Even as a severed head, still beautiful. Up on stage, Shichinosuke-san’s Koman — reduced to just a head — was so lovely it made me laugh. It’s supposed to be a terrifying scene, and there I was, reaching for my opera glasses to check whether she was still pretty. What is wrong with me. As always, today was the absolute best.
What’s On in the Evening Show
A double bill: the dance piece Hanayagu Kawara no Niwakajishi (a lively festival dance set in the pleasure quarter) and the full-length play Kamikakete Sango Taisetsu. The first half is a gorgeous dance set in Yoshiwara, Edo’s pleasure district; the second half shifts completely into a kizewamono (a raw, realistic drama of life at society’s edges). From the bright bustle of the quarter straight into a story in which people keep dying, one after another. It’s frightening, yes — but that sheer range in a single evening is exactly what makes me so happy about kabuki.
Niwakajishi — Yoshiwara, Full of Beauties
The curtain opens on Nakanocho, the main street of Yoshiwara (the narration-like opening made me chuckle — it felt just like the earphone guide). My eyes went straight to Shoroku-san — wonderful last month, wonderful again. Then more and more performers filled the stage, and the geisha lined up in a row — so many beauties I didn’t know in which to look. Tokizo-san, Yonekichi-san… and then one onnagata (an actor performing a female role) who simply stood out. Found the beauty! I thought — and of course, it was Tatsunosuke-san 🥹 Fresh from last month’s name-succession celebration, and now utterly radiant as an onnagata.
Being a shishimono (a lion dance piece), there’s a vigorous lion dance partway through, and after finishing it, Hayato-san was visibly catching his breath, even from the audience. He makes it look effortless, but clearly it takes everything.
The tekomai (festival dancers parading in male dress) included some children, too — one making their very first appearance at the Kabukiza this month. Absolutely adorable. I wonder if the parents watching from behind were secretly nervous… or watching with the strict eyes of a teacher.
Kamikakete Sango Taisetsu — The Terror of a Man Who Shows Nothing
A ronin (a masterless samurai) called Gengobei (Matsuya-san) is infatuated with the geisha Koman (Shichinosuke-san) — but Koman has a husband, Sangoro (Kankuro-san). In today’s terms, it’s essentially a stalker story. Though to be fair, Koman did exploit Gengobei’s feelings to swindle him out of his money, so you can see why he’d hold a grudge. In the second half, Gengobei begins killing, one person after another — and this is in which it gets chilling. He doesn’t rage. His face shows nothing at all as he kills, and that emptiness is what sends the shivers down your spine.
He hunts Koman down, stabs her, severs her head… and then there’s a scene in which he tenderly carries the head of the woman he loved back home and sits down to dinner with it. Pure psychopath territory. And yet — Shichinosuke-san’s severed head was, once again, beautiful (laughs). It’s strange: the scene is wound impossibly tight, but there are these flickers of comedy, and then you think about what’s going on inside Gengobei and lose your footing entirely. My emotions were flung all over the place. Honestly, I’m still not sure I’ve fully made sense of it.
Since it’s a toshi kyogen (a play performed in full, from beginning to end) with quite a tangled plot, my recent favourite — the earphone guide — was a great help. My style is to keep it on as a rule, and take it off only when I really want to hear the live voices and music. Which means I occasionally miss a bit of commentary. (laughs)
Row 6: The Trusty Dobu Seats
This time I was in Row 6 of the stalls. After sitting in the very front row last time, I was slightly worried — but Row 6 turns out to be just right. Better still, I was on the left side in the so-called dobu seats (the seats running alongside the hanamichi, the raised walkway through the audience), so the hanamichi was right beside me. Every time an actor passed, my heart skipped. The only thing is the spotlight — it does shine rather brightly in your eyes…
Interval Dinner at Hanakago: The Kozure Okami Set
At the Hanakago dining room, I had the Kozure Okami Gozen 🍱 — a set menu named after the play in the matinee. Although, this being the evening show, perhaps a Sango Taisetsu Gozen would have been more fitting!
Now, about this Kozure Okami set: it comes in a three-tiered lacquered box, and it is generous. Finishing it within the interval is, frankly, a challenge.
And one would also like to visit the loo, wouldn’t one? I left my table the moment I finished eating, popped into the washroom inside Hanakago, came back out — and the place was deserted (laughs). Everyone’s too quick! Seeing me panic, a member of staff kindly told me, The five-minute bell has just rung… Perhaps I was taking things a little too leisurely.
In Closing
Frightening, beautiful, occasionally funny — and in the end, completely full. An evening show with tremendous range. Beautiful even as a severed head is not an experience you come across every day. If you get the chance, Kamikakete Sango Taisetsu is well worth seeing. (Shichinosuke-san dies every single day, doesn’t he…)
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