Kabuki Plus
Kabuki Juhachiban (Eighteen Select Plays)
Eighteen plays chosen in 1832 by Ichikawa Danjuro VII, a legendary actor in the latter years of the Edo Period, as his family’s signature productions. He picked plays depicting bravura aragoto characters dating as far back as his ancestor Danjuro I. Those include Kanjincho. Danjuro VII himself created the current version of the play in 1840, but there were precedents on the Ataka theme danced by his predecessors, including noted performances by Danjuro I and Danjuro IV.
Matsubame-mono (Noh-inspired staging)
notable!Group of plays based on Japan’s masked Noh drama, which was several centuries older than Kabuki and regarded in the Edo Period as a more distinguished performing art. The simple set is strongly reminiscent of the austere Noh with little more than a five-colored drop curtain entryway on stage right, a small door on stage left, and a painting of a pine tree on the back wall. The staging also borrows from Noh and its comic cousin Kyogen. Matsubame-mono were largely created in the late Edo and modern Meiji Periods. Kanjincho was one of the earliest of these works.
Famous nagauta melody
The music for Kanjincho, composed by Kineya Rokusaburo, is in lyrical nagauta style, a musical form often used in Kabuki. It was written specifically for the drama and does not lend itself altogether as a concert piece, but the voice, shamisen and hayashi drum parts all have notable variations played elsewhere. Partially because of the frequency of the drama’s presentation, the song is particularly well known among nagauta pieces.
Mountain priests
Monks in training. They travel around Japan, conducting their training in rough mountain terrain to learn healing powers. Their clothing is said to symbolize the form of Buddha. Benkei in Kanjincho wears a unique cap, wig, special-patterned kimono, black translucent jacket with gold Sanskrit lettering, necklace of white cotton balls, broad hakama trousers, and white tabi socks. He carries a wooden box holding his belongings and a wooden stick. This stems from the costume used in the Noh play Ataka, the basis for the Kabuki drama.
Donations
notable!Temples and shrines collected contributions from followers when they needed funds for religious purposes, such as the construction of buildings or statuary. Benkei here pretends to be a mountain priest collecting money for Nara’s Todaiji Temple. The contents of the donation letter that Benkei pretends to read out says, “Todaiji has been lost to a fire. Any contribution regardless of how small will lead to good things in this life and allow you to go to heaven in a future life.”
Mountain priest inquiry
Togashi, skeptical at Benkei’s claim to be a priest, asks closely about his clothing and an esoteric sutra. As the Q&A progresses, the characters draw physically near to each other, heightening the tension. Benkei explains that mountain priest clothing is broadly representative of the figure of Buddha, and its details have symbolic meaning. The sutra is for warding off ghostly enemies. This inquiry is not in the original Noh play but is said to be adapted from a tale by the storyteller Tanabe Nanso.
Flying roppo exit
notable!A roppo is a stamping movement employing outsized arm and leg motions. It is believed to have originated as religious protocol to exorcise spirits and demons. It can also be seen in folk arts, but in the case of Kabuki, it is usually used in exaggerated aragoto-style shows for the entrance and exit of main characters. The flying roppo in Kanjincho is the show’s final highlight, conveying the power of Benkei as he follows Yoshitsune. It uses the hanamichi that runs through the audience, bringing the action excitingly close to the spectator.
Mie
Mie is a dramatic pose struck by Kabuki actors at the height of important scenes, equivalent to close-ups in the movies. The most famous mie in Kanjincho is the moment when Togashi peeks to see the scroll, leading Benkei to turn quickly to hide it and Yoshitsune to touch his hat nervously. That joint movement is called the “heaven-earth-human” (trinity) mie. There is also a “Fudo” mie where Benkei holds the prayer beads to his breast after reading the scroll (resembling a Fudo guardian god), a “genroku” mie performed at the end of the investigation, and a “stone-throwing” mie at the reminiscences of the master and servant (where Benkei’s gesture resembles the throwing of a stone).
