Actor, Role, and Character: Their Multiple Interrelationship in Kabuki

Author(s): Barbara E. Thornbury

Source: The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Jan., 1977),
pp. 31-40
Published by: Association of Teachers of Japanese
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/489484 .
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Vol.

Journal of the Association

of Teachers of Japanese

XII, No. 1
January 1977

ACTOR, ROLEJ AND CHARACTER:

THEIR MULTIPLE INTERRELATIONSHIP
IN KABUKI*

BARARA E. THORNBURY

of theatre,
KABUKI IS a grand display
very appealing
But the significance
to anyone's
sense of a good show.
of Kabuki lies
more deeply than this and the serious
he
be disappointed
will
until
inevitably
theatregoer
can discover
this significance
through a workable
Kabuki in terms
critical
This means viewing
approach.
of dramatic
and as such, something
art in general,
of the art
which can be understood
theories
by applying
form.
of Kabuki come?
At present,
how far has criticism
To begin,
there is a substantial
amount of informain Japanese,
and other
some in English
tion--mostly
of Kabuki, as well
and history
the origins
languages--on
as on the kind of costumes and make-up, music and sound
and styles
of acting
that are used.
Research
effects,
has been done on playwrighting
and play structure,
the functo some extent--analyzing
categorizing--and
dramatic and theatrical
tionoof
various
techniques
and conventions.
what
In trying
to evaluate
the plays and analyze
there has been
however,
happens during a performance,
with
a tendency,
familiar
especially
among critics
theatrical
to
both Western and Japanese
traditions,
describe
Kabuki simply by comparing it to Western
theatre.
At best we are told that Kabuki is a kind of
"total
theatre"--in
the sense that it uses so many
of theatrical
some that
devices
(including
presentation

31

32

BARBARA E.

THORNBURY

are rarely
or never seen on the Western stage).
At
we are told that it is a rather formless
worst,
array
of music, dancing,
and posturing
kind of
by actors--a
of the American musical.
poor version
In effect,
of Kabuki has swung between
criticism
the over-adoration
of those impressed
by an "exotic
and the under-rating
of those who have not
spectacle"
been able to see further
than the spectacle.
This
was
summed
Eisenpredicament
up by the film director
who wrote the following
in 1928, after
a troupe
stein,
of Kabuki actors
had visited
Russia on one of their
first
outside
of
"We have been visited
trips
Japan.
the
Kabuki
theatre--a
wonderful
manifestation
of
by
theatrical
culture.
voice
critical
Every
gushes praise
for its splendid
But there has been
craftsmanship.
no appraisal
of what constitutes
its wonder."l
In
Eisenstein's
evaluation
still
holds true
general,
today, even though almost fifty
years have passed and
Kabuki has received
worldwide
increasing
exposure.
the nature of any dramatic
Adequately
describing
art is not easy, of course,
and it is indeed difficult
to avoid getting
in
a
web of overly-simplified
caught
We
find
must
instead
an approach which
comparisons.
is workable from the standpoint
of universal
dramatic
one that appears particularly
and
theory;
interesting
for our purposes
suitable
is a study of the interrebetween actor,
and character.
lationship
role,
With this approach in mind, we may begin by lookinto
a charge that is often leveled
at Kabuki:
ing
that Kabuki is actor-centered,
but without meaningful
dramatic
context.2
This is to say that the plays have
value only as vehicles
for the actor's
skill
on the
on
but
the
whole
are
not
in
their
stage,
significant
artistic
That
Kabuki
should
be
labeled
conception.
actor-centered
is natural:
all theatre
is.
But the
notion that it is without meaningful
context
only
reflects
failure
to understand
its nature as a dramatic art.
If a play has a meaningful
from what is
context,
it derived?
Is it from the plot?
The characters?
In the Poetics
Aristotle
six separate
designated
parts

KABUKI

33

of tragedy,
It
being foremost.
plot and character
should be made clear that Aristotle
plot and
separated
character
for purposes
not because
of analysis,
they
of a play.
As
can be separated
in the process
really
has
"character
can
never
be
observed
noted,
Santayana
. . . except as manifested
in action."3
And what we
call plot,
after
is the way we describe
that
all,
of the dramatic action.
it is an outline
action;
manifest
this action?
But, then, how does character
When we talk about the characters
in a play we are not
about isolated
but about beings which
talking
beings,
interact.
Hamlet would not be Hamlet without
Ophelia,
in short without
without
the interaction
of
Gertrude,
the other characters.4
With the present
of
popularity
there
is
the
to
theory,
temptation
psychoanalytic
a play by isolating
characters
from the play as
analyze
a whole and to treat
them as if they were distinct
entities.
But as Bentley
has said in his
psychological
on
in
the
Character
Drama:
Life
chapter
of
While we have been brought up to believe
that
what interests
us in the life
shown on stage is
the character
of separate
a factor
individuals,
is
that probably
does more to hold us fascinated
the spectacle
of a more adequate kind of communihence of relationship
cation with others,
with
than
we
find
in
can
life.5
others,
of a play does lie in
Assuming that the interest
of the characters,
the interactions
in what way are
In the modern
actors
to these characters?
related
tradition
it can be said that the actor's
realistic
and faithful
duty is to serve a play with direct
representations
of character.
This means, ideally,
that the
audience
is not concerned with the actors
as individbut
as
who
The actor's
manifest
character.
uals,
agents
a
to
inside
as
is
it
and
take on a
were,
job
step
play,
new identity--that
the
he
is
character
being
portraying.
how Stanislavsky
his
This is essentially
viewed acting,
actor
concern
how
the
can
most
effectiveprimary
being
he is to play.
ly enter into the character

34

BARBARA E.

THORNBURY

Can the task of Kabuki actor be looked at in the

interest
same way? Is the audience's
in Kabuki limited
to
certain
character
interrelations
within
a play?
only
The answer appears to be no.
of roles,
The Kabuki actor has a multiplicity
both
the conventional
of a play.
and outside
limits
inside
dramatic context"
must even
Thus, the "meaningful
extend beyond any written
it is
And
indeed,
script.
often said that Kabuki scripts
are not meant to be
read.
of
(One is reminded that the first
publication
came
as
late
as
the
Meiji
era,
plays
playwrighting
some two centuries
earlier.6)
having started
Here we find an important
feature
of Kabuki.
Whereas we think of many--if
not most--plays
in the
Western tradition
as having both a theatrical
and a
purely literary
appeal (meaning that we see them as
works to be produced in the theatre
as well as to be
read in the library),
Kabuki is more of a theatrical
art exclusively.
Even within
the Japanese
tradition
No
more
read
than
attend
itself,
many
people
plays
of
them.
is not
Kabuki
performances
Although reading
without
the
basic
is
value,
script
incomplete
especialall of the
ly in the sense that it cannot reveal
between actor,
special
multiple
interrelationships
and
which
are
so
central
to the art
role,
character,
of Kabuki.
It is these multiple
and some
interrelationships
of their
that I wish to discuss
in the
implications
In order to give concrete
remainder of this paper.
focus mainly on Sukeroku Yukari no
examples I will
Edo Zakura, commonly called
one of the most
Sukeroku,
of
the
popular plays
repertoire.
The Kabuki actor works simultaneously
on three
levels.
different
These are: 1) the actor as yakusha,
and 3) the yakugara as
2) the yakusha as yakugara,
yaku.
Since yakusha is usually
translated
into English
as "actor,"
it may seem redundant
to call
the first
level
"the actor as yakusha."
In point of fact,
howthe word yakusha as it is applied
to Kabuki,
ever,

KABUKI

35

a great deal more than just individuals

who
implies
on the stage.
In a 1962
happened to find themselves
Sukeroku was played by Ichiof Sukeroku,7
production
kawa Danjuro,
Agemaki by Nakamura Utaemon, and Ikyu
Utaemon, and Mitsugoro
by Bando Mitsugoro.
Danjuro,
are all,
of course,
historical
stage names, indicating
that the actors
who were accorded
these names had after
a certain
and practice
attained
many years of training
level
of skill
and esteem in the Kabuki world.
Recogof the individual
nition
actor takes the form of a
number along with the name (e.g.
Juichidaime
Ichikawa
is at
Danjuro--"Ichikawa
Danjuro XI"), but what really
issue
value of names like Danjuro and
is the symbolic
Utaemon.
Individuals
of the great
may die, but the spirit
When audiences
come to see
stage names continues.
these actors
have certain
perform they already
expectain their minds--expectations
tions
apart from any play
in a very real sense
This is important
because
per se.
for example,
has a dramatic
function
Danjuro,
already
before one even considers
Sukeroku or any other particular part he may be playing.
This point is best
of the second level,
illustrated
in a discussion
yakusha as yakugara.
or "role type."
Yakugara may be translated"role"
The Danjuro line of actors,
for instance,
is known for
their portrayal
of the tachiyaku,
the great male hero
of Edo
consummate source of the aragoto
roles,
style
Kabuki.
a
Utaemon, on the other hand, is an onnagata,
of women's roles.
There are many sub-divisions
player
of role types within
the more general
categories.
or "chivalDanjuro as Sukeroku is a kind of otokodate,
rous commoner."
Utaemon as Agemaki is a tayu, a highas Ikyu is a jitsu
aku,
ranking courtesan.
Mitsugoro
a bad guy.
This kind of role type categorization
can
be done for all the actors who appear in Sukeroku,
or
any other Kabuki play.
There are few examples in world theatre
where role
to the dramatic
art and developed
types are so central
with such complexity
as they are in Kabuki.
The best
arte
example that comes to mind is the commedia dell'

36

BARBARA E.

THORNBURY

which flourished
in Europe from about the middle of the
to the middle of the eighteenth
sixteenth
centuries.
Like Kabuki the commedia dell'
arte had well-developed
but that is as far as its development
role types,
arte actors
When commedia dell'
reached.
performing
roles
such as the phlegmatic
the wily lawyer,
doctor,
the harsh father,
the beautiful
the handsome
daughter,
the
rival met on stage,
and
evil
suitor,
many dramatic
situations
could and did arise.
But in order for a
theatrical
tradition
to grow--and
thus survive--interand
well-conceived
dramatic
characters
derived
esting
from a substantial
of
is
repertoire
plays
prerequisite.
The Kabuki had the plays and survived,
the commedia
dell'
arte did not and died.
Even before
character
is considered,
it should be
said that although
actors
particular
may be identified
with certain
the art of Kabuki
primarily
yakugara,
of its major
gains much from the skillful
versatility
actors.
It is fascinating
to see actors with the
to move between and among role types and in
ability
certain
instances
be able to instantly
transform
themselves
on stage from one role type to another,
dependthe actor is playing.
characters
ing on the particular
on which the
This,
then, brings us to the third level
actor works: the yakugara as yaku.
Yaku are the particular
characters
in a play and
it is at this level
that the concept of multiplicity
in the interrelationship
between actor,
and
role,
character
is fully
of
developed.8
Although instances
actors
more than one character
in a play can
playing
be found in the European tradition,
for example--as
in Shakespeare's
Much Ado About Nothing,
Yeats'
The
Words upon the Window Pane, and Genet's
The Balcony-in European drama there is generally
a one actor to
one character
in
the
course
of a play.
relationship
This is not the case in Kabuki.
On the contrary,
one
Kabuki actor may play several
characters--and
roles-in the same play and often with very interesting
results.
There are two techniques
by which an actor can
enter a multiplicity
of role and character
interrein a play.
One is to play a single
lationships

KABUKI

37

and also that character

character
in disguise.
The
other is for the actor to double his parts by playing
different
characters--characters
with no necessary
to
each
other
relationship
except that they all appear
within
the framework of the same play.
These two
in
and
are,
short,
techniques
doubling.
disguising
what is perhaps the archetypal
Sukeroku provides
In the production
in Kabuki.
that
example of disguising
has been referred
to Danjuro plays the warrior hero
himself
as a commoner named
Soga Goro who has disguised
Sukeroku.
What is most curious
is that Soga Goro lived
in the twelfth
century.
By being Sukeroku, he is then
a
kind
of theatrical
time machine
catapulted
by
special
into the eighteenth
it is
century.9
Historically,
but
it
is
workable
illogical,
theatrically
acceptable--and
for generations
of Kabuki audiences.
Time is not the only element
that is theatricalized
for the purpose of a disguise.
At the beginning
of the
Sukeroku's
as a samurai,
mother, Manko, disguised
play,
has set out to find her son.
The actor portraying
Manko
is an onnagata,
a male actor who plays women's roles.
In
order to carry out Mank5's samurai disguise
he must play
a woman in the role of a man. Thus, in effect,
the actor
is at a double remove from reality.
It is only the
of time can be bent to man's
theatre
where the process
will
and where a woman who is not a woman can pretend that
she is a man.
of disguising
Other instances
can be found in
the whole repertoire
Sukeroku and throughout
as well.
Hanako as Kiyohime in Musume DPj5ji and Benten Kozo in his
numerous disguises--including
Benten
a woman's role--in
Kozo are noteworthy
exhibit
examples.
Although disguises
of complexity,
in order for the technique
varying
degrees
of disguising
to be effective
the same actor must play all
It will not work if Sukeroku and
parts of the disguise.
are played by different
actors.
Soga Goro, for example,
This is not true,
In doubling
different
but with
characters,
the same actor.
The
unlike
is
disguising,

in the case of doubling.

however,
actors
may play the different
effect
than if played by
different
reason for this is that doubling,
not built
into the dramatic

38
structure
director's

BARBARA E.
of a play.
decision.

It

TIHORNBURY
is,

rather,

a kind

of

In the Kabuki version

of Funa Benkei the beautiful
Shizuka Gozen and the monstrous Tomomori are
traditionally
played by the same actor.
Doubling is
of the actor's
not only pleasing
as a display
versain role playing,
but it can also create
or
tility
new--and often ironic--character
interrelations
clarify
for the audience.
While Shizuka and Tomomori have no
to each other,
particular
relationship
they are both
in an almost opposite
related
One
way to Yoshitsune.
is Yoshitsune's
the other is the incarnation
of
lover;
his mortal enemy.
When the two characters
are played
a transformation
of lover-into-enemy
by the same actor,
is necessitated.
Although the role of lover is distinct
from the role of enemy at least
in Funa Benkei,
in the world of men the line that separates
"lover"
and "enemy" may be thin indeed and it is this kind of
fluid
contrast
that the actor achieves
through the
of doubling.
would
technique
Again, the same results
not be possible
if the parts were played by different
actors.
There are a number of variations
of disguising
and doubling.
of
discussion
Although a more complete
them must be reserved
for a future
there are
study,
two examples I would like to mention now.
One is the
so named because as in
"Chushingura"
type of disguise,
the play Chushingura
the disguise
includes
all the
and incidents
in the play and is never
characters
revealed
The other
except in the mind of the audience.
is that most theatrical
of all disguises
and doublings:
the moment when the actor reverses
the artistic
process
and suddenly
to take the role
steps out of character
of a "plain" actor.
He may pause to sip tea, chat with
the audience,
or 3ympathize with a fellow
congratulate
actor.
In this way, he reminds everyone
that the art
of the theatre
is from the start
a very elaborate
disguise.
to the
Kabuki, as dramatic art, gives expression
of human nature and society.
The artistic
complexities
is based on the actor,
who functions
process
through

39

KABUKI

a multiplicity
of role and character
interrelationships
to show, these interreAs I have tried
in a play.
on three levels:
are analyzable
lationships
yakusha,
and
yaku.
yakugara,
the great
In sum, Kabuki begins with the yakusha,
and
whose
artistic
others,
Utaemon,
heritage
Danjuro,
dramatic stature.
gives them immediate and significant
The activity
of the yakusha is based on generalized
and tayu, for example) and
(the
tachiyaku
yakugara
in
finds final
expression
specific
yaku (Sukeroku and
These interrelationships
are
Manko, for example).
and
which
multiplied
by disguising
techniques
doubling,
and enhance the enjoyment and
are highly
theatrical
meaning of a play.
this approach,
we can conclude
Having followed
of Kabuki stems in large
that the dramatic complexity
of
varied dimensions
part from the actor in his richly
role and character.
It is a complexity
that cannot be
of a
entirely
by reading only the script
appreciated
it is a complexity
that adequately
Moreover,
play.
fulfills
the critic's
search for artistic
significance,
or in other words, meaningful
dramatic
context
in
Kabuki.
UNIVERSITY

OF BRITISH

COLUMBIA

NOTES:
is a revised
*This article
at the ATJ meeting
(literature
D.C., November 28, 1975.

version
panel)

of a paper read
held in Washington,

in E.T.
"The Unexpected,"
Sergei Eisenstein,
A
Critical
Theatre:
Total
(New
ed.,
Anthology
Kirby,
York: E.P. Dutton,
1969), p. 178.
1.

Theater
of Japanese
A History
2. Kawatake Toshio,
Bunka
Kabuki
1971),
Shinkokai,
(Kokusai
II, Bunraku and
p. 63.
from The Sense of Beauty,
3. George Santayana,
The Life of the Drama (New
quoted in Eric Bentley,
York: Atheneum, 1964), p. 62.

BARBARA E.

40
4.
Cambridge
5.

J.L.

Styan,
University

Bentley,

p.

THORNBURY

The Elements
of Drama (Cambridge:
1960),
Press,
pp. 174-5.
67.

6. Gunji Masakatsu,
trans.
Kabuki,
by John Bester
AlKodansha
1969),
International,
(Palo Alto:
p. 33.
of joruri
the publication
plays
began in the
though
to
the first
Kabuki play
seventeenth
century,
early
Kanzen choaku
Mokuami's
in print
was Kawatake
appear
E-iri
of
summaries
nozoki
(1891).
kyogenbon,
garakuri
sevendate
from the late
Kabuki plays
in pamphlet
form,
Ted Takaya,
An Inquiry
into
teenth
See also
century.
Kabuki Playwright
the Role of the Traditional
(Columbia
diss.,
1969),
Univ.,
pp. 19 and 152ff.
unpub.
7.
and

Entire

descriptive

with
accompanying
script
performance,
Victor
SJ-3001-3.
notes,
Records,

8. Role is a broader
and more abstract
concept
from examples
As can be seen
character.
already
in generalized
roles
terms:
the hero,
are labeled
given,
the chivalrous
the
etc.
Characcourtesan,
commoner,
on the other
names:
ters,
hand, are usually
given
proper
so
on.
and
Sukeroku,
Agemaki,
than

in Gunji
9. See the section
no hasso"
"Gikyoku
Kabuki no hasso
1959),
Masakatsu,
Kobundo,
(Tokyo:
pp.
in Japanese
terms
for a discussion
of matters
68-80,
related
to disguising
and doubling.