Episode 4Mid-Bout, He Turned Into a MosquitoKazumo (The Mosquito Wrestler)
A show-off daimyo demands a strong new retainer by the end of the day, so Taro Kaja runs out to the highway and finds a sumo wrestler who claims he's never lost. There's just one problem: he's actually a man-sized Mosquito Spirit.
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Story summary
Kazumo is a short comic play from kyogen, the spoken comedy that grew up alongside Japan's solemn noh theater and has been performed for roughly 600 years. The title combines ka (mosquito) and sumo, Japan's traditional style of wrestling, so an English title might simply be The Mosquito Wrestler. It belongs to a group known as daimyo plays, which poke fun at lords. Both of today's major kyogen schools, Okura and Izumi, perform it. As with many stage works passed down through performers, wording and small details can vary by school and by production.
Kazumo (The Mosquito Wrestler): Kyogen Plot Summary and Meaning
In short: Kazumo (The Mosquito Wrestler) is a classical Japanese kyogen comedy about a boastful lord who hires a sumo wrestler, only to discover that he is a blood-drinking mosquito spirit. The lord defeats the spirit with the wind from a big fan, then challenges his own servant, Taro Kaja, and gets thrown. The play belongs to the repertoire of kyogen's Okura and Izumi schools.
What Is Kazumo?
Kazumo is a short comic play from kyogen, the spoken comedy that grew up alongside Japan's solemn noh theater and has been performed for roughly 600 years. The title combines ka (mosquito) and sumo, Japan's traditional style of wrestling, so an English title might simply be The Mosquito Wrestler.
It belongs to a group known as daimyo plays, which poke fun at lords. Both of today's major kyogen schools, Okura and Izumi, perform it. As with many stage works passed down through performers, wording and small details can vary by school and by production.
The Original Story of Kazumo
A lord from a distant province decides he doesn't have enough retainers. He wants to take on someone with a useful talent, such as a sumo wrestler, so he sends his servant Taro Kaja out to the highway to find a candidate. The audience then learns a secret the characters don't know: a mosquito spirit steps forward and explains that he has taken human form so he can drink people's blood.
On the road, Taro Kaja meets a man who says he comes from Moriyama in Omi Province (today's Shiga Prefecture) and that he wrestles. Taro Kaja offers him a job and brings him home. The lord asks where he is from, hears the answer, and decides to test the newcomer's skill by wrestling him personally. Mid-bout, the man stabs the lord with a needle-like sucker at his mouth and drinks his blood. The lord's head spins and he collapses.
When he recovers, the lord remembers that Moriyama is famous for its mosquitoes, and he sees the truth. He proposes a second round and tells Taro Kaja to fan hard with a large fan. Mosquitoes can't handle wind, so the spirit staggers, gets blown about, and flees.
Drunk on his victory, the lord then challenges Taro Kaja as well, and the servant throws him. The play ends with the lord chasing Taro Kaja away, shouting "Yarumaizo!" (roughly, "Don't let him get away!"), one of kyogen's classic closing lines.
Main Characters
The lord (daimyo) is the lead role. He is vain and full of bluster, but he is not a complete fool: he is the one who solves the mystery from a single place name. Taro Kaja, kyogen's best-known servant character, runs the errands and works the fan, and he turns out to be stronger than his master. The mosquito spirit is the troublemaker in human disguise. On stage he usually wears a comic mask with a prop sucker attached at the mouth, though the exact mask can differ by school and performer.
What the Play Is Really Laughing At
Kyogen is traditionally staged alongside noh, and it offers a very different mood. Where noh often deals with ghosts, grief, and the distant past, kyogen tends to find its laughs in ordinary human weakness. A lord in these plays is usually less a mighty ruler than a small-time landholder trying to look important, which makes him an easy target.
There is no official moral, but Kazumo is easy to read as a joke about pride. The lord wants more retainers so that he will look grander, and his ambition brings a bloodsucker straight into his home. His one moment of cleverness goes to his head at once, and the servant he bullies ends up on top. Seeing a master thrown by his own servant is a familiar pleasure of kyogen.
The other joke is the sheer silliness of the premise. Everyone knows the small misery of a mosquito bite, and the play scales it up into a wrestling match. The cure is just as homely: you wave a fan. It also works as a little piece of local humor, since the clue depends on knowing Moriyama's reputation for mosquitoes.
What the Manga Changes
The manga follows the play's main path: the lord's search for a retainer, the meeting on the highway, the bite, the Moriyama clue, the fan, and the final throw and chase. Some of the storytelling, however, is new.
The biggest addition is the transformation. On the traditional stage, a mask and a prop sucker are enough to suggest a mosquito. In the manga, the wrestler visibly changes from a man into a giant mosquito, with wings, legs, and compound eyes, drawn to be funny rather than frightening. The man's human design is also new, inspired by the feel of the stage mask.
The manga also adds pressure and comic exaggeration. The same-day deadline for finding a retainer and the wrestler's boast that he has never lost give the story a quick setup. The lively highway scenery, the mosquito's comic inner thoughts, the over-the-top sumo action, a lord deflating as his blood is drained, and a huge fan that sends the spirit spinning are all manga inventions. The dialogue is freshly written in modern language, and bonus panels showing what happens after the final chase sit apart from the main story.
Where to Read It
If you'd like to see a man-sized mosquito lose a fight to a fan, read Episode 4, "Mid-Bout, He Turned Into a Mosquito," in KYOGEN: Japan's 600-Year-Old Comedy here on Manga Portal. Every episode is free, with no sign-up needed, so it's easy to go on to the series' other comedies once this one has made you laugh.
Characters in this episode
The Lord (Daimyo)
A vain provincial lord who wants more retainers, wrestles a stranger to test him, and figures out the mosquito's true identity.
Taro Kaja
The lord's servant, a stock kyogen character, who brings the wrestler home, fans the spirit away, and finally throws his own master.
The Mosquito Spirit
A blood-drinking spirit from Moriyama in Omi Province who disguises himself as a human sumo wrestler.
FAQ
What is the kyogen play Kazumo about?
Kazumo is about a lord who hires a sumo wrestler who turns out to be a mosquito spirit in disguise. The spirit drinks the lord's blood during a bout, but the lord works out his identity and has him blown away with a large fan.
How does the lord figure out the wrestler is a mosquito?
The wrestler says he comes from Moriyama in Omi Province, and after being bitten the lord remembers that the place is famous for mosquitoes. That single clue reveals who his opponent really is.
How is the mosquito spirit defeated in Kazumo?
The lord proposes a rematch and has his servant Taro Kaja fan with a large fan. The spirit can't stand the wind, so he staggers, gets blown around, and runs away.
Who is Taro Kaja in kyogen?
Taro Kaja is kyogen's best-known servant character and appears in many different plays. In Kazumo, he finds the wrestler, works the fan, and ends the play by throwing his own master.
Does the mosquito really transform in the original play?
Not in the way the manga shows it. On stage, the character is usually suggested by a comic mask and a prop sucker at the mouth, while the man-to-giant-mosquito transformation is a manga addition.
