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 of covers of and selected photos from Japanese books about
kabuki from my collection. The current posting continues that series.
Kabuki
Woogie also posts monthly covers of the kabuki magazine ENGEKIKAI, with details
on their contents, and, when available, essays by guest contributors, including
papers delivered at conferences and the like.
One can
poke around in its archives to find past posts.
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| Nakamura Baigyoku, Nakamura Kangyoku in Kiichi Hōgen Sanryaku no Maki. Photo: Sasayama Kishin. |
The January 2020 issue (#1) of ENGEKIKAI, the kabuki magazine of
record, has a cover showing Nakamura Baigyoku IV (left) as Chienai (in reality
Yoshioka Kisanta), and his disciple, the newly named Nakamura Kangyoku I, formerly
called Nakamura Umemaru, during this production of KIICHI HŌGEN SANRYAKU NO
MAKI at the Kabuki-za in November. The issue’s chief contents, headlined on the
cover, include a major section called “Good Luck to Kabuki in 2020!” It
contains discussions between actors Kataoka Nizaemon and Kataoka Sennosuke, and
between actors Nakamura Tōzō and Nakamura Tamatarō. It also includes interviews
with the actors scheduled to appear in January’s Asakusa Kabuki program: Onoe
Matsuya, Nakamura Kashō, Bandō Tomoenosuke, Bandō Shingo, Nakamura Yonekichi,
Nakamura Hayato, and Nakamura Hashinosuke. On the right of the cover is an
announcement that purchasers of the issue will receive a kabuki actor calendar,
each month of which is graced by the cover photo used for that month in 2019.
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| Kabuki and Chaplin |
Of greatest interest in this issue is the title at the bottom of the
cover “Kabuki X Chaplin,” a section devoted to Charlie Chaplin and kabuki. It
describes the background to a production that actually came off in December of
a play, KOMORI NO YASUSAN (Bat-man Yasu), written by Kimura Kinka as a kabuki
version of Chaplin’s 1931
City Lights. Its first performance was at the Kabuki-za
in August 1931, only months after the film itself was released, with Morita
Kanya XIII as the Chaplinesque tramp, Komori no Yasu (a popular character in
the kabuki play GENJIDANA).
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Matsumoto Kōshirō X as Komori no Yasusan.
|
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| Charlie Chaplin. |
The 2019 revival was the work of actor Matsumoto Kōshirō
X and writer Ono Hiroyuki. “From Chaplin to Kabuki,” a fascinating talk by Ono,
in English, about how the show came to be
is
here. I regret not having been in Japan to see the production but Ono’s excellent
talk—written when the project was in its preparatory stages—should prove of
considerable assistance in describing it.
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| Left: Sidney Chaplin (Charlie's brother), Nakamura Kichiemon I, and Charlie Chaplin; right: Sidney Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin, and Onoe Kikugorō VI. |
