Leiter S.L. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre

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WARU BABA

• 421

pal document in the history of kyo

gen. Originally called Mukashi

Gatari Sho

(Excerpts from Old Stories), it is in ﬁve volumes and 89

sections (number 88 is missing). Toraakira, basing his ideas on those

of his father, Torakiyo, follows various of Zeami’s precepts, and

emphasizes the importance of monomane, where, unlike the high-

status and divine characters of no

, kyo

gen depicts everyday persons,

and even aristocrats are fairly ordinary. The depiction, of course,

must maintain the dignity and aesthetic taste established by the no

plays on the no

program (see YU

GEN) and there must be nothing

coarse enacted.

Toraakira also notes how no

is often concerned with the world

beyond sensory cognition while kyo

gen is about the material world

around us, with just the kinds of people one is likely to encounter. He

discounts kyo

gen’s place as a moralistic art, and stresses its ability to

put everyone on the same human plane, with departures from com-

mon sense being incitements to amusement. And such amusement is

never to be crude or overdone, but should rather be pleasant, and,

when appropriate, even touching in its expression of human truths.

Toraakira also writes about kyo

gen history, including the assertion

that kyo

gen owes its uniﬁcation out of diverse elements to the priest

Gen’e (d. 1350), which modern scholars sometimes question; his

own experiences; takigi no

at the Kasuga Shrine in Nara; the judging

of kyo

gen masks; the lineage of the four older schools of no

; various

things about sarugaku, etc.

WARIDO

GU. A kabuki scenic technique whereby settings are changed

by placing them on rolling platforms that can be rolled off to stage

left and right. See also SCENERY.

WARI ZERIFU. Kabuki’s ‘‘divided dialogue’’ convention, used when

two characters speak related passages antiphonally, the last line being

delivered simultaneously. (See also WATARI ZERIFU.) Examples are

in the ﬁre-tower scene in Sannin Kichiza Kuruwa no Hatsugai and

‘‘Saya-ate’’ (

Ukiyozuka Hiyoku no Inazuma). See

also LANGU

AGE;

SERIFU; TSURANE.

WARU BABA

. Head type for villainous women puppets. This ‘‘evil old

lady’’ has no movable features and is noted for her coarse, drooping,

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422 • WARUMI

concave eyes and jutting chin. It is less hateful-looking than comic

and is used for such women as Omasa in Go Taiheiki Shiroishi

Banashi, Iemon’s wife in Shinju

Yoi G o

shin, and Okaya in Akegarasu

Yuki no Akebono, the latter two being women who mistreat t heir

daughters-in-law. See also PUPPET HEADS: FEMALE.

WARUMI. Brief sections in kabuki shosagoto or plays when a man

behaves in an overtly effeminate manner. Examples include To

hachi

in Yowa Nasake Ukina no Yokogushi and Cho

kuro

in Sumidagawa

Gonichi no Omokage. Dance examples include Kisen in Rokkasen,

Asahina in Kusazuri Biki, and Sekibei in Seki no To.

WATARI ZERIFU. Kabuki’s ‘‘pass-along dialogue’’ convention, used

when a single speech in shichigocho

meter is divided up among sev-

eral speakers, the last line being delivered simultaneously. Examples

are in ‘‘Seizoroi no Ba’’ (Aotozo

shiHananoNishiki-e)andSoga

Moyo

Tateshi no Goshozome. See also LANGUAGE; SERIFU;

TSURANE; WARI ZERIFU.

WIGS: KABUKI. Wigs (katsura) are worn by all human characters in

kabuki and range from the extremely realistic to the utterly theatrical.

They have evolved from the symbolic kyo

gen-inﬂuenced binan (see

WIGS: KYO

GEN AND NO

) worn by comic female characters in

early kabuki plays into items requiring extremely high levels of skill

to construct by specialists, a development that arose during the period

of yaro

kabuki in the second half of the 17th century, when all

kabuki actors were forced to shave off their forelocks (maegami).

The

ﬁrst

important steps were made in female wigs, but eventually,

as role-types (yakugara) developed, wigs were created that not only

delineated gender but also indicated qualities such as age, occupa-

tion, social status, and personality. Technical perfection was achieved

by the mid-18th century.

Many male wigs include a portion that reveals the shaved crown,

whose shape varies importantly from role to role. This portion is gen-

erally simulated with a piece of habutae silk made up to match the

character’s skin tone, and often including coloration to indicate the

blueness created by shaving. Regardless of the crown, wigs are con-

structed by sewing hair to a copper base (daigane) ﬁtted to the

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WIGS: KYO

GEN AND NO

• 423

actor’s head. A space for the shaved crown is usually left open on the

base, but some male wigs cover the crown because the character is

meant to have hair growing there.

Female wigs are among the most elaborate, especially the ornate

ones worn by high-class courtesans (keisei), which have numerous

decorative accessories in them. One female wig is so closely associ-

ated with its wearers—high-ranking court ladies—that these charac-

ters are known by its name, katahazushi.

The artisan who builds the wig is the katsuraya, while a separate

artisan, the tokoyama, dresses the wig in the correct fashion. The lat-

ter specialize in either male or female styles.

Each wig has its own technical name. Wig names are based on (a)

the character that wears them, (b) the shape of their topknot (mage),

and (e) the shape of the back hair (tabo). Representative topknot wigs

include the futatsu ori, chasen, megane, fukiwa, and katahazushi.

Sidelock wigs include the kuruma bin, while back hair styles belong

to either fukuro tsuki or abura tsuki. See also MURASAKI BO

SHI;

SHIKE.

WIGS: KYO

GEN AND NO

. These wigs are of three types, the kazura

(katsura in kabuki), the kashira, and the tare. The word kahatsu can

stand for all. Kashira are mane-like constructions with bushy bangs

and long hair hanging down the back. They are red (aka gashira),

white (shiro gashira), or black (kuro gashira), the color depending

on the role type and interpretation. Normally, no

uses red kashira for

deities, goblins (tengu), and demons, etc. White is used by old spirits,

demons, and ghosts, etc. Black serves for children, ghosts, etc.

Kyo

gen makes much less of kashira than no

. A red kashira is

orn

by the demon king and his retainers in Kubi Hiki, by various other

devils, and the thunder god. Black versions are seen on animals and

ghosts, while white kashira are worn by characters like the potato

spirit in Tokoro.

Tare have long, thick strands of hair hanging down on either side

of the face and over the shoulders at the back. The hair is somewhat

shorter than that of the kashira. The colors may be black or white.

The representative kazura in no

are worn by female characters, and

there is even a category of plays called kazura mono that is translated

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424 • WOMEN IN NO

as ‘‘women plays’’ (see PROGRAMS : NO

). Such wigs are parted

down the middle and over the ears, and gathered at the rear with a

decorative cord into a ponytail. They are held in place by a headband

called kazura obi. Those with long back hair, worn by angels and

mad women, are naga kazura. Most wigs are of black hair, but old

women’s wigs (ubagami) are white or salt and pepper.

Kazura applies in its narrow sense to wigs for young and middle-

aged women, but can also be expanded to cover old women’s white

and graying wigs (ubagami) and male wigs called kasshiki kazura

and jo

gami. The former are worn by youths in plays like Sumida-

gawa. They have long hair down the back but do not use the kazura

obi. Old men wear the jo

gami, which has white or yellowish hair

topped by a rather large topknot drawn forward and with a thick end

that thrusts forward over the forehead.

Most maskless female characters in kyo

gen do not wear wigs;

instead, they wear the binan, a white, turban-like headdress with

cloth strands hanging down on either side of the face to suggest their

gender, but these are not wigs. Females who wear wigs in kyo

gen are

limited to wearers of the chubby-faced oto kyo

gen mask, the priest-

esses in Taiko Oi and Daihannya, Komachi in Kasen, the child in

musha, and the aikyo

gen in the no

Kantan.

WOMEN IN NO

. Although no

is generally recognized as an all-male

theatre, there are actually many women who study and perform it,

including professionals, and, in fact, no

has had historical ties with

female performers since its earliest days. In the 14th centur y,

Kan’ami and Zeami borrowed elements from performing ar ts in

which women appeared; the name of a respected kusemai female

performer, Otozuru, has come down to us from that time. In the play

Hakuman the tsure is a woman performer of kusemai,

and, in

amanba, another female performer is someone who performs a

kusemai. When sarugaku gained the patronage of the samurai class,

amateur actresses began to perform female sarugaku. Still, women

were long forbidden to go backstage during the performances of the

ritual play Okina, and even today their presence is restricted when it

is performed at New Year’s.

Ever since the Meiji period, women, especially the daughters of

inﬂuential families, increasingly have taken an interest in studying

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YAGURA • 425

. Tsumura Kimiko, born in 1902, was the ﬁrst professional no

actress (joryu

gakushi),andbelongedtotheKanze ryu

. No

actresses were ofﬁcially recognized when the No

gaku Kyo

kai

accepted them as members in 1948. Today, there are even foreign

women who have gained licenses as no

performers. Geisha-in-train-

ing (maiko) in Kyoto’s Gion section practice no

and even created a

-based recital piece, Kamigata Mai (‘‘Dance of Kamigata’’). Pro-

fessional women actors are also becoming prominent in kyo

gen.

YABU DATAMI. A kabuki scenery element suggesting a thicket (yabu)

of bamboo grass. Each is three to four feet high and four to ﬁve feet

wide. They create a sense of nighttime desolation in Act 5 of Kana-

dehon Chu

shingura and ‘‘Suzugamori’’ (Ukiyozuka Hiyoku no Ina-

zuma).

YAGO

. A kind of family nickname (or ‘‘shop name’’) used by kabuki

actors and often used in referring to them by fans and critics. These

names, normally associated with family businesses, non theatr ical

occupations, or places of family origin, were taken during the Edo

period, when actors—like other members of the lower classes—were

not allowed normal surnames. The custom seems to have begun in

the late 17th century, when Yoshizawa Ayame I was called Tachiba-

naya and Ichikawa Danju

I was known as Naritaya. See also

HOME KOTOBA; KAKEGOE.

YAGURA. The square, rooﬂess drum tower located di rect ly o ver the

center of Edo-period bunraku and kabuki theatres

designate their

license to perform. It thus became a potent theatrical symbol. Repli-

cas on a number of modern kabuki theatres, such as the Kabuki-za,

serve as a reminder of those days. The yagura displayed ﬁve feath-

ered spears that symbolized the shogun’s authority. In the early days,

Shinto papers (bonten) were hung on the tower to invite the gods to

aid the theatre’s fortunes. Curtains on which the producer’s mon was

dyed surrounded the yagura, and a large drum was beaten within it

to advertise the play’s opening and closing. This died out during the

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426 • YAKU

early 19th century; sumo wrestling maintains it, however. See also

HIKAE YAGURA; KO

GYO

YAKU. The roles played by kabuki actors: yakusha‘‘role person.’’

Among the many terms incorporating yaku are haiyaku or yakuwari

(‘‘cast lists’’) and yakugara (‘‘role-types’’).

YAKUGARA. The ‘‘role-type’’ classiﬁcations of kabuki, based on sex,

age, occupation, status, personality, artistic style, and artistic associ-

ations. Yakugara are mostly created from stereotypical patterns, and

individuality is expressed through the actor’s imaginative manipula-

tion of those patterns. The system began to evolve in the 1650s, once

kabuki abandone d its previo us de pend ence on no

-style cat egor ies

such as shite, waki, and tsure and began to develop as a complex

dramatic form. At ﬁrst, the principal division was between actors of

male roles (otokogata) and female roles (onnagata). Soon these large

categories developed various subdivisions, with characters being

classed according to whether they were good or evil, strong or weak,

etc. Most actors specialized in one type of role throughout their

career, although versatility later became an acting benchmark (see

KANERU YAKUSHA). Major male types included heroes (tachiyaku)

and villains (katakiyaku), each with its subdivisions. Othe r broad

male categories included the humorous do

kegata or sanmaime and

oyajigata. See also AKAHIME; AKUGA; ARAGOTO; KATAHA-

ZUSHI; KOYAKU; NIMAIME; ONNA BUDO

; WAGOTO; YA TSUSHI.

YAKUHARAI. Also yakubarai, a highly conventionalized kabuki dia-

logue ( serifu)

style, including much wordplay, spoken by certain

leading

characters in sewa mono. Meaning ‘‘exo rcis m s peec h, ’’ it

arose because of the technique’s seeming resemblance to the way in

which winter was ritually exorcised. It is found in the plays of Tsur-

uya Nanboku IV and, most commonly, those of Segawa Joko

III

and Kawatake Mokuami. See also LANGUAGE.

YAKUSHA BANASHI. A four-volume anthology edited in 1776 by

Hachimonjiya Jisho

II, and including seven actors’ commentaries

(geidan). The work is also known as Yakusha Rongo (The Actors’

Analects), which is how it was published in English (Dunn and Tori-

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YAMAMURA-ZA • 427

goe, 1969). The text includes Sugi Kuhei’s ‘‘Butai Byakujo

’’ (‘‘One

Hundred Items on the Stage’’), a general introduction to the work;

Tominaga Heibei’s ‘‘Gei K agam i’’ (‘‘ Mirr or fo r Actors’’), w hich

looks at 17th-century kabuki;‘‘Ayamegusa’’ (‘‘The Words of

Ayame’’); ‘‘Nijinshu’’ (‘‘Dust in the Ears’’), a section on Sakata

I’s acting theories; ‘‘Zoku Nijinshu’’ (‘‘Sequel to Dust in the

Ears’’), a series of actor anecdotes; ‘‘Kengai Shu’’ (‘‘The Kengai Col-

lection’’), about To

’s life and work; and ‘‘Sadoshima Nikki’’

(‘‘Sadoshima’s Diary’’), about Sadoshima Cho

goro

YAKUSHA HYO

BANKI. The annually published ‘‘actors’ critiques’’

that began to appear in the mid-17th century, and were inspired by

the yujo

hyo

banki, works that graded the courtesans of the day. The

earliest actors’ critiques were preoccupied with the physical charms

of the handsome young actors who were their ﬁrst subjects. The ﬁrst

appeared in 1656 and was called Yakusha Uwasa (Actors’ Gossip).

The critiques usually described the actors’ looks, talents, and social

qualities (including sexual proclivities), and offered selections of the

actors’ poetry along with illustrations of them and their mon.Over

the years, an elaborate actors’ ranking system (kurai zuke)was

developed. The critiques were published in the three major theatre

cities of Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka, but the practice ended in 1877, when

modern critical methods were being introduced. They are one of the

greatest sources of documentation for premodern kabuki.

YAMAI HACHIMAKI. The ‘‘illness headband’’ worn in bunraku and

kabuki to indicate that a character is physically or mentally unwell;

even those feigning illness may wear it. It is purple for younger peo-

ple, black for old ones. Knotting it on the left signals a wearer’s dis-

ability. It is seen on Matsuo

maru in ‘‘Terakoya’’ (Sugawara Denju

Tenarai Kagami), Yu

giri in Kuruwa Bunsho

, and Yasuna in the dance

of that name. See also HACHIMAKI; HEADGEAR.

YAMAMURA-ZA. An Edo theatre apparently founded in Kobiki-cho

in 1642, but whose early history is uncertain. It was originally a ko-

shibai producing nondramatic performances, such as acrobatic

shows, but became a major licensed theatre (o

shibai) around 1670

and was thereafter one of the city’s four great theatres (see EDO

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428 • YAMANAKA HEIKURO

SANZA) until being permanently abolished in 1714 because of its

involvement in the notorious Ejima-Ikushima incident.

YAMANAKA HEIKURO

. Three generations of kabuki actors,the

best known being Heikuro

I (1642–1724), a great jitsuaku (see

KATAKIYAKU) who began as Suzuki Heikuro

,whichhesoon

changed to Heikuro

I. He became famous in the roles of evil nobles

(kugeaku) a nd founded Edo’s jitsuaku style in 1700. He was

esteemed as Kudo

no Suketsune in plays about the Soga brothers (see

SOGA MONO). Equally good at supernatural characters, he invented

the hannyaguma makeup worn by demons.

YAMASHITA HANZAEMON (1650? 1652?–1717). One of the great

Kamigata tachiyaku actors during the Genroku period (1688–

1704), who ﬁrst came to notice in Kyoto around 1676 before estab-

lishing himself in Osaka as a major rival to Sakata To

I.In

1704, he became Yamashita Kyo

emon. He was unrivaled in the

region after To

juˆro

’s death in 1709. Handsome and distinguished-

looking, with clear speech, his specialties were yatsushi and budo

goto roles.

YARO

KABUKI. A name given to kabuki when, after being banned in

1652, it was revived in 1653 with the provision that all actors had to

shave the forelocks (maegami) associated with the earlier wakashu

kabuki period, and wear instead the yaro

atama hair style of ‘‘adult

men’’ (yaro

). This forced them to privilege their acting skills over

their looks, which spurred kabuki to become a serious art form. At

ﬁrst, kabuki had to call itself monom

ane kyo

gen zukushi (‘‘plays

based on imitation’’), which emphasized the nature of the acting.

Soon, onnagata acting was developed, keiseigai plays (see KAMI-

GATA KYO

GEN; SHIMABARA KYO

GEN) became popular, materi-

als from no

and kyo

gen were borrowed, and contemporary life was

increasingly represented. Other developments included the replace-

ment of hanare kyo

gen by tsuzuki kyo

gen, the contrivance of onna-

gata wigs, the birth of the hikimaku, the publication of the yakusha

hyo

banki, and the establishment of managerial practices (ko

gyo

) that

would drive kabuki into the late 19th century. The period of yaro

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YATSUSHI • 429

kabuki is said to have concluded with the debut of Ichikawa Dan-

I in 1673.

YASHIO. Head type for villainous female puppets. With its severe,

slanted-eye expression, is used mainly for jidai mono villainesses

like Lady Yashio (the head’s namesake) in Meiboku Sendai Hagi and

Iwafuji in Kagamiyama Kokyo

no Nishiki-e; the wicked brothel

matron Manno in Ise Ondo Koi no Netaba is one of the few sewa

mono examples. The unlidded eyes are able to move to an intense

cross-eyed position and the mouth can open to laugh cruelly. See also

PUPPET HEADS: FEMALE.

YASUDA ABUN. Bunraku and kabuki playwright who began at the

Toyotake-za. His ﬁrst play, an independent one, was written in 1726,

but those he wrote afterwards were nearly all col labo rati ons ( ga s-

saku) with Nishizawa Ippu

and Namiki So

suke. He left the puppets

for Kamigata kabuki in 1733, but later moved to Edo and wrote for

the puppets there. His most famous kabuki play is Narukami Fudo

Kita Yama Zakura, with its three famous scenes known as the inde-

pendent plays Narukami, Kenuki,andFudo

, all belonging to the

kabuki ju

hachiban.

YATAI KUZUSHI. A kabuki special effect to make stage houses col-

lapse, because of earthquakes or sorcery, before the spectators’ eyes.

It is seen in Masakado, Zo

ho Momoyama Monogatari, and Tenjiku

Tokubei Ikoku Banashi. See also SCENERY; SHIKAKE.

YATSUSHI. A dramaturgical device in bunraku and kabuki originated

in the 1670s by Kamigata actor Arashi Sanemon I. Developed in

late 17th-century jidai mono about powerful samurai families, it

presents

young lord whose family has been destroyed by the machi-

nations of evil men. Having changed his lordly status for that of a

townsman, he visits the brothel where his former lover, now a courte-

san, is employed. Despite his lowly guise, he displays the reﬁnement

of his original status. Genshichi in Komochi Yamanba exempliﬁes the

type. Yatsushi also refers to the important class of nimaime who are

featured in such roles.

The word yatsushi (‘‘disguise’’), used as an aesthetic concept,

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430 • YAYOI KYO

GEN

implies a dualism by which familiar characters and backgrounds are

transposed into new and updated ones. Thus, a yatsushi character

may not only be a samurai in disguise. He may also be a legendary

medieval character like Soga no Goro

, changed for plot purposes into

an 18th-century dandy called Sukeroku (in Sukeroku Yukari no Edo

Zakura). Yatsushi arose as one means by which the theatre could cir-

cumvent ofﬁcial regulations about treating certain characters or sub-

jects. See also MITATE.

YAYOI KYO

GEN. The annual ‘‘spring plays’’ produced in the third

month during the Edo period, called san no kawari (‘‘third change’’)

in Kamigata. At ﬁrst, Edo’s yayoi kyo

gen normally dealt with the

same Soga brothers (see SOGA MONO) sekai as did the preceding

hatsuharu kyo

gen, which thus extended the hatsuharu until as late

as the fourth month. By the mid-1790s, though, after Kamigata dra-

matist Namiki Gohei I moved to Edo and introduced the system of

making the sewa mono the second half of the hatsuharu program

independent of the ﬁrst half, the hatsuharu production concluded in

the second month, and an entirely new work was given on the ﬁrst

day of the third-month festival. Women in service at the court took

this month off to visit their families, so plays about them became

the dominant yayoi kyo

gen. These included Kagamiyama Kokyo

Nishiki-e, Shin Usuyuki Monogatari, and Meiboku Sendai Hagi. Also

popular was Sukeroku Yukari no Edo Zakura when an actor in the

Ichikawa Danju

line was available. See also KO

GYO

YOBANME MONO. The ‘‘fourth-group of plays’’ in a traditional no

program, corresponding to the kyo

(‘‘madness’’) part of the shin dan

jo kyo

ki (or shin nan nyo kyo

ki)

sequence.

It also corresponds to the

third ha section of the jo-ha-kyu

rhythmic structure of a no

program.

Because of the variety of play types it comprises, it is often called

zatsu mono or zo

mono (‘‘miscellaneous plays,’’ a more common

usage in the Edo period). In fact, one reason a play might be in the

fourth group is because it does not ﬁt the other categories. With about

90 plays, this is the largest of the ﬁve groups; its plays are more dra-

matic and less poetic than other categories and have more crowd-

pleasing elements; coming in the program after the far less dramatic,

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