遠い記憶の子守唄

対象:一般向け ／ 時間:60〜70分

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罪は縄で、歌は記憶で。

遠い夜でも、子守唄は道を忘れない。

Crime is for the rope; song is for memory.

Even in the farthest night, a lullaby never forgets the way.

【あらすじ】

山中を逃れる二人の男。

赤子の泣き声に追手が迫る中、ひとりが口ずさむ子守唄だけが夜を鎮めた——。

赤子は寡婦・お徳に託され、時は流れて十八年。

町はずれの蕎麦屋には、気立ての良い娘・お小夜と、彼女を案じる目明し・清吉。そこへ現れた流れ者、質屋崩れの金貸し、そして一点の“花嫁衣裳”。

借りと恩、法と情、言えぬ名が同じ店先に集まり、かつての約束と未払いの勘定が時を越えて心を揺らす。

舞台はやがて再び山へ——誰が刃を収め、誰が手を伸ばすのか。

縄か、歌か、明日の一歩か。

灯が落ちる直前、遠い夜の旋律だけが静かに道を示す。

Two men on the run in the mountains.

As pursuers close in to the cry of an infant, a lullaby hummed by one of them is the only thing that calms the night—

The infant is entrusted to a widow, O-Toku, and time passes—eighteen years.

At a soba shop on the town’s edge are a kind-hearted girl, O-Sayo, and Seikichi, a constable who worries for her. Into their orbit come a drifter, a fallen pawnbroker turned moneylender, and a single “bridal kimono.”

Debts and favors, law and mercy, and an unspoken name gather at the same shopfront; old promises and unpaid accounts stir hearts across time.

The stage at last returns to the mountains—who will sheath the blade, and who will reach out a hand?

The rope, the song, or tomorrow’s first step?

Just before the lights go out, only the melody of a distant night quietly shows the way.

江