History

A style of Kabuki theatre. It refers to historical dramas and their directing style, which were started by Ichikawa Danjūrō ​​IX in the Meiji period. Danjūrō ​​was dissatisfied with the fact that historical Kyogen plays from the Edo period, although based on historical material, often contained anachronistic points in their scripts and directing. When the Meiji government came and no longer interfered with the adaptation of historical dramas, and instead leaned towards respecting historical fact, he launched a reform movement. The first concrete example was Kawatake Mokuami's "Momoyama Monogatari" (Jishin Kato) in 1869 (Meiji 2), and this attempt was supported by new audiences with refined tastes and impresario Morita Kanya XII, and scholars also agreed, sharing the task of researching the script and customs, and promoted this in Mokuami's works such as "Sanada Yukimura," "Sakai no Taiko," "Kojima Takanori," "Nakamitsu," and "Takatoki," becoming part of the theater reform movement. After the opening of the Kabukiza in 1889, he cooperated with Fukuchi Ochi, and performed Fukuchi's works such as "Isse Kagekiyo" and "Kasuga no Tsubone," and also tried historical ingenuity in costumes and acting in traditional period pieces. The term "katsureki" was popularized when Kanagaki Robun sarcastically called it "not a play but living history" during the performance of "Nicho no Yumichigusa no Shigetou" (1878). As the term suggests, the play was too faithful to historical fact and theatrically dry, so it was not well received by general audiences, and Danjūrō ​​himself refrained from performing it in his later years. However, it is significant in that it injected a kind of naturalism into Kabuki and became the basis for the birth of modern historical dramas.

[Toshiaki Matsui]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

歌舞伎(かぶき)劇の一様式。明治時代9世市川団十郎が始めた史実第一主義の時代物、およびその演出法をいう。団十郎は、江戸時代の時代狂言が歴史を題材としながら脚本や演出に時代錯誤の点が多いのに不満を抱き、明治政府になって史劇脚色への干渉がなくなり、むしろ史実尊重に傾いたのを機会に、革新運動を進めた。具体化の最初は1869年（明治2）の河竹黙阿弥(もくあみ)作『桃山譚(ももやまものがたり)』（地震加藤）で、この試みは高尚趣味の新しい観客および興行師12世守田勘弥(かんや)らの支持を受け、学者たちも同調して脚本や風俗の考証を分担、黙阿弥作の『真田幸村(さなだゆきむら)』『酒井の太鼓』『児島高徳(こじまたかのり)』『仲光(なかみつ)』『高時』などの作でこれを推進し、演劇改良運動の一環になった。89年の歌舞伎座開場以後は福地桜痴(おうち)と協力、その作『出世景清』『春日局(かすがのつぼね)』などを上演、また在来の時代物にも扮装(ふんそう)や演技に活歴的なくふうを試みている。「活歴」の語は、『二張弓千種重藤(にちょうのゆみちぐさのしげとう)』（1878）上演のとき、仮名垣魯文(かながきろぶん)が「芝居ではなくて活(い)きた歴史」と冷笑的によんだのが普及したもの。その語のとおり、史実に即しすぎ演劇的には無味乾燥だったため、一般観客には歓迎されず、したがって団十郎も晩年はその上演を控えている。しかし、これが歌舞伎に一種の自然主義を注入、近代的な史劇発生の基礎になった点で、その意義は少なくない。

［松井俊諭］

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