Yamashita Kyoyemon, who died in 1717, was the son of a Kyoto artist. He was at first a Nō actor, but gave up this profession to follow the fortunes of Kabuki. Sakata Tojuro regarded him as a rival, and Kyoyemon often acted with Tojuro at the Miyako-Mandayu-za in Kyoto. Once a rumour was circulated that he was dead, which proving untrue the people flocked to his banner, and he was more popular than ever before.
The historians of Kabuki agree that he was a man of fine bearing and gentle disposition, and that while he did not quite equal Tojuro’s grand manner he was in no way an actor of little talent. It was Kyoyemon who appeared in the first stage version of Chushingura, the tragedy of the Forty-seven Ronin, who avenged the death of their lord and then committed harakiri in Yedo. Afterwards the tale inspired Takeda Izumo, who wrote a drama for the marionettes that is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of the Japanese theatre to-day.
It is said of Kyoyemon that even a rustic from the provinces, who had never seen him before, and knew nothing concerning him, could not fail to be impressed by his presence, and to understand without being informed that he was the leading actor.
He had his little frailties, however, for he was too fond of applause, and so eager for the praise of the audience that he pandered to the tastes of the lower classes, and was given to making vulgar asides. This was entirely unlike Tojuro, who had a high moral character. Like Tojuro, however, he held the mirror up to nature, and the side-lights upon his stage methods that have been handed down reveal the fact that he excelled as a samurai, particularly as a ronin, or free-lance, who roamed the country in quest of adventure, and wearing the costume of a traveller.
One of Kyoyemon’s brothers became a celebrated priest, and his daughter married Sawamura Chojuro, a leading actor of a later period. His wife’s sister married an onnagata, the first Yoshisawa Ayame, and their son Matataro inherited Kyoyemon’s name, becoming Yamashita Kyoyemon, the second—hence his family occupied a prominent position in the actor fraternity.
The second actor of importance at this time was Takeshima Kyozaemon, son of Yamato Dansuke, of O-Kuni Kabuki fame. Although he played often in Kyoto, he made Osaka his headquarters, and at last went to Yedo, where he played with Ikushima Shingoro, the unfortunate actor exiled because of a love affair with a lady-in-waiting of the Shogun’s Court. For three years he played at the Ichimura-za and Morita-za, and then took up his residence in Kyoto, where his son was the proprietor of a theatre. He was particularly partial to samurai rôles and knew how to handle a sword. His son was also a good actor, and succeeded to his name.
The third famous actor of Tojuro’s time was Arashi Sanyemon, the second. He was younger than Tojuro and Kyoyemon, and died early. The first Arashi was his father, but the boy was evidently regarded as an ugly duckling, for his father did not consider that he possessed sufficient talent for a stage career, and he was apprenticed to a candle dealer, the business requiring him to travel from one place to another. When the elder Arashi was taken ill, the son was called to Osaka to take up the parental profession, and so had the difficult task of trying to live up to his father’s reputation. At first the audience laughed at him, but as he had the same face and voice as his father, he soon attracted attention and came to be regarded as one of the leading actors. Indeed, he was considered in some respects superior to his father, especially in the art of love-making; he was genuine and unaffected, and possessed a well-shaped nose and fine eyes.
The foregoing actors were tateyaku. The most noted actor to take katakiyaku, or the villain rôle, of this period was Kataoka Nizaemon, who died in 1715. At first he was a samisen player of Osaka, and during his early years was associated with the management of Osaka theatres, beginning a stage career in middle life, yet reached high rank and was regarded as a genius. He was tall and well-proportioned, and had a fierce look in his eyes which gave him a decided advantage in the villain rôle. He could also play the hero well, but received great praise for his old men characters, a specialty that seems to have remained in the possession of this actor line, for the modern representative, Kataoka Nizaemon, of the Kabuki-za, Tokyo, never pleases his audiences better than when playing as oyajigata, or old men.
Nizaemon was samurai-like in his bearing. He is on record as saying that actors should be familiar with popular poems, know Buddhism and Shintoism, and be well informed on a variety of subjects so as to draw upon such knowledge in their work on the stage. No doubt Nizaemon practised what he preached, for he played many rôles in his time. His real son, who was a theatre owner, succeeded as Nizaemon, the second, but died soon after, and the Kataoka generations were continued by a younger sister of the first Nizaemon, who had married an actor. It was her son who succeeded to the hereditary name of Kataoka Nizaemon, the third,—a stage name that has continued down to the present. Kataoka Nizaemon and Ichikawa Danjuro are the only two actor families that have come down from Genroku in unbroken succession to modern times.
The first Danjuro’s greatest contemporary in Yedo was Nakamura Hichisaburo, who died in 1708. He was Danjuro’s equal in many respects, and shared the honours of Yedo Kabuki with him. But Hichisaburo left no family to carry on his traditions, and in consequence obtains a less important position in the history of Kabuki than Danjuro, the first, who founded a line of actors that have been uppermost on the stage for more than two hundred years, and were regarded as the feudal lords of the theatre before whom all others of the fraternity bowed in respect and admiration.