"Maboroshi Wankyû" was premiered in 1925 as a Kiyomoto-based Buyô dance. It was premiered in Kabuki in June 1928 at the Kabukiza, starring Onoe Kikugorô VI in the role of Wan'ya Kyûbê.

"Maboroshi Wankyû" is rarely-staged on Kabuki stages; since the end of World War II and up to the end of the 20th century, we've found only 4 records of performances in ôshibai during the 20th century:

Wan'ya Kyûbê, commonly called Wankyû, is seen after he has become a roving beggar in pilgrim robes. But quite incongruous to his costume is the fact that on the end of his bamboo staff there is hanging a gourd of sake. The site is a lonely pine grove (matsubara) on the Sumiyoshi Seashore.

Wankyû wanders by, and in the rhythmic roar of the waves he seems to hear the music of the tsuzumi and shamisen with which he used to amuse himself in his extravagant days as playboy, a star of the pleasure quarter. In a state of partial dementia, he rushes up to a pine tree and tries to embrace it, calling out the name of his former lover, the tayû Matsuyama.

In his mind and from his illusioned-eyes the pine grove changes into the brightly lit room of an ageya where he dances and sings gaily with Matsuyama. Picking up pine needles scattered on the ground, he tosses them out lavishly as if they were ryô to be thrown to the taiko mochi, nakai or any pleasure quarter partygoer entertaining him.

Unfortunately, Wankyû's gay pleasure is short-lived. When he tries again to catch his beloved Matsuyama, she proves elusive, like a ghost or an illusion. The bright scene fades from Wankyû's eyes. There is only the lonely seashore where light has faded away, and Wankyû is seen asleep on the moss under the pine trees.

[1] This version was a 2-actor production with Nakamura Utaemon VI in the role of Matsuyama.

[2] This version was a 2-actor production with the female dance master Fujima Murasaki in the role of Matsuyama.

Onoe Kikugorô VI playing the role of Wan'ya Kyûbê in the dance-drama "Maboroshi Wankyû", which was staged in June 1928 at the Kabukiza