This play is an example of a ‘dance piece’, or shosagoto, one of the three main categories of kabuki play. The other types are jidaimono, which feature historical plots and characters; and sewamono, or ‘domestic plays’, which generally focus on commoners in a contemporary setting.
Handsome boatmen ferrying passengers across the Sumida River in the capital city of Edo were popular idols of the Edo period (1600-1868). The only thing they feared was thunderstorms. This humorous dance shows a comical encounter between a drunken boatman (here a boatwoman) and the Thunder Spirit, carrying his drums and dressed in an animal skin loincloth.
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