Kabuki

by Zoë Kincaid

It was Ikushima Shingoro, of Court-scandal fame, who shielded and protected the second Danjuro, when he was struggling to advance.

He proved a worthy successor to his father, and his place in the annals of Kabuki is that of an original, creative actor, who not only re-established his father’s traditions, but carried them on most successfully.

His visit to Osaka is memorable. He had received an invitation from Sadoshima Chogoro to play at his theatre, but Danjuro demanded an enormous salary for those days, something quite out of the ordinary in the way of remuneration. And Sadoshima Chogoro, thinking that Danjuro would never ask such a sum unless he had something startling to offer, did not hesitate to comply with the extraordinary request.

When Danjuro made his first appearance in Osaka he was not well received, as the rivalry between the Osaka and Yedo actors was keen even in those far-off days. It has survived until the present, a continual state of tension, or feeling, always existing between the two prominent stages of the country.

Something of this adverse undercurrent was displayed soon after he had begun to act, for a man in the audience threw a mat at him to put him to confusion, repeating his words, expecting that this would cause the Yedo actor to become tangled up in his lines. With the utmost composure and dignity Danjuro bowed low, apologising for the interruption, and then, to the great surprise of the audience, repeated a long speech backward. This greatly pleased the people, and Danjuro eventually captivated Osaka playgoers. Even the disturbing factor, the man who threw the mat, thought better of his behaviour, for he afterwards called at Danjuro’s inn and apologised, and the generous actor entertained him with sake.

While playing in Osaka, a courier all the way from Yedo brought him sad news—the death of his adopted son. He had bestowed the name of Danjuro, the third, upon this young actor. As he had no son of his own, it was necessary to adopt another stage heir, and his choice fell on the second Matsumoto Koshiro, who thus became Ichikawa Danjuro, the fourth.

The second Danjuro lived a long stage life, and died in his seventies. Like his father, he was small of stature, and his specialty was aragoto, or rough, imaginative acting. He was also good in plays demanding the real in acting, for he loved to represent an otokodate, or chivalrous commoner, and was popular as a lover and a fighter. Quick to feel the appeal of the marionettes in the Doll-theatre, he was one of the first actors to play in a doll-drama. His chief success in this direction was in Chikamatsu’s Kokusenya Kassen, or The Battle of Kokusenya.

His art, however, was too unreal to suit the times. His whole tendency in acting was anti-real. To mimic the natural or represent the real did not enter his mind. Tojuro’s principle, the use of the real and natural, took hold and flourished in Yedo, and the audiences were quite carried away. Danjuro remained untouched by the popular acclaim of the real. The taste of the new generation was changed; they were tired of his father’s methods; they wanted the real, yet Danjuro, true to the artistic instinct within him, held steadfast to his own principles.

He not only improved his father’s plays greatly, but collaborated in the composition of many new pieces to which he did not sign his name. Like his father, he was given to poetry, and was the best pupil of his poetry teacher. His diary, Oyino Tanoshimi, or Pleasures of Old Age, is a model of the diary composition of the Tokugawa age. He displayed much originality in the designing of costumes, and was an artist when it came to making up. Filial towards his mother, he was full of love and respect for his wife, and was so moral in those immoral days that he was regarded as a sage.

His attitude towards the lower classes of society was generous and magnanimous. When receiving visitors, even to the humblest menials of the theatre, he treated them as honoured guests, wearing hakama, or the silk skirt, rather than customary attire, as he wished to improve the manners of the theatre folk. When invited to the residences of the great or wealthy he was never fawning. He was, however, very extravagant, and thought an actor should be as magnificent as possible.