Paper short abstract:

This paper elucidates the changes in the composition and content of kabuki photographs since its introduction to the 1920s. These shifts provide insights into kabuki's transformations since the Meiji Restoration, as well as the changing expectations of the audience in this genre.

Paper long abstract:

This paper elucidates how the composition and content of kabuki photographs have changed by taking three photographs of actors in the role of Nikki Danjō, a villain in the popular play “Meiboku sendai hagi” (The Precious Incense and Autumn Flowers of Sendai) that were taken from the end of the Edo to the Taishō period as examples. This also brings to light how kabuki acting changed from the viewpoints of actors and spectators.

The photo of Onoe Kikugorō V’s Nikki Danjō (1868) taken at the end of the Edo period shows his entire body in a simple pose. However, the photo of Ichikawa Danzō VII (1908) in the same role taken around the end of the Meiji era, is a close-up photo similar to the ōkibu-e style in Ukiyo-e prints whereas the photograph of Nakamura Kichiemon I taken in 1923 concentrates on the fierceness and fury expressed by the actor as Nikki Danjō being in a desperate rage. This photo demonstrates a departure from the “pictorial” aesthetic of Edo period prints that had excluded the psychological and emotional status of an actor in his role. These emotions are clearly expressed in this photograph.

Advances in the art of photography as well as changes in the subject matter featured in kabuki plays due to its modernization have contributed to this transition. In the Meiji period, kabuki was influenced by Western theatre and literature changing themes, performances and acting. In the course of time, photographs mirror the shifts from mere formal expressions to emotionally lead acting in kabuki. By tracking the changes in the photos of kabuki actors, it is not only possible to decipher how kabuki has changed since the Meiji Restoration, but also how the expectations of the audience in this genre had changed.