Leiter S.L. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre
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MEGANE • 231
dancer. He established the Matsumoto tradition as a school with him-
self as iemoto.
MAWARI BUTAI. The ‘‘revolving stage,’’ a disk set in the bunraku and
kabuki stage floor for the rapid shifting of scenery, or for creating a
treadmill effect by which actors can walk while staying in place as
the set moves past them. The earliest example appeared in the first
third of the 18th century when Edo playwright Nakamura Denshichi
created the bun mawashi, a platform mounted on wheels that ran in
a track and rotated by the turning of an axis beneath the stage. In
1758, a much improved version was incorporated in Namiki Sho
ˆ
zo
ˆ
’s
Sanjikkoku Yofune no Hajimari at Osaka’s Kado no Shibai. An even
more advanced version was created for Edo’s Nakamura-za in 1793.
In 1847 came a revolve within a revolve (janome mawashi). Finally,
electrical power was used in the 20th century to move the disk, pre-
viously operated by men in the cellar (naraku) pushing extensions
attached to a central axis set into the earth.
Among mawari butai conventions is the partial revolve called han
mawashi. When the revolve turns with the stage lights on, it is called
akaten (‘‘lighted revolve’’), while kuraten (‘‘darkened revolve’’) hap-
pens in the dark. See also LIGHTING.
MAYAMA SEIKA (1878–1948). Modern novelist and shin kabuki
playwright, whose playwriting career began with shinpa and shin-
kokugeki troupes. He is best known for his historical dramas, begin-
ning with 1924’s Genboku to Cho
ˆ
ei. His work was produced by the
top actors of the day, including those of the progressive Zenshin-za.
Seika’s plays were carefully researched, psych ologic ally prob ing,
and written on a grand, tragic scale. They include Genroku Chu
ˆ
shingu-
ra, Edojo
ˆ
So
ˆ
zeme, and Yoritomo no Shi.
MEBARI. The kabuki actor’s ‘‘eye line,’’ whose size and shape are
essential to his makeup. Tachiyaku normally draw it with black or a
mixture of black and red, while onnagata use red, drawing a line
from the inner corners to the outer.
MEGANE. A kabuki male
character’s wig known
for a topknot (mage)
whose small, circular form resembles old-fashioned ‘‘spectacles.’’
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232 • MEIJI-ZA
The chief characters wearing it are clerks and other low-echelon
townsmen in sewa mono.
MEIJI-ZA. A Tokyo theatre located in Nihonbashi, Chuˆo-ku. It began
as the Kisho
ˆ
-za, opened in the same district in 1873, and was later
the Hisamatsu-za and Chitose-za. It was electrified in 1887, the first
Japanese theatre so equipped. It became the Meiji-za in 1893 and was
run by Ichikawa Sadanji I and the future Sadanji II, who made it a
strong rival of the Kabuki-za in the late Meiji era. A failed attempt
at running the theatre on European lines began in 1909. Shinpa star
Ii Yo
ˆ
ho
ˆ
ran it from 1912, but Sho
ˆ
chiku acquired it in 1919, although
shinpa remained its main focus.
Destroyed in the Great Kanto
ˆ
Earthquake of 1923, it was rebuilt
in 1928 at it s pre sent loca tion . Ame ri can firebom bing ruin ed it in
1945, but it reopened in 1950 as an independent. Another fire dam-
aged it in 1957, but it was reopened in 1958. Its stage is 66 feet wide
and it seats 1,716. It now only occasionally houses shinpa and
kabuki.
MERIHARI. Kabuki’s fundamental elocutionary techniques (see SERI-
FU), including using the voice for relative emphasis, for pitch modu-
lations, and for methods of vowel duration. Meri signifies the relaxed
lower tones and hari the higher ones. Speech is created in kabuki
from their alternation. In Japanese music (including geza music),
merihari refers to the modulation of sound.
MERIYASU. Brief passages of nagauta music, played in the kabuki
geza during scenes without dialogue, which change in duration
according to the performance of the actors. The effect is intended to
highlight the emotional atmosphere. Meriyasu melodies are typically
quiet in mood, and are sung as solos accompanied by the shamisen,
although rare cases of two singers being heard are known. During
dialogue sections, only the shamisen plays a long, after which the
singing continues. It is heard in romantic scenes, hair-combing
scenes (kamisuki), remembrance scenes (jukkai), and other scenes
suggestive of unhappiness or even suicide.
In bunraku, it refers to the shamisen melody heard during non-
narrative pass ages of gida yu
ˆ
bushi wh en the pup pets ar e cha tting
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MIBU KYO
ˆ
GEN • 233
lightly or moving. An example is in ‘‘Nozaki Mura’’ (Shinpan Uta-
zaimon), when a brief passage is performed as Hisamatsu rubs Kyuˆsa-
ku’s shoulders. See also DOKUGIN.
The tights worn by certain kabuki characters with dyed-on muscu-
lature patterns are also called meriyasu. See also KUMADORI.
METSUKE BASHIRA. The ‘‘eye-fixing’’ pillar located at downstage
right of the main acting area on the no
ˆ
stage. Actors in masks with
small eyeholes need an object on which they can fix their gaze to get
their bearings, which is how this pillar got its name. The actor’s posi-
tion about one meter away from the pillar on a diagonal toward stage
center is called metsuke or sumi. It is the spot closest to the largest
number of spectators, and a lot of important business occurs here, as
when, in Hagoromo, the angel peers up at the moon, sees the falling
blossoms, stares into the depths of the sea, or sees the moon’s reflec-
tion on the water. There has been debate about the sightline problems
created by this pillar and some have called for its removal, but many
argue that this would destroy the sculptural quality of a no
ˆ
perform-
ance.
MIAWARASHI. Used to denote when disguised kabuki characters must
‘‘reveal’’ their true selves after having their disguise penetrated. The
revelation may require the character to make a spectacular costume
change (such as bukkaeri) and strike a mie while standing on a plat-
form. It is found mainly in jidai mono, but a famous sewa mono
example is in ‘‘Hamamatsuya’’ (Aotozo
ˆ
shi Hana no Nishiki-e), when
Benten, dressed as a woman, reveals his true identity by displaying
his tattoos in the miawarashi no mie.
MIBU KYO
ˆ
GEN. An annual Buddhist festival folk performance, also
known as mibu sarugaku, mibu nenbutsu, and nenbutsu kyo
ˆ
gen (nen-
butsu is the reciting of the Buddha’s name; see NENBUTSU
ODORI), given every April at the Mibu Temple in Kyoto, but also
seen the day before the first day of spring and for three days in Octo-
ber. Performances run from 1 p.m. to 5.30 p.m., with each piece
about 50 minutes long. Originated at the temple in the 14th century
by the monk Engaku, it provides very lively kyo
ˆ
gen comedies per-
formed with the actors wearing masks and with all the action mimed;
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234 • MICHIYUKI
there is no dialogue. A temple gong, struck in a slow rhythm, as well
as a large drum and flute, provide the musical background to the 30
or so plays available. The first is always Horaku Wari, a piece that
concludes with the pushing from t he stage of hundreds of votive
ear thenware plates, purchased by temple visitors, onto the grou nd
below, where they break. This is considered a blow against evil and
for good luck.
The repertory includes adaptations of no
ˆ
plays like Hashi Benkei,
O
ˆ
eyama, and Tsuchigumo, but there are a good number of pieces cre-
ated especially for Mibu Temple. The performance space accommo-
dates around 400 and is out of doors and somewhat cruder than the
standard no
ˆ
stage. It is rather elevated and a low barrier runs along
its front, hiding the actors’ feet.
MICHIYUKI. In no
ˆ
, the poetic ‘‘road going’’ or ‘‘travel song’’ passage
describing a journey, chanted at the conclusion of the first dan by the
waki or shite or by their respective tsure. It refers to the words and
movement describing the scenery and the latter’s effect on the speak-
er’s state of mind.
In bunraku and kabuki, where it often is translated as ‘‘travel
dance,’’ it refers to a dance scene that was invariably part of every
play produced from the end of the 17th century through the mid-18th
centur y, with examples showing up through the 19th centur y. It
showed one or more travelers journeying toward some important des-
tination (Act 9 of Kanadehon Chu
ˆ
shingura), or escaping from danger
(‘‘Yoshinoyama’’ Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura), with an important seg-
ment played on the hanamichi. Ever since Chikamatsu Monzae-
mon’s Sonezaki Shinju
ˆ
of 1703, it has most commonly meant sad,
lyrical scenes of similarly dressed lovers on their way to commit dou-
ble suicide (see SHINJU
ˆ
MONO). As they proceed, they describe in
allusive poetic lines the beauty of the passing scene in a way that
produces great pathos. See also KEIGOTO.
Michiyuki is also a nagauta expression for dance passage accom-
paniment following the introductory section (oki), when the lead
actor enters on the hanamichi. See also BUYO
ˆ
; SHOSAGOTO.
MIDARE . ‘‘Confusion,’’ a no
ˆ
mai dance of the taik o mono variety,
using a fue-centered accompaniment with a difficult rhythm that
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MIE • 235
speeds up and slows down with every phrase, although the overall
tempo is placid. It includes, for no
ˆ
, unusual movements, like kicking
at and floating on waves, or standing on tiptoes, and is performed in
only two plays, by the inebriated water sprite in Sho
ˆ
jo
ˆ
and by the
heron (sagi)spiritinSagi, where its gentle rhythm is called sagi
midare. The heron lifts a foot in the air, rests its wings, and flies off
as part of the dance. Both dances have auspicious qualities. See also
MAIGOTO; MUSIC: NO
ˆ
.
MIDORI. The practice of creating a bunraku or kabuki program by
putting together a carefully composed sequence of separate scenes
and acts extracted from long plays along with short plays or dances.
The practice was introduced as early as the 1750s but did not become
common until the 19th century, when the number of good new plays
declined, although the production of entire plays (to
ˆ
shi kyo
ˆ
gen)was
not replaced—except for rare occasions—until the 20th century.
Bunraku, despite having tried the practice as early as 1755, did not
institute it on a regular basis until 1930. This happened because the
change from a one play-a-day policy, running from 10 a.m. to 10
p.m., to two shows-a-day running from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., made it
difficult to produce to
ˆ
shi kyo
ˆ
gen of plays in their entirety, so classic
acts were selected to draw audiences. See also NIBUSEI.
A typical midori program lasts about four and a half hours, inter-
missions included, and contains selections from jidai mon o, se wa
mono,andshosagoto, with consideration given to the way the
choices work together in combination.
Midori shifts the emphasis from the plays per se to the skills of
the performers, as certain plays have become so familiar within this
convention that spectators can learn the fine points of how they are
acted and compare one performance with another. See also KO
ˆ
GYO
ˆ
.
MIE. A powerful, dance-like pose taken by kabuki actors at tradition-
ally established climactic moments to emphasize the character’s
emotion. There are certain physical patterns followed for each spe-
cific mie type, usually culminating in a rhythmic rotation (senkai)
and snapping of the head, as the actor glares (niramu) strongly,
crossing one or both eyes. The tsuke are struck and music is played
to further heighten the moment when the actor ‘‘cuts his great mie’’
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236 • MIGAWARI MONO
(o
ˆ
mie o kiru). The timing (ma) of the pose is crucial as the actor
puts all his mental and physical energies into making the moment
memorable.
Mie were born in the aragoto style but spread to all types of kabuki
where they range from the modest in sewa mono to the flamboyant
in jidai mono. Most scholars believe their inspiration to have been
the ferociously glaring, powerfully muscled statues of Buddhist dei-
ties like Fudo
ˆ
, seen guarding the gates to many temples. Mie come
at moments of heightened intensity, as during fights or quarrels. They
may be performed by solo actors or by groups of two or more in
tableau. Sometimes the actor performs a series of mie in sequence,
as in Kenuki. The actor can be standing, kneeling, sitting, or even
flying.
Onnagata and wagoto roles do not generally c ut mie, although
there are exceptions. Their poses, which usually are not accompanied
by the tsuke, are called kimari.
Some mie are unique to a single play. Among the most often seen
examples are the emen no mie; fudo
ˆ
no mie; genroku mie; hako ni
kimaru, hashira maki no mie, hippari no mie, ishinage no mie, soku
mie, tenchijin no mie, tenchi no mie, and yoko mie.
MIGAWARI MONO. During the Japanese middle ages, many believed
that a person in danger could be saved by the intercession of deities
who put themselves in the person’s situation. Stories of such substitu-
tions were popular and were often used in ko jo
ˆ
ruri. Consequently,
bunraku and kabuki took the idea and used it to establish a genre of
‘‘substitution plays,’’ sometimes with deities performing miracles to
save humans but mainly with one person doing it for another. A late
example of a religious substitution play is bunraku’s Tsubosaka Rei-
genki, where a blind man is saved from death by the grace of the
goddess Kannon.
Plays in which someone voluntarily sacrifices him or herself for
someone else include ‘‘Shinbei Sumika’’ (Shinrei Yaguchi no
Watashi), where Ofune lets herself be k illed by her father so that
Nitta Yoshimine can live. Perhaps even more painful is the choice of
someone who arranges for a loved one to be sacrificed to some noble
cause.
When
the other person is their own child, sacrificed because
of the rigorous demands of the samurai code so that a debt of obliga-
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MINARAI SAKUSHA • 237
tion (giri) can be paid, the pathos can be unbearable. A classic exam-
ple is ‘‘Terakoya’’ (Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami)inwhich
Matsuo
ˆ
sacrifices his son for the sake of another child to whose father
he is secretly indebted. Plays like this often include a head inspection
(kubi jikken) during which the person responsible for the substitu-
tion must examine and confirm the identity of a head.
MIMASUYA NISO
ˆ
JI (1784–1856). An Edo kabuki playwright, also
known as Iseya Munesaburo
ˆ
. His major contributions were shosa-
goto such as Ochiudo, Yamanba, and Kanda Matsuri. He also wrote
books on playwriting.
MINAMI-ZA. Kyoto’s most famous kabuki playhouse, located on the
south side of Shijo
ˆ
Bashi, Higashiyama-ku, right next to the Kamo
River, in whose dry bed early kabuki had its start and where many
earlier forms of performance had flourished. At least seven kabuki
theatres were practicing there in the first third of the 17th century. In
1669, Miyako Mandayu
ˆ
I founded the Miyako Mandayu
ˆ
-za at the site
of what eventually became the Minami-za (‘‘Southern Theatre’’). It
was the leading venue during the Genroku period, producing plays
by Chikamatsu Monzaemon starring Sakata To
ˆ
ju
ˆ
ro
ˆ
I. Over the
years, the theatre had many managers and names, each based on that
of the current zamoto. Eventually, it was called the Minami Shibai
and the Minamigawa no Shibai. It went into decline in the late Edo
period, when it had only one rival, the Kita Gekijo
ˆ
or Kita-za
(‘‘Northern Theatre’’), which was torn down in 1893 when the street
it sat on was widened. The name Minami-za was coined in 1906,
when it was bought by Sho
ˆ
chiku.
It was rebuilt in 1929 and renovated in 1991, and remains Kyoto’s
prime kabuki theatre, although kabuki visits it only a few months out
of the year, most notably the annual December kaomise when the
great Tokyo actors perform in a grand program. Its dimensions—
more intimate than those of Tokyo’s big theatres—are considered
very suitable to kabuki performance. It seats 1,090.
MINARAI SAKUSHA. During the Edo period, when kabuki staff play-
wrights were part of a hierarchical arrangement, new writers were
‘‘apprentice playwrights,’’ whose duties included helping the main
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238 • MINO
playwrights at rehearsals (keiko), copying out the actors’ kakinuki
and carrying the actors’ properties and costumes to their homes. On
opening day, they took notes on the changes the actors made in the
script, and were assigned numerous tasks meant to teach them the
profession. See also NIMAIME SAKUSHA.
MINO. ‘‘Straw raincoat,’’ short for minoge, a type of kabuki wig hair-
line created by plaiting hair like a straw raincoat and then fixing it to
the copper wig base (daigane). It is seen in heavily stylized old plays
like Shibaraku and ‘‘Kuruma Biki’’ (Sugawara Denju Tenarai
Kagami). See also HABUTAE.
MISHIMA YUKIO (1925–70). Modern novelist and shin kabuki
playwright, internationally known for both his writing and his reac-
tionary politics. He wrote a dozen popular dramas for Nakamura
Utaemon VI, hoping to provide them with traditional qualities,
including gidayu
ˆ
bushi accompaniment. They included Iwashi Uri
Koi no Hikiami, Musume Gonomi Obitori Ike, and Chinsetsu Yu
ˆ
hari-
zuki. He also wrote a group of modern no
ˆ
plays.
MISONO-ZA. A kabuki theatre in Naka-ku, Nagoya. The first theatre
on the site was the Nagoya Gekijo
ˆ
, opened in 1897, and built with a
Western exterior similar to Tokyo’s Meiji-za but retaining masu
seating for its 1,216 patrons. It was renovated in 1935, but destroyed
by bombs in 1945. It was reconstructed two years later, burned down
in 1961, and was up again by 1963. This well-equipped theatre,
which is part of an eight-story, multipurpose building with two addi-
tional basement floors, holds a total of 1,819 spectators.
MISU. The ‘‘bamboo blinds’’ hiding the offstage musicians in bunraku
and kabuki. Also, the bamboo blinds shown in settings depicting pal-
aces and temples. The misu is rolled up or down as needed. See also
MISU-UCHI.
MISU-UCHI. The small room ‘‘within the bamboo blinds’’ located
over the stage left entranceway in bunraku and kabuki, where junior
chanters and shamisen players sometimes perform brief scenes.
They are hidden from view by a misu.
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MIYAJI SHIBAI • 239
The term also refers to the performance of music within the geza.
MITATE. An Edo-period convention whereby familiar concepts, cus-
toms, persons, or things were cleverly alluded to in art, literature, and
kabuki. An example is the final tableau in Kotobuki Soga no Taimen
when the actors strike an emen no mie tableau supposedly resem-
bling a crane—a symbol of longevity—flying over Mount Fuji. The
pose is meant to convey a feeling of auspiciousness associated with
the New Year. See also HATSUHARU KYO
ˆ
GEN.
A degree of improvisation is also permitted in some situations of
mitate as during Act 7 of Kanadehon Chu
ˆ
shingura, when the wait-
resses and entertainers play a game of mitate, with singing and hand
clapping.
Mitate also is used in relation to the concept of yatsushi (see also
NIMAIME), which is similar to mitate in woodblock prints (ukiyo-e).
This is the transference of well-known historical or literary charac-
ters into contemporary terms. Thus, the hero of Sukeroku Yukari no
Edo Zakura is both Sukeroku and the legendary Soga no Goro
ˆ
.At
the moment when the character reveals his true identity, he says
‘‘jitsu wa’’ (‘‘in reality . . . ’’), the phrase itself now referring to this
puzzle-like convention.
MITATEME. Also mitsume and mitatsume, the fifth piece on an 18th-
century kabuki program. It followed the futateme and constituted
the prologue or first act of the jidai mono. It was called jomaku in
Edo and kuchiake in Kamigata.
MITSUKOSHI KABUKI. The kabuki productions offered from
1946–50 at the Mitsukoshi Gekijo
ˆ
, a theatre in the Nihonbashi,
Tokyo, branch of the Mitsukoshi Department Store. Because of the
bombings of World War II, no other suitable venues were immedi-
ately available. The theatre was a major proving ground for many
outstanding postwar stars. It is still used for a variety of theatrical
offerings.
MITSUWA-KAI. See CHINAMI-KAI.
MIYAJI SHIBAI. Also miya shibai, ‘‘shrine ground theatres’’ (see
KOSHIBAI) allowed during the Edo period to produce kabuki for
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240 • MIYAKO DENNAI (?–?)
brief periods in the area contiguous to shrine or temple gates. Unlike
the major playhouses (o
ˆ
shibai), they could produce only at special
times, such as festivals, during fund-raising (kanjin no
ˆ
) drives, or
when religious treasures were put on display [kaicho
ˆ
(see KAICHO
ˆ
MONO)]. Officials associated with the religious institutions oversaw
them. Such theatres began to appear in 1645, at Edo’s Shiba Jinmei
Shrine. Other Edo miyaji shibai venues included the Ichitani Hachi-
man Shrine, the Yushima Tenjin Shrine, the Kanda Jinmei Shrine,
and the Fukagawa Hachiman Shrine. In Kyoto, there was the Seigan
Temple, Kin Tenjin Shrine, and Kitano Shrine, while Osaka had the
Tenman Shrine, Mikuri Shrine, Amida Ike Shrine, and so on. Similar
shibai arose in provincial locales as well.
Despite official limitations on how long a miyaji shibai could con-
tinue running, 100 days being standard, the rule was more often hon-
ored in the breach than in the observance so that they were viewed
by the o
ˆ
shibai as unwelcome competitors, especially because of their
low prices and convenience to local spectators. They were banned
during the Tenpo
ˆ
reforms but were eventually reopened and contin-
ued into the Meiji period when more liberal practices regarding the
prescribed number of theatres obviated the need for them. See also
DONCHO
ˆ
YAKUSHA.
Shrine theatres were also employed in Osaka by bunraku in the
19th century, following the demise of the Toyotake-za and Takemo-
to-za.
MIYAKO DENNAI (?–?). An early Edo kabuki actor-producer-play-
wright, first known as an acrobat (or juggler) called Kumesaburo
ˆ
,
who was active at the Miyako-za. Because of the presence in the
1650s of a similarly named acrobat-producer, his theatre was called
the Inishie (‘‘Ancient’’) Dennai-za, while the other was the Shin
(‘‘New’’) Dennai-za. In 1664, he and Ichimura Takenojo
ˆ
I created
kabuki’s first tsuzuki kyo
ˆ
gen.
MIYAKO-ZA. An Edo kabuki theatre best known as a hikae yagura
for the Nakamura-za. It had a long history that began in kabuki’s
early days, when Miyako Dennai founded it as the Inishie Dennai-
za. When, in 1793, the Nakamura-za was forced by financial prob-
lems to temporarily cease production, its license was assumed by one
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