Emergence of the theatre town Saruwaka-machi
Image of the crowded Saruwaka-machi
“Toto Meisho Shibaimachi Hanei no Zu”
National Theatre collection (NA081510)
The first half of the 19th century in Japan was a hedonistic time of pleasure-seeking, and also a period of extreme poverty for the samurai. As politics and the economy were reaching a stalemate, the shogunate tightened their control in what is known as the Tempo Reforms and strictly controlled the pleasures and luxuries enjoyed by the common people. The suppression of Kabuki in 1842 was particularly severe.
First, all theatres in the city area, including the three large theatres also smaller and medium-sized theatres and Ningyo-joruri (Japanese puppet theatre) theatres, were relocated to Asakusa, which was still in the outskirts of Edo at that time. Also, Ichikawa Ebizo V, who was also considered to be the face of kabuki back then, was punished for his luxurious and extravagant lifestyle; he was eventually driven out of Edo.
Consequently, Kabuki performances temporarily declined due to this tight control. However, the Tempo Reforms themselves were reactionary and contrary to the times, and therefore ultimately not very successful. These constraints placed on society were relatively ineffective, and so they were gradually loosened. This is also when more people started to make their way to the new theatre town of Saruwaka-machi in Asakusa, and Kabuki slowly began to prosper again.
Image of the crowded Saruwaka-machi
“Toto Meisho Shibaimachi Hanei no Zu”
National Theatre collection (NA081510)
Works of Kawatake Mokuami
“Sannin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsugai”
National Theatre collection (NA100330)
The Saruwaka-machi theatre town was active for around 30 years in the mid-19th century, during a time of great social upheaval as the Edo period (17th to 19th centuries) transitioned to the Meiji period (19th to 20th centuries). Meanwhile, the storytelling of kodan and rakugo and other such arts performed at vaudeville theatres were becoming popular, and they began to influence and also be influenced by Kabuki.
This is when Ichikawa Kodanji IV, who was neither blessed with a favourable appearance or voice and wasn’t from a noble family lineage, became a leading Kabuki actor. He excelled in dance and gestures, and was a master of hayagawari instant costume changes, chunori (the use of cables to lift actors high above the stage and audience) and other keren. Also, no one could surpass Kodanji when it came to realistic acting and moving the audience to tears with emotion.
Kawatake Mokuami (1816-1893) was an extremely popular playwright of that time. He wrote numerous shiranami-mono (plays featuring thieves as the main characters) including “Sannin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsugai” (The Thieves Named Kichisa), which had a small-time crook from the lower classes as the lead character in a role that made the most of Kodanji’s particular acting skills. Mokuami cleverly and delicately depicted the daily life of common people in his sewa-mono, and his sophisticated literary style was notable for its rhythmical and long dialogues, and rich assortment of musical elements such as the kiyomoto-bushi joruri musical accompaniments.
Mokuami’s plays are also notable for its picture-like symmetrical stage, and in “Aotozoshi Hana no Nishikie” (The Five Thieves) – which is also commonly called “Shiranami Gonin Otoko” - five thieves line up on stage with a commanding presence as they introduce themselves. As for the characters that appear, Mokuami hardly uses the naimaze technique of entwining the stories of random people; instead, he actually describes the lives of ordinary people who have become mixed up in wrongdoings, from a karmic perspective of retributive justice. Mokuami’s works are a departure from existing approaches to playwriting.
Ichikawa Kodanji IV, who suffered under the shogunate’s often strict and suppressive rule, passed away at the end of the Edo period; this shogunate collapsed in the Boshin War that began in 1868. As Japan entered the Meiji period, Mokuami also adapted his works to the needs of this new era. He started to write a succession of plays in completely new genres, while also continuing to write sewa-mono that reflected traces of old Edo. Mokuami was a rare playwright whose works straddled the Edo and Meiji period. Many of his works are still repeatedly performed even today, and they hold an important place in the Kabuki repertoire.
“Sannin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsugai”
National Theatre collection (NA100330)
Modernization of Kabuki
“Kanjincho”
National Theatre collection (BM001470)
The people of Japan retained their love of Kabuki even in this new period; yet among those who were passionately calling for reforms, there was increasing criticism of the simplistic and entertaining aspects of Kabuki so far. Notably, the leader of Edo Kabuki Ichikawa Danjuro IX himself was the vanguard of actively reforming the nonsensical stories and exaggerated acting and production of Kabuki. The Meiji government was in agreement to transform Kabuki into an elevated cultural form similar to Western theatre, and evolve it into a theatrical art suitable for inviting high-level government officials and foreign dignitaries to see. This is when the Engeki Kairyo Undo (theatrical performance reform movement) happened.
Within this movement, Morita Kanya XII opened the Shintomi-za Theatre and moved forward with efforts to reform theatres, such as using gas lights in them. Then in 1887 the status of Kabuki rose considerably when the Emperor actually viewed a performance. A new series of performances emerged that included katsureki-mono in which existing jidai-mono are restructured to accurately reflect historical facts using extensive background research on makeup, costumes, acting and other techniques, and matsubame-mono that are elevated performances based on Nohgaku plays. However, the audience viewed the reformed Kabuki as being rather unsophisticated and boring, and performances of these katsureki-mono plays progressively declined as audiences stayed away; this style of Kabuki is hardly performed even today.
Onoe Kikugoro V mainly performed a series of works titled zangiri-mono (cropped hair plays; named after a hairstyle then), which attempted to rewrite existing sewa-mono to suit the customs of the new period. However, it seemed the audience still favoured sewa-mono plays set in the Edo period, such as Mokuami’s new work “Tsuyu Kosode Mukashi Hachijo” (Shinza, the Barber).
Around the end of the 19th century, Ichikawa Danjuro IX and Onoe Kikugoro V gave even more sophisticated performances of Kabuki programmes from the Edo period, which were to become model theatre performances for future generations. Along with Ichikawa Sadanji I, who was the adopted son of Ichikawa Kodanji IV and a popular tachiyaku lead actor with support from Mokuami, this trio of Kabuki actors came to be known as “Dangikusa”.
“Kanjincho”
National Theatre collection (BM001470)
