Sawamura Tosshō as Kameya Chūbei among Rice Sheafs

Sawamura Tosshō plays the character of Chūbei in the drama The Fast Messenger from the Netherworld (Meido no hikkyaku). Chūbei and his lover Umegawa escape to his native village and he visits his father before being captured by guards for having stolen money entrusted to him so he could buy Umegawa out of the brothel. The well-known play Meido no hikkyaku by Chikamatsu Monzaemon premiered in 1711 as a marionette performance in the Takemotoza Theatre in Ōsaka in the kabuki repertoire under the title Umegawa and Chūbei (Umegawa Chūbei). This performance was mounted in Edo (today’s Tokyo) in 1812, 1837 and 1843. (See Helena Honcoopová, Kunisada, Praha 2005, p. 129)