Introduction of an artwork

　This is a scene from the fourth stage of “Yoshitsune Senbonzakura,” which describes the flight from Kyoto of Minamoto Yoshitsune (Minamoto no Yoshitsune), who fell out with his elder brother Minamoto no Yoritomo.

　Yoshitsune had taken refuge in Kawatsura Hogen’s mansion on Yoshinoyama. Meanwhile, Asuka, the wife of Kawatsura Hogen who sheltered Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was the younger sister of Ibarasaemon, an important vassal of Yoritomo. In order to find out what was in his wife’s heart, Hogen feigns an attempt to avenge Yoshitsune’s death. Asuka, suspected of betraying her brother, attempted to commit suicide, but Kawaren Hogen was relieved to learn that she was prepared to do so.
　Then, Tadanobu Sato visited Kawaren Hogen’s mansion. Yoshitsune inquired about Shizukagozen’s safety, but Tadanobu did not remember him. At that moment, Shizuka and another Tadanobu, who was accompanying Shizuka, arrived. Tadanobu, who had been accompanying Shizuka, disappears. Shizuka remembers that Tadanobu always appeared whenever she struck the “hatsune no tsuzumi” on the road, and Yoshitsune orders her to use the tsuzumi as a clue to determine the true Tadanobu.

　

　Shizuka struck the drum, and Tadanobu appeared, listening to the sound and prostrating himself before it. The drum was made of the skins of a fox vixen and a fox cub, who had gained divine powers during the reign of Emperor Kanmu, and who had lived for a thousand years in Yamato to pray for rain. He begins to tell us that Tadanobu is the son of the mare and the male fox, and that Tadanobu’s true identity is that of a fox.
　The drum, which had been in the palace, was given to Yoshitsune as a reward for defeating the Heike clan, and he was finally able to accompany his parents in the form of his vassal, Tadanobu. It has been four hundred years since I have been wanting to fulfill my filial duty to my parents. Since last spring, the fox cries out that he cannot leave after being with them for only one year.
　However, he broke off his feelings and said that he would change the name “Minamoto no Kuro Yoshitsune” given to him by Yoshitsune to his own name “Minamoto no Kuro Yoshitsune (fox),” and disappeared with regrets. Yoshitsune, who was listening to
the news in the back of the shrine, was moved by the strength of the fox’s parent-child bond, compared to his own fragile situation of being bereft of his father soon after his birth and being at odds with his elder brother Yoritomo, who was like a parent to him. Yoshitsune gave the fox a drum as a reward for accompanying Shizuka Gozen.
The fox informs him that Yokogawa Kakuhan of Yoshino Kinpusenji Temple is coming for a night attack, promises to cover him with his divine power, and after bowing with his drum, he disappears as if in flight.

　By showing Tadanobu Kitsune’s earnest love for his parents, this performance highlights the ugliness of human beings who spend all their time fighting over flesh and bone.