(1816–1893) was a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 dramatist of Kabuki

Kabuki

is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...

. It has been said that "as a writer of plays of Kabuki origin, he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Japan has ever known." He wrote 150 or so plays over the course of his fifty year career, covering a wide variety of themes, styles, and forms, including short dance pieces, period plays (jidaimono

Jidaimono

Jidaimono are Japanese kabuki or jōruri plays that feature historical plots and characters, often famous samurai battles. These are in contrast to sewamono , contemporary plays, which generally focus on commoners and domestic issues...

), contemporary genre pieces (sewamono), tragedies and comedies, as well as adaptations of foreign (Western) stories, though he is perhaps most famous for his shiranamimono, plays featuring sympathetic or tragic rogues and thieves. For the greater part of his career he wrote under the professional name Kawatake Shinshichi, only taking the name Mokuami on his retirement from the stage in 1881.

Life and career

Mokuami was born in the Nihonbashi

Nihonbashi

, or Nihombashi, is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603, and the current bridge made of stone dates from 1911...

 district of Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 (modern-day Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

), and at the age of 20, entered into an apprenticeship under Tsuruya Nanboku IV, the pioneer of the kizewamono (生世話物) form, a form defined by plays of a more realistic style than the earlier sewamono form, and set in Tsuruya and Mokuami's contemporary 19th century Edo, rather than Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

. In 1843, he became the standing playwright for the Kawarazaki-za

Kawarazaki-za

The ' was one of the major kabuki theatres in Edo during the Edo period and into the Meiji period. Not being one of the four theatres formally licensed by the Tokugawa shogunate, the theatre was largely inactive for long stretches of time, operating only when the Morita-za, facing financial...

 theatre, and began working with kabuki star Ichikawa Kodanji IV in 1854, producing kizewamono pieces. Most of Mokuami's works are in this form, and were written specifically for the star actors of the time, such as Onoe Kikugorō V

Onoe Kikugorō V

' was a Japanese Kabuki actor, one of the three most famous and celebrated of the Meiji period, along with Ichikawa Danjūrō IX and Ichikawa Sadanji I. Unlike most kabuki actors, who specialize in a particular type of role, Kikugorō, as a kaneru yakusha, played both tachiyaku and onnagata roles...

 and Ichikawa Kodanji IV. Many of his plays, such as the famous Benten Kozō

Benten Kozo

', as the original and fullest version of this play is known, is a tale in five acts of the shiranamimono sub-category of the kizewamono genre of kabuki plays. Written by Kawatake Mokuami, it first premiered at the Ichimura-za in Edo in March 1862.The play is frequently known by a number of other...

, featured thieves and robbers, also known as shiranami (white waves), who he represented somewhat sympathetically, as low-class heroes, or as tragic figures.

As Japan modernized and Westernized rapidly in the Meiji period

Meiji period

The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

, Mokuami moved along with new trends in theatre, becoming a pioneer of Shin-kabuki ("New Kabuki"), writing plays in new genres such as katsurekimono (realistic, historically accurate jidaimono period plays) and zangirimono (sewamono genre plays featuring Meiji era contemporary characters and setting).

Mokuami formally retired in 1881, but continued to present new works, and was spoken highly of by novelist and literary critic Tsubouchi Shōyō

Tsubouchi Shoyo

__NoTOC__ was a Japanese author, critic, playwright, translator, editor, educator, and professor at Waseda University. He was born Tsubouchi Yūzō , in Gifu prefecture...

. Mokuami died in 1893 and is buried at Gentsū-ji in Nakano, Tokyo

Nakano, Tokyo

is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. In English, it calls itself Nakano City .As of April 1, 2011, the ward has an estimated population of 311,690 with a household number of 176,936 and a density of 19,992.94 persons per km². The total area is 15.59 km².-Geography:Five special wards...

.

Selected works

• Izayoi Seishin (1859)
• Sannin Kichisa Kuruwa no Hatsugai (1860)
• Murai Chōan (1862)
• Benten Kozō
  Benten Kozo
  ', as the original and fullest version of this play is known, is a tale in five acts of the shiranamimono sub-category of the kizewamono genre of kabuki plays. Written by Kawatake Mokuami, it first premiered at the Ichimura-za in Edo in March 1862.The play is frequently known by a number of other...
  
  aka Shiranami Gonin Otoko (1862)
• Murubashi Chūya aka Keian Taiheiki (1870)
• Kamiyui Shinza (1873)
• Kumo ni Magō Ueno no Hatsuhana (1881)
• Tsuchigumo (1881)
• Ibaraki (play) (1883)
• Funa Benkei
  Funa benkei
  Funa benkei is a Japanese Noh play written by Kanze Kojirô Nobumitsu, eventually adapted to Kabuki by Kawatake Mokuami in 1885. It was staged for the first time in November that year and starred Ichikawa Danjūrō IX.-Story:...
  
  (1885)
• Momijigari
  Momijigari (play)
  or Maple Viewing is a Japanese shosagoto play, usually performed in kabuki and noh. It was also the first narrative ever filmed in Japan. It was written by Kanze Nobumitsu during the Muromachi period...
  
  (1887)