Kanjinchō

Kanjinchō 勧進帳
Ichikawa Ebizō V as Benkei (front) and Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII as Togashi in the 1840 production of Kanjinchō
Written by	Namiki Gohei III
Characters	Yoshitsune, Benkei, Togashi
Date premiered	March 1840, Kawarazaki-za, Edo
Original language	Japanese
Genre	jidaimono
Setting	A gate on a post road, c. 1160–80.

Kanjinchō (勧進帳, The Subscription List) is a Japanese kabuki play by Namiki Gohei III, based on the Noh play Ataka. It is one of the most popular plays in the modern kabuki repertory.

Belonging to the repertories of the Naritaya and Kōritaya guilds, the play was first performed in March 1840 at the Kawarazaki-za, in Edo. Ichikawa Ebizō V, Ichikawa Kuzō II, and Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII played the leading roles of Benkei, Togashi, and Yoshitsune, respectively. The lines of Ichikawa Danjūrō and Matsumoto Kōshirō have come to be particularly celebrated for playing the role of Benkei in Kanjinchō.

Though bearing the same name and general narrative concept as a 1702 play, one of the Kabuki Jūhachiban, the modern version of Kanjinchō, going back to 1840, is believed to not be directly derived from or connected to this earlier aragoto piece.

Akira Kurosawa's film The Men who Tread on the Tiger's Tail is partly based on Kanjinchō.

Taking place in the mid- to late 12th century, the play begins with a local noble called Togashi Saemon, who is charged with defending a particular gate along the road. He warns his men to be vigilant, for Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the great warrior of the Minamoto clan, is said to be traveling on the road, disguised as a porter.

Yoshitsune and his follower Benkei enter to music and begin to explain to Togashi that they are simple priests journeying around the northern provinces, seeking donations for the Tōdai-ji in Nara. Togashi thus asks that they prove themselves to be priests and asks for a kanjinchō, a subscription list of those who have donated already. Benkei, having been a mountain ascetic (yamabushi), is educated in traditional Buddhist teachings and has little trouble passing as a priest. But he does not have a kanjinchō; so, in a particularly famous moment in kabuki, he pulls out a blank scroll and begins reading from it as if it were a real subscription list.