JAANUS / Kabuki Juuhachiban 歌舞伎十八番

Kabuki Juuhachiban　歌舞伎十八番

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

The eighteen *kabuki 歌舞伎 plays selected as best by Ichikawa Danjuurou 7 七代市川団十郎 (1791-1851) between 1832-40. The eighteen are considered the traditional or staple repertoire of the Ichikawa troupe, and almost all give full play to the aragoto 荒事 or rough and exaggerated style of acting associated with the Ichikawa family of actors. Scenes of these plays were depicted in 18-19c single prints called *yakusha-e 役者絵 by woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists, especially in the *Toriiha 鳥居派 and *Utagawaha 歌川派. SHIBARAKU, SUKEROKU, YA-NO-NE and KANJINCHOU (see below), were most often depicted, and indeed remain in the active repertoire to the present-day. In addition all of the kabuki juuhachiban are illustrated in a set of prints by Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞 (also known as Toyokuni 3 三代豊国; 1786-1865). The 18 plays and year of their first performance (often under a different title) are: (1) FUWA 不破 (1692); (2) *NARUKAMI 鳴神 (1689); (3) *SHIBARAKU 暫 (Just A Moment, 1697); (4) FUDOU 不動 (Acala, 1697); (5) UWANARI 嫐 (Ambush of the Second Wife, 1699); (6) ZOUBIKI 象引 (Towing the Elephant, 1701); (7) *SUKEROKU 助六 (1713); (8) UIROUURI 外郎売 (The Slave Vendor, 1736); (9) *YA-NO-NE 矢の根 (Arrowhead, 1729); (10) OSHIMODOSHI 押戻 (Shoving Back, 1719); (11) *KAN U 関羽 (Ch: Guan Yu, 1737); (12) *KAGEKIYO 景清 (1739); (13) NANATSUMEN 七ツ面 (Seven Masks, 1739); (14) KENUKI 毛抜 (Tweezers, 1742); (15) GEDATSU 解脱 (Redemption, 1760); (16) JAYANAGI 蛇柳 (1763); (17) KAMAHIGE 鎌髭 (The Scythe Mustache, 1779); and (18) *KANJINCHOU 勧進帳 (The Subscription List, 1702). FUWA (1) concerns the violent rivalry between two dandies as they fight for a *Yoshiwara 吉原 courtesan. In FUDOU (4), originally Ichikawa Danjuurou 2 (1688-1758) played the Bodhisattva Acala, or the Immovable One *Fudou Myouou 不動明王, but the play was later incorporated into NARUKAMI and KENUKI. UWANARI (5) deals with the jealous spirit of a jilted first wife who inhabits the body of her daughter in order to punish the fickle husband's second wife. ZOUBIKI (6) concerns a duel between the hero and a villain which concludes with the hero proving his strength by lifting an elephant. The highlight of UIROUURI (8), now included in other plays such as SUKEROKU, was the rapid fire dialogue of Danjuurou 2 as he gave a salespitch for a popular slave. OSHIMODOSHI (10), also embedded in several different plays including *Doujouji 道成寺, features a confrontation between an angry demon and a literally larger-than-life hero wielding a bamboo staff. In NANATSUMEN (13), Danjuurou 2 played seven different characters, switching roles and costumes in virtuoso onstage changes. KENUKI (14) involves the postponement of a wedding ceremony because the bride's hair stands on end. The mystery is solved when an emissary from the fiances family discovers that villains who oppose the marriage have placed a magnet in the attic which has been drawing the girl's iron hair ornaments. It is a pair of tweezers that stand on end that leads to the discovery. GEDATSU (15), already lost in Danjuurou 7's time, has been reconstructed in modern times as the story of Kagekiyo's 景清 spirit haunting a soundless bell. The ghost, trapped in the bell when it falls to the ground, is finally appeased when the kimono 着物 of a woman of the Taira 平 clan is placed over the bell. JAYANAGI (16), originally performed by Danjuurou 4, is known to be based on legends of Mt. Kouya 高野, but its plot is unknown. KAMAHIGE (17), associated with Danjuurou 4, concerns a fight between a man with a must ache and another man who pretends to trim it with a scythe but actually attempts to sever his head.

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