Background
This play is one of a series of popular Gonpachi Komurasaki mono ("Gonpachi and Komurasaki plays") based on actual
tales involving unrelated historical figures: the samurai Gonpachi, guilty of murder and robbery, who was executed in 1679; and the
otokodate Banzuin Chôbei.
The theatrical story features Gonpachi who was — by age 16 — famous for his good looks, bravery, and swordsmanship. He
kills a fellow samurai and flees to Edo, where at an inn he is warned by a 15-year-old beauty named Komurasaki that the owner is a gang leader
plotting to murder him for his sword. Gonpachi swiftly kills all ten of the gang. Afterwards he visits the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter and
finds Komurasaki at the Miuraya brothel, now a prostitute selling herself to earn money for her destitute parents. Without the funds to
ransom her, Gonpachi turns to a life of debauchery, supporting himself by robbery and murder. When he is finally captured and executed,
the devoted Komurasaki takes her life at his grave. To honor their memory, sympathetic citizens build a tumulus called hiyokuzuka
("lovers' tomb") and temple priests carve a picture of the Hiyoku, a legendary love-bird that exists only when it has
found its mate.
Design
Hokuei's dramatic night scene depicts a stealthy Gonpachi intently observing a samurai and his servant carrying a lantern (andon).
The contrast between Gonpachi's full-color figure and the silhouettes is particularly striking, aided by the warm glow of the pink foreground
(perhaps suggesting illumination by oil lamp).
References: IBKYS-II, no. 362; KNP-6, p. 301; IKB-I, no. 2-441; NKE, p. 133
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