Background
Katakiuchi ukiki no Kameyama (Grief for a Gentle Flower and Revenge at Kameyama: 敵討優曇華亀山) falls into a genre of kabuki and puppet plays called, broadly, adauchi mono (revenge plays: 仇打ち物 or katakiuchi mono 敵討物). More specifically, the play is one of the Kameyama no katakiuchi mono (Kameyama revenge plays: 亀山敵討物) based on an actual event involving the Ishii brothers in the Date clan's castle at Kameyama in 1701. The tale recounts Ishikawa Hyôsuke's (石井兵助) vendetta against Akabori Mizuemon (赤堀水右箭門), a villain who tricked Hyôsuke's father into believing that his wife had been unfaithful, which ends in his murdering her. Hyôsuke, his brother Ishii Genzô (石井源蔵), and Genzô's wife (Hyôsuke's sister Okano) exact revenge against Mizuemon at Kameyama Castle. The story also became intertwined with many variations on the exceedingly popular revenge tale of the Soga brothers and was grouped with plays called Genroku Soga (Soga of the Genroku period: 元禄曾我).
Design
This is an unusual composition, with the heroes of the play, the Ishii brothers, positioned far forward in the picture plane; the Ishii retainer Naka no Tobei (top right), and the villain Mizuemon (top left) are placed well back in the composition. A dramatic sense of depth is thus established in this manner.
Our impression of this uncommon design is excellent with a small amount of metallic pigment (copper-rich brass) on the swords.
For another view of this scene, see Munehiro MUH03.
Another impression is in the Henrick Lühl Collection (Luh-A94-3-037).
References: KNP, p. 126
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