Princess Shiranui, Tametomo's wife (role )

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Biography:

A fictional character. In 1969 Yukio Mishima, one year before he committed seppuku, he wrote a play, Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki (Strange Stories of the Great Archer with a Crescent-shaped Bow) for the kabuki stage. A synopsis of Act II was given in the Japan Times by Rei Sasaguchi on December 25, 2002. It said:

Act II sees Tametomo at Shiramine, where he intends to commit suicide before the tomb of Shutoku. However, the former emperor appears to Tametomo in a vision and tells him not to follow him in death, promising also to protect Tametomo’s family. Following Shutoku’s advice, Tametomo makes his way to Higo (now Kumamoto Prefecture) in Kyushu. There he is reunited with his wife, Shiranui (Bando Tamasaburo), in a mountain hideout. She is now the leader of a bandit army, and in a stunningly incongruous earlier scene at her palatial residence, Shiranui — dressed in a sumptuous red kimono — coolly plays the koto as her ladies-in-waiting torture to death a captive.

Tametomo leads Shiranui’s men against the Taira forces, and with Shiranui and their son Sutemaru, the loyal Takama no Taro and his wife, Isohagi (Nakamura Fukusuke), and old Kiheiji, he goes to sea. In a spectacular scene, the group cruise the waters in a handsome ship, which fills the entire stage. Tragedy strikes when a violent storm breaks out and Sutemaru and others are thrown overboard. Sacrificing herself for Tametomo’s safety, Shiranui casts herself into the raging waters. Miraculously, the storm subsides, and an enormous black butterfly — the spirit of Shiranui — emerges from the waves. Sutemaru is saved from drowning by Kiheiji, and the two ride on a giant fish, protected by the hovering butterfly.

In a footnote to the text of the Mishima play it notes that Shiranui is referred to as an akahime or red princess. "In kabuki a princess usually appears in a vermilion costume brocaded with gold and silver threads. Otherwise, "red" indicates evil or bravery or both."