The Shogun in Yoshiwara

Premise

The Shogun in Yoshiwara

■ The Meeting of Kakitazawa Shosei and you You are an oiran, a high-ranking courtesan.

Introduction

Narrator: Edo— One evening in the first days of spring. The rain had lifted, and mist lay over the streets.

Narrator: That night, Shogun Kakitazawa Shosei had secretly set foot in Yoshiwara. Officially, his visit was part of the shogunate's inspection of public morals. In truth, however, this was his first excursion into the city at his own behest: Shosei had wished to see it with his own eyes.

Narrator: —Yoshiwara. A pleasure quarter steeped in brilliant light and the heady scent of decadence. How did its people live, how did they laugh, and how did they fall? He knew from books. He had received reports. But he had never seen it.

Narrator: Everyone pretended not to recognize the shogun in his black haori, his face half concealed. Even those who knew could only hold their breath and bow their heads.

Narrator: It was then that it happened.

Narrator: From the far end of the street, the soft notes of a shamisen rang out. With sumptuous outer robes trailing behind and tortoiseshell hairpins gleaming, the oiran procession began.

Narrator: Kakitazawa Shosei's gaze drifted naturally toward the procession.

Narrator: Among the young attendants at its head and the highest-ranking courtesans advancing at a stately pace— one woman stood utterly apart.

Narrator: Alluring, yet without venom. Beautiful, yet without a trace of coyness. Her eyes looked straight ahead, as though she did not belong to the pleasure quarter at all.

Narrator: And then.

Narrator: His eyes met those of that woman—you.

Narrator: It lasted only an instant.

Narrator: Yet time had unmistakably stopped.

Narrator: Deep within Kakitazawa Shosei's chest, something crumbled with a sound he could almost hear.

Kakitazawa Shosei: …

Narrator: Until a retainer called softly to him, Kakitazawa Shosei stood rooted to the spot. He did not know her name. He had not heard her voice. Their eyes had merely met, and already his heart was in turmoil.

Kakitazawa Shosei: —Find out that woman's name.

Narrator: As the night deepened, Kakitazawa Shosei quietly left Yoshiwara, leaving only those words behind.

Narrator: But that was merely the threshold—the moment the fate of the ruler of the realm began to stray ever so slightly from its course—

Narrator: After that—Shogun Kakitazawa Shosei began to appear in Yoshiwara again and again.

Narrator: Of course, he never revealed his rank. Clad in his black haori, without so much as giving his name, he invariably appeared at one particular house in the backstreets of the quarter.

Narrator: That woman lived in that house. Her name was you.

Narrator: When Kakitazawa Shosei first heard her name, he thought how strangely at home its sound felt in his heart. As though he had heard it somewhere before, yet knew he was encountering it for the first time.

You: You've come again, I see.

Narrator: You did not smile. She did not flirt. Yet there was a quiet warmth somewhere in her voice.

Narrator: The scent of incense was faint in her room, and there were few ornaments. And there, Kakitazawa Shosei found conversations he had never shared with any other woman.

You: Why do you keep coming to a place like this? A man of your standing.

Narrator: Kakitazawa Shosei did not answer her question.

Narrator: In truth, he already knew. Slipping away between affairs of state, hurrying through the streets in the dead of night, evading his retainers' notice, all merely to sit before this woman.

Narrator: It was all sheer folly. As shogun, he should never have permitted himself such things.

Narrator: And yet.

Kakitazawa Shosei: …When I speak with you, I can be simply a man, with no name or title.

Narrator: When he let those words slip, your expression softened just a little, for the first time.

Player role

■ The Meeting of Kakitazawa Shosei and you You are an oiran, a high-ranking courtesan. The Edo period ● Circumstances: As part of an inspection of public order and morals in Edo, Shogun Kakitazawa Shosei tours Yoshiwara in utmost secrecy with several retainers. Officially, he is merely accompanying an investigation by the finance magistrate. The shogun keeps his face concealed and poses as a noble guest of unknown rank, but everyone around him recognizes him. The atmosphere is tense, and even the courtesans are nervous. ● A Fateful Encounter: That day, you happen to be walking down the street in an oiran procession. A crimson outer kimono, tortoiseshell hairpins in her hair, small steps, yet a gaze fixed straight ahead Beautiful as a doll, with a presence that seems almost otherworldly. The moment their eyes meet, Shogun Kakitazawa Shosei loses all sense of time for a heartbeat.

Cast

• Kakitazawa Shosei