Sukeroku

• Premiere: 1713, Yamamura-za
• Playwrights:
• Japanese: 助六由縁江戸桜 (Sukeroku Yukari no Edo-zakura)

Sukeroku is among the most popular and famous of kabuki plays. Closely associated with the Ichikawa Danjûrô line of actors, it is counted among the Kabuki Jûhachiban.

The story centers on Sukeroku, a samurai and otokodate, a prominent patron of the Yoshiwara, and especially of Agemaki, the top courtesan of the Miura-ya teahouse. Drawing upon elements of the classic Soga Monogatari, Sukeroku is later revealed to be Soga Gorô in disguise, working to seek out his father's killer and avenge his father's death.

The play is well-known for a number of iconic elements, including Sukeroku's purple headband, bullseye-pattern umbrella, and distinctive kumadori (face makeup) pattern. After the hero of Shibaraku, Sukeroku might be among the most recognizable characters in kabuki.

Characters

• Sukeroku - a samurai, frequent patron of the Yoshiwara, especially of Agemaki of the Miura-ya, and a street tough, who often starts fights on the streets of the pleasure quarters. Secretly Soga Gorô
• Agemaki - the top courtesan of the Miura-ya, famous and popular throughout the district; she is known to be especially close to Sukeroku, but Ikyû has his eyes on her as well
• Ikyû - an older, bearded samurai who seeks to steal Agemaki away from Sukeroku
• Manko - Sukeroku's mother, disguised as a samurai
• Shinbei - Sukeroku's brother, secretly Soga Jûrô
• Kanpera Monbei - retainer to Ikyû

Plot Summary

Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII was quite idolized in his time, and when he performed this play, bottles of water from the vat he stepped in would later be sold to adoring fans.

History and Background

Though the plot of Sukeroku is largely fiction, some sources indicate that the characters, and plot, may have been inspired by reality. There may have been a Kyoto- or Osaka-based merchant named Sukeroku in the 1630s who was associated with a courtesan of the Kyoto Shimabara named Agemaki. Some accounts have it that Agemaki became a nun after her affair with Sukeroku, while others tell of a double suicide.

In any case, though the kabuki play as it is known today did not debut until 1713, the characters of Sukeroku and Agemaki appeared on the bunraku stage as early as 1678. Kamigata (Kansai) kabuki theatres soon afterward began to stage productions featuring the couple in love suicide stories, including Sennichi-dera Shinjû ("Love Suicide at Sennichi Temple") and Kyô Sukeroku Shinjû ("Kyoto Sukeroku Love Suicide").

The play as it is known today - the Edo Kabuki version associated with the Ichikawa family - was first developed by Ichikawa Danjûrô II, who witnessed performances of these Kamigata plays while touring in that part of the country, and who then brought it back to Edo, debuting his version in 1713.

Whereas in the Kamigata plays Sukeroku was often a merchant, Danjûrô made him a samurai, giving him a black kimono, red-yellow headband, and a pattern of black face makeup (today, chiefly red on a white foundation). Danjûrô, 26 years old at the time, performed the role in the distinctive aragoto fashion pioneered by his father. Danjûrô also added a number of characters who are now standard elements of the plot, including the fool Monbei, Sukeroku's brother Shinbei (secretly Soga Jûrô), their mother Manko, and the villain Ikyû, many of whom were based on real figures. Shinbei and the Noodle Vendor served initially as onstage advertisements for specific neighborhood merchants, as was a common practice in kabuki at the time, Shinbei being a reference to the asagao senbei ("Morning Glory Rice Crackers") sold by Fujiya Seizaemon. The noodle vendor, similarly, was introduced by Danjûrô III and named Ichikawa-ya, after an actual local noodle vendor; when the real-life noodle shop changed its name to Fukuyama, Danjûrô VII changed the character's name to Fukuyama as well. Ikyû, meanwhile, was based on the gangster Fukami Jûzaemon, also known as "Bearded Jikyû," who had in 1713 or so, at the time Danjûrô II was first adapting the story, recently returned from exile and who was thus a topic of conversation.

The close ties between the theatre and the broader community extended beyond such onstage references to real merchants. Actors playing the lead roles would often pay a visit to the Yoshiwara and offer gifts to the teahouses, receiving in exchange umbrellas, kiseru, lanterns, and other objects for use onstage and for distribution or sale to audience members following the production. The actors' visit was a fairly major affair involving a procession of many actors, and involved various traditions or rituals performed as part of the visit and of the offering of gifts; courtesans and others directly associated with the teahouses would also attend the performances at the kabuki theatres, and performed various customs even as audience members. When the actor playing Sukeroku addressed the audience as himself (the actor) in the role of the stage manager, the courtesans would clap along with him. This addressing of the audience, incidentally, is not unique to Sukeroku, but the play is distinctive in incorporating more improvisation, and more elements of the actor shedding the character and being himself, the actor, for certain parts of the performance.

In his second performance of the play, three years later, Danjûrô played Sukeroku in a somewhat gentler manner, incorporating elements of the Kamigata wagoto style in his performance. This was the first time that wagoto and aragoto elements were combined in the same character. Danjûrô also introduced at this time other elements which would later become quite standard, and even iconic. It was during this performance that he first wore a purple headband and carried as bullseye-patterned umbrella, today two of the most iconic props or costume elements in kabuki. The connection to Soga Monogatari was added at this time as well.

Many variations on the play were later developed and performed throughout the Edo period, and down into more modern times. The famous onnagata Segawa Kikunojô appeared in the premiere of Onna Sukeroku ("Woman Sukeroku") at the Ichimura-za in 1764, a variation in which a female Sukeroku is not the man Soga Gorô in disguise, but rather Oiso no Tora, a courtesan who is the lover of one or the other of the two Soga brothers in many of the old stories. The following year (1765), the Morita-za debuted a dance drama version of the story which focused more heavily on Agemaki's kamuro (child attendants).

The Ichikawa family secured its control over the play in 1832. As the play is extremely popular, other families have developed their own versions, such as Sukeroku Kuruwa no Momoyogusa performed by the Onoe Kikugorô line of actors. However, only the Ichikawa family uses the title Sukeroku Yukari Edo Zakura, and various stylistic elements only appear in this version of the play.

References

• Blumner, Holly, Julie Iezzi, Alice Luhrmann, and Kathy Welch (eds.) 101 Years of Kabuki in Hawai'i. Honolulu: University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1994.

• Iezzi, Julie. "Sounding Out Kabuki: Music Behind the Scenes." in 101 Years of Kabuki in Hawai'i. pp45-48.
• Omoto, Lisa Ann M. and Kathy Welch. "Kabuki Spectacle." in 101 Years of Kabuki in Hawai'i. pp50-54.