Kato Kiyomasa

The play

This is an historical play in three acts premiered in 1890, a shortened version of a 6-acts play called « Minori no aki seicho denki » dated 1875. The original play used disguised names for the characters to avoid censorship, but the 1890 shortened version uses the real names.

Historical context: Toyotomi Hideyoshi rose from a humble background to become the most powerful ruler of united Japan in 1590's.  But he died while his only remaining heir, Toyotomi Hideyori, was still very young. Anxious as to the future of the Toyotomi clan, he named Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of his generals, to act as Hideyori's guardian and trustee of the regime until the youth becomes of age. After Hideyoshi's death, his followers split into rival factions and Ieyasu played them off one against the other until eventually in a decisive battle, Tokugawa Ieyasu and his Army of the East got the upper hand.  He decided to build his castle in Edo (now Tokyo) while the Toyotomi clan stayed in the Osaka castle.  

Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611) was one of the generals of the Korean war in 1592 under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When Hideyoshi died in 1598, Kato went back to Japan and joined the Army of the East led by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who defeated the West coalition in 1600. Ieyasu became shogun and Kato was then rewarded with a domain.

In 1610, war would break out between the Tokugawa clan and the Toyotomi clan, the latter trying to assert his inheritance rights. The play  chronicles of Kato Kiyomasa's attempts as mediator  to promote peace.

He died shortly after in 1611, probably poisoned. The war between the two camps took place three years later and ended with the final elimination of the Toyotomi clan and the destruction of their castle in Osaka by Tokugawa troops in 1615.

Main characters

• Kato Kiyomasa: Vétéran de la guerre de Corée, vassal de Toyotomi Hideyori, veut préserver la paix

• Toyotomi Hideyori: Jeune chef du clan Toyotomi, héritier légitime du pouvoir

• Yodogimi: Mère d'Hideyori, Veut la guerre.

• Ono Dogen: Vassal d'Hideyori, partisan de la guerre

• Katagiri Katsumoto: Vassal d'Hideyori, partisan de la paix

• Sakakibara Yasumasa: Emissaire de Tokugawa Ieyasu

The plot

Prologue

Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu is the guardian of Toyotomi Hideyori, son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Yodogimi, Hideyori's mother would like to overthrow Ieyasu so that her son becomes Japan's ruler. Ieyasu and Hideyori meet at Nijo-jo Castle in Kyoto where Hideyori is accompanied by Kato Kiyomasa and his lieutenants Ikeda Terumasa and Asano Yoshinaga. In Hideyori's absence, they are served dishes poisoned with manju, a very slow but incurable poison.

Act I 

The first act takes place at the Hideyoshi Mausoleum in Kyoto. Ikeda and Asano, the two lieutenants knowing they are doomed, go to Hideyoshi mausoleum to say goodbye to their master and kill themselves. Kiyomasa joins them there, but asks them not to kill themselves as it could start a war that Hideyori's supporters are not ready for. He tells them that for now the preservation of peace is more important and that they must wait until Hideyori grows up and Ieyasu is old and weak to take revenge. They agree to return to their respective domains to die there without mentioning the poisoning and trying to keep the peace.

In the background, people sing a popular song about how even if the plum tree (ume) dies and the reeds (ogi) grow, the cherry trees (sakura) will still bloom. This is a parable saying that even if the Toyotomi (plum tree) clan falls and the Tokugawa (reed) clan wins, the important thing is that the emperor (the cherry tree) and the people flourish.