Okuyama no Botan (奥山の牡丹)

Okuyama no Botan (English title: The Peony of the Deep Mountains) is one of the famous, tragic Okinawan Plays along with Iejima Handuguwa and Toumaiahkah.

Due to his father’s dissipated life, the son from a loyal family lived in the countryside where he fell in love with a woman named Chi-rah. They had a child together; however, their relationship was not approved due to class differences. Wishing a better future for her son, Chi-rah decides to let go of him go and disappears into the deep mountains. (It’s also said Chi-rah is separated from her son by the loyal family’s servants.) When her son grew older, he travels to find his mother. However, a tragic ending awaits the two…

The play was written by Inchiki Ihara (伊良波尹吉) who was born in Yonabaru-Cho in 1886.