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B2-01 Ichikawa Kodanji Ⅳ
The role of Yuranosuke is a representative role of the jitsugoto style acted by the main protagonist. Jitsugoto is a composed individual of righteous discernment and sense who is often depicted suffering amidst a tragic situation and thus requires the portrayal of realism.
The role of Yuranosuke, especially his depiction in Act 7, has been greatly influenced by the actor Sawamura Sōjūrō I who played the analogous role Ōgishi Kunai in Ōyakazu shijūshichihon in 1747 by the Hoteiya Umenojō troupe in Kyoto before the premier of Kana dehon chūshingura. Since then, many important actors have added to the role.
Kana dehon chūshingura premiered at the Takemoto-za in Ōsaka as a puppet play in August of 1748 and by December of that year had already moved to the kabuki stage, performed by the Arashi Mitsugorō troupe in Ōsaka with Arashi Sanjūrō II performing the two roles of Yuranosuke and Kanpei. A performance at the Morita-za in February of 1749 was the first staging of Kana dehon chūshingura in Edo and the role of Yuranosuke was performed by Yamamoto Kyōshirō. Later that year, Chūshingura was performed at the Ichimura-za in May and the Nakamura-za in June; at the Ichimura-za, Yuranosuke was played by Sawamura Chōjūrō III while at the Nakamura-za the role was played by Bandō Hikosaburō I and both were well received. Between 1750 and the mid-1760s, the role of Yuranosuke was primarily played by Kyōshirō and Chōjūrō but after that many different actors vied with one another in their depictions of the role and their innovations and the understanding and the interpretation of the character continued to develop with particular interpretations being passed down within acting families.
During the Meiwa Period (1764-72), Onoe Kikugorō I played the roles of Yuranosuke and his wife Tonase as a “quick change” and during the Anei and Kansei Periods (1772-1801) Ichikawa Danzō IV, who was mainly active in the Kamigata area, played seven different roles as a “quick change.” Between the Kansei Period and the Bunka Period (1804-18), Bandō Hikosaburō III played the role of Yuranosuke repeatedly.
The most prominent actor to play Yuranosuke during the Bunka and Bunsei Periods (1804-30) was Bandō Mitsugorō III and he often played Yuranosuke as one of seven “quick change” roles. An actor playing seven “quick change” roles became quite popular in Edo during the Bunsei Era. In 1819, Ichikawa Danjūrō VII played seven roles at the Tamagawa-za and in 1822 Bandō Mitsugorō did the same at the Nakamura-za. In the seventh month of 1827 alone, Bandō Mitsugorō III and Ichikawa Danjūrō VII at the Ichimura-za and Onoe Kikugorō III at the Nakamura-za, all played seven roles. And in 1830, Sawamura Gennosuke II played eleven roles. In Kamigata, Ichikawa Danzō V and Nakamura Utaemon III both played five roles.
During the Tenpō era (1830-44), many actors played the role of Yuranosuke including Onoe Kikugorō III, Sawamura Sōjūrō V, and Nakamura Utaemon IV but it was Ichikawa Danjūrō VII who defined the role. After assuming the name of Ichikawa Ebizō V in 1832, he performed the role as part of a seven-role quick change in 1833 at the Kawarazaki-za and again in 1835 and 1837 at the Ichimura-za and at the Wakamiya Theater in Nagoya also in 1837. After his exile from Edo in 1842, he would perform the role of Yuranosuke numerous times in Kamigata, Nagoya, Ise, Hiroshima and other areas spreading his interpretation of the role across Japan. In the Bakumatsu Period, both Ichikawa Danzō VI and Kataoka Nizaemon VIII would frequently play the role. Beginning in the Meiji Period, we see a new phenomenon in which actors would play different roles depending on the day. At a performance at the Shintomi-za from November to December 1878, for example, Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, Onoe Kikugorō V, and Ichikawa Sadanji I – the so-called trio of “Dan, Kiku, and Sa” – played all of the main roles along with Nakamura Nakazō III and Nakamura Sōjūrō I. The following January also at the Shintomi-za, “Dan, Kiku, and Sa” along with Nakazō and Sōjūrō would alternate who played Yuranosuke, Honzō, Oishi, and so forth in Act 9. At the Kiri-za in 1889, “Dan, Kiku, and Sa” would alternate each day who played the five roles Yuranosuke, Heiemon, Okaru, Honzō, and Tonase in Acts 7 and 9.
Many of the roles of Chūshingura, not only Yuranosuke, were refined over time as each actor applied to the role his own acting style and interpretation and competed to outdo his peers in the role.
Here are introduced actor prints and theater prints of actors portraying the role of Yuranosuke from the Edo to Meiji Periods as well as mitate-e prints that depict the actor’s likeness not from specific performances.
※展示解説記事の中の画像をクリックすると大きな画像が表示されます。
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B2-02 Ichikawa Danjūrō Ⅶ (Ichikawa Ebizō Ⅴ)
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B2-03 Ichikawa Danjūrō Ⅸ
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B2-04 Ichikawa Danzō Ⅴ
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B2-05 Ichikawa Danzō Ⅵ
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B2-06 Ichinogawa Ichizō
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B2-07 Ichimura Uzaemon Ⅻ
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B2-08 Onoe Kikugorō Ⅲ
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B2-09 Onoe Tamizō Ⅱ
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B2-10 Kataoka Nizaemon Ⅷ
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B2-11 Sawamura Sōjūrō Ⅲ
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B2-12 Sawamura Chōjūrō Ⅴ
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B2-13 Nakamura Utaemon Ⅲ
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B2-14 Nakamura Utaemon Ⅳ
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B2-15 Nakamura Shikan Ⅳ
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B2-16 Nakamura Nakazō Ⅰ
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B2-17 Bandō Jusaburō Ⅲ
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B2-18 Bandō Hikosaburō Ⅴ
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B2-19 Bandō Mitsugorō Ⅲ
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B2-20 Actor's depicted on the "Seichū Ōboshi Ichidaiki"
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B2-21 Actors who play a role of Yuranosuke in Meiji period