‘Traditional’ Kabuki – from Business Practice to National Policy

Tove Johanna Bjoerk*

Abstract

This article analyzes how the world of Kabuki constructed its “tradition” through the publication of theatre chronicles and actors’ genealogies from the mid-eighteenth to the late nineteenth century, as well as through a series of deliberate omissions in its historiography. Various publications from the eighteenth and nineteenth century (made by and for cultured fans) presenting the history of Kabuki aimed at describing the roots of the medium in the mythical age of the gods, or the “exotic” Chinese theatre, and at the same time they provided a chronologically structured narrative of the theatres and actors’ lineages. While early modern publications often searched, sometimes with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, for the roots of the medium in the nobility of the gods or in Chinese parables, they nevertheless emphasized the legitimacy of these businesses, which were backed by government-issued licenses. Highlighting the continuity of actors’ lineages to reinforce the respectability of Kabuki as a family enterprise was a common trope in these early modern publications. After the Meiji Restoration, however, the Kabuki world shifted its narrative toward “a culture born from the people, which had been resisting feudal authority,” framing it as a national form of performance rather than a collection of family-run enterprises. Therefore, tracing the legacies of “inventing a tradition” over centuries to fit the various political, social and economic circumstances, and by working through many primary sources, this article traces some of the dominant trends of the historiography of Kabuki; along with intervening in the multiple strategic omissions of the history of the medium such as the weak presence of the foremother of the form, Okuni, in early modern publications and her reappearance in the twentieth century.

Keywords: Kabuki, historiography, genealogy, tradition, legitimacy, family business, early modern publishing

Background and Sources

Invoking a long and illustrious past is a well-established means of legitimizing power, often by tracing its origins to divine ancestry. In Japan, the eight-century court chronology Kojiki (古事記, “Ancient Matter”), features as its first chapter the legends of how the emperor is related to the gods. In this same chapter we find the tale of how goddess Ame-no-Uzume danced an erotic dance to provoke laughter and entice the sun goddess Amaterasu out of her cave, a myth commonly regarded as the origin of Japan’s performing arts (Terauchi 11).

Zeami (世阿弥, 1363-1443), one of the forefathers of Noh (sarugaku), outlines the historical origins of Noh in his treaty Fushikaden (風姿花伝, “Tales of Shapes of the Wind and Flowers”), as follows:

If we try to establish the origins of the life-extending art of sarugaku, we find that it has been transmitted either from the land of the Buddha (India) or from the Age of the Gods. Yet time has passed, and with the interposition of the ages it no longer lies within our abilities to learn how it first appeared. This art, which recently so many people take pleasure in, dates from the reign of Empress Suiko (592-628), when the regent Prince Shotoku Taishi ordered Hada no Kokatsu to create sixty-six pieces of entertainment – either to promote peace in the nations or for public enjoyment- that he called sarugaku. Over the generations, writers have used the scenery of nature as a medium for this entertainment. Later, Kokatsu’s descendants passed this art down the line of succession, as priests at either the Kasuga Shrine in Yamato or the Hie Shrine in Omi. Thus, the performance rites at both these shrines thrives to this day (47).

Zeami writes with the intent of justifying his art as being worthy of the support of the Ashikaga shogunate and the imperial court (Takemoto 383-410). But if we look at the structure of this historiography, we see that it contains the same elements that we will encounter in the early modern publications, namely, the divine roots, the connection to an elevated exotic other, here India, (though more commonly China); references to institutionalized practice; and claims of unbroken continuity. Zeami’s treaties were published and were widely circulated in the mid-seventeenth century,^[1] so there is no mystery in how the early modern writers got their hands on this model for constructing a historical narrative.

Although Zeami himself fell out of political favor with the shogunate and was exiled, his sarugaku Noh did obtain the favors of the politically powerful in time, and when the Tokugawa government established itself in the early seventeenth century, Noh became the protected performance art of the warrior class (Kagaya and Miura 49-51). Here, other performers took over the role of popular entertainment, initially by travelling troupes performing on borrowed Noh stages. Once Tokugawa Ieyasu had consolidated power and implemented a stable civil administration, permanent theatre companies were established in urban centers.

The origins of Kabuki as a performance art is attributed to a theatre troupe led by a woman named Okuni, often described as a shrine maiden from the Izumo shrine (dedicated to Amaterasu). In 1603, she gained fame in Kyoto by parodying the flamboyant fashion of the kabuki-mono dandies and cross-dressing in performances that included flirtatious scenes with a courtesan (played by a male actor). She was consequently invited to the imperial palace and also travelled to Edo to participate in a performance festival to raise funds for the building of the Edo castle in 1612. These achievements are well documented in contemporary court and government records as well as picture scrolls and folding screens (Hattori 258-310).

Okumi’s success was soon copied by prostitutes as a way of attracting patrons, however female performers were forbidden in 1629 due to endemic fighting among their fans. Subsequently, Kabuki performances were continued by young male wakashu performers, who similarly used their stage appearances to scout for customers for their prostitution. Also here, the fighting among fans – predominantly of the warrior class – became problematic, and they too were forbidden in 1652. Thereafter, Kabuki became a grown-up male theatre form, which necessitated its transformation into a more sophisticated dramatic form (Takei).

Parallel to these developments, however, Kabuki theatres, with the Nakamura za theatre in Edo in the lead, managed to secure business permits sanctioned by the Tokugawa government itself. There permits were called yagura (櫓, “tower”), indicative of the drum tower marking the entrance of a theatre, and they became an intense source of prestige, especially for the theatres in Edo, where the licenses were hereditary. In the theatres in Kyoto and Osaka, the licenses could be bought and sold, but in Edo, it was necessary for the yagura license to pass from father to son which created a rather rigid hereditary and hierarchical system for the management of the theatres and the many businesses of theatre quarters dependent on them creating an influx of consumers with loose purse strings (Björk 2019, 161-72).

The 1714 Ejima-Ikushima scandal, in which court lady Ejima, serving the mother of the seventh shogun, was discovered to be having an affair with the prominent Kabuki actor Ikushima Shingorō, led to the closure of the Yamamura-za theatre. In the aftermath, the Tokugawa government restricted Edo to just three officially sanctioned theatres: Nakamura-za, Ichimura-za, and Morita-za (Björk 2019, 189-92).

As long as these three theatres conducted their business well, the merchants of the Sakai chō, Fukiya chō and Kobiki chō theatre quarters were content. However, during the 1730s, incompetence of the leader of the Morita za theatre, in combination with the recession caused by an attempt to remedy the government’s finances, called the Kyōhō Reforms, sparked a sense of crisis in the Kabuki industry. In 1735, a series of petitions to the magistrate resulted in the revival of old yagura permits giving the three theatres of Edo “back-up permits” called hikae yagura 控え櫓, to secure the existence of a Kabuki theatre in each of the said quarter in the case of bad management of one theatre (Björk 2019, 167-72). The magistrate reasoned that there were too many people economically dependent on the theatres to allow them to close. For the world of Kabuki as a whole, the decision meant business security which allowed them to evolve further from the latter half of the eighteenth century. From this time onwards, the world of Kabuki became closely intertwined with the publishing industry,^[2] leading to the production of numerous books dedicated to the theatre. These publications will be the subject of analysis in the sections that follow, and all the books discussed have been retrieved and examined via the Union Catalogue Database of Japanese Texts of the National Institute of Japanese Literature.

In the following sections, I will first examine references to a mythical past and allusions to Chinese theatre, I argue that, although such references could serve to elevate the status of Kabuki, they were more often employed playfully, through the mitate technique of associative parody. Next, I will look at the records of the theatre licenses and linages of acting houses, here contending that there were serious attempts at enhancing the legacy the theatres obtained from their government approved business licenses. Finally, I will address certain omissions, and and explore how Kabuki historiography was rewritten in the twentieth century.

The Age of the Gods and Chinese Theatre

One early example of situating the genesis of Kabuki in the Age of the Gods can be found in the booklet Omoshiro ya shibai no hajimari (遊楽戯場の濫觴, “The Funny Beginnings of Theatre”). The author is unknown, but it was published in the 1780s by publisher Tsutaya Jūsaburō (蔦屋重三郎, 1750-1797).

Tsutaya Jūsaburō started his career in the Yoshiwara licensed quarters, printing guidebooks for the customers. In 1783, he obtained the necessary backing from the printer’s guild to move to the Nihonbashi quarters where he became one of the most prolific publishers, associated with authors and artists such as Santo Kyōden, Kyokutei Bakin, Shikitei Sanba and Utagawa Toyokuni. Omoshiro ya shibai no hajimari is estimated to have been produced just before Tsutaya moved to the Nihonbashi quarters. The book follows the long and narrow format of the Hachimonjiya Actor’s Reviews, though its tone is overtly parodic. The preamble traces the origin of Kabuki to ancient Kagura ritual, retelling the story of how the sun goddess Amaterasu hid herself in a cave with an illustration to depicting scene.

The Dance in front of the Heavenly Cave, *Omoshiro ya shibai no hajimari*

Part two of the text is constructed as the review of a fictional play in which Nagoya Sansa, one of the famous kabuki-mono dandies of the early seventeenth century and alleged lover of Okuni, sees Indian Kabuki Dance (天ぢくかぶきのふり, Tenjiku kabuki no furi) performed at the Palace of the Dragon King. This scene is likewise illustrated.

Kabuki Dance at the Palace of the Dragon King, *Omoshiro ya shibai no hajimari*

This latter part can be interpreted either as the introduction of an exotic foreign element into Kabuki’s historiography, or as an allusion to another legend from the Kojiki, namely the legend of the two brothers Yamasachi (山幸, “Luck of the Mountain”) and Umisachi (海幸, “Luck of the Sea”).

In this myth, Yamasachi is forced to travel to the Palace of the Dragon King under the sea to retrieve his brother’s fishing hook. Upon returning it, he curses Umisachi, who eventually submits and is tasked with entertaining Yamasachi by reenacting his own drowning. Later, this myth was adapted into the children’s tale Urashima Tarō and is often regarded as a second mythical origin of Japan’s performing arts.

While the dances luring out Amaterasu from her cave are interpreted as a prayer for good harvests and blessings of nature etc., the Yamasachi and Umisachi legend stresses the political aspects of performance arts. The tone of our text, however, is humoristic, and what the traveler to the Palace of the Dragon King brings back is not a fishing hook and a curse, but exotic performance. A slightly different take on the punning on the Age of Gods and exotic elements can be found in the book Yakusha meisho zue (戯子名所図会, “Picture Collection of Famous Places for Actors”), written by Kyokutei Bakin (曲亭馬琴, 1767-1848), published in the year 1800, with illustrations by Utagawa Toyokuni I (歌川豊国, 1767-1825).

Kyokutei Bakin was born into a low-ranking warrior family but gave up the rank and became an Edo townsperson. He published over 200 works, the best known being the epic Nansō satomi hakken den (南総里見八犬伝, “The Chronicles of the Eight Dog Heroes of the Satomi Clan of Nansō,” 1814-1842). The Yakusha meisho zue, produced rather early in Bakin’s career, is a Toyokuni lavishly illustrated volume, containing 24 chapters. It examines various architectural features such as the layout of seating, backstage arrangements, framing them metaphorically as “famous places.” The explanatory notes give a full description of the mythical roots of Kabuki, including an elaborate explanation of the etymology of the wordshibai (芝居) a general term for plays or theatre, but literally meaning “on the grass.”

According to Bakin, the first theatrical platform was the one on which the goddess Ame-no-Uzume danced and explains that there were once upon a time three sorts of grass growing in front of the Nanendō hall at the Kofuku-ji temple in Nara. One was the seed of Kyogen, the other that of Sanbasō dances and the last of kabuki-mono Nagoya Sansa. They were each carefully planted in pots and brought to the Shijō avenue in Kyoto, where generations of actors carefully watered them. A similar concern with the etymology of the word shibai can be found in Gakuya zue shuui (楽屋図会拾遺, “Selected Illustrations from Backstage,” by ukiyo-e artist Shōkōsai Hanbē (松好齋半兵衛) published in 1803. Here, the author takes a rather more materialistic view, claiming that in the second month of the third year of Daidō (808), a great hole opened in the ground in the Sarusawa area of Nara. Poisonous gas oozed from this hole, and a diviner told the emperor that he should fill up the hole, plant grass on it and perform the Okina and Sanbasō dances on top of it. The author claims that all the genres of performance arts stems from this event, hence the name shibai = “on the grass” for all theatre.

The authors use the references to the age of the gods with humor, and their readers would hardly have taken these deliberations literally. However, we can find similar notes scattered about in the dictionaries and the works of fiction and poetry, so the notion that Kabuki theatre stemmed from the ancient ritual performance arts seems to have been commonplace. Equally widespread was the notion of an “exotic foreign element” being intertwined with divine origins. Once again, Bakin provides the most detailed treatment of this idea in Yakusha meisho zue; bracketed explanations below are my own):

The names of actors in our country can be found in the volume concerning the age of the gods, they are that ancient. However, some people say that the very early form of ancient acting is not connected to the current mundane theatres. Be that as it may, they must have received something from those ancient undercurrents. In the age of Bunji [1185-1190], there were many female performers known as shirabyōshi [白拍子] dancers. They were much like Kabuki actors today. The Kabuki theatres as we know them today founded by Nagoya Sansaemon [名古屋山左衛門] during the Eiroku era [1558-1570].

Moreover, the Music Bureau [yuefu楽府] of the Tang, Han, Wei and the Six Dynasties, all composed poems meant to be sung and danced to. This same style was adapted by theshirabyoshi dancers. It is said that the first scripts, called yenben [院本, jp, inbon, read shibai in this text] of fictions were during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang [唐玄宗皇帝, 712-756].

These were the base for the wu hua cuan nong [五花爨弄, jp. goka sanron] dances of the Song dynasty. After that, in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, various role characters and acting techniques [勾欄戯子] developed.[….] These acting forms have not changed in our country. These acting forms have not changed in our country. The elegance of flowers and birds, the wind and the moon cannot be appreciated by uncultivated spectators. The knowledge of a thousand mountains and a hundred rivers is not easily enjoyed by women and children. Only at the theatre is there no difference between the elevated [雅, ga] and the vulgar [俗, zoku], nor between the old and the young. Here, all may cast off their sorrows and experience the pleasures of theatre, the clearest mirror of humanity. Indeed, the theatre is the most refined and famous place of them all.

Bakin makes several errors in translations in the omitted part of the citation, but he clearly enjoys sprinkling his texts with Chinese theatrical terminology.

Another author who similarly enjoyed the playful use of Chinese stage terminology is Shikitei Sanba (式亭三馬, 1776-1822) in his Shibai kinmō zui (戯場訓蒙図彙, “Illustrated Dictionary of the Theatres”).

Shikitei Sanba was born into a family of woodblock print carvers and therefore grew up immersed in the publishing industry. He published numerous works of fiction in all genres popular at the time, humorously portraying urban life in Edo, often enriched with poetic references. Shikitei cites a document called Hikō den (飛虹伝, “Tales of Flying over the Rainbow”), in which emperor Shengzu of Qing (康凞帝, 1654-1722) compares the sun and the moon to lanterns, the rivers and seas to oil, thunder and lightning to drums and gongs, describing the whole world as a theatre. This metaphor can be found in the Chinese preamble to the Kokuseiya chūgiden (国姓爺忠義伝, “Legends of The Loyality of Coxinga”) by Confucian scholar Ukai Sekisai (鵜飼石斎, 1615-1664). This book is a 1717 reprint of Sekisai’s Minshin tōki (明清闘記, “Battles Of Ming and Qing,” 1661), which formed the main source of playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon used when creating his hugely successful ningyō jōruri (Bunraku) puppet play Kokusen’ya kassen (国性爺合戦, “Battles of Coxinga”) in 1715.^[3]

The Kyōhō reforms, introduced from 1716 onwards, included several statutes for promoting science and allowed the import of foreign books. Alongside scientific texts, a large quantity of other books also entered Japan. For example, Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō II (二代目市川団蔵團十郎, 1688-1758) notes in his diary that a friend brought him a “Chinese playbook” to examine look at during his stay in Osaka in 1742 (Björk 2019, 23-49). Apparently Chinese theatre books were in circulation too. This fascination with things Chinese is also evident in Yakusha sanjūni sōten gankyō (戯子卅二相点顔鏡, “‘32 Actors’ Portrait Horoscopes”), a collection of portraits of 32 actors illustrated by Utagawa Toyokuni, designed as a parody of Chinese medical books. Yakusha kijin den (俳優畸人伝, “Tales of Famous Actors”) by Tachikawa Enba II (立川焉馬, ca 1833) contains a curious illustration of the inside of a Chinese theatre by Utagawa Kunisada 歌川國貞. The image appears between genealogical sections on the Naritaya (Ichikawa Danjūrō) and Hamamuraya (Segawa Kikunojō 瀬川菊之丞) acting lineages, apparently inserted without any direct textual explanation.

Illustration of the Inside of a Chinese Theatre, *Yakusha kijin den*

The of use of Chinese theatre terminology or the quote of emperor Shengzu about the world being a theatre are repeated in many of the dictionaries and works of fiction. This suggests that the idea that linking of the origins of Kabuki to Chinese theatre was commonplace. I argue, however, that both the references to the Age of the Gods, and the links to Chinese theatre, are examples of the use of the literary technique of mitate 見立, rather than serious attempts to create an illustrious past for Kabuki. The mitate technique is popularly used throughout Japanese artistic creation, functioning by drawing parallels between two dissonant realms, typically, elegant, ga 雅, and the mundane, zoku 俗. The ga realm can serve to elevate the zoku realm (Björk 2022, 231-63). However, mitate can also function in a different way. When the contrast between the two realms is exaggerated, the effect can be humorous or parodic. In our case, by linking the elevated worlds of the gods and the Chinese stage to the origin of something so thoroughly zoku as Kabuki, it becomes ironic. In my view, the historical references analyzed in this section should not be read as earnest claims but rather as humorous introductions to the following chronicles and genealogies, sections where the authors shift into a more serious tone.

Chronicles and Lineages

Many publications starting from mid-seventeenth century depict the profile of the founder of the Nakamura za theatre, Saruwaka Kanzaburō (猿若勘三郎), and describe his services to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the city of Edo itself. These publications describe the process of obtaining the yagura business licenses of the three main theatres in Edo, the Nakamura za, the Ichimura za and the Morita za theatre, and provide the linages of individual famous actors. Towards the later nineteenth century, we see an increasing tendency amongst the authors to create chronological records rather than collecting amusing anecdotes. In the following, I will look at these aspects in order.

Saruwaka Kanzaburō (猿若勘三郎), or Nakamura Kanzaburō I (中村勘三郎, 1597−1658), was originally a Kyogen actor, who joined one of the early Kabuki dance troupes. Before coming to Edo and founding his theatre, he toured the countryside, and according to legend, he was famous for his beautiful voice and therefore ordered by Tokugawa Ieyasu himself to stand and sing at the stern of his flagship when he entered the bay of Edo. For his services he received a valuable cape and a golden staff, which were allegedly still part of Nakamura Kanzaburō family’s treasures in the nineteenth century (Sekine).　

In the Yakusha meibutsu sode nikki (役者名物袖日記, “Secret Dairy of Famous Actors,” 1771) we find the additional information that he had also been performing in the imperial court. Court records show that Okuni and other entertainers indeed were invited to perform at the imperial court, and Kabuki actors were often called to the Edo castle itself during the first half of the seventeenth century (Bjoerk 2019, 150-61), but quite apart from the historical probability of the statements being true, these descriptions in themselves lend a double respectability to the founder of the first licensed Kabuki theatre in Edo both from the imperial court and the Tokugawa government.

Bakin’s Yakusha meisho zue, also gives a description of the merits of Kanzaburō I, but defines him as a member of Okuni troupe, who Bakin claims to be shrine maid from the great Izumo shrine, performing Kagura dances. Sazareishi Kabuki gekisho (三座例遺誌／歌舞伎劇書, “Pebbles of Poems on the Three Theatres, Writings on Kabuki Theatre”) contributes with a portrait of Saruwaka Kanzaburō himself. We also find frequent mentioning of the illustrious cape and staff, all contributing to form the image of the founder of Edo Kabuki as a man sanctioned by the government.

Portrait of Saruwaka Kanzaburō, *Sazareishi Kabuki gekisho*

The Kabuki theatres in Edo took great pride in being government sanctioned, and Yakusha meibutsu sode nikki begins with citing a document which is supposedly the very document Kanzaburō submitted to apply for a license to open a theatre. Also the Sazareishi Kabuki gekisho claims to contain a copy of the document in question, but the most comprehensive publication describing the process of obtaining the licenses is the Hana no Edo Kabuki nendai ki (花江戸歌舞伎年代記, “Chronicles of the Kabuki and the Flowers of Edo”) by Tachikawa Enba (立川焉馬, 1743-1822) published in 1810.

Tachikawa Enba, was born into a carpenter’s family, but became a playwright for Bunraku puppet plays, and is also famed as rakugo storyteller.^[4] He was a fierce fan of Danjūrō V, and his critics often stress that his historical writings put too much focus on the Naritaya acting house’s achievement, but nevertheless, this publication is lauded as a valuable first attempt at creating a comprehensive historical chronicle for Kabuki.

The first attempt to create a history of an individual actor, however, is seen almost 80 years earlier, in the pictured chronicle of the plays performed by Ichikawa Danjūrō II, from his childhood to 1728, when the book Kin no zai (金之揮, “Golden Staff”) was published. The chronicle starts with a description of the acting of Ichikawa Danjūrō I (1644-1704), the father of Danjūrō II, but the focus is on the achievements of Danjūrō II, listing all plays he partook in each year, with an illustration on the top of the entry of the most successful one. The author – or commissioner – of the publication was clearly a huge fan of Danjūrō II, so the tone is flattering, but the format came to be adopted by later chroniclers of Kabuki, so it is an influential publication.

Book 2 of the Yakusha meibutsu sode nikki contains a presentation of the family crests of certain famous actors, such as the crane of lead actor Nakamura Denkūrō (中村伝九郎), the threefold rice measure, clouds and lightening, and the peony, all in use by the Ichikawa Danjūrō acting house, the swallows of Sawamura Sōjūrō (沢村惣十郎), and the cotton bundle of Segawa Kikunojō. Kabuki actors are listed together with their crests already from the first Actors’ Review Yaro mushi (野郎虫, “Actors’ Bug,” 1660), the custom aimed at establishing a credibility for the actors to be regarded as townsmen or artisans. In fact, all genealogies without exception do list the crests.

Crests of Nakamura Denkurō and Ichikawa Danjūrō, *Yakusha meibutsu sode nikki*

An acting house sports a yago (屋号, “house name”), just as merchant and artisan houses would. It is unclear exactly when they became common in the world of Kabuki. Some claim that Ichikawa Danjūrō I started using the yago Naritaya after the successful first enactment of the Acala deity of Naritasan Shinsho-ji Temple and the introduction of his ten-year old son as the wish-child of the same deity in 1698, but other point to that actors started to sell their own brand merchandize as early as the year 1660 (Björk 2019, 75-87). Be that as it may, the yago practice was in any case well established by the early nineteenth century.

The Yakusha yoyo no tsugiki (俳優世々の接木, “Branches of Generations of Actors”), focuses on important plays and events of Naritaya acting house starting from Ichikawa Danjūrō I and listing fourteen actors belonging to his acting house, following with Danjūrō II with twenty-five followers, up until Danjūrō VIII with ever increasing members of the acting house. After that, closely related linages, such as the Ichikawa Danzō (市川団蔵), from first to fifth generation, follows. The publication stretches over 200 pages, effectively functioning as a comprehensive directory of who-is-who in the world of Kabuki around 1820.

Part of the genealogy of the Naritaya acting house, *Yakusha yoyo no tsugiki*

The same focus on presenting the linages of acting houses can be seen in the Haiyu kei (俳優觽, “Annotations on Actors”), first published in 1771 and updated in 1824 and the Shibai keizu (戯場家譜, “Family lineages of the Theatres”) from 1850.

Finally, the Hana yagura newake no Okabu (花櫓根分大歌舞, “The Roots of the Great Flowering Theatre Turrets”) published in 1859 by the playwright and journalist Kanagaki Robun (仮名垣魯文, 1829-1894) follows the same trend. The foreword states that the book builds on the previous genealogies and aims to be a guide for beginners, and lists important actors, roles they are famous for, their pen names, ranking, and even their yearly wages.^[5]

These kinds of genealogies and chronologies clearly aim at providing a service for fans to keep track of who is who in the world of Kabuki, at the same time as they present the theatres, acting houses and individual actors as respectable businesses with long lineages, originally endorsed by both the imperial court and the shogunate.

The stress on presenting each generation of an acting linage also contributes to create an image of Kabuki actors as a merchant or artisan. The idea that the actors also were merchants is supported by both the use of family crests and yago. The fact that a myriad of merchandize sporting signs were for sale, and that they were accepted as a sort of merchant or artisan is confirmed by the inclusion of Kabuki theatres in the nineteenth century picture scroll Kinsei shokunin zuskushi e kotoba (近世職人尽絵詞, “Early Modern Artisans in Pictures and Words”) by Kuwagata Keisai (鍬形蕙斎, 1764-1824).

Kabuki theatres presented as one of the artisan professions, *Kinsei shokunin zuskushi e kotoba*

From the above image, we can conclude that eighteenth- and nineteenth-century publications on the history of Kabuki often employed playful references to mythical origins, such as ties to the age of the gods or the exotic Chinese theatre, while simultaneously presenting a chronologically structured narrative of the theatres and actors’ lineages which stressed the respectability of the world of Kabuki. Here, the tradition of Kabuki can be interpreted as the continuation of a family business rather than the form of the acting itself.

In the following section, I will briefly look at how this perspective changed in the twentieth century.

Omissions and the Historiography of the Twentieth Century

While investigating these books, a few notable omissions became apparent, such as the relatively weak presence of Okuni in early modern publications, as well as minimal mention of critical court cases deciding on the survival of the theatres. In the following, I will discuss these points in the light of how these omissions later became the very nodes around which the historiography of the twentieth century was rewritten.

Only three publications mention Okuni at all, namely Bakin’s Yakusha meisho zue), the dictionary Gakuya zue shue (戯場楽屋図会, “Picture Collection from Backstage”) and the comic novel Yakusha gakuya tsu (俳優楽室通, “Literacy of the Customs of Actors and the Backstage”). Considering how well documented she is in contemporary sources from the early seventeenth century (both in official court records and various works of art, such as valuable folding screens and picture scrolls), this is rather surprising.

Looking for other events which are now the key stones on which the narrative of the history of Kabuki is built, there were certain other aspects missing as well. The existence of, and consequent banning of Kabuki by courtesans in 1629 is not mentioned even in the most extensive history book, the Hana no Edo Kabuki nendai ki. The ban on young male wakashu actors in 1652, gets a one-line laconic nod, and the great Ejima-Ikushima scandal which shocked the world of Kabuki in 1714 is mentioned in just two lines. First line states that the Yamamura za closed, and the following line that Danjūrō II therefore first moved to the Morita za and then to the Nakamura za theatre.

All the above are well documented cases, both in official records and essays by contemporary eyewitnesses. Therefore, the authors of these commercial publications were likely aware of them. Possibly, they chose to omit details which could damage the respectability of Kabuki in the publications which were meant to both amuse the readers and promote the theatres.

But at the same time as the commercial publications continued to be printed, efforts to compile primary sources which tell the tale of the now more than 200 years of Kabuki theatre commenced. One such compilation is the Enseki jisshu (燕石十種, “Ten Seeds of Swallows and Stones”) which was compiled by book collector and dealer Iwamoto Sashichi (岩本佐七, also known as Darumaya Kattōshi 達磨屋活東子). The first handwritten copy was completed in 1863, first printed in 1907, followed by several re-prints. It has become one of the canonical documents used by Kabuki scholars. It contains various essays and diaries such as Tonari no senki (隣の疝気, “My Neighbors Colic,” 1763) by Hara Morikazu (原盛和), a retainer to a feudal lord from Tottori domain who offers an eyewitness report of the recession caused by the Kyōhō reforms at the theatres. Also Oi no tanoshimi (老の楽しみ, “Pleasures of the Old”), a digest copy of the diary of Ichikawa Danjūrō II, which gives insights into the daily life of an actor, and manuals for the theatre management written by playwright Mimasuya Nizōji 三升屋二三治 in the 1850 are included.

Using these primary sources, in combination with official documentation from the magistrate, historian Ishitsuka Hōkaishi (石塚豊芥子, 1799-1862) undertook the continuation of the Hana no Edo Kabuki nendaiki, now documenting the years 1805-1859. This work was inherited by Tamura Nariyoshi (田村成義, 1851-1920), a Kabuki entrepreneur of the Meiji period, gathering documentation up until 1903.

Simultaneous with these efforts theatre scholar Sekine Shisei (関根只誠 1825-1893), collected primary sources and compiled them into his Shibai nenpyō (戯場年表, “Theatre Chronicle”), a handwritten chronicle, starting from the Nakamura za obtaining its license in 1624, and the development of the theatre buildings and their locations up until 1859. Building on this, theatre scholar Ihara Seiseien (伊原青々園, 1870-1941) compiled the eight volumes of Kabuki nenpyō (歌舞伎年表, “Kabuki Chronicle”) cross-referencing it with the Actors’ Review. This work was commissioned by theatre scholar and Shakespeare translator Tsubouchi Shōyō (坪内逍遥, 1859-1935) in 1894 and covers the period from the beginning of the seventeenth century to 1907. It was eventually published after the death of the author, in 1963.

The historiography based on these primary sources presents Kabuki in a new light. It stresses Kabuki’s origins as a form of counterculture and pinpoints the many wrangles the world of Kabuki had with the Tokugawa government. This stands in stark contrast to the early modern commercial publications.

It may seem counter-intuitive that the world of Kabuki which sought to present itself as respectable family businesses in the early modern period and was eager to r rebrand itself as high culture, worthy of being performed before the Meiji Emperor, and embodying a national ethos, would embrace an origin narrative as descending from the itinerant female performer Okuni and imitated by prostitutes and the casteless, always in opposition to authority.

Efforts by leading actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX to rebrand Kabuki as theatre, in the European sense of being “high art” rather than entertainment, led to that Kabuki was chosen as the official entertainment when the U.S. ambassador Ulysses Grant visited in 1979, and culminated with a performance in front of the imperial court in 1887.

Scholars such as Tsubouchi Shōyō also wrote new Kabuki plays, attempting to impose a concept of modern psychology onto Kabuki’s traditional stock characters. Based on the trajectory of this research, one might speculate that there was a perceived need to emphasize Kabuki as “a performance culture born of the people,” with the theatres positioned as adversaries of a “tyrannical feudal society,” in order to align the art form with the values of the new Meiji period, which had overthrown the Tokugawa regime.

It is also from this period onward that we see a shift in the understanding of tradition, from the succession of the family business to the continuation of the form of acting and stage art itself. This interpretation was further encouraged after the Second World War and was ultimately cemented by Kabuki’s inclusion on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.

In conclusion, we have seen that Zeami traced the origins of Noh to the age of the gods, and to imported performance arts sponsored by the ancient imperial court with the aim of showing that this was an art worthy of the support of the shogunate and the imperial court. This narrative was later adopted by early modern publications on Kabuki.

These early modern publications play humorously with the nobility of the gods and Chinese parables, while also emphasizing the legitimacy of their business licenses backed by the government, and the long licences of their actors. In doing so they reinforced respectability of Kabuki as a family-run enterprise.

After the Meiji restoration, however, the world of Kabuki stressed that it was a culture born from the people, which had been “resisting the feudal authority.” This time, the aim may have been to position Kabuki as a fitting representative of the new nation-state. Perhaps for this reason, greater emphasis was placed on the continuity of the performance style itself, rather than the tradition of the business.

Be that as it may, it is clear that the creation of a tradition has continued but the notion of what is important in this tradition has changed to fit the various political, social and economic circumstances of the theatrical world itself. It is therefore foreseeable that the concept of tradition will continue to evolve as those circumstances change.

Editorial note: This article draws on the extensive body of research conducted by Tove Johanna Bjoerk. Prepared for the Inter-Asia Special Issue of Critical Stages, it presents a summary of her findings, serving as a preface to her forthcoming publications.

Endnotes

^[1] The Union Catalogue Database of Japanese Texts (国書データベース) operated by the National Institute of Japanese Literature lists 16 early modern publications, dated from as early as 1650. See here.

^[2] The Japanese printing industry developed first in Kyoto, where the printers used to publish Buddhist didactic texts turned to printing the imperial poetry collections, Heian period monogatari tales and medieval war epos, which had hitherto only existed as handwritten copies until the mid-seventeenth century. As levels of literacy rose, they soon turned to printing tales of contemporary matters in vernacular Japanese, the so-called kana-zōshi, and commercial printers based in Osaka started producing ukiyo-zōshi literature commenting on the lifestyle of the licensed quarters and theatres as well as guidebooks and reviews of the same. By the nineteenth century, the center of the publishing industry had moved to Edo, where publishers such as Tsutaya Jūsaburō from the latter half of the century successfully collaborated with ukiyo-e artists and authors in various genres to produce a wide range of popular books to be consumed by warriors and merchants, women and children alike (Suzuki 2012).

^[3] This preamble does not exist in the previous publication, and it is unclear who the author is. However, Ueda Akinari (上田秋成, 1734-1809), is cited in his novel Shodō kiki mimi seken zaru (諸道聴耳世間狙,”Listening to Gossip from the Monkeys of this World,” 1766) and by scholar Morishima Chūryō (森島中良, 1756-1810) in his contemporary Chinese Japanese dictionary Zokugo kai (俗語解, “Understanding Colloquial Terms,’”1810). So apparently it was in circulation among the Japanese literati of the mid- to late eighteenth century. Whether this is a mere zeitgeist coincidence or there is an actual transmission of this thought is unclear, but it is interesting to note that the content of this citation coincides with the European notion of teatrum mundi, which was popularized during the Renaissance.

^[4] Rakugo 落語is a storytelling art in which one performer using only changes in his voice, hand gestures, a fan and a hand towel tell a humorous narrative. It emerged from medieval Buddhist didactic sermons but took a mundane and humorous turn in the seventeenth century to become an immensely popular form of entertainment by the nineteenth century.

^[5] The origins of government-sanctioned yagura licenses and the lineages of prominent acting houses, such as the Naritaya, can also be found scattered across dictionaries, fiction, and poetry. This suggests a broad consensus among publishers across various genres, as well as their readership, that such information was essential to any discussion of Kabuki.

Bibliography

Björk, Tove. Nidaime Ichikawa Danjūrō no nikki ni miru Kyōhō ki Edo Kabuki [二代目市川團十郎の日記にみる享保期江戸歌舞伎, Edo Kabuki of the Kyōhō Period as Seen in the Diary of Ichikawa Danjūrō II]. Bungaku Tsūshin, 2019.

—. “Reading and Acting in Early Modern Kabuki: Browsing the Library of Ichikawa Danjūrō II.” Journal of the Society for Asian Humanities, vol. 53, 2022.

Hattori, Yukio. Kabuki seiritsu no kenkyū [歌舞伎成立の研究, Research on the Origins of Kabuki]. Kasama Shobō, 1968.

Kagaya, Shinko, and Hiroko Miura. “Noh and Muromachi Culture.” A History of Japanese Theatre, edited by Jonah Salz, Cambridge UP, 2016, pp. 24-61.

Sekine, Shisei. Tōto gekijō enkaku shiryō [東都劇場沿革誌料, Historical Document Collection of the Eastern Capital]. Kokuritsu Gekijō Geinō Chōsa Shitsu, 1983.

Suzuki, Toshiyuki. Tsutaya Jūsaburō [蔦屋重三郎]. Heibonsha, 2012.

Takei, Kyōzō. Wakashū kabuki/yarō kabuki no kenkyū [若衆歌舞伎・野郎歌舞伎の研究, Research on Wakashū and Yarō Kabuki]. Yagi Shoten, 2000.

Takemoto, Mikio. “Kaisetsu” [解説, Commentary]. Fushikaden / Sandō [風姿花伝・山道, Tales of the Wind and Flower / Three Roads], Kadokawa, 2014.

Terauchi, Naoko. “Ancient and Early Medieval Performing Arts.” A History of Japanese Theatre, edited by Jonah Salz, Cambridge UP, 2016, pp. 4-19.

Wilmer, S. E., editor. Writing and Rewriting National Theatre Histories. U of Iowa P, 2004.

Zeami. Fushikaden [風姿花伝, Tales of the Wind and Flower]. Translated by William Scott Wilson, The Spirit of Noh: A New Translation of the Classic Noh Treatise the Fushikaden, Shambhala Publications, 2013.

List of Investigated Publications (chronological)

Historiographies and Chronologies

Yakusha meibutsu sode nikki [役者名物袖日記, Secret Dairy of Famous Actors] by Banritei Fukoku 万里亭夫古工, published by Kawana Tōhachiro 河名藤八郎and Kikuoka Kichiemon 菊岡吉右衛門, 1771.
Omoshiro ya shibai no hajimari [遊楽戯場の濫觴, The Funny Beginnings of Theatre] published by Tsutaya Jūsaburō 蔦屋重三郎, 1780.
Yakusha meisho zue [戯子名所図会, Picture Collection of Famous Places for Actors] by Kyokutei Bakin 曲亭馬琴 and Utagawa Toyokuni I 歌川豊国, published by Hanamoto Yasujiro 華本安治, Kashiwara Seijiro 柏原政治郎, 1803.
Sazareishi Kabuki gekisho [三座例遺誌／歌舞伎劇書, Pebbles of Poems on the Three Theatres, Writings on Kabuki Theatre] by Kyokuroan Shujin 曲廬庵主人, published by Kazusaya Chūsuke上総屋忠助, Iseya Chūemon 伊勢屋忠右エ門 and Owariya Chūsuke 尾張屋忠輔, 1803.
Gakuya zue shūi [楽屋図会拾遺, Selected Illustrations from Backstage] by Shōkōsai Hanbē 松好齋半兵衛, published by Shioya Chōbei 鹽屋長兵衛, 1803.
Shibai kinmū zui [戯場訓蒙図彙, Illustrated Dictionary of the Theatres] by Shikitei Sanba 式亭三馬 and Katsukawa Shunei勝川春英, Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川豊国, published by Kazusaya Chūsuke上総屋忠助, 1803.
Hana no Edo Kabuki nendai ki [花江戸歌舞伎年代記, Chronicles of the Kabuki and the Flowers of Edo] by Tachikawa Enba 立川焉馬 and Katsukwa Shuntei 勝川春亭, published by Chōshiya Tadashichi 丁子屋忠七+ 5 others, 1811.

Actors’ Genealogies

Kin no zai [金之揮,Golden Staff] by Kondō Kiyoharu 近藤清春, published by Okumura Genroku奥村源六, 1728.
Haiyū kei [俳優觽, Annotations on Actors] serialized in 1771 and 1824.
Yakusha sanjūni sōten gankyō [戯子卅二相点顔鏡, 32 Actors’ Portrait Horoscopes] by Toshi Shokyaku東子樵客and Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川豊国, published by Tsutaya Jūsaburō 蔦屋重三郎, 1802.
Tōto sanjō haiyū kei [東都三塲俳優觽, Accounts of Actors of the Three Theatres in the Eastern Capital] by Toshi Shokyaku 東子樵客 Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川豊国, published by Horinoya Jinbe 堀野屋仁兵衞, Harimaya Shinshichi 播磨屋新七, 1803.
Kokon yakusha kefu [古今俳優家譜, Genealogies of Actors Past and Present] published by Hachimonjiya Yasaemon 八文字屋八左衞門, 1805.
Yakusha yoyo no tsugiki [俳優世々の接木, Branches of Generations of Actors] by Yakushado Muyū 俳優堂夢遊, 1820.
Yakusha kijin den [俳優畸人伝, Tales of Famous Actors] by Tachikawa Enba 立川焉馬and Utagawa Kunisada 歌川國貞, published by Moriya Jihe 森屋治兵衛, 1833.
Shibai kefu [戯場家譜, Family lineages of the Theatres] published by Kinseido 錦盛堂, 1850.
Hana yagura newake no Okabu [花櫓根分大歌舞, The Roots of the Flowering Theatre Turrets] by Kanagaki Robun 仮名垣魯文, published by Shushun do 周春堂, 1859.

Dictionaries and Guidebooks

Ehon sakae gusa [絵本三家栄種, Pictured Book of the Thriving of the Three Houses] by Kitao Shigemasa 北尾重政, published by Nakamura Kohe 中村小兵衛, 1771.
Gakuya zue shue [戯場楽屋図会, Picture Collection from Backstage] by Shōkōsai Hanbē 松好斎半兵衛, published by Shioya Chōbē 鹽屋長兵衛, 1800.
Zōho Shibai ichiran [増補戯場一覧, Improved Overview of the Theatres] published by Hachimonjiya Jishō 八文字自笑, 1800.
Shibai setsuyō shū [戯場節用集, Collection of Theatre Terminology] by Kobunsha Seishi 好文舎青氏 and Takehara Unpo 竹原雲峰, 1801.
Shibai ga shi [劇場画史, Pictured Theatre History], by Taga Jokei 多賀如圭, 1802.
Haiyū ko no tegashiwa [俳優児手柏, The Oak by the Young Actor’s Hand] by Shōkōsai Hanbē 松好斎半兵衛, 1802.
Ehon shibai nenjū kagami [絵本戯場年中鑑, The Year at the Theatre in Pictures] by Takamura Chikuri 篁竹里 and Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川豊国, published by Hamamatsuya Kōsuke 濱松屋幸助, 1803.
Shibai koto no hagusa [戯場言葉草, Terminology of the Theatres] by Shōkōsai Hanbē 松好斎半兵衛, 1803.
Shibai saiken sanbasō [芝居細見三葉草, Guidebook to the Theatre Quarters] by Utei Enba 烏亭焉馬, 1816.
Yakusha fuzoku Sangoku shi [役者風俗三国志, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Manners at the Theatre], by Hanagasa Bunkyo 花笠文京 and Ryusai Shigeharu 柳斎重春, published by Tsuruya Kiemon 鶴屋喜右衛門, 1831.

Miscellaneous

Sekai no maku nashi [世界の幕なし, The World is a Stage with no Curtains] by Honzentai Tsubohira 本膳亭坪平, 1782.
Shikata haikai [しかた俳諧, Haikai Poetry of Stage Musicians] by Nishimura Teiga 西村定雅, 1783.
Edo hana yakusha biiki [江戸花俳優贔屓, Fans of the Actors of Flowering Edo] by Santō Kyōden 山東京伝 and Kitao Masayoshi 北尾政美, published by Nishimura Shinroku 西宮新六, 1789.
Yakusha gakuya tsū [俳優楽室通, Literacy of the Customs of Actors and the Backstage] by Shikitei Sanba 式亭三馬 and Utagawa Toyokuni I 歌川豊国, 1790.
Ari no mama inaka shibai [見通鄙戯場, Village Theatre as it Truly Is], by Ryūyūsha Enkei 柳陽舎薗鶏, published by Sagamiya Niemon 相模屋仁右エ門, 1806.
Ehon Kawasaki ondō [絵本川崎音頭, Illustrations of Kawasaki Ondo Music] by Testugoshi Hamaru 鉄格子波丸and Shōkōsai Hanbē 松好斎半兵衛, published by Kawachiya Daisuke 河内屋太助, 1806.
Kejō suigen maku no soto [戯場粋言幕乃外, Elegant Words Spoken outside the Curtain], by Shikitei Sanba 式亭三馬, 1806.
Shibai hyakunin isshū [戯場百人一首, Hundred Poems of Theatre People], by Kinoo Samaru 紀尾佐丸 and Katsukawa Shuntei 勝川春亭, 1820.
Kabuki shiire momiji no surieda [戯場仕入楓釣, The Coloured Maple Branches of Kabuki Purchases] by Takarada Jusuke 宝田寿助 and Utagawa Kunimaru 歌川国丸, 1824.
Kyoka shibai hyaku shū [狂歌戯場百首, One Hundered Kyoka Poems on the Theatres] by Shakuyakutei Nagane 芍薬亭長根 and Takekumaan Futaki 武隈庵雙樹, published by Yanagawa Shigenobu 柳川重信, 1832.
Hana no kage shizu ga wazaogi [花蔭賤之俳優, In the Poor Acting in the Shadows of the Flowers] by Ryutei Senka 笠亭仙果and Utagawa Kunitora 歌川国虎, published by Osaku Kyūya 尾崎久弥, 1836.
Haiyū gakuya zōdan [俳優楽屋雑談, Miscellaneous Talks About Actors Backstage] by Utei Enba II烏亭焉馬二世 and Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞, 1842.

*Tove Johanna Bjoerk (PhD) is professor in Early Modern Japanese Literature at Saitama University. Her research focuses on how the world of Kabuki is described in early modern diaries. She has published extensively on the diary of the Edo Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō II and the development of the early modern entertainment industry, while also examining rural and private performance venues, as well as the role of affiliated teahouses, based on diary records of various Kabuki-loving feudal lords.