Yakusha hyakunin isshū yosooi kagami 役者百人一衆化粧鏡

FSC-GR-780.578

Commentary by Kitagawa Hiroko

Posted January 8, 2018

Original unedited text in Japanese follows

The inside cover of this book is woodblock printed in color, with the remainder of the book printed in the monochrome. The publisher Hachimonjiya Hachizaemon issued ukiyozōshi (浮世草子) fiction and kabuki actor critiques (yakusha hyōbanki 役者評判記) in Kyoto from the Genroku era (1688–1704) onwards. He relocated to Osaka around 1790. Hachimonjiya possessed a wealth of information about actors and the theater world due to his production of actor critiques and books on the theater.

Books of actor portraits became popular in Osaka following the publication in 1784 of the monochrome picture-book of actors, Yakusha monoiwai 旦生言語備 (FSC-GR-780.579), illustrated by Ryūkōsai Jokei 流光斎如圭 (d. 1810). Thereafter, the Osaka publisher Shioya Chōbē (塩屋長兵衛) monopolized the market for actor picture-books (yakusha ehon 役者絵本) and single-sheet prints. This work is not a book of actor pictures on stage of the type released by Shioya Chōbē, rather it is a theater book that makes full use of the information about the kabuki world gathered and compiled by Hachimonjiya Hachizaemon.

Various information related to kabuki is explained through the illustrations, but what is most noteworthy is that the fifty actors included—here seen in their most successful roles—are seated in the manner resembling the figures of the Hyakunin isshu 百人一首 (One hundred poets, one poem each) on illustrated playing cards. The names of the actors, including their acting lineage and poetry names, and of kyōka poets accompany the illustrations. In 1804, Hachimonjiya published a sequel to the current volume entitled Kusa no tane (草の種), and the advertisements announce the sequels Tauegusa (田植草), Hatsuhogusa (初穂草), and Oshinegusa (晩稲草), but these three titles were never realized. This was perhaps due to the greater popularity of the picture-books of actors onstage issuedby Shioya Chōbē.

書名役者百人一衆化粧鏡

執筆者北川博子

表紙見返しは木版多色摺、その他は墨摺である。本書を出版した八文字屋八左衛門は、元禄時代から京都で浮世草子や役者評判記を出版していた版元であったが、1790年ころ大坂へ移転した。八文字屋は役者評判記や演劇書の板行で蓄積した役者や劇界の情報を豊富に持ち合わせていた版元であった。1784年に出版された流光斎如圭による墨摺の役者絵本『旦生言語備』により、大坂では似顔による役者絵本が流行し始めた。そして、大坂の塩屋長兵衛は似顔による役者絵本や一枚絵の役者絵を独占販売していくようになるのである。本書は塩屋長兵衛が手がけた舞台面による役者絵ではなく、八文字屋八左衛門が集積した歌舞伎界の情報を駆使した演劇書となっている。歌舞伎にまつわる様々な情報が図解されているが、最も目を引くのは、50人の役者が百人一首の絵札風に、当たり役の座像で描かれ、役者名、屋号、俳名、狂歌師による讃が添えられていることであろう。1804年、八文字屋は本書の続編『草の種』を刊行し、その広告に更なる続編として『田植草』『初穂草』『晩稲草』の名を挙げているが、この三書は実際には刊行されなかった。塩屋長兵衛が板行した舞台面の役者絵本の方が、人気があったと考えられる。

Selected readings:

Andrew Gerstle アンドリュー・ガーストル and Yano Akiko 矢野明子, eds., Ryūkōsai zuroku: Kamigata yakusha-e no reimei 『流光斎図録上方役者絵の黎明』(Nishinomiya City: Mukogawa Kansai Culture Research Center [武庫川女子大学関西文化研究センター], 2009).

Kitagawa Hiroko 北川博子, Kamigata kabuki to ukiyo-e『上方歌舞伎と浮世絵』(Osaka: Seibundō, 2011).

Kitagawa Hiroko 北川博子, “Yakusha ehon no nagare”「役者絵本の流れ」, Ukiyo-e geijutsu 114 『浮世絵芸術114』(1995).

Osaka Museum of History (Ōsaka Rekishi Hakubutsukan 大阪歴史博物館) and the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (Waseda Daigaku Engeki Hakubutsukan 早稲田大学演劇博物館), Nichiei kōryū Ōsaka kabukiten: kamigata yakusha-e to toshi bunka 『日英交流大坂歌舞伎展―上方役者絵と都市文化』/ Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage 1780–1830 (Osaka: Ōsaka Rekishi Hakubutsukan, 2005).

Copies in other collections:

British Museum, London

Kagawa University, Kagawa Prefecture

Museum of Tobacco and Salt, Tokyo

National Diet Library, Tokyo

Nishio City Library (Iwase Bunko), Aichi Prefecture

Osaka City University

Tōhoku University, Sendai

Tokyo University of the Arts

University of Tokyo

Waseda University Theater Museum, Tokyo

Yakusha hyakunin isshu yosooi kagami