At first the criticisms dealt largely with the personal appearances of the onnagata, who were the most fascinating players on the stage, their borrowed feminine charms and graces being attractive to men and women alike. Then followed publications relating to anecdotes of the actors.
Criticism improved as the critics were given more food for thought, and were able to judge the value and quality of the acting, rather than mere descriptions of an actor’s dress, face, or manners.
There were two famous dramatic critics during the fruitful Genroku period, when the theatre rose to the summit of its achievements. One of these was Ihara Saikaku, the author of a popular novel, Ukiyo Zoshi, that was not distinguished for its moral tone, and other writings, and Hojo Danshin, a composer of haiku, or short poems.
Their criticisms were written in their leisure hours and were a matter of their own pleasure. They were blessed in that they were not obliged to think of newspaper proprietors, sensitive theatre managers, or the vagaries of the reading public, but could spin out of their heads the fancies that came to them after attending the theatre. They were not obliged to rush to some smoky, noisy newspaper office, there to grind out their copy at a late hour on the typewriter with printers’ devils ready to snatch in desperate hurry. No doubt they sat all day long on the tatami, or straw mats, of their dwelling, looking out upon some quiet landscape scene, and thinking at leisure.
Much of their writings is trivial in the light of the present, but, on the other hand, they reveal intimate glimpses of the theatre and actors that would be delightful to a lover of modern Kabuki, if the task of separating the wheat from the chaff in this formidable array of scribblings was not so difficult.
Following the example of Ihara Saikaku and Hojo Danshin, other literary men devoted themselves to chronicling the events of the theatre, and they wrote copiously, giving minute descriptions of the gestures and elocution of the actors.
Books of criticism were called hyobanki (lit., account of reputation), and these became the monopoly of the Yedo publisher, Hachimonjiya. The first of these books appeared in 1656; the series continued until just before the Restoration, the publishing house lasting for 211 years.
Hachimonjiya Yisho, the head of the firm, was a writer about theatre matters as well as a publisher, and his partner in the business, Ejimaya Kiseki, also wrote books relating to the theatre. The partners quarrelled and separated for some years, each issuing his own publications, but afterwards they forgot their differences and once more collaborated. Their successors carried on the work of issuing the hyobanki, which were the only books descriptive of the theatre. They reached hundreds of volumes, and are an encyclopaedia of Kabuki.
While the theatres of Kyoto and Osaka changed hands frequently and went by various names, four historic Yedo playhouses were started in this formative period with which generations of actors were to be long associated. They were the Nakamura-za, Ichimura-za, Morita-za, and the Kawarasaki-za.
The descendants of the owners of these theatres had the exclusive right to give performances and to be theatre proprietors. The actors were their retainers. As a result there came into existence in Yedo different theatre clans, with the establishment of an hereditary caste in theatre circles.