12. KABUKI BOOK COVERS: ICHIKAWA SADANJI GEIDAN KIKIGAKI

Kabuki Woogie is devoted to a variety of kabuki-related subjects. It began with a series of essays, including photos and videos, of a research trip to Japan in 2010, subsequently added my 25-chapter history of the first Kabuki-za, and then began a series on Japanese books about kabuki from my collection. It posts monthly covers of the kabuki magazine ENGEKIKAI, with details on their contents, and recently began adding occasional essays by guest contributors based on papers they delivered at conferences and symposiums. One can poke around in its archives to find all of these past posts.

This is a commemorative volume, published in 1969 in a boxed edition, celebrating the career of the popular actor of male roles, Ichikawa Sadanji III (1898-1969), who died that year. It has a decent, if not extraordinary, number of black and white photos, both off and onstage, chronicling his career. The title means “Ichikawa Sadanji’s Thoughts on Kabuki Acting,” and its text is primarily a record of Sadanji’s theatrical reminiscences as written by Hōjō Makoto, covering the years 1952 to 1968, as published serially in the Yomiuri Shinbun. A chronology closes the book, which is published in a boxed edition. This volume is #1,418 of 1,500.

Front cover.

Limited edition page with ccpy number in red.

Frontispiece, decorated with the Sadanji crest (mon) of three boxed sake measures in the center of which is the character for "Sa" or "left." It is based on the famous mon of the Ichikawa Danjūrō line, which heads the Ichikawa acting family.

Portrait by Hasegawa Noboru of Ichikawa Sadanji III as Nagoya Sanza in Saya-ate.

Book's credits, noting the instiutions responsible for the materials and stating that Yoshida Chiaki and Umemura Yutaka are the photographers, 

Top: Sannin Kichiza with Sadanji III, right, as OBō Kichiza, Onoe Baiko VII, left, as Ojō Kichiza, and Onoe Shoroku II, cener as Oshō Kichiza. Bottom left: Sadanji III as Tsuribune Sabu in Natsu Matsuri. Bottom right:  Sadanji III as Tadanobu Rihei in Shiranami Gonin Otoko.

Sadanji III as Munesada in Seki no To.

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Above: Sadanji III celebrating his son's taking the name Ichikawa Omezō; he is presently Sadanji IV. Bottom: With Omezō in a dressing room.

Sadanji III relaxing at home.

Sadanjir performing the formal nirami mie pose associated with the Danjūrō

line. The actor then known as Ichikawa Ebizō ,who became Danjūrō XII, is at the right.

Sadanji III as Tokubei in Natsu Matsuri.

Publication information page.