Anatomy of an Oshiguma 押隈の解剖学です

(Oshi 押 push, Kuma隈 surface)

Third impression - Princess

Sarashina (更科姫), the witch of

Mount Togakushi, played by the

actor Onoe Baikô VI, 6代目尾上

梅幸 signature and seal

First impression - (usually found on a traditional oshiguma for Momijigari) is the Mountain God,

Yamagami ( 山 神 ) (Sanjin),

played by actor Ichimura

Takematsu IV, 4 代目市村竹松,

signature and seal

Second impression - Taira no

Koremochi (平維茂: たいらのこ

れもち) was played by the actor

Ichimura Uzaemon XV, 15 代目

市村羽左衛門 , signature and

seal

Vertical Scroll Mount kakemono

( 掛 物 ) tatemo ( 竪 物 ) - by

potter/artisan Kiyomizu Rokubei

V, 五代目 清水六兵衛. Rokubei,

who was head of the family kiln from 1902 – 1945 and was known for his poetic painting skills; he had studied Japanese brush painting. You can see reflections of some of his style of pottery decoration in the mount design; the maple leaves of the play’s title and the striped wand of Princess Sarashina – bottom right signature and seal

Date - 1st February 1922,

Taishō 大正 11年 02月 01日

Venue - Shintomiza, 新富座

Play - Momijigari, 紅葉狩 (も

みじがり), 1幕 act

This Oshiguma survived the 1 September 1923 earthquake which destroyed many of the Kabuki theatres in Tōkyō

including the Morita-za (森田

座・守田座), also known later

as the Shintomi-za (新富座 )

which in the late Edo period was the residence of the Zeze (Honda) Clan. The theatre was located in Kyobashi-ku, Shintoma-cho

See Shintomiza in Tōkyō http://oldphotosjapan.com/photos/286/shintomiza-theater

Make-up and sweat on silk Luxury mounting 182 x 45.2 cms (mounting) 99 x 33 cms (painting) 72 x 18 inch (mounting) 39 x 13 inch (painting)

Scroll Box

梅 Bai

幸 Kō (actor - Onoe Baikô VI 六代目尾上梅

幸, 1870-1934)

竹 Take

松 Matsu (actor - Ichimura Takematsu

IV, 四代目市村竹松, 1904-

1952)

羽 Us

左 Za (actor - Ichimura

Uzaemon XV, 十五代目市村

羽左衛門, 1874-1945)

紅 Momi

葉 Ji

狩 Ga

り Ri (Kabiki play – Contemplating

Maples)

隅 Sumi (surface – same as 押隈 Oshiguma)

清 Kiyo

水 Mizu

先 Sen

生 Sei (potter/artisan - Kiyomizu Rokubei V,

五代 清水六兵衛 , 1875-1959)

浄 Kiyo (clear)

表 Omote (surface)

乗 Noseru (せる to place on)

Box Label

紅

Mo

竹

Take

梅

Bai

二

Ni Two

葉

miji

松

Ma

幸

Ko

〇

gō? counter for covered containers maru cylinder

狩

gari

三

shi three

羽

Us

人

hito

名

na name/reputation

左

za

孚

Hagukumu encase

隅

すみ

GŪ (nook – of a flat surface)

図

zu drawing

巣

su nest

地

チ、ジ

chi, ji ground/label?

紅 竹 梅 二

葉 松 幸 〇

狩 人

隅 三 羽 孚

名 左

隅

図

巣 地

Two boxes encasing a scroll Label Baiko Usza Takema Three names Momijigari

Nest of pictures on flat surface (as in oshiguma -押隈)

Momijigari at the Shintomiza Theatre February 1922

Ichimura Uzaemon XV as Taira no Koremochi and Princess Sarashina the witch of Mount Togakushi, played by the actor Onoe Baikō VI

Ichimura Uzaemon XV as Taira no Koremochi

Actors’ chronology - Yakusha役者 Nendaiki年代記

Onoe Baikō VI (六代目尾上梅幸) Onnagata (female role specialist), Guild Otowaya

(音羽屋)

8th November 1870年 11月 8日 (明治 Meiji 3年) – 8th November 1934年 11月 8日

(昭和 Showa 9年) （満 64歳没）

“Momijigari no kijo o tsutomete, Baikō" (In the role of the ogress of Contemplating Maples, Baikō)

Onoe Baikō VI was born Jitō Einosuke in Fushimi-chō, Nagoya, Owari Province and it is said that Onoe Chōjirō (Onoe Kikugorō III’s son) was his father. However it is rumoured that he was the illegitimate son of

Onoe Kikugorō V (五代目

尾 上 菊 五 郎 ) and a

Nagoya Geisha from a reputable Shinano family and therefore half brother

to Onoe Kikugorō VI (六

代目 尾上菊五郎).

In 1877 he was introduced to Kabuki in a small theatre, Shinmoriza in Nagoya, and in 1882 he started training to be an onnagata and was adopted by Onoe Kikugorō V. In 1891 he celebrated his first shumei at Shintomiza

(Tōkyō) and took the name of Onoe Eizaburō V (五代

目 尾上榮三郞) and in March 1903 at a Great Shumei at the Kabukiza he took the

name of Onoe Baikō VI (六代目尾上梅幸) playing in Kiyomasa Seichūroku and in the

role of Soga Jūrō Sukenari in Kichirei Soga no Ishizue. From March 1911 through to

the 1930s he was based at the newly opened Imperial Theatre (Teikoku Gekijō帝国

劇場) along with Ichikawa Komazō VIII and Sawamura Sōjūrō VII. It was publicly

acknowledged that Onoe Baikō VI was a talented sewamono actor and odori dancer.

Especially acclaimed was his role as Otomi in Yo wa nasuke Ukina no Yokugushi (与

話情浮名横櫛 ) also known as Kirare Yosa (切られ世三）and his exemplary

performance in the role of Kasane (with Ichimura Uzaemon XV as Yoemon) in

Iroyomo chotto karimame (色彩間苅豆) also known as Kasane (かさね).

As Yokogushi Otomi in Yowa Nasake Ukina no Yokogushi

(Kirare Yosaburō) 横櫛お富、

『與話情浮名横櫛』（切られ

与三郎）Wikipedia Japan

French 仏語 Postcard 絵葉書 The

spirit of Tsuchigumo (the Earth

Spider) (実は土蜘蛛の精) played by

Onoe Baikō (六代目尾上梅幸), and

Hirai no Yasumasa ( 平井保昌 )

played by Morita Kanya XIII（十三

代目守田勘弥） Kabuki postcard

material Origuchi Nobuo Photo

Archive - 折口信夫写真資料・歌舞

伎 絵 葉 書 資 料 . Kokagakuin

Academic Frontier Project

In 1930 he published ‘Ume no Shitakaze’ (Wind beneath the Plum Blossoms), a compendium of guidance and advice on techniques for onnagata (Ed. Iguchi Seiji and Matsuda Seifū. Pub. Noriki Shoten, Tokyo)

During the 30s his performances were said to not have had the sparkle of his previous years, thought to be due to his having had a stroke, something he repudiated. He was to have celebrated his shumei and announce his retirement with a performance at the Kabukiza in January 1935 on the occasion of a memorial

celebration on the thirty third anniversary of Onoe Kikugorō V’s (五代目 尾上菊五郎)

death.

However, in November 1934, he suffered a stroke at the Kabukiza, collapsed and was taken to his dressing room and on the 8th November 1934 he passed away and

was buried in Zōshigaya cemetery (雑司ヶ谷霊園) in

Minami-Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tōkyō.

Ichimura Uzaemon XV, Onoe’s favourite tachiyaku (male role specialist) stage partner, continued to perform for another 10 years and on his death was buried next to Onoe, his pre-eminent onngata (female role specialist) stage partner

The notice for the Onoe Baikō VI retrospective 17th May – 15th June 2008 at the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University says…

‘Onoe Baikō VI（1870～1934）had a spectacular

life on stage, mostly conventional, correct and Japanese in style, he was a distinguished onnagata from the time he stepped into the world of Kabuki. He was raised by Onoe Kikugorō V who maintained a strict adherence to the art’s convention and technique. Later, after his father died, Onoe continued the dance revival his father had started which had begun to change the face of Tokyo’s

Grand Kabuki. In Meiji 44 年 (1911) the Imperial

Theatre (Teikoku Gekijō) celebrated its opening with a magnificent Kabuki performance by a group of some of the most accomplished actors based there (Note: Onoe Baikō VI, Ichikawa Kimizō VIII and Sawamura Sōjūrō VII) whose acclaim was compared to that of the distinguished actor

Nakamura Utaemon V. Onoe Baikō VI’s polished beauty, the emotional repertoire of his onnagata roles and his ability to switch roles were highly praised. His haunting performances made the Otowaya Guild a success, winning great acclaim for Onoe Baikō VI. Though in retrospect his reputation eventually faded this is the most appropriate venue in which to review and display with dignity and affection Onoe Baikō VI’s life’

Crest Oak symbol on two folding fans重ね

扇に抱き柏 kasane ōgi ni kaka ki kashiwa

Onoe Baiko VI retrospective 17

th May

– 15th June 2008 at the Tsubouchi

Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University

Onoe Baiko VI death print

死絵 shi e 版画

woodblock by 春仙

Shunsen

Ichimura Uzaemon XV (十五代目市村羽左衛門) Tachiyaku (male role specialist),

Guild Tachibanaya 橘屋. 5th November 1874 年 11月 5日 (明治 Meiji 7 年) – 6th May

1945年 5月 6日 (昭和 Showa 20年) （満 70歳没）

"Koremochi", Uzaemon's 'haimyo' (poetry name) was 可江

Uzaemon was born in Hongō in the district of Tenjin-chō. It is thought that he was the illegitimate son of Charles LeGendre who fought in the United States Civil War as a Colonel (and later retired as a brevet Brigadier General) after having served under Ulysses S Grant in the Union Army. LeGendre was part of the US diplomatic mission to Japan, was employed as an advisor in the new Meiji Government in 1872, and lived in Japan until 1890. He was made a noble and awarded the Order of the Rising Sun. Uzaemon was adopted by Ichimura Uzaemon XIV, who gave him the name of Ichimura Rokutarō. LeGendre would probably have been at the June 1879 performance at the Shintomiza when Prince Heinrich of Prussia attended, and most definitely on the occasion of the July 16, 1879, visit to the Shintomiza by one time President of the USA Ulysses S Grant. Uzaemon would have been five years old in 1879 and one wonders if he

attended the July 1879 performance. If he did though LeGendre may have been pointed out to him it was doubtful at such an early age that he would have known about his potential blood ties with him.

In January 1881 Uzaemon made his first appearance on stage and took the name of Bandō Takematsu at the Shintomiza.

Then in July 1893 he took the name of Ichimura Kakitsu VI at the Kabukiza, and finally in October 1903 took the name of Ichimura Uzaemon XV, again at the Kabukiza

In his youth he was considered too awkward to be a Kabuki actor though he later developed to be one of the best tachiyaku (male role specialist) of the first half of the twentieth century. He reputedly had a wonderful and charismatic personality and when asked what he could do on stage, he replied, ‘I’m happy not doing anything… …people are going to look at me anyway!’ One day, when the hanamichi lights had gone off Uzaemon remarked to his onnagata partner that he would be good even without the lights and to an astounded and somewhat anxious stage technician that just by getting on with it he would brighten things up. Even without the lights on the hanamichi Uzaemon was able to

Uzaemon Ichimura XV (left) as Naojirō and Baikō Onoe VI (right) as Michitose in Yuki no Yūbe Iriya no Aemichi

(Michitose to Naozamurai) 十

五代目市村羽左衛門の直次郎

（左）と六代目尾上梅幸の三

千歳、『雪暮夜入谷畦道』

（三千歳と直侍）Wikipedia

Japan

create an atmosphere, said two Kabuki critics, ‘He doesn’t have to have hanamichi lighting when his white face appears in the pitch darkness’. Uzaemon was admired

by many, and even Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (九代目市川團十郎) exhibited a grudging

admiration for him. He was a fan of Charlie Chaplin and after having seen Chaplin’s film, ‘City Lights’, in America in 1931 helped Kimura Kinka, a popular playwright of the day, with his Kabuki adaptation of the film called ‘Komori no Yasusan’ (Bat Man Yasu). He had a great physical appearance, a strong presence on stage and an amazing voice. He was one of the pre-eminent nimaime (handsome refined young male lover role specialist) and sabakiyaku (villain defeating male role specialist) of his day. He kept on playing young lover roles even in his later years though he never played elderly male characters. His duo with Onoe Baikō VI was one of the most famous goruden kombi (Golden

Combiゴルデンコンビ of onnagata/tachiyaku) in Kabuki history. When his best stage

partner, Onoe Baikō VI (六代目尾上梅幸), died in 1934, he successfully continued to

perform in duo with Kataoka Nizaemon XII. The most famous contemporary goruden kombi is the duo Bandō Tamasaburō/Kataoka Nizaemon, affectionately known as Taka-Tama. During a European-American tour, probably in 1931, Uzaemon was watching the crowds at the Paris Louvre who were looking at the Venus de Milo when he remarked, ‘it seems to be the business when a woman’s hands are cut off”. In 1945, with a favourable outcome for Japan in the Second World War increasingly uncertain and the air raids on Tōkyō a daily occurrence, it was decided that Uzaemon should be evacuated to a hot springs in Yada, in Nagano Prefecture. Uzaemon would never stand on the Kabuki stage again. He passed away whilst at Yada on 6 May

1945 and is buried in Zōshigaya cemetery (雑司ヶ谷霊園) in Minami-Ikebukuro,

Toshima, Tōkyō, next to Onoe Baikō VI, his much-loved onngata (female role specialist) stage partner. On the 25th May there was an exceptionally heavy air raid on Tōkyō and when a worried Faubion Bowers, accompanying the head of the US Army of Occupation General Douglas McArthur, landed in Atsugi four months later the first question he asked of a waiting Japanese journalist was, ‘Is Ichimura Uzaemon still alive?’

Crest Orange Tree根上り橘 ne ueri tachibana

Ichimura Takematsu IV四代目市村竹松 (later Ichimura Uzaemon XVI, 十六代目市

村羽左衛門) Guild Tachibanaya 橘屋. 15th January 1904年（明治 Meiji 37年）1月

15日 – 2nd October 1952年（昭和 Showa 27年）10月 2日 （満 48歳没）

"Sanjin, Takematsu"

Takematsu, an onngata (female role specialist) and nimaime (handsome refined young male lover role specialist), was born in Tōkyō in the district of Tsukiji. In April 1910 he made his first stage appearance, at the Kabukiza, where he received the name of Ichimura Takematsu IV and played the role of Ushiwakamaru in the drama "Kuramayama". From early on he was recognised as a young actor with promise. In January

1922 he became a nadai (名題), a recognised ranking

Kabuki actor. He was especially esteemed playing a wakashu (adolescent young male) companion to Lord and Lady characters. In January 1925 he took the name Ichimura Kakitsu VII and in February 1946 he took the name Ichimura Uzaemon XVI but his post war performances were said not to have lived up to his shumei. In June 1951 he performed in the premiere of Michio Kato’s ‘The Bamboo Cutter’ (Taketori Monogatari

竹取物語) at the Shimbashi Enbujo. In July 1952 at the

Kabukiza in Tōkyō where he was to have played in ‘The

Fox and the Flute Player’ (Kitsune to Fuefuki - 狐と笛吹

き ) he collapsed and died in October of that year. He was acclaimed for his

performances as Yamagami, the mountain god, in Momijigari and as Shizuka Gozen

in the michiyuki (道行 dance) in Yoshinoyama

Crest Orange Tree根上り橘 ne ueri tachibana

As Omiwa in Imoseyama Onna

Teikin, 四代目市村竹松の三輪

『 妹背山女庭訓』

Source: Kabuki 21

Kiyomizu Rokubei V, 五代目 清水六兵衛 (1875 - 1959).

As an adolescent, Rokubei V studied painting under Shijō master Kōno Bairei (幸野

楳嶺), and at the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting (京都府画学校). After graduating,

he apprenticed with his father, Rokubei IV. Following Bairei's death in 1895, he also

studied with Takeuchi Seihō (竹内栖鳳). In 1895, he exhibited his first ceramic piece

at the National Industrial Exposition (内国勧業博覧会). Stylistically, Rokubei V was

open to various influences. He took inspiration from Chinese porcelain, the Rimpa school of painting, Art Nouveau and Maiolica. He was particularly skilled at celadon and traditional overglazed enamel. Due to his father's ill health, Rokubei V was a leading figure at the family kiln from 1902, although he did not officially take over until 1913. In 1928 he changed the family surname to Kiyomizu and applied it retroactively

to previous generations. In 1945 he retired and took the name Rokuwa (六和). He

continued, nonetheless, to produce ceramics throughout the 1950s. Throughout his career, Rokubei V was highly active in art associations. He was a co-founder of the

Yutōen (遊陶園) study group, the Ceramics Studies Association (陶芸研究団体), the

Kyoto Ceramics Research Facility (京都市陶磁器試験場 ), the Japan Crafts

Association (日本工芸会), and the Gojō kai (五条会).He was also awarded numerous

prizes from the mid-1910s on, including at the National Fine Art Exhibition (全国美術

展) and the annual Nōshōmushō Exhibition (農商務省展). In 1930 he was made a

member of the Imperial Art Academy (帝国美術院会), and in 1931, he received a

medal from the French president. Rokubei V died in 1959. In 2001, he was voted 21st Most Important and Most Popular Japanese Ceramist in the Last 100 Years by Japanese art magazine Honoho Geijutsu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu_Rokubei#Kiyomizu_Rokubei_V There may be a connection between the Otowaya Kabuki Guild, Onoe Baikō and

Kiyomizu Rokubei V in that Onoe Kikugorō I (一代目 尾上菊五郎) was born near

Kiyomizu Temple and the nearby Gojo-zaka in Kyōto’s Higashiyama district. Perhaps the Kiyomizu pottery family and the Otowaya Guild knew each other and had maintained a connection through their descendants. Sometime after the February 1922 Tōkyō performance of Momijigari the oshiguma is likely to have been taken to Kyōto to be mounted by Kiyomizu Rokubei V on the hanging scroll, which may be the reason it survived the destruction wrought by the September 1923 Tōkyō earthquake. It would have been mounted after 1928 when he changed the family name to Kiyomizu.

Signature detail of the

Oshiguma scroll mounting by Kiyomizu

Rokubei V 五代 清水六

兵衛

Gekishō激賞 - Shintomi-za (新富座)

In 1872, with the ending of Tokugawa rule and of their proscriptions against Kabuki the Bakufu ban on Kabuki theatres in the centre Edo (Tōkyō) were rescinded. Morita Kanya moved the Moritaza from the outskirts of old Edo at Saruwaka-Chō, Asakusa, to a site in Shintomicho, Kyobashi-ku (present-day Shintomi, Chuo-ku, just east of Ginza and near the then Tsukuji’s foreign residencies) where there had once been a samurai mansion belonging to the Honda

Clan (Omi Zeze Han, 近江膳所藩本多家). The other theatres soon followed suit. In

1875 the Moritaza was renamed Shintomiza. In 1876 it was nearly destroyed by fire

which burnt down most of the old Kyobashi district (京橋) and then, whilst the theatre

continued in a temporary structure for four months, rebuilt to include seated areas for foreigners and gas lamps. The grand reopening ceremony took place on 7 June 1878

attended by the then Chief Minister Prince Sanjō Sanetomi (三条 実美).

A member of the British Legation in Tōkyō, Thomas McClatchie, attended the opening ceremony and by all accounts he thoroughly enjoyed watching the opening night performances and later wrote to his mother and friends about it. Okamoto Kiyoshi (Keinosuke - father of playwright Okamoto Kido), a British Legation employee at the time, helped McClatchie to design a gift from the foreign residents for Shintomiza and on 3 February 1879, the theatre was presented with a curtain made from purple satin with intricate pine, bamboo and plum designs and Morita Kanya’s katabami emblem. Morita was overjoyed and hung the curtain for the March performances which began on February 28. In June 1879 Prince Heinrich of Prussia attended a performance at the Shintomiza and then, on July 16,

1879, Ulysses S Grant, a former United States' president, visited Shintomiza and was treated to a performance of Yoshi-iye. The performance programme in English (pub. 1879 by R. Meiklejohn, No. 16 Water Street, Yokohama), entitled ‘Dramatic Entertainment given by the citizens of Tokio [sic] to General Grant at the Shintomiza Theatre – Meiji, 12th Year, 7th Month, 16th Day’, can be downloaded at http://www.archive.org/details/dramaticentertai00slsnrich

Ichikawa Sadanji I and Shintomiza - Dec 1900

The opening ceremony of the newly rebuilt Shintomiza in 1878 with its fabulous gas lamps. 1878

年（明治 11 年）に新築開場した

新富座 『東京名所図絵 新富座

開業式花瓦斯燈』国立劇場所蔵National Theatre, Japan

Katabami

Wood Sorrel

Yoshi-iye cast. Ulysses S Grant visit. 16 July 1879.

At the height of its popularity Shintomiza was surrounded by 41 teahouses, restaurants and theatres. Artisans connected with the theatres moved into the area. Nihonga artist Kaburaki Kiyotaka said that "Theatres were lined along the street from the corner of the Tsukiji Bridge to the crossroads in the direction of the Sakura Bridge. Facing these theatres across the street, there were teahouses… ...centering around these theatres, the area as a whole provided a gorgeous atmosphere of a different world." On 1 September 1923 at 11:58 a powerful earthquake called Kantō Daijishin struck Tōkyō killing over 200,000 people and, exacerbated by the raging fires, destroying much of the city including many theatres, amongst which was the Shintomi-za, which was never rebuilt. It is now the site of a tax office

Commemorative plaque of the Shintomi-za新富座

How the Shintomiza新富座 might have looked (a recreation of the Nakamura-za 中村

座 at the Edo Museum, Tōkyō東京)

Thanks to Paul Griffiths for his transcription of the freeform Japanese adjacent to each face pressing

Photographic images published before December 31st 1956, or photographed before 1946 and not published for 10 years thereafter, under jurisdiction of the Government of Japan, are considered to be public domain according to article 23 of old copyright law of Japan and article 2 of supplemental provision of copyright law of Japan