2 shows in Tôkyô (Kabukiza) and 2 in Ôsaka (Shôchikuza)!

Onoe Kikugorô, Nakamura Kichiemon, Bandô Tamasaburô, Bandô Mitsugorô, Nakamura Shikan, Nakamura Tokizô, Nakamura Hashinosuke, Nakamura Shibajaku, Nakamura Kanjaku, Nakamura Baigyoku and Nakamura Senjaku perform at the Kabukiza!

Lots of young talented actors at the Shôchikuza!

Onoe Kikugorô, Nakamura Kichiemon, Bandô Tamasaburô, Bandô Mitsugorô, Nakamura Shikan, Nakamura Tokizô, Nakamura Hashinosuke, Nakamura Shibajaku, Nakamura Kanjaku, Nakamura Baigyoku, Nakamura Senjaku, Ichikawa Sadanji, Ichikawa Danshirô, Onoe Kikunosuke, Nakamura Fukusuke, Onoe Shôroku, Ichikawa Somegorô

2nd of the 16 Kabukiza Sayonara Kôen (Kabukiza Farewell Performances), which will be held up to April 2010. If you can't attend both shows, I would personnally recommend you the evening program, because of the spectacular tachimawari in "Ranpei Monogurui", the great casting for the all-times favourite "Kanjinchô" and the young stars sharing the stage with the onnagata stage giant Bandô Tamasaburô in "Sannin Kichisa".

Kamo Zutsumi/Ga no Iwai: "Kamo Zutsumi" (The Kamo Riverband) and Ga no Iwai (The Birthday Celebration) are two acts of a great historical epic written for the puppet theatre about the downfall of the statesman and calligrapher Sugawara no Michizane and will feature the younger stars of Kabuki. The story focuses on three brothers, who each serve one of the principals in the political affair. Matsuômaru (Ichikawa Somegorô) serves the villain Shihei, who has had Sugawara exiled. Umeômaru (Onoe Shôroku) serves Sugawara, as their father has. Sakuramaru (Nakamura Hashinosuke) serves Imperial Prince Tokiyo. The first act shows the romantic meeting that Sakuramaru and his wife Yae (Nakamura Fukusuke) arranges between the prince and Sugawara’s daughter. But it is seen by a retainer of the villain and becomes an excuse to exile Sugawara. The second act shows the birthday party of the father of the three brothers. Despite their rivalries, the three brothers are supposed to gather peaceably with their wives, Umeômaru’s wife Haru (Nakamura Senjaku) and Matsuômaru’s wife Chiyo (Nakamura Shibajaku) for their father Shiratayû's (Ichikawa Sadanji) birthday, but strangely enough, Sakuramaru does not appear. The brothers are named after the trees in the garden and while waiting, Matsuômaru and Umeômaru get into a fight and break the branches of the cherry tree. Shiratayû sees this and disowns Matsuômaru and scolds Umeômaru for his failure in duty. In fact, Shiratayû knows that these are omens that his youngest son must die. When everybody leaves, Sakuramaru appears and sadly commits ritual suicide for being responsible for the tragedy.

Ninin Dôjôji: a beautiful young woman dances under cherry blossoms at a dedication ceremony for a temple bell. She dances the many aspects of a woman in love, but is actually the spirit of a serpent, driven to destroy the bell out of jealousy. In addition to being the most famous of all Kabuki dances, "Musume Dôjôji" is considered to be the pinnacle of the art of the onnagata female role specialist. Bandô Tamasaburô, whose beauty and artistic genius is renowned throughout the world, will give his definitive performance of this dance in a special double version together with young onnagata star Onoe Kikunosuke.

Bunshichi Mottoi: Chôbê spends his days and nights gambling, but is finally made aware of his family's problems when his daughter takes a job in the pleasure quarters. Having received the money for her contract, he shows his good side to save a young man on the edge of suicide after losing a large sum of money, but nobody believes Chôbê, thinking that he has gambled the money away. The performance stars Onoe Kikugorô and Nakamura Tokizô in the roles of Chôbê and his wife Okane. Others roles are played by the stars Nakamura Shikan (Kadoebi Okoma), Nakamura Kichiemon (the fireman boss Ibei) and Bandô Mitsugorô (Izumiya Seibê).

Ranpei Monogurui: in order to recover a treasure, Ranpei claims to go mad at the sight of a sword. But he is unmasked and the play ends with one of the most spectacular fight scenes in Kabuki including a struggle on top of a high ladder held up on the hanamichi runway. Starring Bandô Mitsugorô as Ranpei.

Kanjinchô: probably the most popular Kabuki play today, it includes dance, comedy and the heart-warming pathos of a band of heroes during their last days. Disguised as a band of traveling priests the fugitive general Yoshitsune and his small band of retainers are stopped at a road barrier. They escape only through the quick thinking of the head retainer, a warrior priest named Musashibô Benkei, who improvises the text of an elaborate imperial decree. Having escaped danger Benkei and the others describe their days of glory and hardships on the road to escape in a moving dance. This program stars Nakamura Kichiemon in the role of Benkei, with Nakamura Baigyoku and Onoe Kikugorô as Yoshitsune and the barrier keeper Togashi.

Sannin Kichisa:
(Three Thieves Named Kichisa)
The playwright Kawatake Mokuami excelled at portrayals of thieves and this short scene, with its music and poetic lines, is one of his most famous. A beautiful young woman helps out a woman who is lost on the road. But she is actually Ojô Kichisa, a male thief who is disguised as a woman. He steals an immense sum of money that the woman is carrying and this leads to an encounter on this riverbank of three thieves, all with the name Kichisa. The two others Kichisa are Oshô Kichisa, a bonze turned thief, and Obô Kichisa, an ex-samurai turned thief Though they start out as rivals, they decide to become blood brothers and form a gang. Featuring Bandô Tamasaburô as Ojô Kichisa, Onoe Shôroku as Oshô Kichisa and Ichikawa Somegorô as Obô Kichisa.

Source: Earphone Guide website

Kataoka Ainosuke, Ichikawa Kamejirô, Nakamura Shidô, Ichikawa Omezô, Nakamura Kantarô, Nakamura Shichinosuke, Nakamura Kikaku

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. Ichikawa Omezô stars in a play that features the bombastic aragoto style of acting that is a specialty of his family.

Sagi Musume: one of the most famous dances in Kabuki, this figure is familiar through pictures and Japanese dolls. A beautiful young woman all in white appears in the snowy landscape. She dances lightly of love, but then reveals that she is the spirit of a bird, a magnificent heron that struggles wounded through a snowstorm. Starring Nakamura Shichinosuke.

Abura no Jigoku: this play has become phenomenally popular in modern times for its hard-boiled sensibility and sensuous killing scene with the protagonists slipping and struggling through puddles of spilled oil, but was virtually ignored at the time it was written. It shows Yohê, the wastrel son of a well-to-do merchant, who constantly tries to borrow money from Okichi, the wife of a neighboring oil merchant. Pressed for funds, he tries to blackmail her, but ends up killing her in the long, dream-like scene that gives this plays its title, "the woman killer and the hell of oil". Starring Kataoka Ainosuke and Ichikawa Kamejirô in the roles of Yohê and Okichi.

Fubuki Tôge: Oen and Sukezô, an adulterous couple, have to take refuge in a mountain hut built for pilgrims because of a violent snow storm. Oen was the wife of the gambler Naokichi, who was Sukezô's boss. They fell in love and, in order to escape death (a normal punishment for their immoral conduct), they had to elope. They now live as fugitives, in great fear of revenge by Naokichi. Fate has something in store for them as, this very night, Naokichi, who goes on pilgrimage, has to shelter himself in the same hut... Featuring Kataoka Ainosuke, Nakamura Shichinosuke and Nakamura Shidô in the roles of Naokichi, Oen and Sukezô.

Sanemori Monogatari: a play about the early days of the rivalry between the Genji and Heike warrior clans. The warrior Saitô Bettô Sanemori (Nakamura Kantarô) has been charged by the leaders of the dominant Heike clan with finding Aoi Gozen, the pregnant wife of the leader of the enemy Genji clan. He is to kill her child if it is a son who can succeed to head of the clan, but old loyalties to the Genji lead him to protect the boy. Sanemori tells the story of how Koman, the daughter of the old couple who is protecting Aoi Gozen, bravely fought to protect the sacred standard of the Genji from the Heike. Koman mysteriously comes back to life when her severed arm is rejoined to it.

Kumo no Ito: this spectacular hengemono is about the warlord Minamoto Raikô, who is confined to bed with illness in his palace. His devoted retainers are on night watch. The spirit of a spider, which has caused Raikô's illness in the first place, tries to enter the palace and hopes to destroy Raikô. The spirit of this evil spider transforms itself in different people: a tea-bringing young servant girl, a medicine peddler, a shinzô and a zatô expert in sendai jôruri. At the end, this spirit appears as the beautiful and gorgeous keisei Usugumodayû, who sneaks in Raikô's sleeping room and tries to seduce him. Fortunately for Raikô, his retainers can intervene in the nick of time and defeat the spider, which furiously throws out streamers of long, sticky web-like threads. Starring Ichikawa Kamejirô in the 6 roles of this hengemono. Featuring Nakamura Kantarô in the role of Minamoto Raikô.

Source: Earphone Guide website, except "Fubuki Tôge" and "Kumo no Ito"