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Kanjincho (???, The Subscription List) is a Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese kabuki
Kabuki

is the highly stylised classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers....
 play by Namiki Gohei III
Namiki Gohei

Namiki Gohei was the name of four Japanese Kabuki actors and playwrights. Only two of them were related; in Japan, it was common for artists and writers to take the name of predecessors whom they admired....
, based on the Noh
Noh

, or is a major form of classic Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Together with the closely-related Kyogen farce, it evolved from various popular, folk and aristocratic art forms, including Dengaku, Shirabyoshi, and Gagaku....
 play Ataka. It is one of the most popular plays in the modern kabuki repertory.

Belonging to the repertories of the Naritaya and Koritaya guilds, the play was first performed in March 1840 at the Kawarazaki-za
Kawarazaki-za

The was one of the major kabuki theatres in Edo during the Edo period and into the Meiji period. Not being one of the four theatres formally licensed by the Tokugawa shogunate, the theatre was largely inactive for long stretches of time, operating only when the Morita-za, facing financial difficulties or physical destruction of its theatre...
, in Edo
Edo

, literally: Headlands and bays-door, "estuary", ), also Romanization of Japanese as Yedo or Yeddo, is the Geographical renaming of the Capital of Japan Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868....
. Ichikawa Ebizo V
Ichikawa Ebizo V

Ichikawa Danjuro VII was a Japanese kabuki actor who specialized in male hero roles, said to be the greatest of the 19th century. He was responsible for the establishment of the Kabuki Juhachiban, a collection of the eighteen greatest plays in the repertoire....
, Ichikawa Kuzo II, and Ichikawa Danjuro VIII
Ichikawa Danjuro VIII

Ichikawa Danjuro VIII was a Japanese people actor in the 1800s. He is known for his role as Prince Mitsuuji in the play Genji Moyo Furisode Hinagata....
 played the leading roles of Benkei, Togashi, and Yoshitsune
Minamoto no Yoshitsune

was a general of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian period and early Kamakura period. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo....
, respectively.






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Kanjincho (???, The Subscription List) is a Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese kabuki
Kabuki

is the highly stylised classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers....
 play by Namiki Gohei III
Namiki Gohei

Namiki Gohei was the name of four Japanese Kabuki actors and playwrights. Only two of them were related; in Japan, it was common for artists and writers to take the name of predecessors whom they admired....
, based on the Noh
Noh

, or is a major form of classic Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Together with the closely-related Kyogen farce, it evolved from various popular, folk and aristocratic art forms, including Dengaku, Shirabyoshi, and Gagaku....
 play Ataka. It is one of the most popular plays in the modern kabuki repertory.

Belonging to the repertories of the Naritaya and Koritaya guilds, the play was first performed in March 1840 at the Kawarazaki-za
Kawarazaki-za

The was one of the major kabuki theatres in Edo during the Edo period and into the Meiji period. Not being one of the four theatres formally licensed by the Tokugawa shogunate, the theatre was largely inactive for long stretches of time, operating only when the Morita-za, facing financial difficulties or physical destruction of its theatre...
, in Edo
Edo

, literally: Headlands and bays-door, "estuary", ), also Romanization of Japanese as Yedo or Yeddo, is the Geographical renaming of the Capital of Japan Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868....
. Ichikawa Ebizo V
Ichikawa Ebizo V

Ichikawa Danjuro VII was a Japanese kabuki actor who specialized in male hero roles, said to be the greatest of the 19th century. He was responsible for the establishment of the Kabuki Juhachiban, a collection of the eighteen greatest plays in the repertoire....
, Ichikawa Kuzo II, and Ichikawa Danjuro VIII
Ichikawa Danjuro VIII

Ichikawa Danjuro VIII was a Japanese people actor in the 1800s. He is known for his role as Prince Mitsuuji in the play Genji Moyo Furisode Hinagata....
 played the leading roles of Benkei, Togashi, and Yoshitsune
Minamoto no Yoshitsune

was a general of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian period and early Kamakura period. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo....
, respectively. The lines of Ichikawa Danjuro
Ichikawa Danjuro

is a stage name taken on by a series of Kabuki actors of the Ichikawa family. Most of these were blood relatives, though some were adopted into the family....
 and Matsumoto Koshiro
Matsumoto Koshiro

Matsumoto Koshiro is the stage name of a line of kabuki actors in Japan. Most of these were blood relatives, though some were adopted into the family....
 have come to be particularly celebrated for playing the role of Benkei in Kanjincho.

Though bearing the same name and general narrative concept as a 1702 play, one of the Kabuki Juhachiban
Kabuki Juhachiban

The Kabuki Juhachiban , or Eighteen Best Kabuki Plays, is a set of kabuki plays, strongly associated with the Ichikawa Danjuro line of actors ever since their premieres, and chosen later by actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII as the greatest representations of the aragoto style in the repertoire....
, the modern version of Kanjincho, going back to 1840, is believed to not be directly derived from or connected to this earlier aragoto
Aragoto

, or rough style, is a style of kabuki acting that uses exaggerated, dynamic kata and speech. Often, aragoto actors wear bold red or blue makeup , and have costumes that are padded and enlarged....
 piece.

Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa

was a prominent Japanese people filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter and film editing. His first credited film as director, , was released in 1943, his last as director, , in 1993....
's film The Men who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
The Men Who Tread On the Tiger's Tail

is a Japanese film, written and directed by Akira Kurosawa in 1945 in film. It is based on the kabuki play Kanjincho, which is in turn based on the Noh play Ataka ....
 is partly based on Kanjincho.

Summary

Taking place in the mid- to late 12th century, the play begins with a local noble called Togashi Saemon, who is charged with defending a particular gate along the road. He warns his men to be vigilant, for Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the great warrior of the Minamoto clan
Minamoto clan

was one of the honorary surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan of the Heian Period on those of their sons and grandsons who were not considered eligible for the throne....
, is said to be traveling on the road, disguised as a porter.

Yoshitsune and Benkei enter to music and begin to explain to Togashi that they are simple priests journeying around the northern provinces, seeking donations for the Todai-ji
Todai-ji

, is a Buddhism temple complex located in the city of Nara, Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall , the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu ....
 in Nara
Nara, Nara

is the capital cities of Japan of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture....
. Togashi thus asks that they prove themselves to be priests and asks for a kanjincho, a subscription list of those who have donated already. Benkei, having been a mountain ascetic (yamabushi
Yamabushi

are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits with a long tradition as mighty warriors endowed with supernatural powers. They follow the Shugendo doctrine, an integration of mainly esoteric Buddhism of the Shingon sect, Tendai and Shinto elements....
), is educated in traditional Buddhist teachings and has little trouble passing as a priest. But he does not have a kanjincho; so, in a particularly famous moment in kabuki, he pulls out a blank scroll and begins reading from it as if it were a real subscription list.

Though Togashi soon gets a look at the blank sheet, he admires Benkei's skill and daring, and lets the pair pass anyway after asking a series of difficult questions about Buddhism and the life of a priest. Benkei, of course, answers these all correctly.

About to escape entirely, the pair are stopped when one of Togashi's guards notices that the porter looks like Yoshitsune. Benkei, thinking quickly, pretends that Yoshitsune is simply his personal porter and begins to beat him for arousing suspicion and causing trouble. Again, Togashi sees through the ruse, but pretends not to, on account of Benkei's devotion to his master. Continuing on past the gate, Yoshitsune thanks his friend, who apologizes for beating him and bursts into tears—for, supposedly, the first time in his adult life.

The play ends traditionally, with Benkei dancing to celebrate his triumph.