5 shows in Tôkyô (Kabukiza, National Theatre, Meijiza), 1 in Toyooka (Eirakukan), 1 tour (Shôchiku Ôkabuki Tour) and 2 on Shikoku island (Kanamaruza)!

Onoe Kikugorô, Nakamura Kichiemon, Nakamura Baigyoku, Nakamura Tokizô, Nakamura Shibajaku, Nakamura Fukusuke, Nakamura Kaishun, Nakamura Shichinosuke, Onoe Shôroku, Ichikawa Danzô and Nakamura Kinnosuke perform at the Kabukiza !

Sakata Tôjûrô, Nakamura Kanjaku, Nakamura Hashinosuke, Nakamura Senjaku and Kataoka Takatarô perform at the National Theatre!

Kataoka Hidetarô and young actors (Omodakaya guild with Nakamura Shidô and Onoe Matsuya) perform at the Meijiza!

Young and talented actors perform at the Eirakukan!

Onoe Kikunosuke and Bandô Yajûrô are on tour (Shôchiku Kabuki Tour)!

Living National Treasure Bandô Tamasaburô performs at the Kanamaruza!

Onoe Kikugorô, Nakamura Kichiemon, Nakamura Baigyoku, Nakamura Tokizô, Nakamura Shibajaku, Nakamura Fukusuke, Nakamura Kaishun, Nakamura Shichinosuke, Onoe Shôroku, Ichikawa Danzô, Nakamura Kinnosuke, Ichikawa Sadanji, Nakamura Tôzô, Nakamura Karoku, Nakamura Matagorô

8th month celebrating the opening of the new Kabukiza within a 1-year long cycle of kokera otoshi programs. The play "Kanadehon Chûshingura" (The Treasure of 47 Loyal Retainers) is the most popular in the Kabuki repertory and is known throughout the world.

Kabuto Aratame/Shinmotsu/Ninjô: daimyô lords from around the country gather for an important ceremony in the presence of Tadayoshi, the younger brother of the Shôgun. Under the watchful eye of the official Moronô (Ichikawa Sadanji), lords En'ya Hangan (Onoe Kikugorô) and Wakasanosuke (Nakamura Baigyoku) have been charged with making sure everything goes according to protocol. En'ya Hangan's wife Kaoyo (Nakamura Shibajaku) is asked to identify a helmet to be used in the ceremony. Moronô is in love with Kaoyo and tries to woo her, but Wakasanosuke stops him. In return, Moronô uses his position of authority to berate the young lord and Wakasanosuke decides to kill Moronô. But the next morning at the Shôgun's mansion, Wakasanosuke's head retainer bribes Moronô to keep his master from causing an incident and although Wakasanosuke is about to attack Moronô, the aged official groveling stops him. As a result, though, Moronô is frustrated and angry and vents his feelings on En'ya Hangan, especially after Hangan innocently brings him a letter in which Kaoyo refuses Moronô's love. Moronô steadily insults Hangan, who tries to ignore the pressure, but finally draws his sword and attacks. Drawing a sword in the Shôgun's palace is a crime punishable by death, but Moronô himself escapes with only a slight wound as others within the mansion hurry in to stop Hangan.

Hangan Seppuku/Shiro Akewatashi: emissaries from the Shôgun arrive at En'ya Hangan's mansion to announce that he has received the strictest penalty for his actions. He is ordered to commit ritual suicide and his household is to be disbanded. Hangan's hate for Moronô grows when he hears that Moronô has received no punishment. Hangan waits and waits for his head retainer, but he does not arrive. Finally, Hangan plunges in the blade. At that moment, his head retainer Yuranosuke (Nakamura Kichiemon) arrives from their home province. With his last breaths, Hangan gives Yuranosuke the knife he used to commit suicide and tells him to take revenge. Now that the clan has been disbanded, Hangan's men become masterless samurai. Though some urge an immediate attack on Moronô, Yuranosuke bids them not to do anything rash. When alone in front of the closed mansion gates, though, he secretly reveals his determination that his lord will not have died in vain.

Ochiudo: after the death of his lord, the retainer Kanpei (Nakamura Baigyoku) and his lover, the lady-in-waiting Okaru (Nakamura Tokizô) flee to Okaru's home, a farmer's house in the country. Kanpei feels responsible for the events since he was having a romantic tryst and was not at his master's side at the crucial moment. He tries to commit suicide, but Okaru stops him and convinces him that they should go to her home as husband and wife and wait for the right moment for him to be reinstated.

Teppô Watashi/Futatsudama/Kanpei Harakiri: Kanpei (Onoe Kikugorô) lives a poor life with Okaru (Nakamura Tokizô) at her parents' rural home. Kanpei desperately wants to take part in the vendetta against Moronô, but must come up with the money necessary to finance his part in it. Secretly, Okaru and her family decide that the only way to raise the money is to sell her to the pleasure quarters. On a lonely highway, a highway thief named Sadakurô (sho4) kills her father while he is on the way home from sealing the deal and the money is stolen. In a bizarre twist of events, Kanpei kills the robber while hunting on a dark night and finds the money. The fabric of the wallet, though, seems to prove that he has murdered his father-in-law. Kanpei commits ritual suicide to take responsibility, not only for the death of this father-in-law, but also for being absent when his lord needed him most.

Gion Ichiriki Jaya: Yuranosuke (Nakamura Kichiemon) spends his days and nights in the pleasure quarters of Kyôto in an effort to make Moronô believe he is not planning a vendetta. His acting is so good that even men in his own group believe he has given his life up to pleasure. Moronô is not so easily convinced, though, and has sent spies, including a former retainer of En'ya Hangan, to find Yuranosuke's true intentions. Yuranosuke finds himself tested to the limits by the spy, and is even forced to eat meat on the anniversary of Hangan's death, a strong taboo. Okaru (Nakamura Fukusuke), now a courtesan, is also at the Ichiriki Teahouse. She catches a glimpse of a letter to Yuranosuke detailing plans for the vendetta, but he sees her and offers to buy out her contract, knowing he must kill her to keep the vendetta a secret. Okaru's brother Teraoka Heiemon (Nakamura Baigyoku), a servant in the Hangan household, has also come to the teahouse and when he hears that Yuranosuke is to buy out her contract, he realizes his true intentions. Heiemon tries to convince Okaru to let him kill her as such an act may allow him to take part in the vendetta as well. Hearing that Kanpei is now dead, Okaru agrees, but observing their loyal actions, Yuranosuke spares Okaru and allows Heiemon to join the vendetta.

Uchiiri/Okuniwa Sensui/Shibabeya: disguised as firemen, En'ya Hangan's retainers attack Moronô's mansion on a snowy night. After a fierce fight, they find Moronô hiding in a charcoal shed and take revenge for their lord's wrongful death. Featuring Nakamura Kichiemon, Nakamura Kinnosuke and Nakamura Karoku in the roles of Yuranosuke, Kobayashi Heihachirô and Hara Goemon.

Source: Earphone Guide website

Sakata Tôjûrô, Nakamura Kanjaku, Nakamura Hashinosuke, Nakamura Senjaku, Kataoka Takatarô, Kataoka Ichizô, Bandô Hikosaburô, Ichimura Manjirô, Kataoka Kamezô, Ichimura Kakitsu, Nakamura Kikaku, Nakamura Toranosuke

Revival at the National Theatre in 4 acts and 7 scenes of Chikamatsu Hanji's drama "Igagoe Dôchû Sugoroku".

Igagoe: the November production of Kabuki at the National Theatre is a rare full-length performance of the revenge classic "Igagoe Dôchû Sugoroku". During Japan's feudal period, from time to time there were people that could not be punished due to clan loyalties and highly fragmented authority. Under certain conditions, retainers and family members were empowered to take the law into their own hands and conduct an official vendetta. Written by Chikamatsu Hanji and first presented in the Bunraku puppet theater in 1783, "Igagoe Dôchû Sugoroku" is an epic based on a true incident in 1634 in which Watanabe Shizuma killed the murderer of his younger brother, a man named Kawai Matagorô at Iga Ueno, with the aid of Araki Mataemon. In the final fight, Mataemon killed several people, which has made him legendary as a master swordman celebrated in theatre, storytelling and popular novels. Shizuma's desperate search for Matagorô takes him throughout Japan and the success of the vendetta is due to the help he gets from others. The play focuses on the often tragic consequences of divided loyalties as people confront members of this vendetta, and is set like a journey along the Tôkaidô highway. Wada Yukiie (Ichimura Kakitsu) is a senior retainer of the Uesugi clan and has two children, a daughter Otani (Kataoka Takatarô) and a son, Shizuma (Nakamura Toranosuke). Sawai Matagorô (Kataoka Ichizô) lust after Otani, the daughter of Wada Yukiie, and a precious sword belonging to the family, for which he has tempted Yukiie's son Shizuma into disgracing the family name Sawai Matagorô assassinates Wada Yukiie, and then flees, helped by the merchant Jûbê (Sakata Tôjûrô). In the encounter, Yukiie’s son Shizuma is wounded. Shizuma would like to avenge his father’s death, but in his weakened state is unable to and his only hope is brother-in-law Karaki Masaemon (Nakamura Hashinosuke) who is married to his sister Otani. But legally, they cannot participate in the vendetta since Otani was disowned by her father. Moreover, Masaemon is on the verge of accepting an important post as fighting master to a samurai lord. In these scenes Masaemon decides to help Shizuma and must do it by renouncing all that is dear to him. Meanwhile, although the merchant Jûbê has protected the villainous Matagorô, when he reaches Numazu, he finds that Heisaku (Nakamura Kanjaku), the elderly porter that he meets is actually his father, from whom he has long been separated. His sister Oyone (Nakamura Senjaku) is a former courtesan, the lover of Shizuma and desperately wishing to cure his wounds. In this scene, Jûbê must resolve his conflicting loyalties to Matagorô and his own family. Finally at Iga Ueno, Masaemon helps Shizuma to avenge the death of his father by killing Matagorô. The production stars the top performers of the distinctive Kansai style of acting.

Source: Earphone Guide website

Kataoka Hidetarô, Nakamura Shidô, Onoe Matsuya, Ichikawa Ukon, Ichikawa Monnosuke, Ichikawa Juen, Ichikawa Emiya, Ichikawa Emisaburô, Ichikawa En'ya, Ichikawa Shun'en, Ichikawa Kôtarô

Narukami: one of the most popular and universally appealing plays in the Kabuki Jûhachiban collection of plays featuring the bombastic aragoto style of acting. The holy man Narukami (Ichikawa Ukon) is angry at the Imperial Court and has taken refuge in the mountains where he has imprisoned inside a waterfall the dragon that brings rain, bringing a severe drought to the country. Princess Taema (Ichikawa Emiya) is sent by the Imperial Court to try to seduce Narukami, destroying his magical powers and release the rain. When he finds that he has been betrayed, anger transforms Narukami into a Thunder God.

Mabuta no Haha:
(The Remembered Mother)
first performed in 1931, "Mabuta no Haha" is a play by Hasegawa Shin (1884~1963), who specialized in gritty realistic representations of the lower classes in the Edo period. Banba no Chûtarô (Nakamura Shidô) is a rough gangster, but has always regretted not knowing his mother (Kataoka Hidetarô). After helping a friend and his mother, he decides to search for his own. He believes to have found her in Ohama, the mistress of a restaurant, but she refuses to acknowledge him to protect the reputation of her daughter, who is about to be married. Unable to meet his mother, he closes his eyes and tries to imagine her as the beautiful woman he remembers, not the horror of reality.

Tomo Yakko: a samurai footman rushes after his master in the pleasure quarters, but loses sight of him. He dances with pride in his master and enjoys his dance so much that he begins emphasizing it with vigorous foot stamping. Starring Onoe Matsuya in the role of the yakko.

Kenuki: in this play, which retains the light, festive atmosphere of early-period Kabuki, a princess has a mysterious ailment that makes her hair stand on end, an ailment that prevents her from carrying out her long-awaited marriage. Kumedera Danjô comes from the groom's household to investigate and finds a plot to take over the household when his tweezers float in mid-air. Nakamura Shidô stars in a play that features the bombastic aragoto style of acting.

Renjishi: 2 entertainers dance a tale of the legendary shishi or lion-like spirits that live at the foot of a holy Buddhist mountain. There is a comic interlude with 2 Buddhist pilgrims. Then, the shishi themselves appear and perform their dance with wild shaking of their long manes. The dance shows a parent shishi forcing his cub to undergo harsh training in order to grow up strong. This theme is often associated with the training a parent actor gives his son. This performance features Ichikawa Ukon in the role of the parent shishi and his son Ichikawa Kôtarô in the role of the cub.

Gonza to Sukejû: in this comedy by Okamoto Kidô, two palanquin bearers constantly argue and their wives, but when they witness a murder, it changes everything in the nagaya tenement where they live. This modern play takes one of the classic stories of the wise magistrage Ôoka Tadasuke and looks at it from the point of view of common townspeople. Starring Nakamura Shidô and Onoe Matsuya in the roles of Gonza and Sukejû.

Sources: Earphone Guide Website or Shôchiku Kabuki Official Website

Kataoka Ainosuke, Kamimura Kichiya, Bandô Shinsha, Nakamura Kazutarô

This is the 6th Kabuki program at the Eirakukan, a renovated traditional theater built in the city of Toyooka (prefecture of Hyôgo).

Garasha: this modern Kabuki drama is about the life of Hosokawa Tama (1562~1600), commonly called Hosokawa Garasha (Garasha being the Japanese reading of the christian first name Garcia). She was the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide, the wife of Hosokawa Tadaoki and a famous Christian convert. This drama was staged for the first time in September 2009 as the first edition of the Sistine Kabuki, a Kabuki program within the Sistine Hall of the Ôtsuka Museum of Art, which is located in the city of Naruto (Tokushima prefecture). Starring Kataoka Ainosuke, Kamimura Kichiya and Bandô Shinsha in the roles of Akechi Mitsuhide, Hosokawa Garasha and Hosokawa Tadaoki.

Kôjô: the close relationship between the actors and the audience is shown by these stage announcements, lavish ceremonies to commemorate various important events.

Asakusa Matsuri: in the Edo period, there were virtuoso sets of dances with one actor changing from character to character with a series of spectacular quick changes (hengemono). This is a set of four dances, all featuring Kataoka Ainosuke and Nakamura Kazutarô in a series of roles. It begins in the ancient past with Empress Jingô and her aged minister Takeuchi Sukune. It is said that the empress delayed the birth of her child, the emperor, so that she could conduct an attack on the Asian continent. Then the scene changes to the exuberant Sanja festival and shows two fishermen who discover a sacred statue in a river. Suddenly, the fishermen are possessed by the spirits of Good and Evil and dance vigorously. The scene switches to the pleasure quarters with two patrons, a sophisticated urban playboy and a clumsy unfashionable man. Finally it ends on a fantastic note with the two dancers as lion spirits.

Source: Earphone Guide website

Onoe Kikunosuke, Bandô Yajûrô, Bandô Shûchô, Bandô Minosuke, Onoe Ukon

A special Autumn tour sponsored by the Shôchiku!

Nozaki-mura: a farm girl Omitsu (Onoe Kikunosuke) is busy planning her marriage to Hisamatsu (Bandô Minosuke) who has just returned to the country after leaving his post in the city in disgrace. Suddenly Osome (Onoe Ukon) appears. She is the daughter of the rich merchant Hisamatsu served and their love affair was the cause of his disgrace. Despite the best efforts of Hisamatsu's father Kyûsaku (Bandô Yajûrô), the course of true love cannot be changed. Omitsu decides to sacrifice her own love and to become a nun to save the young couple who would rather die than be separated. All four of the main actors are Living National Treasures and this act shows mature Kabuki acting at its finest.

Ejima Ikushima: this is a modern Kabuki dance-drama by Hasegawa Shigure about the love story of Ejima (Onoe Ukon), a high-ranking lady-in-waiting during the Tokugawa era and a Kabuki actor named Ikushima Shingorô (Onoe Kikunosuke). Their love was forbidden according to strict social and class codes because of the low status of the actor in that period when the samurai class ruled supreme [more details about this affair].

Source: Earphone Guide website

Bandô Tamasaburô

Living National Treasure Bandô Tamasaburô and the Kodô taiko drummers revive "Amaterasu", which was staged for the first time in May 2006 at the Minamiza [more details].