June 1823. It was initially a passage from an extended play called "Kesakake Matsu Narita Riken" written by Tsuruya Nanboku, a kabuki playwright who specialised in ghost stories, based on the tale of an ugly village girl named Kasane who curses the man who killed her.
It was not performed for a while, but in 1920, Onoe Baiko VI and Ichimura Uzaemon XV revived it, and it gained popularity. The Baiko VI and Kikugoro VI versions have been passed down to the present day.
Many Kabuki play titles are difficult to read, and "Iromoyo Chotto Karimame" is almost impossible to read in the usual way. Perhaps because of this, it is more often referred to by its nickname, "Kasane."
The title can be broken down into "Iromoyo (Colours)," "Chotto (A Little Bit)," and the meanings of each part are as follows.
Iromoyo: The love pattern between a man and a woman.
Ma: Represents a change from love and romance to an entirely different story.
Karimame: There are various theories about the origin of the name, including the act of killing Kasane with a sickle, the colour pattern between men and women themselves, and the incident in which a man killed his wife on the way home from bean harvesting to be with another woman.
Many Kabuki plays are based on real events, and sometimes the titles are slightly altered rather than directly expressing the events; however, people at the time would immediately recognise what they represented.
It is filled with irony towards real events and the author's playfulness.
