The Dance Sagi Musume ("The Heron Maiden") - Kabuki
五代目坂東玉三郎が近年広めた、歌舞伎の代表的な演目「鷺娘」。その前に、この舞踊の基本的な構成、テーマ、技法を簡単に紹介します。【あらすじ】鷺娘とは？ 鷺 とは、雪深い鷺 のことです。鷺 という鳥でありながら、若い女性に変身して舞う。冬景色の中にサギの精が現れる。その姿は、真っ白な着物に黒い帯、頭には白い綿帽子をかぶり、鳥の仕業であることを表している。その後、瞬時に装いを変え、華やかな着物を着た若い女性になり、恋の説得力を見せ、傘を持って舞う。しかし、やがて鳥の本性が現れる。彼女は人間ではないので、苦悩を味わいながら死んでいく。(English) The Dance Sagi Musume ("The Heron Maiden") is one of the most famous kabuki repertoires, popularized in recent times by the onnagata star Bandō Tamasaburō V(5th). (Synopsis) What is Sagi Musume? A Sagi means snowy heron. Although it is a bird called a Sagi, she turns into a young woman and dances. A Sagi's spirit appears in the winter scenery. The appearance is a pure white kimono, a black belt, and a white cotton hat on the head, showing a bird's work. After that, she changes her costume instantly and becomes a young woman wearing a gorgeous kimono, leading the persuasion of love, and dances with an umbrella. However, the nature of the bird eventually appears. Because She is not human, taste the torment and die.
The Dance Sagi Musume ("The Heron Maiden") - Kabuki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wXgh0uUv3k
1)
It is time to have another look at this famous masterpiece.
It is one of the oldest dances in the Kabuki repertoire and a celebrated work of incredible beauty and depth.
2)
Sagi Musume was first staged in the fourth lunar month of 1762.
By the legendary Onnagata actor(Man acts as a woman) Segawa Kikunojuro II(1741 - 1773) at the Ichimura-za theatre in Edo, the city now known as Tokyo.
3)
Although the story's details are unclearly hidden behind the highly poetic lyrics.
Sugi Musume tells the sorrowful tale of a young maid who, due to the sin of Moshu or "wrongful clinging," is reborn as a heron in the next life.
4)
The music, a masterpiece of its own, belongs to the Nagauta school, and it is composed by Kineya Chujiro, with lyrics by Hirokoshi Nisoji.
The nagauta song survived, but the dance was forgotten until the prolific dancer Bando Mitsugoro III(1775 - 1831) staged his version in the third lunar month of 1813 at the Nakamura-za as part of the 12-role transformation dance "Shiki no Nagame Yosete Mitsudaiji."
5)
In May 1886, Ichikawa Danjuro IX(1838 - 1903) revived the dance for a performance at the Shintomi-za theatre in Tokyo, followed by another production in 1902 at the Kabuki-za.
6)
This version would become the template used by every actor after him, to which some of the great dancers of the XX century would add their touches.
The dance begins with the theatre in almost complete darkness as the nagauta ensemble performs the short introductory section known as Okiuta.
"On this moonlit night, surrounded by clouds of delusion, my heart, lost in love..."
7)
Then, the figure of a woman mysteriously appears on the edge of the frozen lake, wearing a bridal kimono tied with an inauspicious black Obi.
The Michiyuki or "Travel dance" begins the second section in the traditional structure of Nagauta dance, originally meant to be danced on the Hanamichi as it represents the character's first appearance.
8)
In addition to the beauty of the choreography and setting, this section is remarkable for the strange bird-like movements of the maiden.
The dramatic device of animals taking a human form can be seen in several other kabuki plays linked to the universal themes of metamorphosis and love.
9)
Then, with a quick costume change known as Hikinuki, a stage assistant removes the threads that bind two layers of the Kimono together.
The heron maiden changes to the character of a city girl or machi Musume as the dance enters its third section, the Kudoki or entreaty.
10)
The character of the city girl is familiar with Kabuki dance, and it can be seen, for example, in Kyoganoko Musume Dojo-ji.
At the same time, the Kudoki is another formal division of the Nagauta dance.
As such, it is present in works as diverse as Musume Dojo-ji, Fuji(flower) Musume, and Shunkyo Kagomi Jishi.
After that, the maiden disappears behind the stage for another costume change, allowing for an instrumental section known as Tsunagi.
11)
The Kudoki continues as a Te Odori or "Hand dance" as the lyrics borrow from famous love songs.
"Harder than drawing salt on Suma beach is catching my lover's heart!"
12)
The lyrics return briefly to the image of the heron under the snow as a prelude for the following Hikinuki onstage costume change.
We enter the Odoriji or "Rhythmic finale" of the dance, and the maiden begins to perform using the umbrella as a prop in the section known as Kasa Zukushi or "Catalogue of umbrellas."
13)
"Let's go to mount Yoshino and see the cherries.
That's the way, that's the way!
A parasol for fragrant flowers."
The atmosphere darkens as the snow resumes, and we enter the final section, the Chirashi or "Scattering."
The maiden hides behind the umbrella and, with the help of a stage assistant.
She prepares for two more quick costume changes.
14)
First, with another Hikinuki, she changes to a scarlet Kimono which alludes to her resentment and betrayal.
"The blades of jealousy drive me from this world to the Mount of Swords."
15)
This is the Ebizori no mie or "prawn-shaped" pose, which represents the overwhelming distress of the character.
This final costume is revealed with the technique of Bukkaeri in which the top half of the Kimono is instantly dropped, showing a completely new pattern with the implication that the character's true nature has been revealed.
We now see the maiden in her proper form as the tormented spirit of a heron.
In this final section of the dance, as a fatal wound appears on her side, the heron maiden vividly represents the torments of hell as the lyrics describe the horrors she has endured.
16)
"King Enma(King devil in hell), the judge of sins, I can see his iron stave!
The Hell of Revival, The Crushing Hell, a multitude of cries and screams, the constant beating of the demon's drums."
17)
Finally, the dance concludes with the image of the heron collapsing on the snow.
The Dance Sagi Musume ("The Heron Maiden")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wXgh0uUv3k
Sagi Musume 【Kabuki】Bando Tamasaburo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWJZarvWYQI
Tamasaburo "The Written Face - Interviews"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ByGXCey68
You can rent a complete performance of this dance, with English subtitles, here:
https://mirail.video/title/4810252
Why are Kabuki plays performed by men? Why are there no female actors?
Add - The Edo Shogunate's ban on Kabuki made it exclusively for men.
i)
Kabuki is said to have begun about 400 years ago as a Kabuki dance performed by Izumo Okuni, a shrine maiden of Izumo Taisha Shrine.
Izumo no Okuni, a shrine maiden of Izumo Taisha Shrine, danced the Kabuki Dance.
This means that Kabuki originated with a woman.
Gradually, groups of women and prostitutes named after Izumoakuni began to take the stage, and the Kabuki dance became very popular throughout the town.
ii)
However, the women began to wear revealing costumes, and the shogunate, concerned that this would disrupt public morals in Edo, issued a ban on women's Kabuki.
If women were not allowed to perform, young men were encouraged to take the stage, and young men between the ages of 16 and 18 began to perform Kabuki, but this, too, was banned by the shogunate for the same reason as the women kabuki.
iii)
Nevertheless, Kabuki was still very popular as a pastime for ordinary people, so to continue it somehow, a new type of Kabuki was devised in which only adult men performed (Yaro kabuki).
The shogunate imposed various restrictions on the practice, but it was agreed that it would be fine as long as adult men performed it.
This is said to be why today's kabuki performers are exclusively male.
iv)
Even a woman can stand on a Kabuki stage if you are a child!
In Kabuki, only men are allowed on stage.
However, only child actors are allowed to perform as girls.
Reika, the eldest daughter of Ichikawa Ebizo XI, is one such child actor.
As for how long a child actor can perform in Kabuki, it is said that in today's Kabuki, a child actor can serve until age 10.
v)
A little girl Unusual Kabuki Debut
In March 2020, big news came out.
Reika, the eldest daughter of Ichikawa Ebizo XI, will make her Kabuki debut.
Reika will assume the name Botan Ichikawa IV of the Ichikawa School of Japanese dance in 2019.
In the long history of Kabuki, a woman/girl who is not a child actor
This news must have surprised Kabuki fans and the whole country.
This may be an opportunity for the Kabuki world to develop differently than in the past.
Botan Ichikawa starred in "Danjuro Musume" at the Kabuki-za after 60 years as a woman.
https://hochi.news/articles/20221205-OHT1T51250.html?page=1