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KANSAI KABUKI at the CROSSROADS the Kansai

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KANSAI KABUKI at the CROSSROADS the Kansai CHAPTER FOUR KANSAI KABUKI AT THE CROSSROADS The Kansai/Kamigata Background The three Shōchiku kabuki companies in Tokyo may have dwindled to one by 1961,1 but there was still one other group of Shōchiku actors hanging on for dear life, the on again-off again artists of Kansai, whose theatre is gen- erally referred to either as Kansai Kabuki or Kamigata Kabuki. Kansai and Kamigata are terms designating the area of western Japan in which Osaka and Kyoto are situated. Kabuki existed elsewhere in Japan as well, notably Nagoya and Sakai, but in the genre’s heyday, Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo (now Tokyo) vied for supremacy. Kabuki originated in Kyoto, and it was there that the wagoto (gentle style) of acting was created by Sakata Tōjūrō I (1647–1709) in the plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon. But after Chikamatsu moved to Osaka to write mainly for bunraku,2 the classical puppet theatre, followed by Tōjūrō’s death, Kyoto kabuki fell into a decline and Osaka flourished. By the eighteenth century, Osaka was the dominant Kansai theatre city, thereby establishing a serious artistic rivalry with Edo. Annual perfor- mance records reflect a gradual decline in Osaka production from 1777. But Kamigata theatre was clearly left in Edo’s dust from the time of play- wright Namiki Shōzō (1730–1733) through that of playwright Namiki Gohei (1747–1808), who moved to Edo in 1794; afterward, Osaka kabuki fell into a sustained creative slump, while Edo flourished with the help of Gohei, Sakurada Jisuke I (1734–1806), II (1768–1829), and III (1802–1877), Tsuruya Nanboku IV (1755–1829), Segawa Jōko III (1806–1881), and Kawatake Mokuami (1816–1893). Despite the hardships of travel, which was mainly on foot, Edo actors traveled to Osaka to display their wares and check out the local product, and Osaka actors made similar journeys to Edo. These appearances often stirred enormous interest and discussion among the 1 The reduction of the number of companies did not mean that actors were dismissed. Instead, they became part of a large, unaffiliated group within the Shōchiku kabuki system. 2 Japanese often refer to it as ningyō jōruri or, simply, jōruri. kansai kabuki at the crossroads 91 fans, who boisterously debated the relative virtues and faults of their homegrown talent vis à vis the other region’s stars. Kansai’s actors came to be distinguished for their expertise in plays adapted from bunraku, both history plays (jidai mono) and domestic dramas (sewa mono), especially the latter. Kansai domestic dramas, begin- ning with the plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1725), often called Japan’s greatest playwright (he wrote for both kabuki and bunraku), usu- ally featured young men from bourgeois families whose entanglements with courtesans from the pleasure quarters led to insurmountable conflicts between the lovers’ feelings (ninjō) and their family obligations (giri). For most, the only solution was suicide, and numerous plays, by Chikamatsu and others, came to have the word shinjū (“double suicide” or “lovers’ suicide”) in their titles. The acting of the heroes, in particular, required a delicacy and subtlety of physical and vocal expression that was called wagoto (gentle style) because of the almost feminine manner in which the actor moved and spoke. Wagoto roles also existed in Edo kabuki, but the unique style of Kansai performance made wagoto a local specialty. Miyatsuji Masao quotes a 1955 article by Inoue Jinosuke to emphasize that the term Kansai Kabuki actually was not in use in prewar Japan. There are memories of it being used on rare occasions during the time of [Nakamura] Ganjirō I but the words used were Kansai Ōkabuki [Kansai Grand Kabuki] and this was not a regular practice but only for special occa- sions. When a company of mainstream Tokyo actors visited they were called Tokyo Ōkabuki, or when a few Tokyo actors came [to act with local artists] the show might be referred to as Tōzai Gōdō Ōkabuki [East-West Combined Kabuki]. After Ganjirō died [in 1935] Kamigata Kabuki began to cast a paler shadow. When [Nakamura] Baigyoku III and [Jitsukawa] Enjaku II died not long after the war ended, the lineup of Kamigata actors changed, while Tokyo’s actors blossomed, and before long the expression Kansai Kabuki gradually and naturally became noticeable [as a way of differentiating Tokyo’s theatre from that of Kamigata.]3 Postwar theatre conditions in Kansai theatre declined to the point that its very existence became problematic, particularly after the death of Bandō Jusaburō III (1886–1954) in 1954. The economic problems of Osaka, busi- ness center of the nation, contributed greatly to the downturn, as did the 3 Inoue Jinosuke, “Gendai no Kabuki Haiyū” (Today’s Kabuki Actors), Engekikai (December 1955), quoted in Miyatsuji Masao, “Kansai Kabuki no Seisui” (The Rise and Fall of Kansai Kabuki), Kabuki: Kenkyū to Hihyō 16 (December 1995): 37..
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