2 shows in Tôkyô (Kabukiza), 2 in Fukuoka (Hakataza) and 1 in Naruto (Ôtsuka Museum of Art) !

Onoe Kikunosuke, Nakamura Shichinosuke, Ichikawa Somegorô, Onoe Shôroku, Ichikawa Danzô, Kataoka Hidetarô and Nakamura Karoku perform at the Kabukiza !

Nakamura Hashinosuke, Nakamura Kanjaku, Nakamura Senjaku and Nakamura Kinnosuke perform at the Hakataza

Onoe Kikunosuke, Nakamura Shichinosuke, Ichikawa Somegorô, Onoe Shôroku, Ichikawa Danzô, Kataoka Hidetarô, Nakamura Karoku, Bandô Kamesaburô, Matsumoto Kingo, Ichikawa Omezô, Ichikawa Komazô, Ichikawa Unosuke, Kawarasaki Gonjûrô, Nakamura Baishi, Bandô Kametoshi, Nakamura Matsue, Onoe Matsuya, Nakamura Kashô, Onoe Ukon, Kataoka Matsunosuke, Sawamura Sônosuke, Nakamura Mantarô, Nakamura Tanenosuke, Nakamura Yonekichi, Ôtani Hirotarô, Ôtani Hiromatsu, Nakamura Tamatarô, Fujima Taiga

11th month celebrating the opening of the new Kabukiza within a 1-year long cycle of kokera otoshi programs.

Kokoro no Nazo Toketa Iroito: this is a play written by Tsuruya Nanboku IV in 1810. Yamazumi Goheita (Onoe Matsuya), an evil retainer of Lord Akagi (Nakamura Kashô) loves the geisha Koito (Onoe Kikunosuke). He needs money to ransom her, so he steals the certificate of the heirloom of his lord, pawns it and receives 200 ryô gold coins. Ishizuka Yasobê (Matsumoto Kingo), another retainer of Lord Akagi, is in charge of preserving the certificate and is blamed for losing it. Another retainer of Lord Akagi, Honjô Tsunagorô (Onoe Shôroku) offers to be masterless and search for the certificate as he feels indebted to Ishizuka Yasobê. Koito falls in love with a fireman Sashichi (Ichikawa Somegorô), Yasobê's son. They encounter Tsunagorô and promise to help him search for the certificate. Koito's brother Hantoki Kurobê (Ichikawa Somegorô) encounters a girl entertainer on a snowy road who would go from door to door performing auspicious songs and dances at New Years. He kills her as she has money not knowing she is his daughter. Sagobê (Kataoka Matsunosuke), the head clerk of a thread shop, is a villain who helps Goheita. He tries to marry Ofusa (Nakamura Shichinosuke), the daughter of the thread shop owner, and make the shop of his own. Ofusa is in love with Tsunagorô. The shop keeper decides to adopt Kambaraya Sagorô (Nakamura Matsue) as husband for Ofusa. Sagobê plans to poison her, then counteract the poison and make her of his own. Ofusa is regarded as dead after drinking poisoned sake and buried with 100 ryo gold coins betrothal money. Hearing of this, Tsunagorô breaks the grave open to obtain the money to get the certificate, when Ofusa revives and asks him to elope with her, to which he consents. Koito utters spiteful words toward Sachichi and pretends to have come to love Goheita in order to get information on whereabouts of the certificate. Sashichi gets angry, lies in ambush and kills her not knowing her true intention. From a message left behind by her, it turns out that Kurobê is her brother. Ofusa's sister Otoki (Nakamura Shichinosuke) fell in love with Juemon, a young vassal of Lord Akagi, as she served Lady Akagi. She eloped with him. She married Juemon who changed his name to Kurobê and they have done one evil deed after another. They pull a badger game against Tsunagorô. It turns out that Tsunagorô was once Otoki's fiance and is now Ofusa's love and that Kurobê killed his own dahghter Okimi whom he had abandoned. They regret having done evil deeds and decide to mend their ways. They feel relieved to know that Tsunagorô will be able to get the certificate. At the moment Sagobê abducts Ofusa.

Aoto Zôshi Hana no Nishikie:
(A Brocade Print of the Age of Magistrate Aoto)
Written by Kawatake Mokuami in 1862, this play focuses on the thief Benten Kozô and was inspired by a woodblock print of a sexy young man with tattoos covering his body with a woman's hairstyle and kimono. Benten Kozô is a swindler and thief who makes use of his beauty, both as a handsome young man and disguised as a beautiful woman. The sections about Benten Kozô are played frequently, but this marks a rare full-length performance that shows the stories of all five thieves in the gang who are tied together by bonds of fate and obligation. In the opening at a magnificent temple surrounded by cherry blossoms, Benten Kozô poses as a samurai youth and seduces a princess setting off events that will eventually destroy Benten and all around him. A beautiful young woman comes to a clothing store with her servant, but is discovered shoplifting and beaten. When she proves that she was not stealing, her servant demands compensation. However, a samurai who happens to be in the store reveals that the young woman is actually a man, and he proudly announces his name as Benten, the thief. The servant is his fellow gang member Nangô Rikimaru and the samurai is actually the head of the gang Nippon Daemon. However, they learn that the man they have defrauded is actually Benten Kozô’s father and the five thieves realize they cannot escape and decide to wear magnificent matching kimonos as they meet their fate. The act ends with a kind of spectacle showing the five members of the gang in their finest kimonos under the cherry blossoms in full bloom. In elaborate speeches, they each announce their name in the poetic diction for which the playwright Mokuami is famous. Finally Benten Kozô fights off his pursuers in a spectacular fight on the roof of a temple. Starring Onoe Kikunosuke as Benten Kozô, Ichikawa Somegorô as Nippon Daemon, Onoe Shôroku as Nangô Rikimaru, Nakamura Shichinosuke as Akaboshi Jûzaburô and Bandô Kamesaburô as Tadanobu Rihei. Also featuring Nakamura Baishi and Ichikawa Danzô as Princess Senju and Hamamatsuya Kôbê.

Source: Earphone Guide website

Nakamura Hashinosuke, Nakamura Kanjaku, Nakamura Senjaku, Nakamura Kinnosuke, Kataoka Ichizô, Arashi Kitsusaburô, Nakamura Hayato

The traditional February Grand Kabuki at the Hakataza, with an important Kamigata flavour thanks to the performances of Living National Treasure Sakata Tôjûrô's two sons:

Ataka no Seki: "Gohiiki Kanjinchô" was first performed in 1773 and is most famous for its comic aragoto version of the famous play "Kanjinchô" (The Subscription List). As they are fleeing, the powerful warrior priest Benkei (Nakamura Hashinosuke) gets his master Yoshitsune (Nakamura Kinnosuke) through the barrier by pretending to be very weak and allowing himself to be tied up. He cries like a baby when he is tormented by the barrier attendants. But when Benkei decides that his master is safe, he explodes with energy, showing off the bombastic aragoto style of acting. He breaks the ropes and pulls off the heads of the attendants, tossing them into a barrel and washing them like a bunch of potatoes. Featuring also Nakamura Kanjaku and Kataoka Ichizô.

Ninin Wankyû: the fabulously wealthy Wan'ya Kyûbê (nicknamed Wankyû) is disowned by his family for falling in love with the courtesan Matsuyama. Then, when she dies, he goes mad with grief and wanders through the countryside. This dance shows him as he imagines meeting Matsuyama again and there is a lively dance recalling their happiness together before the vision fades and he is left alone. Starring Nakamura Kinnosuke as Wankyû and Nakamura Senjaku as Matsuyama.

Fûin Giri:
(Breaking the Seals)
In the pleasure quarters, the most important possessions were money and reputation. In danger of losing his lover, the courtesan Umegawa, the money courier Kameya Chûbê breaks the seals on a package of money entrusted to him after being taunted by a rival, even though the use of such money is punishable by death. Starring Nakamura Kanjaku as Chûbê, Nakamura Senjaku as Umegawa, Nakamura Hashinosuke as Chûbê's treacherous friend Tanbaya Hachiemon and Arashi Kitsusaburô as Jiemon.

Domo Mata: the artist Matahei has been refused a professional name because of his stuttering. He makes a poor life by drawing folk paintings and decides to make one last effort to gain respectability. His wife Otoku, who is given as much to chatter as Matahei is silent, pleads his case. Turned down again by his master, Matahei decides to take his life. He draws a farewell portrait of himself, a painting so skillful that the lines seep through solid rock and this miracle convinces his master to confer a professional name. Starring Nakamura Kanjaku as Matahei and Nakamura Senjaku as his wife Otoku. Featuring ichi6 as Matahei's master Tosa Shôgen Mitsunobu, Nakamura Kinnosuke as Utanosuke and Nakamura Hayato as Shûrinosuke.

Yakko Dôjôji: "Musume Dôjôji" is based on a legend about a woman transformed into a serpent out of jealousy and who destroys a temple bell keeping her from the object of her love. The original dance shows the spirit of the woman who appears at Dôjôji temple as a dancer who wants to celebrate the dedication of a new bell and does a series of dances showing the many faces of femininity. In this version the dancer is revealed to be a man in disguise and, in the highlight of the dance, transforms the romantic highpoint of the original piece into a comic scene by using masks. Starring Nakamura Hashinosuke.

Tsuchiya Chikara: this play is a specialty of the Nakamura Ganjirô family and features the distinctive flashy acting of Kansai actors. This month it will be performed by the younger members of this acting line. One of many stories set on the theme of the revenge of the forty-seven loyal retainers features a lord named Tsuchiya Chikara (Nakamura Senjaku) who lives next door to the enemy of the loyal retainers and is disgusted because they do not seem to be interested in avenging the death of the lord. He learns from his haiku teacher that Ôtaka Gengo (Nakamura Kinnosuke), one of his students who should be part of the vendetta left a poem suggesting that he was forgetting his former lord and going to take service with another samurai lord. But in fact, this poem is a riddle hiding the secret of the vendetta.

Sources: Earphone Guide Website or Shôchiku Kabuki Official Website

Kataoka Ainosuke, Kamimura Kichiya, Nakamura Kazutarô

5th 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). Inside this museum, there are more than 1,000 replicas of priceless masterpieces of Western art, from ancient murals to modern paintings, which are reproduced in ceramic to their original size. The Sistine Hall is of course a "reproduction" of the Vatican Sistine Chapel. The drama, a newly-created Kabuki drama, is based on Pierre Beaumarchais's famous play (or Mozart's famous opera) "Le Mariage de Figaro" ("The Marriage of Figaro").