YAKUSHA OF GENROKU
During the Genroku period that produced so many men of distinction
in art, literature, and the drama, the audiences of the three towns
had a brilliant array of actor talent from which to choose, and the
achievements of the contemporaries of Sakata Tojuro and Ichikawa
Danjuro resulted in a keen appreciation of the actor’s creativeness.
The common people were to become familiar with a high order of acting,
since the emphasis, whether rightly or wrongly, as judged by Occidental
standards, was always on the actor, the playwright being of secondary
importance.
Three stars were to be seen during Genroku on the stages of Kyoto,
Osaka, and Yedo. They were Yamashita Kyoyemon; Takeshima Kyozaemon,
the son of that Takeshima who had been the head of a company of women
players in Kyoto; and the second Arashi Sanyemon, son of the actor of
the same name, who previous to this had gained great success in Yedo,
and then removed to Osaka, where he owned a theatre.
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.
Nakamura Hichisaburo was exactly the opposite to Ichikawa Danjuro in
his stage methods. He belonged to Sakata Tojuro’s real school, and was
quiet and restrained on the boards. Danjuro was bold and exaggerated,
Hichisaburo effeminate and mild. They represented the two currents of
the popular mind during Genroku. Danjuro was not altogether welcome
in Kyoto and Osaka, Tojuro’s stronghold, where his style was not
wholly appreciated, although he was acknowledged to be a great actor.
Hichisaburo, on the contrary, met with great success on the stages of
these towns.
He was a handsome man, and the criticism of the time acknowledged
his dignity of manner. Unlike Danjuro, he did not startle with the
strength of his militaristic actions, which caused him in some quarters
to be regarded as slow. But this was according to Yedo critics, who
had grown accustomed to Danjuro’s striking efforts. In Kyoto, it was
contended that Hichisaburo was not good as a fighter, but one critic
declared that he was like patent medicine, good for everything.
Hichisaburo’s manner on the stage was similar to Tojuro’s, yet the
stars of Kyoto appeared to tower above him. As a lover he was very
popular, and delighted in mixing Yedo slang with his stage lines, and
knew how to reach his audiences. It is said of him that he was good
in pathetic rôles and “could bring tears to the eyes of a demon”.
Moreover, he was a good dancer, which was probably due to the fact that
he was entirely familiar with the Nō stage. Some years younger than
Danjuro, he married the daughter of the second Nakamura Kansaburo, and
probably took the name of Nakamura from this family.
Like most of the actors of this early period he wrote his own plays,
the most successful of which was _Asamagatake_, or Mount Asama.
Although Hichisaburo was a Yedo actor, he spent much of his time in
Kyoto and Osaka.
The most prominent actor who imitated Hichisaburo was Ikushima
Shingoro. Hichisaburo was taken ill on the stage while playing Juro,
one of the brothers in the Soga revenge, his favourite rôle.
After Danjuro and Hichisaburo, the most distinguished actor of
this time was Nakamura Denkuro, who died in 1716. He was of more
aristocratic theatre lineage than the two prominent Yedo actors
above, for he was no less a personage than the grandson of Saruwaka
Kansaburo. The first Kansaburo had three sons: the first was the child
of a concubine and did not inherit; the second son, who accompanied
Kansaburo to Kyoto and danced before the Emperor, succeeded as second
of the line, taking the name Akashi, which he was given at the
time of this performance in Kyoto. He left his name to his younger
brother, who became the third head of the family.
The son by the concubine was blessed with two sons, and one of them was
no other than Nakamura Denkuro, who exercised considerable influence
upon Yedo Kabuki, establishing traditions that have been handed down to
modern times. Denkuro’s father, perhaps because of his illegitimacy,
never appeared as an actor, but was engaged as an accountant of the
Nakamura-za all his life. Nevertheless, it was his son who inherited
the theatre genius that might have been expected to appear in the first
Kansaburo’s legitimate offspring.
The rôle of Asahina, an historical character, at the Nakamura-za made
Nakamura Denkuro famous, and the manner in which he painted his face
with broad red lines and the style, colour, and design of his costume
have served as a model for all succeeding actors who have essayed this
popular rôle. Asahina was a bold warrior of the time when Yoritomo
ruled by the sword in Kamakura. Denkuro used Asahina’s crest to
decorate his stage costume, a crane in a circle, and it has always been
preserved, Asahina not being considered by audiences or actors as the
real thing unless faithful to all the details of Denkuro’s grotesque
creation.
And it is by these traditions that the modern Tokyo actors link this
old past with the bustling, strenuous modern days, for a veteran of
the Kabuki-za in Tokyo succeeded to this illustrious stage name a few
years ago, and to celebrate the auspicious occasion appeared in all
the startling array of colours, unearthly red make-up, and exaggerated
gestures and postures of his Yedo predecessor.
On account of chronic illness Denkuro was obliged to withdraw from
the stage at the height of his career, and could only return to say a
few words on the introduction ceremony of the second Hichisaburo, who
was a child-actor when he took the name Nakamura Hichisaburo had made
so famous. Denkuro had been closely associated with the first
Hichisaburo, hence his interest in his youthful successor.
Another tateyaku who acted with Danjuro, and was regarded as equal to
Nakamura Denkuro, was Miyasaki Denkichi. He was put in prison with
other actors in connection with a scandal in a nunnery. The abbess
of the institution was a favourite at the Shogun’s Court, and in
consequence of her high position, and because the entrance of the
despised playfolks within her female fold was regarded as a laxity of
moral practice that deserved high punishment, she was sentenced to
death and the actors were imprisoned. Miyasaki Denkichi played on the
stages of the three towns, but died in obscurity, very likely as a
result of his irregular life.
Among the deshi, or followers, of Danjuro, the first and most noted was
Ichikawa Danshiro. An actor bearing the name died in 1922, a veteran
member of the Kabuki-za company in Tokyo.
In the middle of his career this first Danshiro shaved his head and
became a Buddhist priest, retiring to a provincial temple. As Yedo
Kabuki of those days was lacking in good actors, messengers were
frequently sent to his distant temple asking him to return to the
stage, but he repeatedly refused. At last he consented upon the
condition that at the end of the performances he was to return to his
holy profession.
He acted the rôle of Mongaku Shonin, the samurai who made love to the
heroic Kesa Gozen, or the Lady Kesa. Wishing to get rid of her husband,
the samurai planned to kill him in his sleep. Kesa Gozen gave Mongaku
a sign by which he would know the right head to cut off—the hair was
to be freshly washed. But to his horror the assassin found that he
had killed the Lady Kesa herself, who had thus sacrificed her life to
preserve her honour and by her act had saved the life of her husband.
In penitence for this deed, Kesa Gozen’s lover became a priest, and
the interest of the Yedo playgoers in Danshiro’s return to the stage
in this priestly rôle may well be imagined. True to his word, this
follower of Danjuro returned to his temple and died there in 1717.
As to the celebrated villains who played with the above actors, the two
stars were Yamanaka Heikuro and Nakajima Hiroyemon.
Senior to Tojuro and Danjuro, Yamanaka Heikuro died at the age of
83, and played with both the first and second Danjuro. He adopted a
son, who did not live to succeed him. Many stories are told of the
impressiveness of this stage villain, and how even the actors playing
with him sometimes became frightened at his appearance. He was of large
physique and a man of forceful character, so that he was eminently
fitted to play the diabolical katakiyaku whose fierceness and violence
caused the Yedo audience of those days to feel thrills of horror.
Great stage changes took place during the second part of the Genroku
period, and the rapidly developing Doll-theatre began to influence
Kabuki and its actors. The public tired of the sentimentality
introduced by Tojuro, and expressed a taste for the loyalty and
sacrifice plays such as were in vogue in the Doll-theatre, that had
begun to capture the public imagination.
The actor genius of the latter part of the Genroku period was
undoubtedly Sawamura Chojuro, who was born in 1680 and died in 1734.
He was the son of an Osaka merchant. His elder brother was also an
actor of repute, and a younger brother an expert drum performer.
Although he played with Tojuro, he did not confine himself to this
school exclusively, but was influenced by the different styles of
the Genroku stage. He assimilated and harmonised the characteristics
of the celebrities who had preceded him, and so did much towards the
establishment of the rules of acting that pertain to modern Kabuki. He
made himself popular in samurai plays, in those of everyday life that
reflected the manners and customs of his time, and he was equally at
home in historical pieces that required the exploitation of the
unreal, while he excelled also in dancing. His son, called Chosaburo,
became the second Chojuro.
A follower who took the name of Sawamura Chojuro, the third, was
destined to found a strong actor family that is flourishing in Tokyo
to-day, half a dozen members of this name now being prominent. He
was known on the stage as Sawamura Sojuro, a name to reckon with in
Japanese stage history. The present Sawamura Sojuro of the Imperial
Theatre, Tokyo, with his four actor sons, and a nephew, Sawamura
Chojuro, make a formidable family array of players, there being no fear
for some time to come that this line will suffer extinction.
When Yedo Kabuki lost its two Genroku stars, Danjuro and Hichisaburo,
there was a vacancy that no one else could fill, and the Yedo people
must have felt a lack of interest when witnessing the performances of
those who tried to take their places. There were in reality only two
actors in Yedo at this time who upheld the past glory of the stage. One
was Ikushima Shingoro, and the other Nakajima Kanzaemon.
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.
[Illustration: Crest of Ichikawa Sadanji and Ichikawa Udanji
(Ivy leaf).]
[Illustration: Crest of Bando Hikosaburo (Stork).]
[Illustration: Matsumoto Koshiro, of the Imperial Theatre, in the
character of Townsend Harris, the first American Minister to Japan. A
photograph of the intrepid Kentucky Colonel is on the actor’s dressing
table.]