Sakata Tōjūrō IV.

Sakata Tojuro IV.

Sakata Tōjūrō IV. ( Japanese 四代目坂田藤十郎 , Yondaime Sakata Tōjūrō , also: . Nakamura Ganjiro III ( 三代目中村鴈治郎 , Sandaime ~ ) and . Nakamura Senjaku II ( 二代目中村扇雀 , Nidaime ~ ), maiden name: Hirotaro Hayashi ( 林宏 太郎 , Hayashi Hirotarō ; born December 31, 1931 )) is a Japanese kabuki performer of the Kamigata style. It became the living national treasure explained. In contrast to most of the other kabuki actors, he plays both the male wagotoshi and female onnagata roles. He is the fourth in the line of Sakata Tōjūrō , after he has resumed this traditional line after a break of 230 years.

family

Although he has no direct family relationship to the "Sakata Tōjūrō", he leads his family tradition back over several generations in the world of Kabuki. He is the eldest son of Nakamura Ganjirō II , grandson of Nakamura Ganjirō I and great-grandson of Nakamura Kanjaku III. who was adopted into the Kabuki families by Nakamura Utaemon IV .

Tōjūrō's sons Nakamura Kanjaku V. and Nakamura Senjaku III. also play kabuki, as do his grandchildren Nakamura Kazutarō and Nakamura Toranosuke . He is married to the politician Chikage Ōgi .

Life

Hayashi was born on the evening of the year 1931 as the eldest son of Nakamura Ganjirō II . He had his first appearance in October 1941 under the name Nakamura Senjaku II in the Kado-za in Osaka , in the play Komochi Yamanba .

In the course of his career he has performed mainly in Osaka and has played traditional pieces that have long been part of the repertoire as well as new pieces, mainly by Kabuki writer Nobuo Uno . He also often participated in new performances of works by the great bunraku (puppet theater) writer Chikamatsu Monzaemon in Tokyo . He played “The Suicides for Love in Sonezaki” (Sonezaki Shinjū), one of Chikamatsu's most famous works , for the first time after the Second World War in 1953 in Shinbashi Enbujō ( Ginza , Tokyo). The 250th anniversary of the poet was celebrated with the new performance of "Horikawa Nami no Tsuzumi" in 1973.

In 1982, Senjaku founded the Chikamatsu-za , a traveling theater company committed to performing and reviving the works of Chikamatsu. The tours took him through many cities in Japan and also abroad to England , China , the United States and other countries. He not only carried out performances, but also gave lectures and organized cultural workshops. The tours often performed “The Suicides for Love in Amijima” (Amijima Shinjū) and occasionally works were revived that had not been performed for centuries. In 1998, for example, the troupe played the piece "Keisei Mibu Dainenbutsu", which had not been performed since 1702.

Senjaku inherited the name and became Nakamura Ganjirō III. in November 1990, in a shūmei ceremony at Kabukiza in Tokyo. Ganjirō was declared a Living National Treasure in 1994.

In December 2005 he took the name Sakata Tōjūrō in Minami-za in Kyoto. With this step he wanted to revive a line of tradition that 230 before, with the death of Sakata Tōjūrō III. 1774, was extinct. He not only wanted to honor the memory of this tradition, an actor who, as a pioneer of the tradition, had contributed much to the development and continuation of the "Kamigata" ( Kansai ) Kabuki tradition, but also wanted to revive this tradition and acquire it for himself. For this reason alone, he is traded as a symbol of the Kamigata tradition and top actor.

In addition to the performance of pieces, Tōjūrō acts as patron and collaborator in a whole series of cultural programs, which are intended to arouse interest in Kabuki and especially the Kamigata tradition. A tour also took him to Guangzhou , Beijing , Shanghai and Hangzhou in September 2007 . In December of the same year he celebrated his 77th birthday (a special anniversary in Japan) with the performance of "Dōjōji", a No- piece.

Honors

• Praemium Imperiale 2008
• Order of Culture 2009

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kabuki Preservation Society: Kabuki techō. 2008: 130.
2. ^ Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum: Sakata Tōjūrō. In: Japan Encyclopedia 2005: 812. (Google books).
3. ^ Art Research Center, Kyoto Traditional Performing Arts Project, Shumei (name-change) anniversary , 2006.
4. ↑ Praemium Imperiale, 2008 laureates ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ "Emperor awards decoration to Russian Japanese art expert" ( Memento of the original dated November 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Mainichi Shimbun. November 4, 2009. 

literature

• Kabuki Preservation Society (伝 統 歌舞 伎 保存 会 Dentō kabuki hozonkai): Kabuki Notebook 2008 (か ぶ き 手 帖 2008 年 版 Kabuki techō 2008). Tokyo: Japan Actors' Association (日本 俳 優 協会 編 集 Nihon Haiyū Kyōkai) 2008. ISBN 978-4-902675-04-7
• Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum; Käthe Roth: Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press 2005. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5 ; http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/58053128?referer=di&ht=edition OCLC 58053128

Japanese

• 近 松 劇 へ の 招待: 舞台 づ く り と 歌舞 伎 考 (1989) with Koshirō Uno
• 通 し 狂言 宿 無 団 七 時 雨 の 傘: 三 幕 六 場 (1992) with Shōzō Namiki & Ginsaku Tobe
• 一生 青春 (1997) with Michiko Toki
• 雁 治郎 芸 談 by 中 村 雁 治郎 (2000) Kiyoshi Mizuochi
• 恋 飛脚 大 和 往来. 封印 切: 一幕 (2000) with Mansaku Tatsuoka
• 加 賀 見 山 旧 錦 絵: 通 し 狂言: 四 幕 七 場 (2004) with Yōtai Yō & Shōichi Yamada
• 坂 田 藤 十郎: 歌舞 伎 の 真 髄 を 生 き る (2006)

Web links

• Kabuki 21
• Sakata Tōjūrō IV