Female actor

A name for female Kabuki actors. In the Edo period, women who were invited to perform Kabuki in the inner palace of the Shogun family and in the inner quarters of various feudal lords, where men were not allowed, were called "Okyogenshi." They organized troupes entirely of women, from musicians to props and attendants. After the Meiji Restoration, these Okyogenshi organized all-female troupes to perform Kabuki. These actors were called onnayakusha. The earliest record of this was in the spring of 1868 (Keio 4), when Bando Keihachi, a disciple of Bando Mitsue, a former Kyogen performer employed by the Kaga domain, performed a female play under the name Iwai Kumehachi at the Satsumaza Theater, located on the site of the Sotokanda Kobusho. Kumehachi later became a disciple of Ichikawa Danjūrō ​​IX, and under the name Ichikawa Kumehachi (later Kumehachi), he became very popular and was called "Onna Danshu." These female actor troupes performed at the Misakiza Theater in Kanda, but reached their peak in the middle of the Meiji era and gradually declined thereafter, disappearing after the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923). Nakamura Kasen continued to perform and was popular, appearing in small plays performed by male actors, even after the disappearance of so-called women's plays. After World War II, a troupe called "Ichikawa Girls' Kabuki" was formed by girls from Aichi Prefecture, but they were not particularly considered to be part of the "female actor" lineage. Nowadays, the word "female actor" has become a common noun that mainly refers to female actors in popular theater.

[Yukio Hattori]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

女性の歌舞伎(かぶき)俳優の称。江戸時代、男子禁制だった将軍家の大奥や諸大名の奥向きに招かれて歌舞伎を演じた女性たちを「お狂言師」とよんだ。彼女らは、囃子方(はやしかた)から道具方、付(つけ)打ちに至るまで、すべて女性だけで一座を組織していた。そのお狂言師が明治維新以後、女性ばかりの一座を組んで歌舞伎の興行を行った。その俳優を女役者とよんだ。かつて加賀藩のお抱えだったお狂言師坂東(ばんどう)三津江の弟子坂東桂八(けいはち)が、1868年（慶応4）春、外神田(そとかんだ)講武所跡の薩摩座(さつまざ)で岩井粂八(くめはち)と名のって女芝居を興行したのが早い記録である。粂八はその後9世市川団十郎の門に入り、市川粂八（のち久米八）と改名して活躍、「女団州(おんなだんしゅう)」とよばれて人気が高かった。これら女役者一座の歌舞伎は、神田の三崎座を本拠として行われたが、明治の中ごろを最盛期とし、以後しだいに衰退して関東大震災（1923）以後は姿を消した。中村歌扇(かせん)は、いわゆる女芝居が消滅して以後も、男優の小芝居に混じって活躍し、人気もあった。第二次世界大戦後、愛知県出身の少女たちによる「市川少女歌舞伎」という一座が生まれたが、とくに「女役者」の系統としてとらえられることはなかった。いまでは「女役者」のことばは、主として大衆演劇の女性俳優をさす普通名詞となっている。

［服部幸雄］

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