Tradition/Customs

What is a painting wife? Detailed explanation from synopsis to features [Yamagata Prefecture]

The Egatai Nyobo is a folktale that has been passed down throughout Japan, but did you know that the plot and ending differ slightly depending on the region where it was told?

In this article, we will provide a detailed explanation of the story of Egatai Nyobo, which has been passed down in Yamagata, and how it differs from stories told in other regions.

A synopsis of the picture wife handed down in Yamagata

The synopsis of the picture-style wife handed down in Yamagata is as follows.

Once upon a time, there was a lazy son named Magosaburo in Kurokawa (present-day Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture).

After getting married, I started working seriously, but I fell in love with my wife so much that I stopped working again.

Then his wife said, ``I have a good idea,'' and asked Magosaburo to draw a large picture of himself in town, and told Magosaburo to look at the picture and go to work.

One day, the painting Magosaburo was carrying was blown away by the wind and got caught in the branches of a pine tree in the castle, so the lord ordered him to look for a wife.

The wife was invited to the castle, but she stopped smiling.

In autumn, when Magosaburo went near the castle to sell chestnuts, his wife heard his voice and laughed, so the lord bought all the chestnuts and gave them to his wife to eat.

When Magosaburo went to sell chestnuts again, he was also called to the castle, exchanged his own kimono with Magosaburo's kimono, and went out to sell the chestnuts himself.

Because Magosaburou ordered the gates to be closed, the lord was unable to return to the castle even after sunset, and after that, Magosaburou and his wife lived happily together in the castle.

However, when he returned to Kurokawa because life in his village was good, he received a Noh mask and went back to his village, which became the beginning of Kurokawa Noh.

Characteristics of picture-style wives handed down in Yamagata

The illustrated wives of Yamagata are classified as ``selling type'' according to the story type of ``Japanese Folk Tales Tsukan''.

The outline of the story of the ``merchant type'' in Isugatomebo is as follows.

  • A beautiful woman marries her husband and the husband doesn't want to leave her side, so she gives him a picture of herself and sends her to the fields.
  • A lord falls in love with a woman in a painting that has been blown away by the wind, and he searches for her and calls her to him, but she does not smile at all.
  • When her husband, who has become a peddler, walks around the castle shouting, the woman laughs for the first time when she hears his voice.
  • When the lord changes clothes with his husband and goes out to make the woman laugh, the gatekeeper kicks him out of the castle.
  • Her husband becomes a lord and the couple lives happily in the castle.

In other regions, picture-style wives often sell ``enamel'' and ``peaches,'' but in Yamagata, they sell chestnuts.

This is probably because sweets made with chestnuts, such as chestnut steamed yokan and chestnut monaka, are still popular in Yamagata as local specialties, so the familiar local ingredients were probably incorporated into the folk tales.

The final part is also unique in that it hints at the beginning of Kurokawa Noh, a traditional performing art from the Shonai region of Yamagata Prefecture that is also an important cultural property of the country.

Kurokawa Noh follows the flow of Sarugaku, which was perfected by Zeami, but it also includes the five Shite schools, which are the leading actors of Kanze, Hosho, Konparu, Kongo, and Kita, as well as Hosho and Fukuo. , does not belong to any of the Waki ​​Sanryu who are Takayasu's counterpart.

Therefore, the Noh masks used in Kurokawa Noh are said to be different from those used in those schools, and have many unique masks.

It is said that there are currently 230 Noh masks in Kurokawa Noh's collection, and they can be seen in the ``Kurokawa Noh Mask Costume Illustrated'' published by the Kurokawa Noh Preservation Society in 2014.

It is also a quaint way to enjoy watching a Kurokawa Noh play or reading the ``Kurokawa Noh Mask Costume Illustrated Book'' while imagining what the masks that the couple received at the end of Egatu Nyobo look like. Is not it.

summary

The picture story wife is one of the folk tales that has been passed down throughout Japan, but the story that has been passed down in Yamagata is classified as a "selling type" according to the story type classification of the "Japan Folk Tales Tsukan", and the last story suggests the beginning of Kurokawa Noh. I found it to be distinctive.

Please use this article as a reference and enjoy the story of Egatai Nyobo that has been passed down in Yamagata even more.

Articles that may be related to this article

Other articles