Paper short abstract:

The Taira-Minamoto Wars (1180-1185) is the background of the kabuki play Keisei mitsu'uroko gata, which was created during a peaceful time. This presentation analyzes how Benzaiten represented the wars as a snake woman for the new year season and the promotion of female-character actors.

Paper long abstract:

The Genpei Wars (1180-1185) between the Taira and Minamoto clans is one of Japan's most famous times of turbulence, which ushered Japan into an age of warrior government. Meanwhile, the Edo period (1603-1869) was peaceful. Without domestic wars, Edo citizens reproduced the excitement of battle on stage. This paper analyzes how the wars between the Taira and the Minamoto clans were treated in the script of the kabuki play Keisei mitsu'uroko gata 傾城三鱗形 (Gorgeous Women of the Family with Three-Scaled Crest), which was first enacted during the Genroku era (1688-1704). The tales of war are mixed with several episodes where snake women appear in the play. Unlike the evil snake women in the famous tale of the Dōjōji temple, these snake women are representations of Benzaiten, the goddess of war and art.

The kabuki play Keisei mitsu'uroko gata uses the snake character of Benzaiten because it was first enacted in the first month of 1701 (Genroku 14), the new year season of a zodiac snake year. Here the snake is a good seasonal omen. Moreover, the beautiful snake goddess is an appropriate character that helps promote onnagata (female-character) actors in kabuki. The play Keisei mitsu'uroko gata was first enacted in the Yamamura-za theater, and the theater chose Hayakawa Hatsuse 早川初瀬 and Ikushima Daikichi I 初代生島大吉 to perform the snake women. The two actors were commented as the top onnagata, praised especially for their dancing and sex appeal in the actors' reviews. This paper will investigate how the goddess of war and art appeared as a snake woman against the well-known background of the Genpei War to show the mechanism Kabuki theaters used to produce commercial entertainment during the peaceful Genroku era.