ENGEKIKAI (#3) March 2020: Cover and Contents

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.

Photo: Sasayama Kishin.

The March 2020 issue (#3) of ENGEKIKAI, the kabuki magazine of record, returns to a traditional character and play, showing Nakamura Shikan as Abe Sadato in ŌSHŪ ADACHIGAHARa (SODEHAGI SAIMON), seen at the Kabuki-za in January. The boldest headline on the cover announces a section covering the first productions of the New Year, in January, at the Kabuki-za, the Kokuritsu Gekijō, the Shinbashi Enbujō, the Asakusa Kōkaidō, the Misono-za, and the Ōsaka Shōchiku-za. At the lower right is the headline for an interview with Kataoka Nizaemon on his performance in SUGAWARA DENJU TENARAI KAGAMI, one of kabuki’s foremost classics, in connection with a memorial production recognizing the 17^th anniversary of the death of his father, Nizaemon XIII. Finally, although the issue contains considerably more than what’s on the cover, there’s the latest installment of Matsumoto Kōshirō’s series, “Kōshirō’s Thousand and One Nights” and a guide to the kabuki play KOI NO YAMI UKAI NO KAGARIBI.