Ikushima Shingoro, one of the most tragic figures among these old actors, was born in Osaka, and came to Yedo during his years of stage apprenticeship. He acted almost exclusively at the Yamamura-za. He was 44 years of age when his love affair with a lady of the Shogun’s Court caused him to be banished from Yedo, and for twenty years he lived in his place of exile, never returning to the scene of his stage triumphs. A modern play has been made concerning this unfortunate actor, who, according to the gossip of the time, was more sought after by the venturesome Court lady than disposed to seek her himself.
And just as Saruwaka Kansaburo’s performances before the Emperor and Shogun had been an honour to the whole actor profession, so this Ikushima scandal was to remain a blot on the actor’s escutcheon for many years to come. The whole trouble was caused not so much by Ikushima, or the owner of his theatre, Yamamura Chodayu, as by the romantic Lady Yenoshima herself. Although the secret of the friendship of the actor and lady was kept for many years, the audacious Yenoshima put the fat in the fire. As representative of the Shogun’s mother she was sent with other Court ladies to pray at Zojo-ji, a Buddhist temple of Yedo that remains one of the striking features of modern Tokyo. The party reached the temple early in the morning, and there presented but a few of the many gifts they had brought with them, reserving the best to be distributed at the theatre as favours. Hastening over their devotions, the party made haste to the Yamamura-za.
All was excitement within the theatre, where seats had been reserved for a hundred persons. The proprietor, Yamamura Chodayu, and the leading actors headed by Shingoro, clad in ceremonial kimono, came out to meet the distinguished party, and a feast was given. It is said that Yenoshima and her friends grew slightly hilarious, and a sake bottle was pushed over, with the result that the contents fell upon the head of a samurai in the audience below, who became angry, and in spite of apologies left the theatre. Yenoshima’s behaviour that day at the Yamamura-za soon became known, and it was not long after that the whole disgraceful affair came to the ears of the officials of the Shogun’s Government, with the result that Yenoshima was exiled to a small island off the coast in a distant part of the country.
She was then 33 years of age. Her sentence was lightened afterwards owing to the clemency of the Shogun’s mother, and she was transferred to the province of Shinano, where she was put in charge of the local daimyo. In those days, however, as it was the custom to punish not only the guilty, but to inflict it likewise upon the immediate members of the family, Yenoshima’s brother was condemned to death, and a younger brother exiled. After this the iron hand of the shogunate rested heavier than ever upon the theatre folks, for the Yamamura-za was not only deprived of its licence, but the building was demolished, all property confiscated, and this theatre ceased to exist. The proprietor as well as the actors, Ikushima Shingoro and Nakamura Seigoro, and even the onnagata, Iwai Hanshiro, were all exiled.
The first Matsumoto Koshiro appeared at this time, and as the seventh Matsumoto Koshiro, of the Imperial Theatre, is one of the leading actors of present-day Japan, it is interesting to know something of the founder of this line. He came to Yedo from Shimosa province, and was at first an onnagata, but later changed to tateyaku. He belonged to Danjuro’s aragoto, or rough-acting school, inherited from the brave balladry of early Yedo Joruri, and is even said to have rivalled Danjuro in the art of the unreal. In middle age he shaved his head as a sign of retirement from active life. His adopted son succeeded to his name and stage inheritance, but later on he became by adoption Ichikawa Danjuro, the fourth, the Matsumoto Koshiros afterwards being closely associated with the Ichikawa family, the present Matsumoto Koshiro having been the deshi, or pupil, of Ichikawa Danjuro, the ninth.
In Kyoto, an actor who showed much originality and played in both Osaka and Kyoto at the time the above actors were active in Yedo, was Shibazaki Rinzaemon, who was quick to recognise the art of the doll-actors. His specialty consisted in imitating them. He was well fitted in personal appearance, character, and voice to be a leading actor. He began his stage study in Osaka, where the dolls were beginning to rival the real actors, and it is easy to see how the movements of the puppets, their airs and graces, postures and gestures, as created by the nyngyo-tsukai, or doll-handlers, who were artists in every respect, introduced the Kabuki actors to a whole new world of expression, of style and taste, which they were eager to command.
A star common to the stages of Kyoto and Osaka when Shibazaki Rinzaemon flourished was Kosogawa Juyemon. He had been a samurai in daimyo service, and became an actor from choice. As revealing the sentiment of the time, it is recorded that one of his relatives came to the theatre to kill him because the ex-samurai had the insolence to act under his own name. This the relative considered a piece of great effrontery, and but for the pacification of the theatre people would have carried out his intention. Shibazaki Rinzaemon was good, as might have been expected, in samurai rôles. He lived to a ripe old age, and when he became too infirm to appear as a fighting man, contented himself with old men’s rôles. Before his death he lost his sight, but still his usefulness upon the stage did not cease, for he was accommodating enough to act blind characters.
Crest of Ichikawa Sadanji and Ichikawa Udanji
(Ivy leaf).
