Kabuki

by Zoë Kincaid

But of all these actor-playwrights, by far the most interesting and significant was Ichikawa Danjuro, the first. The eighteen hereditary pieces of the Ichikawa family to-day are the treasures of Kabuki, reflecting much of the vanished taste and style of these old days.

More than half of these eighteen pieces were originated by the first Danjuro, and among them is Kanjincho, adapted from the Nō, and unquestionably the most perfect music-drama of Kabuki. Kanjincho (the name for a Buddhist scroll, in which the donors to a temple building fund were recorded) was first played by Danjuro in 1702, and the popularity of the piece was so great that the theatre was crowded daily. The first performances continued for 150 days—an unusually long run for those times, and gained the nickname, Oshiai Yunidan, or the To-Crowd-Together-Play. Danjuro had a nom de plume, Mimasuya Hyogo, and this he used when signing his plays. In the composition of the Ichikawa plays, Hayakawa Dengoro is said to have had a hand. He was the son of an Osaka theatre proprietor, and played upon the Yedo stage, appearing in the specialty of a katakiyaku, or villain. He collaborated with Danjuro in the play in four acts about the revenge of the Soga brothers, a piece which attracted great attention. Other of the Ichikawa plays owed much to this sakusha, and even Nakamura Hichisaburo was indebted to him for assistance in the composition of his piece, Keisei Asamagatake.

Adzuma Sampachi was a dokegata, or comedian, and wrote plays, and towards the end of his theatre career devoted himself exclusively to writing for the stage. At one time he presented a piece to the actors, and it was refused. Nothing daunted, he re-wrote again and again, presenting it six times. On the seventh trial it was appreciated, and the actors apologised and thanked him for his work. It was his custom to go out in a kago, or palanquin, slung on poles carried on the shoulders of bearers. He would pay the kago men to take him out into the country, or to some place of interest. On excursions of this kind he gained his ideas, and when his plan for a play was complete he gathered the actors together and began rehearsals. The piece by which he is best known is Yaoya O-Hichi, or O-Hichi, the Daughter of the Vegetable Dealer, based on a Yedo story of a girl who, in order to see her lover, committed a capital offence, setting fire to her father’s house, for which she suffered the death penalty. This play still remains a favourite on the Tokyo and Osaka stages. The critics of Sampachi’s time described him as utterly ignorant, that he pandered to the popular taste, and did not rank high among the sakusha.

Contemporary with these men, there was Nakamura Denkichi, who was the first professional playwright in Yedo. Before him the actors had combined in themselves the two professions, but Denkichi confined himself exclusively to writing. He was a cousin of Nakamura Kansaburo, and studied for the stage under Nakamura Denkuro, but abandoned it.

He considered that plays should above all please the eyes, and be written so as to be understood by women and children. Although his pieces were not distinguished for literary qualities, they made up for this lack in the spectacle provided for the eye. Denkichi must have been a better stage manager than a writer of plays, for under him the settings made great improvement.

At this time, there was Arashi Seisaburo, an illegitimate son of the second Nakamura Kansaburo, half-brother of the leading actor, Nakamura Hichisaburo. He collaborated with Danjuro, and one of his best plays is Ryujo Sanjuniso, or the Thirty-two-Faces-of-a-Dragon. There were also Nakamura Seigoro, a follower of Nakamura Denkichi, and Tsuuchi Jihei.

Kabuki’s wholesale borrowing of plays from the Ningyo-shibai began in 1717. The play that started this movement was Kokusenya Kassen, or The Battle of Kokusenya, by Chikamatsu. It had as hero a warrior whose mother was Japanese and father Chinese. The warrior went over to China to restore an emperor to the throne, performing the most amazing feats. The piece was full of Chinese ideas, and as a breath of the outside world, must have been appreciated at this time.

Whatever the attraction of this Chikamatsu piece, it ran for seventeen months at the Takemoto-za, the Osaka Doll-theatre. The second Ichikawa Danjuro gave this play in Yedo, and it was produced in Osaka and Kyoto. After this all the plays that proved successful in the Doll-theatre were quickly adapted to the needs of Kabuki.

Namiki Shozo (1730–1773) was one of the most prominent sakusha in Kyoto, during the middle decades of the eighteenth century. He studied under one of the best Ningyo-shibai playwrights, Namiki Sosuke, and wrote for the dolls as well as for the actors. In his time the vogue for the Doll-theatre had already begun to wane, and allured by the superior attractions of Kabuki he wrote more for the latter than for the dolls. His plays were full of complicated situations that tested the actor’s ability, a technique he had acquired as a result of his apprenticeship to the ningyo school, which demanded many situations to keep the movements of the marionettes full of significance, for otherwise their dollships would have become all too apparent.

In Osaka during the Horeki period the leading sakusha was Nagawa Kamesuke, and he was followed by Tatsuoka Mansaku and Namiki Gohei. Mansaku was the son of an onnagata, and lived in Kyoto until he was 51 years of age, when he went to Osaka. He died at 68, in 1809. His talent was best expressed in historical plays, but as the authorities prohibited the use of real facts upon the stage, he contented himself with making over historical events, which he did in a way very satisfactory to the playgoer.