The Tokaido highway is bathed in
the soft sunlight of an autumn evening.
Tokijiro, a young samurai, is accosted by
an old man of his acquaintance who
says the family of Ayame, Tokijiro's sweetheart,
has suddenly fallen on bad
times since the father's death and been reduced
to a state of virtual beggary, so
it may not be possible for him to marry her.
The worldly-wise old man adds
that "the world is like flowing water,
like bubbles that surface and then
disappear in the rapids, so you had better
not take it too much to heart." A
palanquin carrying Ayame happens to stop
in front of a tea-house. Ayame
intends to raise money to help her destitute
family by selling herself into
prostitution in Yoshiwara. Descending from
the palanquin Ayame is persuaded
by the proprietor of the Yamanaya brothel
to affix her thumb-mark to a
contract. Seeing this, Tokijiro is enraged
and puts his hand to his sword, but
Ayame tells him that he cannot save the situation
with his sword and that he
should resign himself and forget her. She
then gets into the palanquin again.
Stating after her in a daze, Tokijiro returns
his sword to its scabbard, and as he
does so, his hand comes in contact with a
heavy purse in the bosom of his
kimono. It contains money which has been
entrusted to him by his master. He
suddenly sees a ray of hope.
Scene 2:
Leaving Edo, Tokijiro goes to the Yamanaya
and, producing the money,
negotiates for the purchase of Ayame's freedom,
but knowing nothing of the
world, he is no match for the wily proprietor.
He is cheated out of the money
and sinks into the depths of despair. Heating
what has happened, Ayame
strikes a bargain with the Yamanaya proprietor
whereby she agrees to remain
in his service in exchange for the return
of the money to Tokijiro. She then asks
Tokijiro to forget her and return home. But
Tokijiro cannot live without her.
He urges her to run away with him, and Ayame
giving way to his passionate
pleas, the lovers start to leave the house
hand in hand. But they are stopped
and Ayame is seized.
Scene 3:
I It is a snowy night. Tokijiro has made
up his mind. He steals into the
Yamanaya and finds Ayame tried to a pine
tree in the garden. Exchanging
vows of eternal love, the two bid farewell
to this world of woe.
