Leiter S.L. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre
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DO
ˆ
BUTSU • 71
shielded by a black gauze flap attached to black cotton hoods (zukin,
shaped differently according to the wearer’s school—flat-topped for
the Kiritake, pointed for the Yoshida and Toyamatsu), so as to appear
invisible and to put the focus on the puppets. On the other hand, even
in major scenes like those in shinju
ˆ
mono by Chikamatsu Monzae-
mon, the puppeteer may want to focus the audience’s attention on
the actions of the puppets and will dress inconspicuously in black, so
the convention is not rigidly fixed.
The practice was introduced at the Takemoto-za in 1703 for Chi-
kamatsu’s Sonezaki Shinju
ˆ
as a way to attract spectators who wanted
to see puppeteer Tatsumatsu Hachirobei. Puppeteers followed the
one-man puppet system at the time. Hachirobei performed behind a
translucent fabric in 1703 but was fully exposed in 1705 when, in
Chikamatsu’s Yo
ˆ
mei Tenno
ˆ
Shokunin Kagami,hesteppedforthin
front of the ni no te border (see TESURI). Moreover, the chanter and
shamisen player also came out in full view to perform in front of
the ni no te. See also DEGATARI.
DO
ˆ
BUTSU. ‘‘Animals’’ are familiar in all forms of traditional Japanese
theatre. In no
ˆ
, they appear in forms such as monstrous spiders and
wear masks, but always have a human aspect. In kyo
ˆ
gen, they also
wear masks, some of which, like those for foxes and monkeys,
resemble their real-life counterpar ts, while others are exaggerated
human-like faces. Depending on the case, they wear human garments
or animal costumes. Animals in bunraku are generally realistic-look-
ing puppets, although the tiger in Kokusenya Kassen is a man in a
tiger suit. Kabuki animals have a wide range, from large ones like
horses (see UMA), cows, tigers, giant toads and cats, and even ele-
phants, to smaller ones like dogs, cats, monkeys, foxes, and rats.
Depending on the size, one or more actors may be inside the animal’s
costume (see NUIGURUMI). Smaller animals are oft en pl ayed by
children. Some tiny animals, like butterflies, mice, and birds, may be
represented by props dangling from a sashigane, although in other
pieces the same animals may be played by actors. Occasionally, even
kabuki may use puppets, operated either by string or hand. The off-
stage sounds of animals are also an important performance element.
Often, animals—like foxes and giant toads—have magical power.
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72 • DO
ˆ
GUMAKU
DO
ˆ
GUMAKU. A kabuki scenic curtain with mountains, waves, snow,
clouds, or wicker fencing painted on it, used as background for a
brief ‘‘front’’ scene. At the end of the scene, the scenery vanishes as
this act curtain suddenly descends. When the set for the next scene
is ready, the do
ˆ
gumaku drops swiftly (see also FURIDAKE) and the
play continues. Several variations exist. See also MAKU.
DO
ˆ
JO
ˆ
-JI MONO. ‘‘Do
ˆ
jo
ˆ
Temple plays,’’ plays and dance dramas about
the legend of the priest Anchin and the village maiden Princess Kiyo,
who, believing he betrayed her love, pursues him to the Do
ˆ
jo
ˆ
-ji Tem-
ple in Kishu
ˆ
. En route, she is transformed into a horrible serpent in
order to cross the Hidaka River. During a temple ceremony to install
a huge new bell, she melts the bell and kills him when he hides inside
it. There are versions of the story in no
ˆ
(Do
ˆ
jo
ˆ
-ji is the most famous)
and regional forms, as well as in bunraku and kabuki. The characters’
names are not always Anchin and Kiyo, and the dramatic circum-
stances often differ, including the premise that Anchin is really the
historical warrior Minamoto Yorimitsu in disguise, or that Kiyo is a
courtesan; still, the story of an angry young woman pursuing a Bud-
dhist priest to his temple to wreak revenge at the time of a bell cere-
mony is always present. Sometimes Kiyo becomes a serpent,
sometimes a ghost, and sometimes she is not transformed at all.
The first kabuki drama on the subject arrived in Edo in 1701, but
bunraku had to wait until 1742 for its initial example. One of the
best Do
ˆ
jo
ˆ
-ji plays shared by both forms is 1759’s Hidakagawa Iriai
Zakura, first produced by the puppets. The story is best known for
its kabuki dance versions, which began as early as the 1670s. Do
ˆ
jo
ˆ
-
ji dances were usually appended to a full-length play with other plot
concerns. The classic version is Musume Do
ˆ
jo
ˆ
-ji. See also BUYO
ˆ
;
MAIGOTO.
DO
ˆ
KEGATA. A kabuki comic role-type (
yakugara)
and its actors.
Originally
a leading type, it gradually became secondary, offering
comic relief in serious dramas. Some became comic villains (see
KATAKIYAKU), like Sagisaka Bannai in Kanadehon Chu
ˆ
shingura.
See also CHARIBA; SANMAIME.
DOKUFU MONO. ‘‘Poison women plays,’’ also akuba mono, kabuki
dramas about attractive but coarse female extortionists and murder-
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DO
ˆ
MARU • 73
ers called dokufu or akuba, the former being a more recent term.
Plays featuring them began to proliferate in the early 19th centur y
from the brush of Tsuruya Nanboku IV, who wrote them for Iwai
Hanshiro
ˆ
V and the future Onoe Kikugoro
ˆ
III. One popular exam-
ple was Nanboku’s Osome Hisamatsu Ukina no Yomiuri, featuring
the akuba blackmailer Dote (‘‘Riverbank’’) Oroku, one of seven roles
played in quick-change (hayagawari) style by the star. The stories of
actual dofuku-like women, described in contemporary newspapers,
were dramatized during the Meiji period. See also YAKUGARA.
DOKUGIN. ‘‘Solo song,’’ a term used in no
ˆ
, kyo
ˆ
gen, and kabuki. In the
first two, it is a concert recital of utai presented by a single actor
reciting all the roles. The chanting is done in the style of the genre
from which the excerpt derives. (See also KOUTAI; RENGIN; SU-
UTAI.)Inkabuki, it is a solo sung offstage (geza)inmeriyasu style
to heighten the emotional mood of long, quiet scenes of grief or
romance, the music being timed to the movement of the actors.
DOMA. The ‘‘p it’’ in Ed o the atre s, wh ich c ontr asted with t he sa jiki
seating. The doma was a large, open space called kiritoshi in early
18th-century theatres, but Edo’s Nakamura-za arranged the space
into disc reet sectio ns di vide d by r ope in 1 766. Wooden part itio ns
soon replaced the rope and the separated, boxed-in areas, seating
about seven each, were called masu. In the 1770s, the space was
called hira (‘‘level’’) in order to set it off from the raised sajiki.In
1802, the Nakamura-za added a slightly raised area of boxes, the
takadoma, just in front of the lower sajiki on either side of the audito-
rium. The old doma was thus called hiradoma (‘‘level pit’’). In 1873,
the Morita-za added yet another level, the shin takadoma (‘‘new
raised pit’’), in front of the takadoma.InKamigata,
the doma wa
s
the jo
ˆ
ba, and the takadoma and shin takadoma were the demago.
Doma floor seating was replaced by Western seating when theatres
were rebuilt following the Tokyo earthquake of 1923.
DO
ˆ
MARU. An under-kimono, worn by aragoto characters, symboliz-
ing armor (yoroi). It features an upper section consisting of a tight-
sleeved, round-necked garment, and a lower comprised of momohiki
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74 • DONCHO
ˆ
YAKUSHA
trousers. Round fittings are set against a red background. Watonai in
Kokusenya Kassen wears it. See also COSTUMES: KABUKI.
DONCHO
ˆ
YAKUSHA. ‘‘ Drop -curtain ac tor, ’’ a p ejorat ive f or th ose
kabuki actors who performed in Edo-period koshibai, which were
forced to obey various restrictions, such as not being allowed to use
the traveler cur tain (hikimaku) associated with the large theatres
(o
ˆ
shibai), using a drop curtain (doncho
ˆ
) instead. Such theatres were
called doncho
ˆ
shibai (‘‘drop-curtain theatres’’). Drop curtains even-
tually were introduced even in o
ˆ
shibai and the distinction between
types of theatre disappeared, allowing the actors from one to appear
in the other, which formerly had been forbidden.
DORA. A bunraku and kabuki kn obbe d gon g whose offs tage (geza)
striking signals the time, and that creates a special atmosphere.
DOROBUNE. In kabuki, a box with mud (doro) set up onstage, or a
hollow cut for the same purpose in the stage floor. In premodern the-
atres, the karaido served this purpose. The dorobune is seen in the
murder scene of Natsu Matsuri Naniwa Kagami.
DORODORO. The o
ˆ
daiko pattern beaten in the geza in bunraku and
kabuki to suggest thunder or create an ominous mood.
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: BUNRAKU AND KABUKI. Bunraku
emerged from a tradition of narrative arts (katari mono), and there-
fore has a long history of privileging the art of the chanter and his
text over those of the puppeteers and shamisen players. The chant-
er’s art emerged from heikyoku, a genre whose combination of nar-
rative and music was borrowed by performers for recitations telling
of religious miracles, the origins of shrines and temples; another
source was the prose narratives called otogi banashi, which had vari-
ous subjects. From the Heike Monogatari (see
HEIKYOKU; LITER-
ARY
SOURCES) emerged the Ju
ˆ
nidan Jo
ˆ
ruri-hime So
ˆ
shi (Tale of
Princess Jo
ˆ
ruri in Twelve Episodes; see JO
ˆ
RURI), created sometime
before 1485, first chanted to the biwa andthentotheshamisen.
(Much of the following can be applied to kabuki, which borrowed
heavily from bunraku.)
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DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: BUNRAKU AND KABUKI • 75
• Five-Act Structure: The story’s structure produced 12-act per-
formances, using simple puppets, later halved to six to consume
less time. In the mid-1670s, when Chikamatsu Monzaemon
began writing, ko jo
ˆ
ruri chanters Inoue Harima no Jo
ˆ
and Uji
Kaga no Jo
ˆ
introduced the five-act (go-dan) jidai mono.In
1703, Chikamatsu’s Sonezaki Shinju
ˆ
introduced a new type of
puppet play, the three-act (san-maku) sewa mono, which he and
Takemoto Gidayu
ˆ
I institutionalized at the Takemoto-za.
Gidayu
ˆ
set forth the principles for the five-act structure—based
on that of a formal no
ˆ
program—in his Jo
ˆ
kyo
ˆ
Yonen Gidayu
ˆ
Danmonoshu
ˆ
(1687 Collection of Gidayu
ˆ
Jo
ˆ
ruri Scenes).
Each act was divided in to th ree parts: kuchi (‘‘openi ng’’ ), naka
(‘‘middle’’), and kiri (‘‘conclusion’’). The action is introduced in the
haba of the kuchi through some minor incident, and this is developed
until the climactic finale of the kiri. This is comparable to the jo-ha-
kyu
ˆ
rhythmic principle of no
ˆ
. Only the highest-ranking chanters
chant the kiri, especially the climactic ones of acts 3 and 4, and they
are designated as such in the printed program.
Gidayuˆ’s treatise calls for first act: love; second act: warriors and
battle; third act: ‘‘pathos, tragedy’’; fourth act: michiyuki; fifth act:
‘‘auspicious conclusion.’’ In terms of Western dramaturgy, one can
say first act: introduction; second act: complications; third act: cli-
max; fourth act: reversal; fifth act: conclusion.
The first-act kuchi was the daijo (‘‘prologue’’), corresponding to
the first play of a no
ˆ
program, and set at a grandiose castle, palace,
shrine, or temple, with the acting highly formalized and the sekai and
underplot
of
the play being introduced through a conflict between a
villainous lord and a good lord. The naka would often be a love scene
between a decent young lord and princess, which would be the indi-
rect cause of the young lord’s defeat, and would tie the scene to later
plot developments. In the kiri, the evil lord would dominate the good
lord, who would flee the capital and the curtain would close on a
modest fight scene.
Act 2 would present an event directly linked to the play’s later cli-
max, with a conflict in which the hero’s side was defeated by his or
her opponent’s side. Its dramatic qualities would be relatively light
and not that important as jo
ˆ
ruri performance.
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76 • DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: BUNRAKU AND KABUKI
Act 3, the most dramatically powerful, would serve as the climax,
involving some tragic action stemming from the evil done by the vil-
lain to the hero’s side, resulting in the need for the hero to save his
master through an act of atonement in which suicide, child slaughter,
or identity substitution figured. It would often be realistic and set in
a domestic environment. Only the leading writers were assigned this
act to write.
Act 4 would begin with a michiyuki depicting two lovers on a mel-
ancholy but significant journey—running away from home or possi-
bly being pursued by the villain—through a scenic background,
accompanied by colorful shamisen music, offering a delightful mood
change from the more tense and dramatic conflicts of the third act’s
conclusion (san no kiri). Here, the emphasis would be on the lyrical
quality of the singing, and less on the narrative. Its naka would often
depict a comical villain’s comeuppance. In the kiri, the allies of the
hero might show up unexpectedly and the hero would slay the villain,
his power would be restored, and victory would be in sight. Then
there would be some self-sacrificial act suggesting the hero’s side
coming to a successful resolution of its problem. Often, this would be
in the gold-walled room of a palace and played in a stylized fashion.
Seasonal feeling was important.
In Act 5, the situation established in Act 1 as well as all subsequent
problems would be resolved and the evil forces overcome in a con-
clusion celebrated by all the victors. The music and narrative style
conformed to the differing contents and formal requirements of the
respective acts.
• Three-Act Structure: Chikamatsu composed his three-act sewa
mono in accordance with jo-ha-kyu
ˆ
, the first act being the easy-
going introduction in which the problem is established; the sec-
ond the dramatic development and crisis, with a variety of
rhythmic patterns in a faster tempo; and the third the climactic
conclusion, ending in the resolution of the characters’ problems,
often through death, played at the most rapid tempo. The indi-
vidual acts may have more than one scene.
• More-Than-Five-Act Structure: There are plays that contain even
more acts than the standard five-act jidai mono. Following Chi-
kamatsu’s death in 1723, playwriting became primarily a collab-
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EBISU KAKI • 77
orative process (gassaku), and the contents became more various
and complex. The first example was the nine-act Natsu Matsuri
Naniwa Kagami, in 1745. Other famous examples are the 11-act
Kanadehon Chu
ˆ
shingura, and the 13-act Ehon Taiko
ˆ
ki. More-
over, the inclusion of oie so
ˆ
do
ˆ
historyplayelementsinsewa
mono led to the new hybrid genre of jidai-sewa mono.
Such multi-act jidai mono made plays extremely complex. The
kuchi and naka took on new importance, bearing comparison with
the kiri, and each act thereby began to stand alone as an independent
piece. It also appears that the popularity of puppet jo
ˆ
ruri (ningyo
ˆ
jo
ˆ
ruri) led to an increase in the number of talented chanters, so that
they needed more than just the old kuchi and naka sections to display
their artistry. There are those who say that, in practice, these multi-
act jidai mono can be reconfigured into virtual five-act struc tures.
Kanadehon Chu
ˆ
shingura, for example: ‘‘bloodshed’’ (ninjo
ˆ
)end of
Act 1; Hangan’s ritual suicideend of Act 2; Kanpei’s ritual suici-
deend of Act 3; Yamashina’s retirementend of Act 4.
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: NO
ˆ
. See BA; JO-HA-KYU
ˆ
; SHO
ˆ
DAN;
YO
ˆ
KYOKU.
E
EBISU KAKI. An early type of Japanese puppetry. By the late Ashi-
kaga period, the largest and most advanced group of puppeteers was
located near the Ebisu Shrine in Nishinomiya, which had a legendary
association with the priest Hyakudayu
ˆ
,saidtohaveappeasedthe
shrine’s angry deity by making a puppet of the late priest Dokunbo
ˆ
,
after
which
he traveled around propitiating other deities. He is said
to have died in Awaji after training local puppeteers who founded
that island’s puppet tradition.
After the Ebisu Shrine puppeteers toured the region performing
with a puppet of the god Ebisu, they were called ebisu kaki (‘‘bearers
of Ebisu’’) or ebisu mawashi (‘‘Ebisu performers’’). They presented
pieces adapted from no
ˆ
and kyo
ˆ
gen, holding their c lay puppets
(changed to wood in the 17th century) from underneath inside small,
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78 • EBIZORI
floorless, stage-like boxes slung around their necks by ropes. Two
performers worked together, each with their own box-stage. In the
mid-16th century, they performed at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto
and also for the general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The gypsy-like artists performed at shrines, temples, rivers, and
seaside locations, as well as in the streets and outside people’s
homes. Although these te-kugutsu (‘‘hand puppets’’) faced competi-
tion from string-operated marionettes called ayatsuri ningyo
ˆ
or ito-
ayatsuri kugutsu, it was the ebisu kaki type that was later combined
with jo
ˆ
ruri to become the main form of Japanese puppet theatre. See
also BUNRAKU; NINGYO
ˆ
JO
ˆ
RURI.
EBIZORI. When, under pressure from an adversary, a kneeling kabuki
character bends over backward in a ‘‘prawn-shaped bend,’’ curving
the back, with one or both hands held in a gesture of supplication.
Among examples is Fox-Tadanobu in Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura,
although it is more often associated with female characters. It some-
times appears in tachimawari. The mie version is ebizori mie.
EBOSHI. Formal hats worn by priests, warriors, noblemen, etc., in all
forms of traditional Japanese theatre. Black, or on a few occasions,
gold, they come in different sizes, some rather large (or tall), others
smaller and even cap-like. Each has its own name. The no
ˆ
convention
holds that Genji warriors wear the peak bent to the left, while Heike
warriors bend it to the right. The tall cap worn by shirabyo
ˆ
shi danc-
ers, like Shizuka Gozen, and shrine priestesses is the maeori eboshi.
See also BO
ˆ
SHI;COSTUMES:KABUKI;COSTUMES:NO
ˆ
; HACHI-
MAKI; HEADGEAR; KASA; ZUKIN.
EDO SANZA. The ‘‘three licensed theatres of Edo,’’ the Nakamura-
za in Sakai-cho
ˆ
, run by the Nakamura Kanzaburo
ˆ
line; the Ichi-
mura-za in Fukiya-cho
ˆ
, run by the Ichimura Uzaemon line; and the
Morita-za in Kobiki-cho
ˆ
, run by the Morita Kanya line. The first
licensed
theatre
was the Saruwaka-za (1624; later the Nakamura-
za), which was followed in the 17th century by the Miyako-za, the
Murayama-za (later the Ichimura-za), the Miyako-za ,theTama-
gawa-za, the Kawarasaki-za, the Kiri-za, the Morita-za, and others.
However, by 1651 only four major theatres (o
ˆ
shibai) remained, in
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ENGEKI KAIRYO
ˆ
UNDO
ˆ
• 79
addition to the temporary koshibai and miyaji shibai set up on shrine
grounds.
The four were reduced to three in 1714 after the Yamamura-za
was closed down following the notorious Ejima-Ikushima incident.
When one of these playhouses was forced by financial problems to
suspend its operations, a system of alternate management (hikae
yagura) took over. All three theatres were forced to move to Saru-
waka-cho
ˆ
in 1841–42.
EIRI KYO
ˆ
GEN BON. ‘‘Illustrated play books,’’ also kyo
ˆ
gen bon and
ehon kyo
ˆ
gen bon, as well as shirami hon (’’lice books’’) because of
the tiny characters used to write them. Published from 1684 into the
mid-17th century, they are play digests with dialogue snippets and
woodblock illustrations, which is the main way in which kabuki plays
of the day were published, as opposed to bunraku scripts, which were
published in their entirety. Leading artists, like Edo’s Hishikawa
Moronobu and Torii Kiyonobu, did the illustrations.
EJIMA-IKUSHIMA INCIDENT. There are a number of versions of
what transpired in this notorious incident, a standard one claiming
that on the 12th day of the New Year, 1714, Ejima, a lady-in-waiting
in service to the shogun’s mother, was supposed to be visiting a tem-
ple but instead went to the Yamamura-za where she and her com-
panions partied at a shibai jaya with the actors, and Ejima had a
personal rendezvous with the leading man, Ikushima Shingoro
ˆ
.
When the party was discovered by the shogunate, she was banished
to a faraway place, her attendants were punished, Shingoro
ˆ
was ban-
ished elsewhere, restrictions were placed on shibai jaya,andthe
Yamamura-za was closed down permanently (see EDO SANZA). The
scandal has frequently been dramatized in plays and dances.
EMEN NO MIE. When two or more bunraku or kabuki characters
strike an impressive ‘‘tableau pose’’ as the curtain closes or as they
rise on a trap. It is often seen at the final curtain of jidai mono.An
example is in ‘‘Kuruma Biki’’ (Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami),
when the triplets pose holding a large, sheathed umbrella.
ENGEKI KAIRYO
ˆ
UNDO
ˆ
. The ‘‘Theatre Reform Movement,’’ a
campaign with roots in 1868, which lasted two decades and sought
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80 • ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TRADITIONAL JAPANESE THEATRE
ways to make kabuki respectable. It was one facet of the many
reforms going on everywhere as Meiji-era Japan sought to rapidly
become Westernized. Theatre professionals like Morita Kanya XII
and Ichikawa Danju
ˆ
ro
ˆ
IX worked with various business, academic,
and literar y leaders. On e res ul t was kabuki’s hist oric ally accu rate
katsureki mono, to which the public, however, did not warm. In
1886, Suematsu Kencho
ˆ
, recently back from a trip to the West, and
backed by important writers, founded the Engeki Kairyo
ˆ
kai (Society
for Theatre Reform), which sought to banish indecency from the
stage, to elevate the dramatist’s status, and to improve theatrical
architecture. It called for abolishing many conventions, like the
onnagata and the hanamichi, which it thought outmoded. Its opin-
ions were widely disseminated. Tsubouchi Sho
ˆ
yo
ˆ
argued for play-
writing reform, while Mori O
ˆ
gai declared that theatre should be
separated into musical and nonmusical forms. One outcome was the
1887 presentation of kabuki for the imperial family (see TENRAN
GEKI), which helped raise theatre’s social status. However, the Soci-
ety soon disbanded, having failed to gain popular approval.
In 1888, the Nihon Engei Kyo
ˆ
fukai (Japan Entertainment Moral
Reform Society), later reorganized as the Nihon Engei Kyo
ˆ
kai (Japan
Entertainment Association), was born. A year later, the Kabuki-za
opened and promoted some reformist ideas. The chief accomplish-
ment of the reform movement was the Westernization of theatre
buildings and the inspiration it gave to others to create new forms of
theatre, such as shinpa and shin kabuki, which led inevitably to the
modern theatre.
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TRADITIONAL JAPANESE THEATRE.
No
ˆ
, kyo
ˆ
gen, and kabuki in English is a modern phenomenon both in
and out of Japan. Such events are either attempts to clone as closely
as possible the translation of an authentic play in all its particulars
except language, experiments where some flexibility in adaptation is
permitted, and, finally, new works—like Janine Beichman’s Ameri-
can no
ˆ
play, Drifting Fires—that use the original forms rather freely.
Adapting the rhythms of the chanting, dialogue, and music to a for-
eign language creates obvious problems that some believe insur-
mountabl e. Kyo
ˆ
gen, dependent as it is on dialogue, seems to lend
itself more readily to foreign-language adaptation, although there has
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