Yabuiri (The Servant's Holiday)
藪入り・やぶいり
The story
Kamekichi, the only son sent away to live and work as an apprentice at a merchant house, comes home for the first time in ages on the yabuiri holiday. His father, Kumagoro, is so overjoyed to see how splendidly his boy has grown that he cannot sleep the night before and fusses over every last detail. But when he spots a large sum of money in his son's purse, he leaps to the conclusion that the boy has stolen it and bellows at him in a rage.
What to listen for
The endearing first half, with the father restless and jittery as he waits for his son, and the swing in the second half from a mistaken suspicion over the money toward a tearful reconciliation. A masterpiece of the human-drama genre, deeply moving in its portrait of a father's clumsy love.
Background
Yabuiri was a precious twice-yearly holiday — on the sixteenth day of the first and seventh months — when live-in servants and young brides were allowed to leave their master's household and return home to their own families.
Notable performers
三代目三遊亭金馬五代目古今亭志ん生