Otojiro Kawakami

Actor. Born in Hakata on January 1, 1864. At the age of 14, he moved to Tokyo and worked as a waiter, police officer, and other jobs. After that, he got involved in political movements in his hometown, and, calling himself a free boy, he engaged in radical speech and behavior, which led to him being imprisoned many times. When political speeches were eventually banned, he appeared at Osaka's comedy halls under the stage name Ukiyotei Marumaru, performing stand-up comedy routines satirizing the current situation, and in 1887 (Meiji 20), he began his acting career with Nakamura Komanosuke's troupe in Kyoto. He then formed a shosei-shibai troupe and toured, and in 1890, he moved to the Kaiseiza in Tokyo, and the following year, he achieved his long-cherished dream of performing at the Nakamuraza with "The True Story of Itagaki-kun's Disaster." He gained popularity for his unique fighting techniques and improvisational acting, especially the Oppekepe style he performed during intermissions. In 1893, he went to Paris, and on his return he performed adaptations of plays incorporating Western theatrical elements, such as "Igai," "Mata Igai," and "Matatai Igai," and took advantage of the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War to perform "Sino-Japanese War," which achieved great success. In 1896, he built the Kawakamiza Theatre in Kanda, Tokyo, with his own funds, but ran for office but lost, and the theatre was sold to someone else. In 1899, he and his wife Sadayakko led a troupe to perform in Europe and the US, and two years later they were well received, traveling to Europe again and touring almost the whole of Europe. After his return, he reformed the form of performances, calling it the "Seigeki" movement, and performed plays such as "Othello" and "Hamlet." However, he was not highly regarded as an actor, and in his later years he devoted himself to work as an impresario, establishing the Teikoku-za Theatre in Osaka, but died of illness on November 11, 1911. He is regarded as a pioneer of the early Shinpa theatre.

[Noriko Matsumoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

俳優。文久(ぶんきゅう)4年1月1日博多(はかた)に生まれる。14歳で上京、給仕、巡査などの職を転々としたのち、郷里で政治運動に投じ、自由童子と名のって過激な言動に走り、しばしば投獄された。やがて政談演説が禁止されると、浮世亭○○(うきよていまるまる)の芸名で大阪の寄席に現れ時局風刺の漫談を演じ、1887年（明治20）には京都の中村駒之助(こまのすけ)一座で俳優としての経歴を始めている。その後、書生芝居の一座を組んで巡業、1890年に東京の開盛座に進出、翌年『板垣君遭難実記(いたがきくんそうなんじっき)』をもって念願の中村座公演を果たした。その特異な格闘技や即興的演技で人気を得、ことに幕間(まくあい)に演じたオッペケペー節が評判をよんだ。1893年パリに赴き、帰国して西洋演劇の意匠を取り入れた翻案劇『意外』『又意外』『又々意外』を、さらに日清(にっしん)戦争の勃発(ぼっぱつ)に乗じて『日清戦争』を上演するなどで大成功を収めた。1896年には東京・神田に自力で川上座を建設したが、代議士に立候補して落選し、人手に渡った。1899年には妻の貞奴(さだやっこ)とともに一座を率いて欧米に公演し、好評を得て2年後に再度渡欧、ほとんどヨーロッパ全土を巡業した。帰国後、正劇(せいげき)運動と銘打って興行形態を改革し、『オセロ』『ハムレット』などを上演。しかし、俳優としてはあまり評価されず、晩年は興行師としての仕事に専心し大阪に帝国座を建てたりしたが、病のため明治44年11月11日没。草創期の新派劇の先覚者として評価されている。

［松本伸子］

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