KABUKI MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA • MADRAS MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO DALLAS • SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO [Illustration: The character of Kamakura Gongoro, a warrior of Old Japan, as presented in Shibaraku! (lit., Wait-a-Moment). A famous actor improvisation, or aragoto play, one of the hereditary eighteen pieces of the Ichikawa Danjuro family. From a painting on silk by Torii Kiyotada, the present head of the Torii School.] KABUKI THE POPULAR STAGE OF JAPAN BY ZOË KINCAID WITH ILLUSTRATIONS MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON 1925 COPYRIGHT PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In my study of Kabuki I am deeply indebted to Mr. Seiseiin Ihara, the author of several volumes on the history of the popular stage of Japan. No progress toward an understanding of the development of Kabuki can be made without extensive reference to this valuable work. I wish particularly to acknowledge Mr. Ihara’s investigations into the mass of chronicles of the theatre, his lives of the actors, his painstaking researches into drama, also his collection of facts relating to the interference of the officials with the theatre and persecution of the actors. His _Generations of the Ichikawa Family_ has also proved a record of great assistance. Mr. Ihara has not only furnished me with data for study, but has been an indefatigable friend. A true lover of the theatre, he is one of the leading dramatic critics of Tokyo, and has not only given generously of his knowledge as a recognised authority on Kabuki, but acted on my behalf to smooth away a misunderstanding or straighten out a difficulty that sometimes arose concerning my attendance at the theatre. To the late Mr. E. Motono, brother of the late Viscount Motono, I owe many of the first translations that opened up before me a new theatre world. Mr. Eishiro Hori, Professor of English at Keio University, rendered the greatest assistance in translations that gave me an insight into the history and technique of the Nō and Doll-theatre. I also acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Mokuan Sekine for his _Engeki Taizen_, or Complete Drama, relating to the old customs of Kabuki, and to his _Fifty Years of Meiji Kabuki_. Another fruitful source of information has been _Kabuki Sosho_, a collection of old Kabuki records.