歌舞伎のてれめんもの Kabuki no Teremen Mono

http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/he13/he13_01345/he13_01345_p0017.jpgThe Rokuro Kubi - Teremen Chippei

Teremen Chippei て れ め ん ち っ ぺ い (Chippei means were-animal as in a human being transforming into an animal) is a rokuro kubi (轆轤首 - snake necked woman), one of a number of monsters who menace six soldiers in the story Ōishi Hyōroku Yume Monogatari 『大石兵六物語絵巻』 , a Kagoshima picture scroll written by Japanese writer Mōri Masanao 1761-1803. The story appeared as a dance for six actors on stage in Kagoshima and the version performed in the Kabuki theatre seems to have been a stage adaptation specifically drawn from the section about Teremen Chippeihttp://www.rekihaku.ac.jp/koohoo/journal/no106/rekishi.html

Meiji 21 July 1888 Sunday (明治２１年７ 月下旬　日曜日)

Okamoto Kido visited the Ichimuraza 市 村 座 Kabuki Theatre at Saruwaka

Cho 猿若町 ２丁目 chōme where he saw 「てれめん」 Teremen alongside

「 妹 背 山 婦 女 庭 訓 Imoseyama Onna Teikin 」 「 旅 雀 相 宿 噺 Tabi suzume

aiyado banashi （ 膝 栗 毛 Hizakurige Shank’s Mare ） 」 の テ レ コ (tape recording)

Kido says in his memoir Sugi Nishi Monogatari 過ぎにし物語 (lit. Beyond the West stories)

この「てれめん」の 轆轤首 問題 は, あまり 私 の 興味 を 惹かなかった が,

Kono ‘Teremen’ no rokuro-kubi mondai wa, amari watashi no kyōmi wo hikanakatta ga, ‘

On this issue of the pulley system used with the rokuro-kubi in ‘Teremen’, I wasn’t much interested nor attracted by it.

December 1950

At http://www.raizofan.net/onstage/500911butai.htmThe play is again mentioned as having been performed in December 1950 alongside 浪花評判娘長屋 Naniwa Hyōban Musume Nagaya (The Fame of the Osaka Tenement Girl) and it would seem that this was part of a Kabuki performance for which Ichikawa Raizō VIII   八代目市川雷蔵 (1931 – 1969,

who starred as Hirutaro the thief in Kon Ichikawa’s Yukinojo Henge 雪之丞変化 - An Actor’s Revenge) was a critic.

「てれめん」の焼直しで、作は極めて平板だが、若手連を中心に、鴈治郎、富十郎、蓑助が脇へ廻って助演という企画は、なかなか面白く、舞台にのびのびとした明るさが漂っていた。

‘Teremen’ is a rehash. Though focused on a young people’s company this is however an extremely monotonous work. Ganjirō, Tomijūrō, Minosuke (Minosuke Yoshida III 三世吉田簑助 bunraku puppeteer) provided supporting roles alongside co-star Kikaku. There is a considerably interesting section when a stage light was floated around the theatre.

Elsewhere

Teremen is also mentioned in A Modern History of Kabuki: Kyōtō Studies Supplement: 1943 – 1947 第 2 巻　明治 18 年～明治 26 年 as てれめんもの

Rokuro-kubi 轆 轤 首 , snake necked woman, is another yokai. A young attractive woman in a kimono with either an extendable snake like neck or a completely detachable head who feeds on human life force. They sometimes take employment as entertainers or get married. They hunt at night by extending their neckhttp://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Yokai