Leiter S.L. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre

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MUSIC: KYO

GEN • 251

the city girl Osome. Aware that they might commit double suicide

(shinju

) if thwarted, Omitsu cuts her hair off to become a nun.

MURASAKI BO

SHI. Afemalewig accessor y seen when kabuki

actors appear in a formal name-taking ceremony (shu

mei). This

‘‘purple cap’’ is a band of crepe pinned to the forelock of the onnaga-

ta’s wig. It came into use as a covering for the bald crown when

young actors, in the mid-17th century, were forced to shave their

forelocks to tone down their sensual appeal (see WAKASHU

KABUKI; YARO

KABUKI). Even though the practice of wearing wigs

with forelocks soon made its use unnecessary, the murasaki bo

shi

remained an onnagata custom for ceremonial occasions or in certain

old plays. Different colors, materials, and sizes were tried over the

years until the present version was formulated.

MURAYAMA MATASABURO

. Two generations of kabuki actors.

Matasaburo

I (1605–52), an important ﬁgure in the development of

early kabuki, was the son of a founder of Kyoto kabuki, Murayama

Matahachi He moved to Edo in 1621 and established the important

Murayama-za, which became the Ichimura-za in the 1660s. See also

ICHIMURA UZAEMON.

Matasaburo

II was actually Ichimura Uzaemon XIV, who took

the name in 1872 in an effort to salvage his theatre’s business prob-

lems.

MURAYAMA-ZA. See ICHIMURA-ZA; ICHIMURA UZAEMON;

MURAYAMA MATASABURO

MUSIC: BUNRAKU AND KABUKI. See GEZA; GIDAYU

BUSHI;

HAYASHI; MERIYASU; NARI MONO.

MUSIC: KYO

GEN. The music heard in many kyo

gen plays is simpler

but more melodic than that of no

. Kyo

gen music

called ashirai,a

vague word that has several usages in no

and kyo

gen. It includes a

number of Muromachi period songs (kouta) inserted into the plays,

like Hanago, and performed independently, not as sung speech, and

occasionally accompanied by drums. In some plays, the f ull f our-

piece no

orchestra appears, either to accompany a song or to provide

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252 • MUSIC: NO

instrumental support for a dance. In general, kyo

gen music is heard

only when needed, unlike no

music, which is integral to most of the

performance. Whereas no

music is played—even in aikyo

gen—with

the musicians facing front, in kyo

gen they sit sideways, facing each

other. See also MAIGOTO.

MUSIC: NO

. No

is dependent on music performed as accompaniment

throughout every play, except during prose (kotoba) passages. It sup-

ports the speaking and chanting (utai) of lines, and all the movement,

which is dance or dance-like. (See MAI.) The music is percussive and

melodic, although both elements are not always present at the same

time. Often, the tempo of the percussive and/or melodic background

is independent of the actors’orjiutai’s performance, and the percus-

sion and melody may also be independent of each other. Congruent

rhythm is called ho

shi ni au (or hyo

shiai) and noncongruent rhythm

is ho

shi ni awazu (or hyo

shiawazu). During passages of the latter,

where the eight-beat chanting rhythm is not congruent with that of

the music, there is—within very strict limits—some freedom to the

performance.

The same musical patterns are repeated in many plays, with varia-

tions in tempo and tone, but the music does not have the kind of vari-

ety familiar in Western music and is difﬁcult to grasp without much

experience.

The instrumental aspect is supplied by an orchestra (hayashi)of

three to four musicians (hayashikata), the ﬂute (fue) player (fuekata),

small drum (kotsuzumi; see KOTSUZUMI AND O

TSUZUMI) player

(kotsuzumikata), large drum (o

tsuzumi) player (o

tsuzumikata or o

ka-

wakata),

and,

in a smaller number of plays, the stick drum (taiko)

player (taikokata). The four instruments are called, in aggregate, shi-

byo

shi. All the musicians sit in the upstage atoza position and stick

drum players on the ﬂoor, the others on aibiki stool. They sit in a

prescribed order, left to right, taiko, o

tsuzumi, kotsuzumi, and fue, the

latter near the pillar named for him, the fue bashira. The taiko player

is a bit upstage of the others. The same arrangement is used for the

ﬁve court musician dolls in a Japanese Girls’ Festival (hina matsuri)

display, where the ﬁgure on the extreme right represents the chorus.

For most performances, the musicians wear a black montsuki and

hakama, but on special occasions they wear formal kamishimo.On

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NADAI • 253

especially auspicious occasions, they will wear long, trailing nagaba-

kama (see HAKAMA). And at New Year’s performances of Okina,

they will don high eboshi hats and elaborate over-robes (hitatare)

like the dolls in the Girls’ Festival display. See also COSTUMES:

; HAYASHIKATA; MUSIC: KYO

GEN.

MUSUME. A puppet head for pretty, unwed ‘‘young women,’’ 15 to

20 years old. Tamate Gozen in Sesshu

Gappo

ga Tsuji is 19 or 20

and married, so she uses the fuke oyama head. During the Edo

period, girls married at around 14 or 15, so ideas of youth were dif-

ferent than those of today.

The musume normally has no movable facial parts and has a kuchi-

bari pin near the mouth. The standard expression on her white face

is bright and expectant. Sewa mono characters using it include both

Omitsu and Osome in Shinpan Utazaimon, while jidai mono women

include Princess Yaegaki in Honcho

Niju

shiko

. Slightly different and

not seen as often is the nemuri no musume (‘‘sleeping girl’’), whose

eyes open and close. The effect of lidded eyes is to add a touch of

age. Ohatsu in Sonezaki Shinju

is an example. But blind girls also

use the head.

NADAI. A word with various meanings in bunraku and kabuki. It can

refer to titles (see KYO

GEN NADAI), producers, and the leading rank

of actors. The latter derives from an abbreviation for the term identi-

fying actors who were distinguished enough for their names to

appear on the kanban outside Edo-period theatres. Actors not ofﬁ-

cially acknowledged as worthy of such billing were (and still are)

called nadai shita (‘‘below name’’). To be promoted to name rank,

actors take a nadai shiken (‘‘name test’’). See also HAIYU

KAIKYU

Using

different

Chinese characters, nadai is the Edo-period term

under which Kamigata bunraku and kabuki producers were ofﬁ-

cially registered with shogunate ofﬁcials. They were the equivalent

of Edo’s zamoto, where, however, the position was hereditary; in

Kamigata, it could be bought and sold. This led to arrangements

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254 • NAGAUTA

where the nominal licensee was one man, and the actual producer

someone else who had purchased the producing rights. The situation

was especially complex in 18th-century Kamigata when the person

acting as producer became the leading actor, known in this context

as zamoto, but being essentially the same as Edo’s zagashira. See

also KO

GYO

NAGAUTA. One of kabuki’s four principal types of music (see TOKI-

WAZU, KIYOMOTO; GIDAYU

BUSHI). Unlike those narrative

forms, nagauta (‘‘long song’’) is primarily lyrical. It evolved from an

earlier form of shamisen music that eventually split into two main

types, jiuta and edo nagauta, the latter being the one performed in

kabuki, and eventually called simply nagauta. It was associated dur-

ing the 18th century with the creation of many excellent shosagoto,

such as Musume Do

-ji and Sagi Musume, and enjoyed its golden

age in the ﬁrst half of the 19th century as accompaniment for henge

mono.

Nagauta,whichusesthehosozao (‘‘n ar ro w-ne ck ed ’’) shamisen,

portrays the emotions and background of the dramatic action. The

number of performers is variable, with a full ensemble including 10

singers and 10 shamisen players supplemented by the shinobue,

taiko, kotsuzumi, and o

tsuzumi. The music may be played on stage

with the musicians in formal dress (debayashi)oroffstageinthe

geza, where it is joined by the o

daiko and, depending on the piece,

other instruments. Nagauta shamisen music in the geza is called

aikata when not accompanied by singing; when singing is used it is

ainote. See also MERIYASU.

NAGAWA KAMESUKE. Two generations of Kamigata kabuki play-

wrights.

Kamesuke

I (?–1790), wrote around 40 plays for Osaka’s

Naka no Shibai. He specialized in dramatizing ko

dan and stories

based on actual events (see JITSUROKU MONO). He also perfected

the four-act jidai mono in which each act was based on one of the

four emotions of happiness, anger, pity, and pleasure. His best plays

include Meiboku Sendai Hagi, Katakiuchi Tengajaya Mura,and

Hade Kurabe Ise Monogatari. He replaced the custom of producing

a revenge drama (adauchi kyo

gen) for the annual ni no kawari pro-

gram with well-constructed and digniﬁed plays that gave actors out-

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NAIMAZE • 255

standing opportunities. His tendency toward overly detailed plots led

to his work later being revised or commingled with other plays (nai-

maze). See also DRAMATIC STRUCTURE: BUNRAKU AND

KABUKI.

NAGAWA SHIMESUKE. Four generations of kabuki playwrights.

Shimesuke I (1754–1814) was a proliﬁc Osaka dramatist whose best-

known work in the current repertory includes Chikagoro Kawara no

Tatehiki and Sumidagawa Gonichi no Omokage.

NAGE NINGYO

. Also do

ningyo

, a life-sized ‘‘throwing dummy’’ used

in kabuki when someone has to be carried about or even thrown, as

when the title character of Narukami ﬂings a priest overhead.

NAGOYA SANZABURO

(?–1603). A samurai sometimes said to

have been a cofounder of kabuki with Izumo no Okuni, his alleged

mistress. Born Nagoe Sanzaburo

, he was a handsome, dashing young

warrior about whom songs were written. After a colorful life that

gave him a reputation as a kabuki mono, he is thought to have died

in prison. The veracity of accounts connecting him to Okuni has been

doubted, but the legends hold that during her performances Sanza-

buro

(or Sanza) appeared from the audience as a ghost and danced

with her before exiting. See also FUWA NAGOYA MONO.

NAIMAZE. The kabuki convention of creating a new play by ‘‘combin-

ing’’ two or more different sekai. The typical Edo practice had been

to present a two-part play under a single title (o

nadai), part one being

the ichibanme mono or jidai mono and part two the nibanme mono

(see PROGRAMS: KABUKI)orsewa mono. The parts were linked

by a single plot, the result being a jidai-sewa mono. Because of the

limitation of kabuki plays to speciﬁc sekai, the same characters and

events (often imaginatively altered) kept reappearing in numerous

plays. See also KAKIKAE KYO

GEN.

In the 1770s, Sakurada Jisuke I began to break free of these limi-

tations by mixing two or more sekai in

the

same play, and by the

early 19th centur y, Tsuruya Nanboku IV was blending three or

more to create complexly woven dramas ﬁlled with allusive qualities.

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256 • NAIYOMI

He also introduced new sekai derived from the kizewa mono genre.

See also PLAYWRIGHTS: BUNRAKU AND KABUKI.

NAIYOMI. The Edo-period custom of the tate sakusha giving ‘‘private

readings’’ of his new play, ﬁrst at the home of the zamoto, and then

at that of the zagashira, to get their feedback. The reading was kept

conﬁdential so that rivals remained ignorant of the new material.

NAKAIRI. The ‘‘interlude’’ between the ﬁrst (maeba) and second

(nochiba) halves of a no

play, after the shite has exited, either by the

hashigakari or by entering a property unit (tsukuri mono). In some

cases, it follows the exit of the waki, tsure,orkokata. Often, the

halves are connected by an aikyo

gen scene. See also DRAMATIC

STRUCTURE: NO

NAKAJIKU. Also nakafude, an old rank for high-ranking kabuki

actors just below the zagashira. Their names were placed at the cen-

ter of the horizontally printed cast list. See also BANZUKE;

KANBAN.

NAKAMAKU. A shosagoto performed ‘‘between the acts’’ of a two-

part Edo-period kabuki program. Edo theatres originally used a sin-

gle title for the two plays making up a program, the jidai mono or

ichibanme and the sewa mono or nibanme mono. This changed in

1796, when the sewa mono was given a separate title, and the naka-

maku was between the parts.

NAKAMURA BAIGYOKU. Four generations of kabuki actors. Yago

akasagoya.

Baigyoku II (1841–1921) made the haimyo

of Naka-

mura Utaemon III his stage name. He was a Kamigata costar of

Jitsukawa Enjaku I bu t bec ame p opul ar in Toky o opp osit e Ichi-

kawa Danju

IX and Onoe Kikugoro

V. After becoming a stage

partner of Nakamura Ganjiro

I, he emerged as one of the leading

Kamigata stars, respected for his versatility in both male and female

roles.

Baigyoku III (1875–1948), adopted son of Baigyoku II, took the

name in 1935. He often played the wife of Ganjiro

I. One of the

greats of his time, he was elected to the Japan Arts Academy in 1958.

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NAKAMURA GANJIRO

• 257

Baigyoku IV (1946–), adopted son of Nakamura Utaemon VI,is

known for playing nimaime and wakashugata roles. He took the

name in 1990.

NAKAMURA FUKUSUKE. Nine generations of kabuki actors. The

ﬁrst was a disciple of Nakamura Utaemon I, but Fukusuke I is con-

sidered the actor who became Nakamura Shikan IV. Complications

arose when an actor from Osaka and another from Tokyo claimed the

name of Fukusuke III; two lines were therefore created, the Tokyo

line using the yago

Narikomaya (held by Fukusuke I and II), and the

Osaka line Takasagoya. From Fukusuke VI on, all have been Nariko-

maya. Fukusuke III (Narikomaya) was Nakamura Baigyoku II, and

Fukusuke IV (Takasagoya) was Baigyoku III.

Fukusuke V (Narikomaya)(1900–33) took the name in 1916 and

was a great dancer.

Fukusuke V (Takasagoya) (1910–69) took the name in 1935 and

was a katakiyaku specialist.

Fukusuke VI (Narikomaya) became Utaemon VI and Fukusuke

VII (Narikomaya) became Shikan VII, while Fukusuke VIII (Nari-

komaya) became Baigyoku IV.

Fukusuke IX (Narikomaya) (1960–), son of Shikan VII, who took

the name in 1992, is a leading onnagata.

NAKAMURA GANJIRO

. Three generations of kabuki actors. Yago

Narikomaya. Ganjiro

I (1860–1935) was t rained by Jitsukawa

Enjaku I, spent some years as a bunraku puppeteer, and returned to

kabuki as Ganjiro

I in 1878, becoming the exemplar of Kamigata

acting, both locally and in Tokyo, where he ﬁrst was lauded in 1890.

He was the leading specialist in the plays of Chikamatsu Monzae-

mon. He divided his time between Osaka and Tokyo, gaining renown

for his versatility at male and female roles, but being especially

strong in sewa mono wagoto roles. He created the ie no gei collec-

tion called ganjiro

nikyoku.

Ganjiro

II (1902–83), son of Ganjiro

I, followed his father’s line

of acting, playing young characters even into old age. He became

Ganjiro

II in 1946. In 1967, he was designated a Living National

Treasure, and, in 1972, joined the Nihon Geijutsuin (Japan Ar ts

Academy).

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258 • NAKAMURA JAKUEMON

Ganjiro

III (1931–), son of Ganjiro

II, follows the same line of

acting as his predecessors and is one of the great actor-dancers of

today. His many career highlights include his participation i n the

postwar experimental Takechi Kabuki, the ‘‘Senjaku’’ boom that

projected him to stardom in the 1950s, his formation in 1981 of the

Chikamatsu-za to stage neglected plays by Chikamatsu, and his tak-

ing of the name Ganjiro

III in 1990. In 2005, he became Sakata

III, reviving a long-dormant name associated with the best

in Kamigata acting. He is a Living National Treasure.

NAKAMURA JAKUEMON. Four generations of kabuki actors. Yago

Edoya (Jakuemon I); Kyo

ya (Jakuemon II–IV). Jakuemon I (1806–

71), a specialist in katakiyaku, took the name in 1851. In 1866, he

received the extremely high ranking of dai-jo

-jo

-kichi (’’great-upper-

upper-excellent’’) in the yakusha hyo

banki.

Jakuemon IV (1920–), the greatest in the line, is the son of O

tani

Tomoemon VI, and was considered a child prodigy. Before World

War II, he was a handsome tachiyaku, but after the war turned to

onnagata roles, becoming one of the leading exponents of the type,

especially as a dancer. He became Jakuemon IV in 1967. Even in his

eighties he is praised for his youthful appearance when playing

young women’s roles. He belongs to the Nihon Geijutsuin (Japan

Arts Academy).

NAKAMURA KAISHUN. Two generations of kabuki actors. Yago

Kagaya. Matsue V (1948–), adopted son of Nakamura Utaemon VI

and brother of Nakamura Baigyoku I, became Matsue V in 1967.

In 2002, he became Kaishun II, Kaishun I having been the pen name

(haimyo

) of Utaemon VI. He is a leading onnagata, especially in the

roles of delicate young women.

NAKAMURA KANEMON. Three generations of kabuki actors. Yago

Narikomaya. The only important actor in the line was Kanemon III

(1901–1982), who trained under Nakamura Utaemon V,and

changed from Nakamura Umenosuke II to Kanemon in 1920. A pro-

gressive, he founded several reform-minded troupes in the 1920s

before cofounding the still active, leftwing theatre group Zenshin-za

with Kawarazaki Cho

IV in

1931. Famed for his psychologi-

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NAKAMURA KANZABURO

• 259

cally acute performances, he appeared in classics and modern plays,

and was famous for playing the title role in Shunkan. Various politi-

cal and managerial conﬂicts led to a split with Cho

in 1968.

NAKAMURA KANKURO

. Five generations of kabuki actors. Yago

Nakamuraya. This name is closely associated with the Nakamura

Kanzaburo

line. Kankuro

V (1955–), son of Kanzaburo

XVII,is

the ﬁrst star actor of this name. He follows two major inherited tradi-

tions, that of his grandfather, Onoe Kikugoro

VI, and that of his

uncle, Nakamura Kichiemon I. He is extremely versatile, playing

male and female roles, and often excels in roles associated with his

father. He is progressive, tr ying a number of experiments. These

include the formation of t he Heisei Naka mura -za, a compa ny th at

produces kabuki in ways that attempt to re-create the spirit of early

19th-century performances. These are given at Theatre Cocoon, in

Shibuya, Tokyo, or in a tent conﬁgured like an old-time theatre. His

company performed in a tent at New York’s Lincoln Center in 2004.

He performs outside of kabuki as well, including in Shakespeare, and

he has written several books on acting. He became Nakamura Kan-

zaburo

XVIII in 2005.

NAKAMURA KANZABURO

. Seventeen generations of kabuki

actors and theatre managers. This venerable line ran Edo’s Naka-

mura-za until the end of the Edo period, the last manager being Kan-

zaburo

XIII. Only Kanzaburo

IX and Kanzaburo

X focused on

management to the exclusion of acting. The three generations from

the 14th through the 16th were actors who used other names (Kanza-

buro

XVI was a woman) and never publicly became Kanzaburo

. This

stemmed from the hereditary debts accumulated by the line. Yago

Kashiwaya (Kanzaburo

I); Nakamuraya (Kanzaburo

XVII).

Kanzaburo

I (1597?–1658), a founder of Edo kabuki,tookthe

name Saruwaka Kanzaburo

(changed later to Nakamura Kanzaburo

I) in 1624 and built Edo’s ﬁrst permanent theatre, the Saruwaka-za

(see NAKAMURA-ZA). In 1632, his assistance in hauling the sho-

gun’s

boat, Atakamaru

, into Edo’s Fuka River, was rewarded with

several gifts, including, some say, the striped, tricolored sail eventu-

ally transformed into kabuki’s ﬁrst hikimaku. During his eventful

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260 • NAKAMURA KICHIEMON

career, he performed for the shogun and may even have performed

before the imperial court in Kyoto.

After Kanzaburo

XIII (1828–95), no one publicly assumed the

name for another three generations. Kanzaburo

XVII (1909–88), the

greatest actor-dancer in the line, was the brother of Nakamura Tok-

izo

III and Nakamura Kichiemon I. He was adopted by Onoe

Kikugoro

VI, debuted in 1916, and became Kanzaburo

XVII in

1950. His brilliant career included a stint in the 1930s with the

upstart To

company. Kanzaburo

’s versatility earned him the title

kaneru yakusha. His style mixed the best of Kikugoro

VI and

Kichiemon I. His contributions were far-reaching, including his per-

formances in shin kabuki and Western drama. He joined the Nihon

Geijutsuin (Japan Arts Academy) in 1969, and was awarded an hon-

orar y doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1987. See also

NAKAMURA KANKURO

NAKAMURA KICHIEMON. Two generations of kabuki actors.

Yago

Harimaya. Kichiemon I (1886–1954), brother of Nakamura

Tokizo

III and Nakamura Kanzaburo

XVII, debuted in 1897 as

Kichiemon I, a name he never changed. He and Onoe Kikugoro

became kabuki’s greatest young stars in the new century. Their

friendly rivalry after 1908 when they costarred at the Ichimura-za

created the Kiku-Kichi ‘‘golden age’’ or ‘‘Ichimura-za period,’’ last-

ing into the 1920s. He was the greatest jidai mono actor of his time,

but was also revered for maintaining the Kamigata traditions in sewa

mono. The troupe he founded in 1943 was one of the most potent

postwar theatrical entities.

KichiemonII(1944–),sonofMatsumoto Ko

shiro

VIII and

brother of Matsumoto Ko

shiro

IX, debuted in 1948. He drew much

attention when, in his teens, he costarred with his brother and the

future Ichikawa Ennosuke III. He joined his father and brother in

leaving

Sho

chiku for To

1961.

He acceded to Kichiemon I in

1966 and went on to craft a career balanced between popular drama,

shinpa, and kabuki, although the latter gradually became his domi-

nant genre, especially jidai mono. Tall and deep-voiced, he plays

tachiyaku almost exclusively.

NAKAMURA MATAGORO

. Two generations of kabuki actors. Yago

Harimaya. Matagoro

II (1914–), son of Matagoro

I, was widely pop-

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