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![]() Hayagawari ("quick-change technique": 早替り) were sudden transformations of character that were made possible by various stage tricks called keren (外連), such as removing upper layers of clothing to reveal new costumes for the next role, or altering make-up and accessories. Face masks, which were sometimes part of bi-gender costumes, were used to quickly exhibit faces belonging to different characters, as in the case of ushiromen ("back masks") worn on the back of costumes and put into effect when turning one's back to the audience. Thus the actor was able to effect rapid changes in age, gender, voice, demeanor, occupation, and moral character. Although hayagawari had been popular on the kabuki stages in Edo and Kamigata (Osaka-Kyoto area) since the early eighteenth century (as part of the genre known as hengemono or "transformation pieces," 変化物), the Kamigata theaters witnessed a vogue for such devices at least as early as 1816-1817, if we can judge by surviving ukiyo-e prints. One frequently encountered type of hayagawari was the nanabake ("seven changes," also called shichihenge), which required the actor to take on seven different roles (nanayaku) within a single performance. As shown in the image above, the Osaka artist Shôkôsai Hanbei (松好齋半兵衛 act. c. 1795-1809) portrayed the actor Asao Tamejûrô I in a hayagawari for half-page illustration in the Shibai gakuya zue (Illustrated guide to backstage at the theater: 戯場楽屋圖繪), vol. 2, 1800, co-published by Hachimonjiya Hachizaemon and Shioya Chôbei. We are given a sneak peek into the transformational moment during a quick-change when Tamejûrô during one a transformation. With an arm and a leg flailing outside the straw hut, he frantically thrusts himself inside. We can see here how clever and economical the staging is, as the hut serves both as a stage prop and a hideaway for executing the hayagawari. One assistant holds up a mirror while also preparing to hand over a wig. Another helps the actor put on a black haori. A third attendant holds two swords, presumably the last bit of costume change. It is an image that is both amusing and informative. The play was written by Tsuruya Nanboku IV and first performed at the Morita-za, Edo in 3/1813. The yomiuri of the play title were ("reading-selling"), vendors who sang or chanted the news, including scandals such as tales of tragic lovers. The Osome-Hisamatsu story gave rise to the expression Hisamatsu rusu ("Hisamatsu is not at home"). When inscribed on paper and attached to one's door, it served as a talisman against influenza (osomekaze). The serendipitous embedding of Osome's name in the term for influenza linked it with Hisamatsu, who, if not at home, would be elsewhere with Osome. Thus the writing and posting of Hisamatsu rusu became a fetishized expression to chase away influenza. In the play Hisamatsu, a pawnshop apprentice, was the lover of Osome, although he was betrothed to another. The lovers become involved in foiling an evil plan which leads to a murder by Hisamatsu. As he is also guilty of illicit love, they have no choice but to journey to the Sumida river to commit double suicide (shinjû); however, they are stopped and survive in this version of the story (though not in others). Besides the roles of the lovers, Gennosuke would also have performed the roles of a geisha, palace maid, old woman, country girl, and farmer's wife. Shigeharu's design illustrates the simultaneous depiction of one actor in multiple roles, a scene during their intended final michiyuki ("road going") as they traveled at night toward the Sumida River to die. This scene was typically performed as a stylized dance sequence. The portrayal of one actor in two or more roles within a single design was a conventional conceit of ukiyo-e artists, as the actor could not, of course, actually be in two places at one time. The intention was to portray the effect of near-simultaneity of hayagawari.
The play involved a complicated adaptation of the drama Meiboku sendai hagi (Hagi, the Famous Tree at Sendai: 伽羅先代萩) involving the intrigues over disputed succession in the Date clan (including the infamous necromancer Nikko Danjô and the valiant samurai Arajishi Otkonosuke). The play also detailed events surrounding the court lady Kasane and her lover Yoemon. Hakuen's two characters are adversaries on opposing sides of the dispute. Yoshio attempts to assassinate the young male heir of the Date (now calling themselves the Ashikaga), but she is frustrated in reaching her goal and is later slain by the nurse who is harboring the child. Tanizô, a former sumô wrestler in the service of the Ashikaga, saves his lord Yorikane from assassination, although he must also murder his lord's mistress, the courtesan Takao. The subplot takes a turn when Tanizô changes his name to Yoemon and marries Takao's sister, Kasane. The vengeful spirit of Takao disfigures her sister Kasane to punish Yoemon. Ultimately, he must also murder Kasane when she attacks him in a fit of jealousy. © 2000-2019 by John Fiorillo BIBLIOGRAPHY
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