OGITA Kiyoshi
Professor, Undergraduate School of Letters, Baika
Women's College
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The origins of kabuki
About 400 years ago—around the same time that TOKUGAWA
Ieyasu established a military government in Edo (Tokyo)
in 1603 (Keicho 8)—Okuni, a female attendant at the
Izumo Shrine, performed at Gojogawara and inside the precincts
of the Kitano Shrine in Kyoto. During these performances,
which included dancing, Okuni would dress and act like
a man enjoying himself in a red-light district. These
performances were called Okuni kabuki. The Chinese
characters used to write the word kabuki in Japanese were
provided later as phonetic equivalents. The word kabuki
itself derives from kabuku, which means speech
and action that are out of the ordinary. This form of
kabuki was performed in Kyoto for only a short period,
perhaps because it was so provocative. It then became
a performance primarily for regional areas. Later, prostitutes
appeared on the banks of a river in the Shijo area of
Kyoto, using their appearance and artistic skills to attract
an audience. This was the so-called yujo kabuki,
which became quite popular. When the shogunate restricted
prostitutes to specific districts (called kuruwa),
a form of kabuki that featured attractive young men (called
wakashu) came into vogue. The samurai that patronized
the dramas often created disturbances, however, and kabuki
performances were strictly prohibited in 1652 (Jo-o
1). The next phase of the art was called yaro
(men's) kabuki, in which adult men performed all
the roles on stage. This became the standard form of the
drama and is the one performed today.
Genroku-era kabuki
Chushingura, an act of revenge that occurred in 1702 (Genroku
15), is an incident frequently used today as an illustration
of Japanese culture. The form of kabuki is considered
to have been generally complete by then. It was performed
in the three major cities of Japan at that time—Kyoto,
Edo (now Tokyo), and Osaka—and the performances had
developed different characteristics in each city.
A style
known as yatsushi developed in Kyoto, rooted in
the refined culture that might be expected of a city with
such a long history. In the stories typical of this performance
style, carefree young lords fall madly in love with prostitutes.
Despite being driven from their homes by their families,
these young men cannot forget the women. Shabby and unkempt,
they continue to visit them. Other stories featured people
of the upper classes who renounce their positions as the
result of circumstances, yet continued to live cheerful
lives while working at various jobs. The actor typifying
the male leads in these dramas was SAKATA Tojuro. He was
noted for his sensitive performances in roles known as
wagoto, romantic leads that combined a sense of
humor. Audiences in Osaka preferred more realistic stories.
The dramas in that city were often based on contemporary
incidents, or were stories in which villains played a
major role. KATAOKA Nizaemon I became celebrated for his
depiction of villains, establishing a type of role known
as jitsuaku (villainous samurai). Even in later
years, Osakans tended to prefer dramas in which villains
had a prominent part.
While Edo was the home of the shogun,it was also reputedly
a rough town with a large male population. The people
of Edo had a taste for stories in which people with superhuman
capabilities performed heroic deeds to punish evildoers.
ICHIKAWA Danjuro I typified the aragoto role, or
rough style of acting. His family line has been a long
one and continues to this day. The eighteen hit plays
performed by the family still consist mainly of the aragoto
style that was the specialty of the first- and second-generation
Ichikawas. To summarize kabuki characteristics based on
geography, Edo preferred the aragoto style, while the
Kamigata (Osaka and Kyoto) region preferred the wagoto
style. The foundations of Kamigata kabuki were therefore
laid during the Genroku period.
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