Page 416 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

231 of the Floating Wo rid." In the middle The main attraction of the day is the
Amusements along the Riuerside at Shijô of the stage we see a pair of female spectacular performance of women's
performers (a third is unseen here) kabuki in the roofed stage shown
Late 16205 playing the shamisen. Sitting in in the left screen. Above the "mouse-
Pair of two-panel screens; chairs covered with exotic tiger and
ink, color, and gold on paper leopard skins, both women are wicket" entrance the banner with
Chinese bellflower motif announces
3
Each 164.4 x 172.8 (64 A x 68)
The Seikado Foundation, Tokyo flamboyantly dressed and have long that this is the Dôgiza troupe of
Important Cultural Property swords at their sides. The smaller female performers, headed by a cour-
signboard beneath the large banner tesan of tayü rank. The rambunctious
indicates they are high-ranking cour- crowd includes people of all ages and
• From ancient through early modern
times, the dry riverbed area of the tesans, or tayü, of the Sadoshima bor- walks of life. Young women's kabuki
was outlawed by the authorities in
dello. Seated on a brilliant red carpet
Kamo River in Kyoto, near the inter- to their side are other young female 1629 because its link to prostitution
section of Shijó (Fourth Avenue), was 415
a popular gathering place for enter- performers. Many of the "women who was thought to be injurious to public
morals, not to mention that samurai
play" (yujo) performing on stage were
tainers of every ilk who catered to the
masses of the capital. The river, here certainly prostitutes, but this should were getting in unseemly fights over
not prejudice us from
granting them
their favorite performers. Though
rendered abstractly in sinuous curves full credit for skilled performances. officially banned, women's kabuki is
of blue, flows north to south through
the eastern half of the city, but it was Other spectacles along Shijô cater to seen in surviving genre paintings,
seeming to indicate that it was still
reduced to an easily waded stream curiosity seekers. In the lower right occasionally performed through the
during the summer and fall. Since no corner of the right screen a giant early 16405.
permanent structures could be built woman sits inert while a pitchman
there, the dry riverbed and riverbanks points out this amazing sight to gasp- This pair of screens was probably
were unclaimed, untaxed, and un- ing spectators. In the neighboring created sometime during the
regulated property. The area became stall a dog decked out in miniature late 16205 by a townsman painter
a magnet for social outcasts, which court cap and costume does an auspi- with training in traditional Kano
during this age included actors and cious sanbasó dance, while its canine or Tosa academic techniques. JTC
dancers who, despite their great popu- accomplice leaps through a hoop held
larity, were linked with prostitution. by a man in an exotic Portuguese high
The riverside thus served as an area hat and pantaloons. In the next stall
where class and gender relations were to the left a juggler balances a bowl
put aside and people of all classes on a stick with his chin. The final stall,
could escape the drudgery of daily life. in the lower left corner of the right
screen, shows a delightful scene of
On both sides of the avenue various flautists playing long bamboo flutes,
entertainments are being held. their heads hidden by extravagant
Kabuki stages and booths with spec- boxlike curtained hats festooned with
tacles of every variety stand chock - artificial flowers.
ablock along the roadway, as crowds
of eager spectators take in all the Directly across the street a picture
sights. The focus of each screen is a signboard announces the sideshow of
performance of women's kabuki held a porcupine. Normally a nocturnal
on a temporary roofed stage. On the animal, the caged porcupine, already
right screen the red banner with irritable at being kept awake, is fur-
Mount Fuji motifs proudly announces ther provoked by the man poking him
the "Grand Kabuki from Sadoshima with a stick — its quills are shown
standing on end, mimicking the sign
at the entrance.