Kan-U   関羽 

The play

"Kan U" was premiered in Edo in 1737. The final act of this play was a spectacular confrontation scene between Ichikawa Ebizô II and Ichikawa Danzô I in the roles of the statues of the two legendary Chinese generals Kan U and Chô Hi. This play was then forgotten and the original script was lost but it was nevertheless added to the Kabuki Jûhachiban collection of drama in 1840. It is very rarely staged, but was revived in 2014 in a newly-created drama, which was entitled "Kotohoide Mimasu Kagekiyo", created by mixing scenes and elements coming from the four plays based on Kagekiyo.

This play is one of the Kagekiyo-mono, plays whose main characters are Taira no Kagekiyo, his lover Akoya, Hateyama Shigatada and Miyonoya Shirô Kunitoshi. The other Kagekiyo-mono included in the 18 Kabuki plays are  "Kagekiyo" "Kamahige" and "Gedatsu". All the Kagekiyo-mono take place at the end of the 12th century during the power struggle between the Taira family (Heike clan) and the Minamoto family (Genji clan). It became a full blown civil war which ended with the defeat of the Heike clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate in 1185. Kagekiyo is a warrior of the Heike clan and these plays tell his story and ultimately his defeat.

In the third act of Kan-U, the warriors are transformed into statues of legendary generals Kan U (Shigetada), Ryû Bi (Kumagai) and Chô Hi (Kagekiyo). They drink to celebrate this new fraternity and call for the famous and beautiful concubine Ô Bijin (Akoya). They are joined by other warriors and the heroes announce their intention of overthrowing the Genji clan to bring peace and prosperity in the Empire of the Rising Sun.

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