ENGEKIKAI #6 (June 2021): COVER AND CONTENTS

 

Matsumoto Hakuō II as Benkei in Kanjinchō. (Photo: Shinoyama Kishin.

The June 2021 cover of Engekikai, the kabuki magazine of record, shows the great Matsumoto Hakuō (formerly Matsumoto Kōshirō IX), who once played the lead in Man of La Mancha on Broadway, as Benkei, the heroic warrior-priest, in Kanjinchō, as performed in April at the Kabuki-za. The lead segment, listed at the upper right, is called “Masculine Dignity,” and consists of a series of essays on the most famous pairings of characters who are well-matched opponents in kabuki classics, something like the pairing, for example, of Othello and Iago. They include Benkei and Togashi, Nagoya Sanza and Fuwa Banzaemon, and so on.

The issue also contains an article on the veteran star Onoe Kikugorō VII and his then forthcoming May appearance at the Kabuki-za. At the bottom right is a conversation with four young stars, Nakamura Kankurō, Nakamura Shichinosuke, Onoe Matsuya, and Nakamura Chōzaburō, who were appearing at Shibuya’s Cocoon Kabuki. Other materials found in the issue, which includes lots more, include the latest in the series “Kōshirō’s Thousand and One Nights,” a piece on a kabuki actor named Nakamura Kyōzō, who recently toured abroad with lecture-demonstrations of his art, and a piece on the dark nineteenth-century classic, Sakura-Hime Azuma no Bunshō.

An unusual item in the issue is a color photo of an exquisite model of the original Teikoku Gekijō (Imperial Theatre), the revolutionary theatre, built in 1911, that was Japan's first fully Western playhouse. It still stands on the same spot, near the Imperial Palace, albeit in a much altered form. Part of the original architect's blueprint accompanies the photo.

ENGEKIKAI #4 (April 2021): COVER AND CONTENTS

 

Renjishi (left); Sodehagi Saimon (right). Photo: Shinoyama Kishin.

The cover for the April (#4) 2021 issue of ENGEKIKAI, the kabuki magazine of record, is split into two images. The issue is largely concerned with kabuki production in February 2021. The picture on the upper left is of Renjishi (Two Lions), the spirit of the father lion portrayed by Nakamura Kankurō VI, the spirit of the child lion by Kankurō’s son, Nakamura Kantarō III. The picture at the lower right  shows Ōshū Adachigara (a place name), also known as Sodehagi Saimon (Sodehagi’s Lament). Kankurō’s brother, Nakamura Shichinosuke II, is the blind Sodehagi, and his nephew (Kankurō’s other son and Kantarō’s brother), Nakamura Chōzaburō II, is her daughter, Okimi. Tokyo’s Kabuki-za has been producing three bills a day lately, and these plays were on the third part of February’s program.

The principal focus of the issue is, as the lower left headline asserts, the classic play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees), a mid-eighteenth-century work originally written for the bunraku puppet theatre, soon adapted for kabuki, and now one of the so-called three masterpieces of bunraku-kabuki (all by the same playwrights), the other two being Kanadehon Chūshingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) and Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (Sugawara’s Secrets of Calligraphy). The issue contains multiple, beautifully illustrated views of the play’s production history and values, supplemented by a narrative about the play by perhaps its foremost modern performer, Ichikawa En’o II (formerly Ennosuke III).

Also in the issue, among other features, are discussions with actors Nakamura Kazutarō, Onoe Ukon, Nakamura Yonekichi, and Nakamura Hashinosuke about their then upcoming March program at Kyoto’s Minami-za, focused on these rising “young stars” (hanagata). Finally, the issue includes the latest in actor Matsumoto Kōshirō’s long-running series, “Kōshirō’s Thousand and One Nights.”

 

ENGEKIKAI #3 (MARCH 2021): COVER AND CONTENTS

 

Onoe Matsuya as Soga Gorō. (Photo: Shinoyama Kishin.) 

The cover for the March (#3) 2021 issue of ENGEKIKAI, the kabuki magazine of record, shows Onoe Matsuya as Soga Gorō in the celebratory Meiji-period dance KOTOBUKI TE HANAGATA HASHIRA DATE. The word hashiradate refers to the old custom of performing a ceremony to celebrate the first raising of a pillar during the construction of a new home. It was performed at Tokyo’s Kabuki-za in February. Soga Gorō is a historically-based hero who has attained mythical power in Japanese history—and especially in kabuki—because of a famous vendetta he and his brother Jūrō carried out in the twelfth century.

The issue’s leading contents (there are others), listed on the cover, are dominated by the headline at the upper left, meaning the First Show of the Year. This refers to a gorgeous section of color photos of all the major plays given in February at the Kabuki-za, the National Theatre (Kokuritsu Gekijō), the Shinbashi Enbujō, and Osaka’s Shōchiku-za. At the lower right is listed a section on the haiku poems of famous actors. At the center, bottom, are the names of four actors who offer their thoughts on February’s memorial production honoring the death thirty-three years ago of the great star Nakamura Kanzaburō XVII. To its left is the title of a section about an independently produced dance recital featuring Onoe Ukon and his Ken no Kai group. Finally, there’s a discussion between two stars, Matsumoto Kōshirō X and Ichikawa Ennosuke IV about “Zoom Kabuki.” Yes. Zoom is part of Japan’s theatre scene as well.

ENGEKIKAI #2 (FEBRUARY 2021): COVER AND CONTENTS

Sakata Tōjūrō. (Photo: Shinoyama Kishin.)

The cover for the February (#2) 2021 issue of ENGEKIKAI, the kabuki magazine of record, shows the late, great Kamigata (Osaka/Kyoto) actor, Sakata Tōjūrō IV, who died last year at 89. As the headline on the lower right demonstrates, the issue has a large, lavishly illustrated section celebrating and describing his brilliant career as a specialist in the wagoto style of gentle, young men, and charming, beautiful young women, as seen in the photo of him as Ohatsu, the Tenmanya courtesan in Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s classic double suicide play, Sonezaki Shinjū (The Love Suicides at Sonezaki).  

Other materials headlined on the cover (the issue contains even more) are reviews of the January productions at the Minami-za, Kabuki-za, Kokuritsu Gekijō, and elsewhere; a piece on the Hakata-za theatre; the latest in actor Matsumoto Kōshirō’s series, “Kōshirō’s Thousand and One Nights”; and a report on the debut of child actor Ogawa Taisei, son of actor Nakamura Baishi.

Finally, there’s a large section devoted to an overview of the world of kabuki in 2020, subtitled “Looking Back on an Unprecedented Year.”

 

ENGEKIKAI #1 (January 2021): COVER AND CONTENTS

 

Onoe Kikugorō VII in Migawari Zazen. Photo: Shinoyama Kishin.

This is the cover for the #1 (January) 2021 issue of ENGEKIKAI, the monthly magazine that serves as the organ of record for the Japanese theatre art of kabuki. Most of its numerous photos and factual data pertain to November 2020’s productions, when Covid-19 continued to restrict the number of performances and the size of attendance. The cover photo shows veteran star Onoe Kikugorō VII as the leading man in the comical dance play, Migawari Zazen (“The Zen Substitute”), first produced in 1910 at Tokyo’s Ichimura-za, and dealing with a man who tries to deceive his wife regarding his being out all night with his paramour. It is closely based on a kyōgen farce called Hanako, whose original style is reflected in the adaptation of a noh/kyōgen-style stage setting. This places the piece in the category called matsubame mono, or “pineboard plays,” because of the pine tree painted on the upstage wall of the neutral, non-localized setting. The production represented here was done at Tokyo’s Kabuki-za this past November.

The biggest headline, at the right, is for the issue’s main section, about the coming reopening, during the pandemic, of Kyoto’s Minami-za with the annual December celebratory production called “Kaomise” (“face-showing”), in which a lineup of top Tokyo stars tour to Kyoto for the occasion. During the Edo period (1603-1868), the kaomise was typically a production given in the eleventh month by each theatre to introduce that season’s acting team to the public. The Minami-za had been closed since March 2020, so it’s reopening was a big deal, although, because of Covid protocols, there were to be three daily programs (each different), instead of the usual two, and for a mere two-week run. Kabuki theatres normally offer one or more new programs each month for around 25 days.

Other contents mentioned on the cover (which is only a partial list of what’s inside) include an archival article of particular interest because it recalls another time when the Minami-za’s kaomise was restricted due to external circumstances. This piece, which can be translated as “The Kaomise during Air Raids,” notes that the programs at the Minami-za in November 1943, during World War II, were shortened to 19 days out of caution regarding possible air raids. The article describes the two 1944 programs (daytime and evening), including photos of three plays.

Also in the issue are well-illustrated interviews with actors Kataoka Nizaemon, Kataoka Hidetarō, Nakamura Ganjirō, Nakamura Senjaku, Nakamura Kōtarō, Matsumoto Kōshirō, and Nakamura Ichitarō. There is a memorial to the recently deceased kabuki superstar Sakata Tōjūrō, who would be honored at the upcoming kaomise; reviews of the previous month’s productions; a survey of October and November events in the theatre world; and the latest in the series by popular actor Matsumoto Kōshirō, “Kōshirō’s Thousand and One Nights.” The banner for “Kabuki Actors Calendar” at the left is for the gift calendar sent to subscribers with this New Year’s issue.

ENGEKIKAI (December 2020, #12): COVER AND CONTENTS

Matsumoto Hakuō II. (Photo: Shinoyama Kishin.)

The cover for the December issue of ENGEKIKAI, the kabuki magazine of record, shows Matsumoto Hakuō II as the sumo wrestler Chōgorō in the “Sumō Scene” of Futatsu Chōchō Kuruwa Niki (Chōgorō and Chōkichi: Diary of Two Butterflies in the Pleasure Quarters) as produced at the Kabuki-za last October. This is the same character seen on the cover of the November 2020 issue, which I recently posted, but from another scene. As per the cover headlines, the issue again leads with a section on how several actors feel about performing at this time, the actors covered here being Nakamura Kaishun, Nakamura Karoku, and Nakamura Shidō. There is a new installment of Matsumoto Kōshirō X’s long-running series, “Kōshirō’s Thousand and One Nights,” “Trends in September-October Theatre,” reviews of October’s kabuki, a reprinting of archival materials from 1946 about touring Japan with kabuki, right after the war, and a lengthy obituary about the late Onoe Kikujūrō IV, who died last September at 88.

ENGEKIKAI, #11 (November 2020)

 

Nakamura Kichiemon II, Photo: Shinoyama Kishin.

Sorry for the delay, partly due to slower mail service from Japan during the pandemic, and partly because I’ve been so busy with other things, but here, at last, is the cover of ENGEKIKAI, the kabuki magazine of record, from last November, 2020 (#11). After a bit, I’ll post other recent issues as well. Theatre activity, of course, has slowed considerably during Covid-19. 

On the cover is Nakamura Kichiemon II as the sumo wrestler Chōgorō in the “Hikimado” (“Skylight”) scene of Futatsu Chōchō Kuruwa no Nikki (Chōgorō and Chōkichi: A Diary of Two Butterflies in the Pleasure Quarters), performed last September at the Kabuki-za. 

The chief article headlined on the cover is about how actors are feeling about performing at this particular time, covered in illustrated discussions with three stars, Matsumoto Hakuō, Nakamura Baigyoku, and Nakamura Shikan. Other selected highlights mentioned on the cover are reviews of last September’s limited productions; a section on kabuki productions given independently of the mainstream by important actors over the years; trends in last August and September’s theatre world; the latest in the series called “Kōshirō’s Thousand and One Nights,” by star actor Matsumoto Kōshirō X; and an essay with photos of Nakamura Kichiemon II’s special performance last August at Tokyo’s Kanze Nōgakudō noh theatre of a solo dance-drama called Suma no Ura (Suma Bay), derived from the classic history play Ichinotani Futaba Gunki, and performed in noh style. Its one performance was filmed with no audience present.