Danjuro's Girls: Women on the Kabuki Stage (Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History)

281 Pages·2009·1.84 MB·English

by  Loren Edelson

Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History is a series devoted
to the best of theatre/performance scholarship currently available, accessible, and
free of jargon. It strives to include a wide range of topics, from the more tradi- 6
0
tional to those performance forms that in recent years have helped broaden the 5-
0
understanding of what theatre as a category might include (from variety forms 11-
0
as diverse as the circus and burlesque to street buskers, stage magic, and musical ct - 2
theatre, among many others). Although historical, critical, or analytical studies e
n
n
are of special interest, more theoretical projects, if not the dominant thrust of a o
C
e
study, but utilized as important underpinning or as a historiographical or analyti- v
a
cal method of exploration, are also of interest. Textual studies of drama or other algr
P
types of less traditional performance texts are also germane to the series if placed m -
in their cultural, historical, social, or political and economic context. There is no u
geographical focus for this series, works of excellence of a diverse and international sorti
n
nature, including comparative studies, are sought. Co
k
The editor of the series is Don B. Wilmeth (Emeritus, Brown University), Ph.D., o
o
B
University of Illinois, who brings to the series over a dozen years as editor of a book e
n
series on American theatre and drama, in addition to his own extensive experience wa
as an editor of books and journals. He is the author of several award-winning books o Tai
and has received numerous career achievement awards, including one for sustained d t
e
s
excellence in editing from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. n
e
c
m - li
Also in the series: o
c
ct.
Undressed for Success by Brenda Foley ne
n
Theatre, Performance, and the Historical Avant-garde by Günter Berghaus co
e
Theatre, Politics, and Markets in Fin-de-Siècle Paris by Sally Charnow av
gr
Ghosts of Theatre and Cinema in the Brain by Mark Pizzato al
p
Moscow Theatres for Young People by Manon van de Water ww.
w
Absence and Memory in Colonial American Theatre by Odai Johnson m
V aanudd eIvtsi lPlee Wrfoarrms: eHrso bwy t hAer Ktheuitrh F-Aralbneke Wanedr Othrepihmeum Circuits Controlled the Big-Time erial fro
Performance and Femininity in Eighteenth-Century German Women’s Writing by mat
Wendy Arons ht
g
Operatic China: Staging Chinese Identity across the Pacific by Daphne P. Lei yri
p
o
Transatlantic Stage Stars in Vaudeville and Variety: Celebrity Turns by Leigh Woods C
Interrogating America through Theatre and Performance edited by William W.
Demastes and Iris Smith Fischer
Plays in American Periodicals, 1890–1918 by Susan Harris Smith
Representation and Identity from Versailles to the Present: The Performing Subject
by Alan Sikes
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
99778800223300660099446644ttss0011..iinndddd ii 1111//2244//22000088 1122::4433::5577 PPMM
Directors and the New Musical Drama: British and American Musical Theatre in the
1980s and 90s by Miranda Lundskaer-Nielsen
Beyond the Golden Door: Jewish-American Drama and Jewish-American Experience
by Julius Novick
American Puppet Modernism: Essays on the Material World in Performance
by John Bell 06
5-
On the Uses of the Fantastic in Modern Theatre: Cocteau, Oedipus, and the Monster 1-0
by Irene Eynat-Confino 01
2
Staging Stigma: A Critical Examination of the American Freak Show ct -
e
by Michael M. Chemers, foreword by Jim Ferris nn
o
Performing Magic on the Western Stage: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present C
e
v
edited by Francesca Coppa, Lawrence Hass, and James Peck; foreword by gra
Eugene Burger Pal
Memory in Play: From Aeschylus to Sam Shepard by Attilio Favorini m -
u
Danjūrō’s Girls: Women on the Kabuki Stage by Loren Edelson orti
s
n
o
C
k
o
o
B
e
n
a
w
Tai
o
d t
e
s
n
e
c
m - li
o
c
ct.
e
n
n
o
c
e
v
a
gr
al
p
w.
w
w
m
o
al fr
eri
at
m
ht
g
yri
p
o
C
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
99778800223300660099446644ttss0011..iinndddd iiii 1111//2244//22000088 1122::4433::5577 PPMM
Danjūrō’s Girls
6
0
5-
0
Women on the Kabuki Stage 1-
1
0
2
ct -
e
n
n
o
C
e
v
a
gr
al
P
Loren Edelson m -
u
orti
s
n
o
C
k
o
o
B
e
n
a
w
Tai
o
d t
e
s
n
e
c
m - li
o
c
ct.
e
n
n
o
c
e
v
a
gr
al
p
w.
w
w
m
o
al fr
eri
at
m
ht
g
yri
p
o
C
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
99778800223300660099446644ttss0011..iinndddd iiiiii 1111//2244//22000088 1122::4433::5577 PPMM
DANJU¯RO¯’S GIRLS
Copyright © Loren Edelson, 2009.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2009 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 6
0
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. 5-
0
1-
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, 01
2
trehgisi sitse breyd P ianlg Ernagvlea nMda, ccmomillpanan, ay dniuvmisiboenr o7f8 M59a9c8m, iollfa nH oPuubnldismhiellrss, Limited, ect -
n
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. n
o
C
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies ve
a
and has companies and representatives throughout the world. gr
al
Pthaelg Uranviete®d a Knidn gMdaocmm, iElluarno®p ea raen rde goitshteerre cdo turnatdreiems.arks in the United States, um - P
ISBN-13: 978–0–230–60946–4 orti
s
ISBN-10: 0–230–60946–5 on
C
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ok
o
B
Edelson, Loren. e
n
Danjuro’s girls : women on the kabuki stage / Loren Edelson. wa
p. cm.—(Palgrave studies in theatre and performance history) Tai
I 1SB. KNa 0bu–2ki3—0–H6i0st9o4r6y–. 25. (Aaclkt.r epsaspeesr—) Japan—Biography. 3. Ichikawa, ed to
s
Danjuro, 1660–1704. I. Title. en
c
PN2924.5.K3E33 2009 m - li
792.0952—dc22 2008027366 o
c
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. ect.
n
n
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. o
c
e
v
First edition: February 2009 a
gr
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 pal
w.
Printed in the United States of America. ww
m
o
al fr
eri
at
m
ht
g
yri
p
o
C
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
99778800223300660099446644ttss0011..iinndddd iivv 1111//2244//22000088 1122::4433::5577 PPMM
6
0
5-
0
1-
1
0
2
ct -
e
This book is dedicated to Ichikawa Ohka, the artistic leader of the nn
o
C
Nagoya Musume Kabuki Troupe. She inspired this book when we e
v
a
were in Amsterdam for the World Music Theatre Festival in April gr
al
P
2002. She was performing with her company, and I was there to give m -
introductory talks and help with backstage interpretation. As she was ortiu
applying her makeup a few hours before curtain, I remarked that ns
o
C
the piece she was presenting, The Mirror Lion, was the same work k
o
o
that the great nineteenth-century actor, Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, had B
e
n
performed with his two daughters for their stage debut at Kabuki-za in wa
1893, one of the earliest recorded appearances of a kabuki actor with o Tai
his daughters. Ohka put her makeup brush down, walked over to her ed t
s
n
suitcase, and retrieved a worn book. “Yes, I’ve been reading Suisen’s ce
Mirror Lion,” she said, handing me a book edited by Ichikawa m - li
o
Danjūrō X that contains an extensive commentary on the play written ct.c
e
by his wife Suisen, Danjūrō IX’s eldest daughter.1 nn
o
c
It was then that I decided to explore the connections between ve
a
Danjūrō IX’s support of kabuki actresses in the nineteenth century and algr
p
the sponsorship of women on the kabuki stage by the Naritaya house in w.
w
w
the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Thank you, Ohka. m
o
al fr
eri
at
m
ht
g
yri
p
o
C
1 Ichikawa Suisen II, “Kagamijishi” [Mirror Lion], in Kagamijishi [The Mirror
Lion], ed. Hukusabro Horikosi (sic, spelled elsewhere Fukusaburō Horikoshi)
[Ichikawa Sanshō V] (Kyoto: Unsō Shuppanbu, 1948), 13–63.
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
99778800223300660099446644ttss0011..iinndddd vv 1111//2244//22000088 1122::4433::5588 PPMM
6
0
5-
0
1-
1
This page intentionally left blank 20
ct -
e
n
n
o
C
e
v
a
gr
al
P
m -
u
orti
s
n
o
C
k
o
o
B
e
n
a
w
Tai
o
d t
e
s
n
e
c
m - li
o
c
ct.
e
n
n
o
c
e
v
a
gr
al
p
w.
w
w
m
o
al fr
eri
at
m
ht
g
yri
p
o
C
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
Contents
6
0
5-
0
1-
1
0
2
ct -
List of Illustrations ix ne
n
o
C
Acknowledgments xi ve
a
gr
Notes on Style xv Pal
m -
u
orti
Prologue: Danjūrō’s Girls 1 s
n
o
C
1. Danjūrō IX and the Actress Question 15 ok
o
B
e
2. The Formation of the Ichikawa Girls’ Kabuki Troupe 37 n
a
w
3. Name Recognition 55 o Tai
d t
e
4. Cypress Stages 71 s
n
e
c
5. Acting Like Men 93 m - li
o
c
6. The Critics Respond 111 ct.
e
n
n
7. Life Offstage 129 co
e
v
a
8. Power Struggle 145 gr
al
p
w.
9. The Final Years 163 w
w
m
Epilogue: Kabuki as Invented Tradition 183 al fro
eri
at
m
Appendix: Play Titles in Translation 191 ht
g
Notes 197 pyri
o
C
Bibliography 233
Index 253
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
99778800223300660099446644ttss0011..iinndddd vviiii 1111//2244//22000088 1122::4433::5588 PPMM
6
0
5-
0
1-
1
This page intentionally left blank 20
ct -
e
n
n
o
C
e
v
a
gr
al
P
m -
u
orti
s
n
o
C
k
o
o
B
e
n
a
w
Tai
o
d t
e
s
n
e
c
m - li
o
c
ct.
e
n
n
o
c
e
v
a
gr
al
p
w.
w
w
m
o
al fr
eri
at
m
ht
g
yri
p
o
C
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
Illustrations
6
0
5-
0
1-
1
0
2
ct -
Cover photo: Ichikawa Danjūrō XII (Sekibei) and Ichikawa ne
n
Ohka (Sumizome) in The Barrier Gate, Nagoya Nō Gakudō, Co
e
v
November 2007. Photo by Ogawa Tomoko. Courtesy Ichikawa Ohka. gra
1.1 Woodblock triptych of Mirror Mountain: Pal
A Woman’s Treasury of Loyalty at the m -
u
Ichimura-za (Tokyo, 1888) by Utagawa Kunisada. orti
s
Courtesy Scripps College, Claremont, California. 22 on
C
1.2 “Kyūsei Ichikawa Danjūrō no Kagamijishi” ok
o
(Danjuro IX’s Mirror Lion). Woodblock print eB
n
of Ichikawa Danjūrō IX with his two daughters, wa
Jitsuko and Fukiko, at the Kabuki-za (Tokyo, 1893) o Tai
by Toyohara Kunichika. Courtesy Tokyo ed t
s
Metropolitan Foundation for History and en
c
Culture Image Archives. 26 m - li
3.1 Members of the newly named “Ichikawa Girls’ co
ct.
Kabuki Troupe” pose in front of the Takasagoya ne
n
Inn on 27 July 1952. Courtesy Sakuragaoka co
e
v
Museum, Toyokawa, Japan. 66 a
gr
4.1 The crest of the Ichikawa Girls’ Kabuki Troupe. pal
w.
Courtesy Sakuragaoka Museum, Toyokawa, Japan. 77 w
w
5.1 Ichikawa Masuyo as the maiden Omiwa in m
o
Mount Imo and Mount Se. Courtesy Sakuragaoka al fr
Museum, Toyokawa, Japan. 98 ateri
m
5.2 Ichikawa Misuji and Ichikawa Fukushō enact ht
g
tachiyaku roles in Chronicle of a Toyokawa Buddhist. yri
p
Courtesy Sakuragaoka Museum, Toyokawa, Japan. 108 Co
8.1 Ichikawa Ebizō IX (later Danjūrō XI) with
Ichikawa Masujūrō, Ichikawa Masuyo,
Ichikawa Emiko, Ichikawa Baika, Ichikawa
Fukushō, Ichikawa Misuji, and other members
of Ichikawa Girls’ Kabuki. Courtesy Sakuragaoka
Museum, Toyokawa, Japan. 148
10.1057/9780230618589 - Danjuro's Girls, Loren Edelson
99778800223300660099446644ttss0011..iinndddd iixx 1111//2244//22000088 1122::4433::5588 PPMM