(Yōbō shashin) Yakusha sangaikyō（容貌写真）役者三階興

FSC-GR-780.741.1-2

Commentary by Satō Satoru

Posted March 21, 2018
Original unedited text in Japanese follows

The sangaikyō 三階興 in the title of this book is a word play on the Sangaikyō 山海経 (Ch: Shan haijing; The classic of mountains and seas), the oldest Chinese geography book, and the three-storied backstage dressing rooms (gakuya 楽屋) of a kabuki theater. This work follows in the lineage of the 1780 (An’ei 9) picture-book Yakusha natsu no Fuji (Actors like Fuji in summer; FSC-GR-780.161) illustrated by Katsukawa Shunshō in its depiction of actors in different scenes offstage, without their makeup, like Mount Fuji in the summer without snow and is said to have been important for nigao-e, or “likeness portraits,” of actors without make-up. As such, it greatly influenced later ukiyo-e prints and books, as well as kusazōshi.

Each of the title’s two volumes has ten double-page illustrations. Volume 1 shows Morita Matakichi (森田又吉), the owner of the kabuki theater Morita-za, and the actor Bandō Mitsugorō III 三代目坂東三津五郎 (1775–1831) extending New Year’s greetings before the theater; spectators watching actors going into the gakuya; actors greeting the audience in the gallery seats (sajikiseki 桟敷席); actors with net fishers in the distance; actors going from the third to the second floors of the gakuya; actors viewing cherry blossoms in the third month from the second floor of a teahouse in the Nakano-chō avenue in Yoshiwara; actors boarding a boat from Mimeguri Shrine; actors being entertained at the villa of Onoe Matsusuke (尾上松助); actors at the villa of Iwai Kumesaburō (岩井粂三郎) in the company of geisha with the cherry blossoms in full bloom; and the villa of Bandō Hikosaburō (坂東彦三郎) covered in snow.

Volume 2 opens with a scene entitled “Gakuya keiko shigumi zu”(戯房稽古仕組図) that depicts actors learning their lines, perhaps for a kaomise (“face-showing”) performance; Ichikawa Danjūrō (市川団十郎), Ichikawa Komazō (市川高麗蔵), and others on a pleasure boat; the villa of Ichikawa Omezō (市川男女蔵); a barbershop; actors invited to the villa of Ichikawa Omezō; Matsumoto Kōshirō (松本幸四郎) and others on a pilgrimage to Horiuchi; an image of an ageya, or “house of assignation,” in the Shinmachi pleasure quarters in Naniwa (Osaka) (Naniwa Shinmachi ageya no zu 浪花新町揚屋図); the second floor of an ageya (Dōrōzeki 仝楼席) on Children’s Day; actors in the rain; and a scene illustrating Ichikawa Hakuen 市川白猿 (Ichikawa Danjūrō V 五代目市川団十郎, 1741–1806) giving Arashi Hinasuki (嵐雛助) the Ichikawa stage (family) name Naritaya, which he is inscribing on a paper lantern. The names of all the actors are listed, making this title a valuable resource for scholars of the kabuki theater. The frontispiece in volume 1 illustrates the book’s author Shikitei Sanba within a decorative frame, and that in volume 2 has an inscription by Chinese author “Ri Ryū-ō” 李笠翁 (Ri Gyo; C: Li Yu, 1610–1680) surrounded by a decorative border of kabuki-related objects. Here, the influence of Chinese picture-books imported into Japan, such as Wu shang pu (Musōfu 無双譜, 1694) by Jin Guliang (金古良), is visible in terms of design.

The title slip of the Pulverer copy is complete, but the back cover of the first volume is missing. Although there is slight fading the book generally retains its original appearance.

書名（容貌写真）役者三階興
執筆者佐藤悟

書名の「三階興」は中国の最古の地理書である「山海経」と、立役の楽屋である劇場の三階をかけたものである。作者は式亭三馬、歌川豊国の挿絵で、享和元年に刊行された。序文にもいうように市場通笑作、勝川春章画で安永九年（1780）年に出版された『役者夏の富士』を踏襲し、役者の舞台外での様々な様子を描いたもので、これ以降の浮世絵や草双紙に大きな影響を与えた。

上巻には森田座座元の森田又吉と三代目坂東三津五郎の劇場前の新年の挨拶、楽屋入り、桟敷席への役者の挨拶、地引網漁を見る役者、楽屋の三階から二階に降りてくる役者、三月の仲之町の桜を茶屋の二階から眺める役者、三囲社から舟に乗り込む役者、尾上松助の別荘で遊ぶ役者、桜が満開の岩井粂三郎の別荘に芸者が来ている図、雪の坂東彦三郎の別荘が描かれる。

下巻の挿絵は「戯房稽古仕組図」として本読みの場面、市川団十郎や市川高麗蔵の舟遊び、市川男女蔵の別荘図、髪結い床、御殿に呼ばれた役者、松本幸四郎らの堀内詣、「浪花新町揚屋図」、端午の節句を描いた「仝楼席」（揚屋の二階）、雨中の役者、市川白猿（五代目市川団十郎）が嵐雛助に成田屋の屋号とそれを描いた提灯を与えた場面からなる。描かれた役者の名前がすべて記されていて、歌舞伎研究に有益な絵本となっている。上巻は飾り枠の中に三馬像を描き、下巻は歌舞伎関係の器物の飾り枠の中に李笠翁の題詞を記すなど、『無双譜』等の中国絵本の影響がある。

Selected readings:
Suzuki Jūzō 鈴木重三, Yakusha ehon no kōyō「役者絵本の効用」, in Ehon to ukiyo-e『増補　絵本と浮世絵』(Tokyo: Perikansha, 2017), 522.

Akama Ryō 赤間亮, Edo no engekisho 江戸の演劇書 (Tokyo: Yagi Shoten, 2003).

Copies in other collections:
Educational Foundation Bunka Gakuen, Tokyo
National Diet Library, Tokyo
Kagawa University, Takamatsu
Waseda University Library, Tokyo
Cambridge University