Ashiya doman ouchikagami
出典: ArtWiki
芦屋道満大内鑑(あしやどうまんおおうちかがみ)
The Kuzunoha act from Ashiya dôman ôuchi kagami consists of three scenes. The first takes place outside the family home of Yasuna and Kuzunoha in Abeno.
After 6 years in peaceful harmony between Yasuna and the white fox, who has taken the appearance of his betrothed Kuzunoha, change comes swiftly. One day their son Dôji is rebuked by his fox mother for harming insects in his play and is made to take a noon nap. Meanwhile the real Kuzunoha and her parents suddenly appear in their search for her btrothed Yasuna. They happen to get a glimpse of the doppelganger through an open window. Sensing something supernatural they hide to await the course of events and alarm Yasuna on his return home. Confusion is complete when the real Kuzunoha is perplexed that Yasuna treats her as if they had been living together and Yasuna discover a second Kuzunoha inside the house.
Scene two allow us to witness the drama inside. The Shinodas hide again and as soon as the fox hears that they are coming over she knows that she can no longer continue to live with her family in the form of Kuzunoha. This scene is a popular subject in ukiyo-e woodblock prints, and most representations show the unhappy fox mother parting with her sleeping child. She leaves a farewell poem and reveals her supernatural powers by swiftly writing in beautiful calligraphy with the brush in her mouth without loosening her embrace of their sleeping son. Yasuna tries to stop her but she repels him and flies away.
The last scene is a dramatic michiyuki, where the actor playing the fox is often suspended in free air to simulate the flight of the fox, as is the case in this particular performance. The last act also involves a skirmish between the fox and retainers of the evil opponent Ishikawa Akuemon before she takes off.
