次郎吉外伝〜橋物語〜

対象:一般向け ／ 時間:70〜80分

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命を拾った夜、運命が盗まれる。

橋の上で始まる、もう一つの鼠小僧。

On the night a life is saved, fate is stolen.

On a bridge begins another tale of Jirokichi the Rat Thief.

【あらすじ】

江戸・吾妻橋。妻お雪を亡くし、借金に追われ、生きる気力を失った男・佐吉は、思い出の橋の上から身を投げようとしていた。

そこへ現れたのは、どこか飄々とした男・次郎吉。ふざけたような物言いで佐吉の死に水を差しながらも、やがてその胸の内に耳を傾ける。

佐吉が語るのは、奉公先の娘だったお雪との出会い、身分違いの恋、駆け落ち、江戸で始めた小さな暮らし。そして、ようやく掴みかけた幸せを流行り病に奪われた悲しみだった。

「死ぬのはいつだってできる。お雪の分まで生きろ」

次郎吉の言葉と情けに救われたはずの佐吉。だが、弱った心は思わぬ方へ転がり始める。

情けは、人を救うのか。

それとも、人を狂わせるのか。

吾妻橋を舞台に、笑いと涙、義理と人情が交差する、鼠小僧次郎吉の知られざる外伝。

Edo, Azumabashi Bridge.

Having lost his wife Oyuki and fallen deep into debt, Sakichi has lost the will to live. On the very bridge filled with memories of his late wife, he prepares to throw himself into the river.

Just then, a carefree, mysterious man named Jirokichi appears. With words that sound half playful and half teasing, he interrupts Sakichi’s attempt to die. Yet little by little, he begins to draw out the sorrow hidden in Sakichi’s heart.

Sakichi speaks of Oyuki, the daughter of the household where he once served. He tells of their forbidden love, their elopement, the modest life they began together in Edo—and the grief of losing the happiness they had finally begun to build to a sudden illness.

“You can die anytime. Live on—for Oyuki’s sake as well as your own.”

Sakichi should have been saved by Jirokichi’s words and compassion. But a weakened heart can sometimes take kindness in an unexpected direction.

Does compassion save a man?

Or can it lead him astray?

Set on Azumabashi Bridge, this untold tale of Nezumi Kozō Jirokichi brings together laughter and tears, duty and humanity, in a story of Edo’s old-fashioned heart.