CHAPTER XXIX

Contemporary Kabuki 367

Bibliography 377

Index 379

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACE PAGE The character of Kamakura Gongoro, a warrior of Old Japan, as presented in Shibaraku! (lit., Wait-a-Moment). A famous actor improvisation, or aragoto play, one of the hereditary eighteen pieces of the Ichikawa Danjuro family. (From a painting on silk by Torii Kiyotada, the present head of the Torii School) _Frontispiece, in colour_

Onoe Kikugoro as a brave samurai woman mounted on a white velvet stage steed 22

Nakamura Matagoro, the leading boy-actor of the Tokyo stage in the rôle of a girl-pilgrim, O-Tsuru 36

Announcing Ceremony. Kojo, or announcement ceremony, in which the central figure is Ichikawa Danjuro. The modest actor whose name is to be changed or rank raised bows low, hiding his face from view. (Colour print by Hasegawa Kampei, the fourteenth, and Torii Kiyosada, father of Kiyotada) 40

The last of the Ichikawa family, the granddaughter of Ichikawa Danjuro, the ninth 42

Theatre Treasures exhibited. At the Nakamura-za, founded by Saruwaka Kansaburo, the gifts given to him by the Shogun were considered as treasures of the theatre and exhibited on certain anniversaries with much respect, the actor holding the gold sai, or battle signal, and covering his mouth with a piece of paper lest his breath soil it. (Colour print by Hasegawa Kampei, the fourteenth, and Torii Kiyosada, father of Kiyotada) 69

Ichimura Uzaemon, the thirteenth, as Yasuna in a posture dance descriptive of a man who has become demented because of the loss of his wife 82

Onoe Matsusuke as Komori Yasu, or Bat Yasu, so called because of the birth-mark on his cheek which resembles a bat. A bold, bad man of Yedo 99

Matsumoto Koshiro, of the Imperial Theatre, in the character of Townsend Harris, the first American Minister to Japan. A photograph of the intrepid Kentucky Colonel is on the actor’s dressing-table 111

Nakamura Utayemon, leading actor of the Tokyo stage, in the rôle of Yayegaki-hime, the young princess in the play Nijushiko, or Twenty-four Filial Persons 132

Three onnagata of Asia: in the centre Mei Ran-fan of the Peking stage, to the left Nakamura Utayemon, the leading onnagata of Japan, and on the right Nakamura Fukusuke, the son of Utayemon and one of the most fascinating impersonators of women in Tokyo 136

Nakamura Jakuyemon of Osaka, an onnagata who imitates the acting of the marionettes 140

Yoshida Bungoro, a doll-handler of the Bunraku-za of Osaka, who has devoted his life to the management of female marionettes 144

A scene from Chushingura, as played by the marionettes in the Bunraku-za of Osaka 148

O-Sato, heroine of a ballad-drama of the Doll-theatre. Reproduced from an oil painting by an Osaka artist and shown in a Tokyo art exhibition. The doll-handlers are grouped behind like shadows 150

Yakusha making a round of New Year calls. In the foreground a member of the Ichikawa family, with two pupils and his servants, following behind an onnagata similarly attended. The kites in the picture show the favourite pastime of children during the New Year holidays. (Colour print by Hasegawa Kampei, the fourteenth, and Torii Kiyosada, father of Kiyotada) 154

Matsumoto Koshiro in the rôle of an otokodate, or chivalrous commoner, ready to defend the oppressed lower classes from the blustering two-sworded samurai 160

Nakamura Kichiyemon as Kumagae, a warrior of Old Japan 166

To mark the opening of the theatre season when actors, playwrights, and musicians were engaged, there was a gathering called Seeing-for-the-First-Time. (Colour print by Torii Kiyonaga) 175

Advertising the Play. During the performances two men garbed in long trailing feminine attire, their heads covered with cotton towels, attracted the passers-by by their verbal advertisement. One imitated the lines of the actors, and the other handed out wooden tickets. (Colour print by Hasegawa Kampei, the fourteenth, and Torii Kiyosada, father of Kiyotada) 177

Face Lights for the Actors. When the theatre became dark it was necessary to illumine the actor’s face with candle-light. Here property men are holding out candles on the ends of pliant rods that the face of the dancer may be seen, and candles form the footlights. The performer is the serpent princess in the disguise of a beautiful dancer in the piece Dojo-ji. (Colour print by Hasegawa Kampei, the fourteenth, and Torii Kiyosada, father of Kiyotada) 181

Ceremony of welcoming an actor. It represents the onnagata, Segawa Kikunojo, returning to the Nakamura-za in Yedo after an absence of two years in Osaka. (From colour print by Utagawa Toyokuni) 182

Nakamura Ganjiro of Osaka as a melancholy lover in a play of the people 186

Nakamura Fukusuke of Tokyo in an onnagata rôle 215

A Kaomise, or face-showing ceremony at the Nakamura-za in 1772. By this time the roof of the stage had disappeared and only its symbol remained over the front of the stage, which now approached the long narrow style in vogue in the Doll-theatre. (Colour print by Utagawa Toyoharu) 217

Interior of the Nakamura-za in 1798 when Ichikawa Danjuro, the sixth, was promoted to the head of the theatre. By this time the roof of the stage had become a decoration overhead. (Colour print by Utagawa Toyokuni) 218

The largest Nō theatre in Japan, that of Onishi Ryotaro in Osaka, a modern structure combining architectural features representing the different periods of Nō theatre development 220

Kataoka Nizaemon, the eleventh, as Yuranosuke, the leader of the Forty-seven Ronin, in the play Chushingura 228

Nakamura Ganjiro of Osaka in his favourite rôle, that of Izaemon, the lover of Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s drama, and played for two centuries by the Kabuki actors 256

Matsumoto Koshiro, the seventh, as Watonai, the grotesque hero of Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s drama, Kokusenya Kassen, or the Battle of Kokusenya. The inner garment is bright red studded with brass, the lower purple with a design of twisted white rope 262

Matsumoto Koshiro, the seventh, as Benkei, the warrior-priest in Kanjincho. He performed in this rôle when the Prince of Wales visited the Imperial Theatre 264

Sawamura Sojuro, the seventh, of the Imperial Theatre, as Togashi, the keeper of the barrier, in Kanjincho, Kabuki’s music-drama masterpiece 266

Morita Kanya, the thirteenth, son of the aggressive theatre manager of Meiji, as Yoshitsune, the young hero of the music-drama, Kanjincho 268

Onoe Baiko as the Wistaria Maiden, in a descriptive dance 272

Onoe Kikugoro, the sixth, as the transformation of a maid into a white fox, in a descriptive dance, Kagami Shishi, or the Mirror-Lion 274

Nakamura Ganjiro of Osaka as Genzo, the village schoolmaster in Terakoya, or The Village School, by Takeda Izumo 278

Ichikawa Chusha as Matsuomaru in Terakoya (The Village School), who sacrifices the life of his son that the Michizane heir may survive 280

Jitsukawa Enjaku of Osaka as Gonta in the sacrifice play, Sembonzakura, by Takeda Izumo 282

Ichikawa Sadanji as Sadakura, the highwayman, in the play Chushingura 284

The Harakiri scene from Chushingura 286

Scene from Yotsuya Kaidan, or The Ghost of Yotsuya, by Namboku Tsuruya. Onoe Baiko is seen as the disfigured O-Iwa, and Onoe Matsusuke the kind old masseur who holds up the mirror that she may learn the truth 294

Banzuiin Chobei, a man of the people, rôle by Matsumoto Koshiro 300

Nakamura Kichiyemon as Sakura Sogoro, the Village Head who his life for the good of the people 302

Nakamura Fukusuke of Osaka as a belle of the gay quarters. Letters are made as long as possible to produce the better effect 304

Onoe Baiko as the demon woman in Ibaraki, escaping with her severed arm 306

Matsumoto Koshiro and Onoe Baiko in Seikinoto, the music-drama piece, in which Baiko appeared as the spirit of the cherry tree 316

Ritsu-Ko Mori, the leading actress of the Tokyo stage 347

The Imperial Theatre of Tokyo, completed in 1911. The building withstood the earthquake shocks of the great disaster of 1923, but the interior was destroyed by fire. It has now been entirely restored. The Imperial is becoming an international theatre centre, and has welcomed actors, musicians, and dancers from England, America, Russia, Italy, and China 368

Onoe Baiko, leading actor of the Imperial Theatre in an onnagata rôle 370

(1) The new Kabuki-za. (2) Entrance Hall of the new Kabuki-za. The new Kabuki-za, with a seating capacity of 4000, which was opened on January 6, 1925. Under construction at the time of the earthquake disaster, September 1, 1923, the concrete structure remained intact. Japanese architectural features have been used throughout the Kabuki-za, and, rising out of the ruins of the city, it is one of the most imposing buildings in Tokyo 374

INTRODUCTION

Interest in the Theatre, and in the arts and crafts which belong to it, is to-day so lively and so general that it is rather surprising how little has been written about the popular theatre in Japan. There have been several books on the Nō, that unique form of drama which rigidly maintains unaltered all the traditions and fine conventions of the medieval period. But this stationary, aristocratic art has never entered into the life of the Japanese people as has the Kabuki theatre, with which the present volume is concerned. In January of this year was opened the new building of the Kabuki-za, rising from the ashes and ruins of the capital. It is a huge building, with a seating capacity of four thousand. The Japanese cannot live without the theatre: it is in a most real sense part of the national life. Through the theatre the least educated become familiar with the heroic past of their country, its legends and its actual history, so abounding in dramatic episodes “where duty and inclination come nobly to the grapple”. It stimulates and sustains their imaginative life; it is a bond of union for all sorts and conditions of men. Such a theatre is worth knowing about; and the art of this theatre is, in all its details, of extraordinary interest. No nation is so thorough as the Japanese in any art they undertake; and the Kabuki theatre exacts the most prolonged and rigorous training from childhood in those who serve it; their art is of the most finished. Technically, also, the devices and conventions of Kabuki scenes—the revolving stage, for instance—offer points of comparison and contrast with the European theatre which we can profitably study, as readers of this book will discover.

The writer of this book has lived for years in Japan, has assiduously frequented the theatre (and not the Kabuki theatre only), and has made herself intimately acquainted with its history. Collectors and students of Japanese colour-prints know how entwined with that popular art is the life of the theatre. Some of the finest designers of those beautiful prints devoted their lives to depicting the actors of the day in their most successful scenes. And print-collectors have long been in want of a book which would tell them about the famous actors, whether of masculine or feminine parts (for women, as on the Elizabethan stage, were played by men), and about the plays in which they appeared. Only quite recently has it been discovered that the actor-prints can very often be dated by the help of theatre-records; and thus we are enabled to distinguish between the different actors of stage-families bearing the same name. (The hereditary character of the actor’s calling is another interesting feature of the Japanese stage.) In this book one’s natural curiosity about the lives and personalities of the successive Danjuros and other great actors is in large measure satisfied: and I am sure that print-collectors will welcome this illuminating aid to their study. But it is to those interested in the theatre as theatre that these pages will appeal above all.

Many of us remember the performances of Sada Yacco and her husband, Mr. Kawakami, in London, now many years ago. They gave us just a glimpse of the fascination of Japanese acting: but they represented an experimental effort—Sada Yacco herself was an actress only by accident—and in the West we have never seen any true representation of the national drama of Japan. I cannot but express the hope, which I am sure will be shared by those who read these pages, that before long Tokyo may be persuaded to send a company to Europe, and at last allow us to enjoy and understand something of the scrupulous and intense dramatic art, so rich in tradition yet so alive to the finger-tips, of the Japanese popular theatre.

LAURENCE BINYON.

KABUKI