屏風はたたまれた / The Folding Screen Was Closed

Yajuro Yoshimura is a talented young samurai whose arranged marriage has recently been settled.

He then receives repeated letters from a woman named Yuki, claiming that a sheltered young lady called Chiyo has fallen desperately in love with him.

At a theater teahouse, behind a folding screen and beneath dim lantern light, Yajuro meets the mysterious woman. Their secret meetings continue, and he becomes determined to abandon his arranged marriage and make Chiyo his wife.

But after their seventh meeting, Chiyo vanishes.

The teahouses deny that Yuki, Chiyo, or even the servants Yajuro remembers ever existed. Every trace of the encounters appears to have been deliberately erased.

Unable to forget her, Yajuro searches for an explanation and begins connecting Chiyo with rumors surrounding the birth of his lord's heir.

His father finally asks whether this obsession is truly the most important matter in his life.

At that moment, Yajuro imagines the folding screen being taken down. The illusion releases its hold upon him.

"The Folding Screen Was Closed" is a subtle psychological tale of secrecy, desire, memory, social duty, and the moment a person chooses to let go.

Written by Shugoro Yamamoto.

Narrated by Shichimi Shungorō.

Produced and published by Marutake Shobo.

縁談を控えた青年武士・吉村弥十郎のもとへ、「ゆき」と名乗る乳母から奇妙な手紙が届く。

仕える娘・千夜が弥十郎を見初め、恋い焦がれて病気のようになっているため、一度だけ会ってほしいという。

劇場茶屋の閉ざされた座敷。雪洞の淡い光と、立て回された屏風の内側で、弥十郎は素性を明かさない千夜と会う。

秘密の逢瀬を重ねるうち、弥十郎は決められた縁談を破棄し、千夜を妻に迎えようと決意する。

しかし七度目の後、千夜は突然姿を消す。

茶屋は「ゆき」という女も千夜も知らず、弥十郎が会った女中さえ存在しなかったと答える。二人が会った事実そのものが、初めからなかったように消されていた。

千夜を忘れられない弥十郎は、やがて藩主の世子誕生をめぐる噂と彼女を結びつけて考え始める。

だが父から、自分にはほかに大切なことがないのかと問われた瞬間、弥十郎の心に立てられていた屏風が静かにたたまれる。

秘密の恋、記憶の誇張、執着からの解放を描く、山本周五郎の繊細な心理時代小説。

YouTube:七味春五郎の音本