Fuji Musume

Fuji Musume (藤娘, The Wisteria Maiden) is a kabuki dance with lyrics written by Katsui Genpachi, choreography by Fujima Taisuke and music by Kineya Rokusaburô IV, first performed in 1826.[1]

Fuji Musume
藤娘
Seki Sanjuro II playing the Wisteria Maiden at the Nakamura-za, print by Utagawa Kunisada c. 1826
Written by
  • Tsuuchi Hanjuro
  • Yasuda Abun
  • Nakata Mansuke
CharactersWisteria Maiden
Date premiered1826
Place premieredNakamura-za, Edo
Original languageJapanese
Genreshosagoto

Originally part of a set of five different dances performed as a sequence, Fuji Musume is the only one that has survived.[2] The first time these dances were staged in 1826 at the Nakamura-za in Edo, actor Seki Sanjuro II performed all of them as part of his farewell performance.

One of many revisions to the play, playwright Oka Onitaro and actor Onoe Kikugoro VI created a new, more supernatural version of the dance, staged for the first time in March 1937 at the Kabuki-za. In this version, the maiden becomes the spirit of the wisteria.[1] The next year, performances of the dance by Onoe Baiko VII at the Minami-za in Kyoto[3] and at the Kabuki-za in Tokyo, helped popularized the dance.[4]

Fuji Musume remains a popular and famous dance in the kabuki repertoire.[5]

Characters

The titular Wisteria Maiden is the only character seen in the play, and is accompanied by a nagauta musical ensemble of singers, shamisen, drums, flute and small gongs.

Plot

Translation

The play was translated into English by Leonard C. Pronko in Kabuki Plays on Stage III: Darkness and Desire, 1804-1864, edited by James R. Brandon and Samuel L. Leiter and published in 2002.[2]

  • Kabuki Plays on Stage III: Kabuki Plays on Stage III: Darkness and Desire, 1804-1864. (2002) University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0824824556.
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References
    1. "FUJI MUSUME". kabuki21. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
    2. Kabuki Plays on Stage III: Kabuki Plays on Stage III: Darkness and Desire, 1804-1864. (2002) p. 166-169.
    3. "ONOE BAIKÔ VII". kabuki21. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
    4. ""Fuji Musumè" ( 藤娘 ) or "Wisteria Maiden" shown in flight". Zen Garden. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
    5. ""Fuji Musumè" ( 藤娘 ) or "Wisteria Maiden" shown in flight". Zen Garden. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
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