Leiter S.L. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre
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CHIKAMATSU MONZAEMON (1653–1724) • 51
of the Takemoto-za, he left the puppet theatre and turned to kabuki
playwriting in 1768. However, his creative powers remained undi-
minished and he soon wrote a number of plays that led to a brief
reflorescence of the Takemoto-za, where he also served as zamoto
from 1774 to 1775.
His work comprises 56 plays, many still performed. These include
Hidakagawa Iriai Zakura, Honcho
ˆ
Niju
ˆ
shiko
ˆ
, Keisei Awa no Naruto,
O
ˆ
mi Genji Senjin Yakata, Kamakura Sandaiki, Shinpan Utazaimon,
Shinju
ˆ
Kamiya Jihei, Shin Usuyuki Monogatari, and Igagoe Do
ˆ
chu
ˆ
Sugoroku. He is renowned for tight plotting that some have likened
to that of a detective novel, with dialogue, colorful characters, unex-
pected plot turns, and attention to theatrical effect that show the
strong influence of kabuki.
CHIKAMATSU MONZAEMON (1653–1724). Bunraku and kabuki
playwright, known in Japan as ‘‘the god of writers,’’ and tradition-
ally considered the greatest Japanese dramatist of the last four centu-
ries. There are conflicting stories of his birth and upbringing. Most
believe he was born Sugimori Nobumori in the castle town of Fukui,
the son of a well-placed samurai, and raised in another castle town,
Sabae. After his father gave up his samurai post, the family moved to
Kyoto, when Chikamatsu was in his mid-teens. He received a strong
education in the classics, and was very familiar with no
ˆ
drama. He
served in the households of several courtier families, gaining knowl-
edge of court life. His first play may have been written in 1673, but
he is known to have been writing for the future Uji Kaga no jo
ˆ
by
1675 in Kyoto. In 1683, he wrote Yotsugi Soga, his earliest extant
play, for Uji; it was also produced by chanter Takemoto Gidayu
ˆ
when he opened his new Takemoto-za in 1684. However, Chikamat-
su’s collaboration with Gidayuˆ actually began in 1686 with Shusse
Kagekiyo, based on no
ˆ
and ko
ˆ
wakamai plays about the eponymous
hero. Because of its revolutionary advances in the use of stage lan-
guage, characterization, and dramatic interest, this work marks the
history-making division between ko jo
ˆ
ruri and shin-jo
ˆ
ruri (see JO
ˆ
R-
URI). Its depiction of the human side of Kagekiyo immediately
struck contemporary townsmen with an emotional reality they had
never seen on stage before. In contrast to the largely musical and fan-
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52 • CHIKAMATSU MONZAEMON (1653–1724)
tastical values of ko jo
ˆ
ruri, it provided a noteworthy new psychologi-
cal intensity.
When he was 40, he began to write for Kyoto kabuki actor Sakata
To
ˆ
ju
ˆ
ro
ˆ
, mainly at his Miyako-za, where he remained for nearly a
decade, devoting himself to crafting mostly three-act plays (also con-
sidered one-act, three-scene plays) d esig ned t o exp loit the act or’s
specialty in the wagoto style. In 1703, though, after Toyotake Waka-
tayu
ˆ
opened the rival Toyotake-za, Chikamatsu temporarily rejoined
the Takemoto-za with the revolutionary Sonezaki Shinju
ˆ
, the first of
his sewa mono tragedies about everyday life. Sonezaki Shinju
ˆ
, based
on a ver y recent real-life lovers’ suicide still on everyone’s lips,
helped the Takemoto-za eclipse its new rival and began a new trend
of plays in which people must r esolve conflicts between duty and
emotion (giri and ninjo
ˆ
).
When Takeda Izumo I became manager in 1705, Chikamatsu’s
great period commenced, beginning with Yo
ˆ
mei Tenno
ˆ
Shokunin
Kagami, which bore the names of Chikamatsu as dramatist, Izumo
as manager, Tatsumatsu Hachirobei as puppeteer,Gidayu
ˆ
(now
Takemoto Chikugo no jo
ˆ
) as chanter, and Takezawa Gon’emon as
shamisen player. Chikamatsu moved permanently from Kyoto to
Osaka.
During the decade until Gidayuˆ’s death in 1714, Chikamatsu wrote
many plays for him, including the still performed Horikawa Nami no
Tsuzumi, Tanba no Yosaku, Keisei Hangonko, Goban Taiheiki, Meido
no Hikyaku, and Yu
ˆ
giri Awa no Naruto.
Chikamatsu wrote 79 jidai mono and 24 sewa mono, among them
15 double-suicide plays (shinju
ˆ
mono), 7 adultery plays (kantsu
ˆ
mono), and about 30 kabuki w
orks
. Among his 103 puppet plays, 71
were for Gidayu
ˆ
I and 27 for Takemoto Masatayu
ˆ
(later Takemoto
Gidayu
ˆ
II), Gidayu
ˆ
I’s successor, for whom he wrote about four
lengthy jidai mono a year. It is now clear that he received consider-
able collaborative input in his writing from chanters, managers, musi-
cians, puppeteers, and actors.Masatayuˆ inspired a wealth of new
dramas, the most successful being Kokusenya Kassen, which ran for
17 months, beginning in 1715. Other major efforts included Daikyo
ˆ
ji
Mukashi Goyomi, Ikutama Shinju
ˆ
, Kokusenya Kassen, Yari no Gonza
Kasane Katabira, Nebiki no Kadomatsu, Hakata Kojiro
ˆ
Nami
Makura, Heike Nyo
ˆ
go no Shima, Futago Sumidagawa, Shinju
ˆ
Ten no
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CHIKARA ASHI • 53
Amijima, Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku, Shinshu
ˆ
Kawanakajima
Kassen, and Shinju
ˆ
Yoi Go
ˆ
shin. All, except his kabuki plays, were
published in their entirety. Many were popular as practice texts for
amateur chanters.
Chikamatsu also made a major contribution to the bunraku and
kabuki dramatic structure of jidai mono by establishing the classic
five-act pattern. His language is incomparable, his variety and depth
of characterization profound, his depiction of all ages of history bril-
liant, and his insights into the life of his times moving and perceptive.
Moreover, his expression of Buddhist, Shinto, and Confucian beliefs
represent a deep understandi ng of their r ole i n con tempor ary l ife.
Hozumi Ikan, a Confucian scholar, later recorded his conversations
with Chikamatsu, in which he noted the playwright’s famous decla-
ration that ‘‘Art is something which lies in the slender margin
between the real and the unreal’’ (Quoted in Gerstle 2001, 26).
Chikamatsu’s plays were written for one-man puppets. After the
sannin-zukai system was born, Chikamatsu’s plays—partly because
of their reliance on narrative instead of action—seemed unsuitable to
the new methods of puppeteering and chanting and they fell out of
the repertory. Several exist in later revisions, such as Chikamatsu
Hanji’s version of Meido no Hikyaku, which became Koi no Tayori
Yamato O
ˆ
rai.
CHIKAMATSU TOKUSO
ˆ
(1751–1810). Bunraku and kabuki play-
wright, a student of Chikamatsu Hanji, who changed his name
from Tokuzo
ˆ
to Tokuso
ˆ
in 1784. He specialized in sewa mono based
on news events, novels, and stories, and also rewrote old plays, help-
ing to create a new style of Kamigata kabuki. His best works include
Ise Ondo Koi no Netaba and the posthumous Sho
ˆ
Utsushi Asagao
Nikki.
CHIKAMATSU YANAGI (?–?). Bunraku playwright, who collabo-
rated (gassaku) on his first play in 1791. He wrote his first indepen-
dent play in 17 92. T here af ter, un til 1 802, he coll abor ated on nine
plays. His Ehon Taiko
ˆ
ki is the last bunraku masterpiece.
CHIKARA ASHI. ‘‘Power legs,’’ a walking style used for certain tachi-
yaku roles in aragoto and jidai mono. The legs are thrust out boldly
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54 • CHIKARA GAMI
with a noticeable bend at the knees, producing a sense of manly
power. The steps may be accented by beats of the tsuke.
CHIKARA GAMI. ‘‘Strong paper,’’ a thick paper folded like wings and
tied at the base of the mage on the wigs worn by exaggeratedly pow-
erful men like Gongoro
ˆ
in Shibaraku and Matsuo
ˆ
maru in ‘‘Terakoya’’
(Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami). It represents power and courage.
CHINAMI-KAI. One of two factions into which bunraku’s performers
were split in 1948 as a result of the influence of postwar economic
conditions during a period in which the labor movement was flour-
ishing. Unable to receive satisfaction from Sho
ˆ
chiku for better con-
ditions and wages, puppeteer Kiritake Monju
ˆ
ro
ˆ
II formed a union.
Two factions emerged: Chinami-kai, with 44 members, belonging to
the union; and Mitsuwa-kai, with 30 members, remaining faithful to
Sho
ˆ
chiku and led by chanter Toyotake Yamashiro no sho
ˆ
jo
ˆ
. They
began to produce as separate groups.
The Chinami-kai made the Yotsuhashi Bunraku-za their home,
while the Mitsuwa-kai performed in the provinces and at theatres
located in Mitsukoshi Depar tment stores in Tokyo and Osaka. In
1954, the shamisen players and chanters from both groups per-
formed together in Osaka and Tokyo for the first time in seven years
as part of a festival. The factions united in full productions for the
first time at the Osaka International Arts Festival in 1958. The Chi-
nami-kai sought to revive its for tunes by producing experimental
work, including new plays, which gained considerable attention.
The Mitsuwa-kai followed its own path but financial concerns led
Sho
ˆ
chiku to abandon bunraku in 1962. The factions were formally
reunited in 1963 when the quasi-governmental Bunraku Kyo
ˆ
kai
(Bunraku Association) was formed, with financial support from the
national government, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City, and the Japan
Broadcasting Association (NHK).
CHINORI. Kabuki ‘‘stage blood,’’ also noribeni, used in more realistic
scenes, where it may be applied to the face and limbs.
CHISUJI NO ITO. The rice-paper ‘‘spider web’’ threads flung by mon-
strous spiders when under attack in no
ˆ
and kabuki plays like Tsuchi-
gumo. See also PROPERTIES: KABUKI.
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CHO
ˆ
KEN • 55
CHIWATA. A ‘‘bloody cotton’’ kabuki garment symbolizing blood,
worn by wounded characters. It comes into view when cer tain
threads are removed so that an outer cloth falls off, revealing the red
cotton underneath. It is seen in ‘‘Suzugamori’’ (Ukiyozuka Hiyoku no
Inazuma). See also CHINORI; COSTUMES: KABUKI.
CHOBO. Kabuki’s shamisen players and chanters of gidayu
ˆ
bushi,
who perform on the yuka at stage left or, depending on the play, in a
second-story, screened-in booth (misu). In dance plays like Musume
Do
ˆ
jo
ˆ
-ji, they perform on a hinadan at left. Although they are princi-
pally used to accompany bunraku-derived plays, they sometimes
belong to jun kabuki for which gidayu
ˆ
music has been written (see
also DEGATARI). The latter practice was begun in the mid-19th cen-
tury by Kawatake Mokuami; however, the chanter usually recites
only descriptions of the action, not dialogue (serifu). The late 19th
century also saw the creation of dances accompanied by the chobo,
which is usually combined (kakeai) with other musical groups, as in
Momijigari and Suo
ˆ
Otoshi. A small number of shin kabuki also use
the chobo.
Although there are exceptions, most of the chobo’s words are
descriptive and narrative because the actors usually speak their own
dialogue, unlike bunraku where both dialogue and description/narra-
tion are chanted. Still, there are differences among actors on how the
lines will be distributed between them and the chanter.
The term comes from the red notations, ‘‘chobo chobo,’’ in the
chanter’s script. The team is also called takemoto, after Takemoto
Gidayu
ˆ
, the founder of gidayu
ˆ
bushi. Sometimes guest artists from
bunraku appear in kabuki where
they
are more highly honored than
kabuki’s own chobo. See also GIDAYU
ˆ
KYO
ˆ
GEN.
CHO
ˆ
KEN. A costume worn in no
ˆ
mainly by females (especially
angels), but sometimes by male aristocrats and young warriors, who
appear with one sleeve off the shoulder. It is a wide-sleeved jacket or
cloak (sometimes called an over-robe) of stiff, thin silk gauze, fas-
tened at the front by a long, red cord tied in hanging loops. Smaller
cords are threaded through the sleeve hems, where they hang in tas-
sels. This embroidered cloak of purple, red, white, or navy often has
gold leaf embroidered designs at the center of the sleeves and on the
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56 • CHO
ˆ
MOTO
back. Some characters wear it over the nuihaku—a small-sleeved
satin over-robe—folded over at the waist (the koshimaki style), and
others with red o
ˆ
guchi. It is seen in the second half of plays, during
women’s dance sequences, as in Hagoromo.
In kabuki, it is a formal robe worn in jidai mono and cer tain
dances for generals and important samurai. Embroidered sashinuki
are often worn with it. An example is seen on Tadayoshi in the first
scene of Kanadehon Chu
ˆ
shingura.
CHO
ˆ
MOTO. A kind of Edo-period kabuki general manager who over-
saw various aspects of production. He may have ser ved as the
zamoto’s proxy in negotiations, raised funds, hired personnel, done
the books, handled publicity, and so on. The position d isap pear ed
during the Taisho
ˆ
period, when modern methods of management
were introduced. See also KO
ˆ
GYO
ˆ
.
CHU
ˆ
KEI. The 15-rib ‘‘spread-tip fan’’ used for dancing in most forms
of traditional Japanese theatre. It is carried in no
ˆ
, in most instances,
by shite, tsure, kokata, and waki, and even when folded retains a
semi-open form at its upper end. Chu
ˆ
kei are seen less often in kyo
ˆ
-
gen. Women and warrior ghosts use fans with black ribs, although
many males do as well; the ribs of men, old men, gods’, and priests’
fans are the pale hue of bamboo. The pictures and colors painted on
the fans are associated with specific roles, role types, or categories of
plays. Thus, Mount Ho
ˆ
rai is always depicted on the shite’s fan in
Okina, a red sun over blue waves symbolizes a defeated samurai, a
rising sun seen through pines represents a victorious warrior, flow-
ered palanquins are seen on women’s fans in the sanbanme mono
categories, peonies are associated with lion characters, and demons’
fans are likely to have a large peony on them. Red is used on young
persons’ fans only, as with no
ˆ
costumes. Some fans are used only in
specific plays, like Ataka and Kinuta. Otherwise, the actor’s choice
of which fan to use is a major part of his approach to a role, as with
his choice of costume elements.
In kabuki, the chu
ˆ
kei is
seen
mainly in jidai mono by formally
dressed tachiyaku, and in shosagoto. See also PROPERTIES: BUN-
RAKU AND KABUKI; PROPE RTIE S: KYO
ˆ
GEN; PROPERTIES:
NO
ˆ
.
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CHU
ˆ
NORI • 57
CHU
ˆ
NIKAI. ‘‘Mid-second floor,’’ an architectural oddity made neces-
sary in the construction of Edo-period playhouses by fire laws that
forbade three-story buildings. To evade the law, a floor was built in
the backstage (gakuya) area midway between the first and third floors
(sangai). The term also referred to lower-ranking onnagata who
dressed and made up on this floor. See also HAIYU
ˆ
NO KAIKYU
ˆ
.
CHU
ˆ
NO MAI: A graceful ‘‘medium dance’’ in a no
ˆ
play showing a
socially inferior young woman (Matsukaze, Hanjo), a floral or butter-
fly spirit (Kocho
ˆ
), or an elegant man (Atsumori). See also MAIGOTO.
CHU
ˆ
NO MAI MONO. A subdivision of no
ˆ
hatsubanme mono (‘‘first
group plays’’), consisting of four pieces in which a goddess or female
angel dances a chu
ˆ
no mai. The numbers in parentheses are those of
other groups in which these plays are sometimes classed: Sei O
ˆ
bo,
Kureha, Ukon (3, 4), Ema, Uroko Gata. Ema, according to which
school is performing, may feature a male deity dancing a kami mai,
while Uroko Gata may be classed as a kagura mono; other hatsu-
banme, like Kamo,mayhavechu
ˆ
no mai but they are not danced by
supernatural females. See also GAKU MONO; HATARAKI MONO;
KAMI MAI MONO; MAIGOTO; SHIN NO JO NO MAI MONO.
CHU
ˆ
NORI. Chu
ˆ
zuri in Kamigata,
the kabuki method
by which actors
playing supernatural characters are raised by a rope or wire to ‘‘fly
through the air.’’ The chief performer of the technique in recent years
has been Ichikawa Ennosuke III, who made it popular again after
it had fallen out of use. He has used it in a number of plays, most
memorably as the Fox-Tadanobu in Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura. When
the actor flies over the hanamichi to the rear balcony, he usually does
a lot of physical movement in mid-air, suggesting that he is leaping
or bounding through space, and may even perform dance movements.
In one example of the technique, Iwafuji in Kagamiyama Kokyo
ˆ
no
Nishiki-e flies by standing on a pedestal in a contraption consisting
of her umbrella’s staff being fastened to a metal device that fits
around the actor and under his armpits. (See also KEREN.)
There is also a chu
ˆ
nori in no
ˆ
where the spelling signifies ‘‘medium
rhythm.’’ (See YO
ˆ
KYOKU.) This is a vivid rhythm using two sylla-
bles for each beat. It is employed to describe the suffering in limbo,
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58 • CHU
ˆ
SHIBAI
the anguish in hell, the attachment to the world of the dead, battles,
etc. Also called shuranori, it is very similar to the hiranori with
which it is paired as namibyo
ˆ
shi (‘‘equal rhythms’’).
CHU
ˆ
SHIBAI. The ‘‘middle theatres’’ of Kamigata between the o
ˆ
shi-
bai and kodomo shibai during the Edo period. As young actors
reached their late teens, they left the kodomo shibai for this class of
theatre, hoping eventually to be good enough for the o
ˆ
shibai. Kyoto
had the Rokkaku, the Inaba Yakushi, and the Nishiki Tenjin, while
Osaka had the Wakatayu
ˆ
-za, the Takeda-za, and Kadomaru-za. Some
served as both chu
ˆ
shibai and o
ˆ
shibai.
CHU
ˆ
SHINGURA MONO. A group of bunraku and kabuki plays based
upon the famous ‘‘Ako
ˆ
(or Asano) vendetta.’’ The representative
example is Kanadehon Chu
ˆ
shingura. The plays are based on an event
that began in the third month of 1701. The Lord of Ako
ˆ
Castle,
Asano Takumi no Mikoto, was given the responsibility for supervis-
ing events surrounding the visit of an imperial envoy to the shogun
in Edo to celebrate the founding of the shogunate. The man assigned
to teach him the protocols was a mean-spirited samurai named Kira
Ko
ˆ
sukenosuke (aka Yoshinaka) whose arrogance drove Asano to
draw his sword and wound him. Such an act within Edo Castle was
an unpardonable act that led to Asano being forced to commit sep-
puku; his family line, moreover, was ended and his castle seized.
O
ˆ
ishi Kuranosuke Yoshio, Asano’s steward, and Asano’s brother,
Daigaku Nagahiro, failed to prevent the confiscation of the fief.
Although the support of many Asano retainers was eventually lost,
Kuranosuke led a band of 46 others in a revenge plot. After lying low
for many months, they broke into Kira’s mansion at dawn on the 15th
day of the 12th month, killed their enemy, and presented his head
before Asano’s grave at Sengaku-ji Temple. With the exception of
one low-ranking samurai sent to inform Asano’s widow of the attack,
the avengers were arrested and, on the 4th day of the 2nd month of
1703, were required to commit seppuku. Following the death in 1709
of shogun Tsunayoshi, the family was revived and a fief established
for them at Awa. The story immediately captured public attention
because of its reminder of the samurai code (bushido
ˆ
), which had
gone adrift in a time of peace.
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COSTUMES: BUNRAKU • 59
The story was d ramatized by the puppets and live actors, one
example, which hinted at the still-unresolved situation, comi ng as
early as the third month of 1702. It was set in the 15th century, a
practice that would become standard because of censorship against
depicting contemporary events about the samurai class. The first full
kabuki dramatization was Akebono Soga no Youchi, set within the
Soga sekai (see SOGA MONO) produced in Edo only 12 days after
the avengers committed seppuku, but it was closed by the govern-
ment within 3 days. That same year, Chikamatsu Monzaemon
wrote Keisei Mitsu no Kuruma, seen in Kyoto, which appears to have
hinted at the attack on Kira’s mansion, and a puppet play on the sub-
ject was produced in Osaka not long afterward. The earliest extant
version is Chikamatsu’s puppet play, Goban Taiheiki (1706), seen at
the Takemoto-za, a rather faithful depiction of the events, with O
ˆ
ishi
Kuranosuke called O
ˆ
boshi Yuranosuke, his son Chikara Rikiya, Tera-
saka Kichiemon called Teraoka Heiemon, Asano called Enya Han-
gan, and Kira called Ko
ˆ
no Moronao, names that e ventually were
established as the theatre’s equivalents of the real ones.
As new plays were written, they introduced dramatic elements that
accrued to the story, and there developed a custom of producing new
plays about the vendetta of the 47 samurai every year. The acknowl-
edged masterpiece in the group is Kanadehon Chu
ˆ
shingura,pro-
duced by the puppets in 1748 and quickly adapted by kabuki. In the
Meiji period, new versions began to use the historical names of the
participants, beginning in 1873. The finest 20th-century retelling is
Mayama Seika’s massive Genroku Chu
ˆ
shingura (1934–41).
CONCERT RECITALS OF NO
ˆ
. No
ˆ
is often performed in simplified,
informal, or abbreviated ‘‘concert’’ or ‘‘recital’’ fashion designed to
focus on one or certain aspects of performance without providing a
full production. See also BAN BAYASHI; HAKAMA NO
ˆ
; HAN NO
ˆ
;
IBAYASHI; IKKAN; ITCHO
ˆ
; ITCHO
ˆ
IKKAN; KOMAI; KOUTAI;
MAI BAYASHI; RENGIN; SHIMAI; SUBAYASHI; SU-UTAI.
COSTUMES: BUNRAKU. Bunraku costumes (isho
ˆ
) are much like
those of kabuki, apart from their size and the conventions necessary
to make them fit puppet bodies. Like kabuki’s,
they
are made of pure
silk, whose properties cannot be replicated by artificial fabrics, like
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60 • COSTUMES: KABUKI
rayon. As with kabuki, costumes are divided into outerwear and
underwear. The former includes the kitsuke, haori, uchikake, etc.,
while the latter includes the juban and other garments. In addition,
there are hakama, obi, and accessories.
The puppet torso (do
ˆ
) is a hollow framework so the costume must
create the body’s outline. Cotton is stuffed into the costume to create
the body’s contours. There are complete torsos, however, with mus-
culature painted on, for male puppets whose bodies must be exposed.
For female costumes, stuffing is provided only for the undergarment.
The outer costume is tailored to give the body a soft, feminine line.
The male costume, on the other hand, has cotton padding in both the
inner and the outer garments in order to provide a muscular appear-
ance. For cer tain gentle male characters, like the heroes of sewa
mono, stuffing the outer costume creates a lumpy impression, so they
wear multiple layers of stuffed undergarments and the outer garment
is tailored to create the appropriate contours.
The costumes are, of course, designed for puppets, so they follow
special sewing and pattern cutting conventions. Additional panels are
inserted at the sides, between the front and rear bodices, and there is
no seam down the back because the open space there is where the
omozukai must insert his left hand to operate the puppet.
The costume is assembled on the puppet for each performance by
the omozukai, and then disassembled and the parts returned to stor-
age. This is ningyo
ˆ
koshirae (‘‘preparing the puppet’’) or isho
ˆ
tsuke
(‘‘putting on the costume’’). It begins with the eri tsuke (‘‘attachment
of the [padded] collars’’), first the bo
ˆ
eri (‘‘stick collar’’) and then the
naka eri (‘‘inside collar’’), which the puppeteer sews together, one
over the other. The collar of a person’s kimono is a crucial part of
the ensemble, some say its foundation, so theatrical collars convey
an idea of the character.
Following the eri tsuke, the puppeteer puts the puppet’s undergar-
ment on, then the outer garment, the obi, and the jacket or over-robe.
Next, the arms and legs are attached, followed by the head. See also
COSTUMES: KABUKI.
COSTUMES: KABUKI.Costumes(isho
ˆ
)areoneofkabuki’s most
glorious visual contributions, providing a remarkably vivid variety of
colors, shapes, and types, and ranging from the very realistic to the
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