Transcript Kawakami Otojiro - Bucknell University

Kawakami Otojiro
Popular Culture emerging out of
the People’s Rights Movement
Kawakami Otojirô (1864-1911)
Theater and Enka (connections Popular Rights)
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Oppekepe
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*Oppekepe, oppekepe
Oppekepeppouppeppoppou
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Kenri koufuku kirai na hito ni
Jiyuutou o banomashitai
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Katai kamishimo kadotorete
Manteru zubon ni jinrikisha
Iki na sokuhatsu bonnetto
Kinji ni shinshi no idetachi de
Uwabe no kazari wa yokeredomo
Seiji no shisou ga ketsubou da
Tenchi no shinri ga wakaranai
Kokoro ni jiyuu no tane o make.
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*No goodygood, no goodygood
No goodygood good no damn good.
For those [rascals] who hate full
rights
I’d like them to gulp down the drink
of freedom
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They’ve taken off the stiff samurai
kimono
Put on capes and pants, use
jinrikisha
Fancy hair, fancy bonnets
Done up like ladies and gentlemen
They look good on the surface
But don’t know nothin’ of political
theory
Don’t get the truth of things
Plant the seeds of freedom in their
hearts.
Kawakami troupe
Oppekepe; Sada Yacco
Otojirô’s accomplishments
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Buddhist monk
College student
Servant
Policeman
Vagabond
“Barker” at political
meetings ;agitator in
Tokyo, Keihan
• Rakugo novice
• Balladeer in yose
vaudeville
• 1891: formed his own
troupe; “new theater” in
Tokyo
• 1893 European tour
• Apolitical melodrama
• 1898 failed run for Diet
• 1899-1903: 3 “kabuki”
tours to American and
Europe
• 1900’s: introduces
Shakespeare
performance to Japan:
shinpa/shimpa
Kawakami
Otojiro’s 1903
productions.
Shinpa
domestication
of
ShakespeareMacbeth,
Othello,
Hamlet.
Images from James Brandon,
“Kabuki and Shakespeare:
Balancing Yin and Yang,” TDR
43.2 (Summer 1999): 15-53.