Notes
The term Hanshin 阪神, which refers to a thirty-kilometre stretch of the Kansai region between Osaka and Kobe, is a contraction of the characters used to write these two toponyms (大阪–神戸). Although a straight line from Osaka to Kobe would only pass directly through Amagasaki 尼崎, Ashiya 芦屋 and Nishinomiya 西宮, the Hanshin area also includes the municipalities of Takarazuka 宝塚, Kawanishi 川西, Sanda 三田 and Inagawa 猪名川to the north. The Hanshin Electric Railway Company, wholly owned by Hankyū since 2006, takes its name from this toponym.
Tsuganesawa Toshihiro 津金沢聡広, Takarazuka senryaku – Kobayashi Ichizō no seikatsu bunkaron 宝塚戦略―小林一三の生活文化論 [The Takarazuka Strategy: Kobayashi Ichizō’s theories on culture and daily life] (Tokyo: Kōdansha Gendai Shinsho 講談社現代新書, 1991).
Translator’s note: in accordance with the author’s wishes, a distinction is made throughout the present article between “theatre” as an art form and “theater” as a physical venue.
Although it is not the oldest musical theatre company in Japan, the Takarazuka Revue is nonetheless the “troupe” (gekidan 劇団) with the longest uninterrupted history still in activity. The use of the Western-derived term gekidan—and its operatic counterpart kagekidan 歌劇団—to refer to a theatre troupe emerged gradually during the late Meiji period (1868‑1912) with the first productions of Western theatre. Previously, groups of performers had been organised into za 座 according to the system of “guilds” specialising in a particular trade or artistic activity.
Harnessing the synergy between the different business sectors of the Hankyū group, audiences would ideally travel to the venue on one of the company’s railway lines, stopping en route to shop at the Hankyū stores located in the station terminuses: this is the “one-set” (ワンセット) or “integrated service” principle, which maximises profits for the entire company by having one branch stimulate business for all the others.
Kyūgeki 旧劇 is a generic term for all the theatrical forms that appeared before the Meiji Restoration (1868), as opposed to forms established in the late 19th and early 20th century such as shinpa 新派 (“new style,” a modern school of theatre derived from Kabuki which made abundant use of melodrama and was characterised by the presence of actresses after a ban of almost 250 years) and shingeki 新劇 (“new theatre,” a more realistic performance style inspired by Western theatre, drawing on a wide literary repertoire encompassing authors such as Shakespeare, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Gorky). The term “old theatre” thus generally refers to Noh and Kabuki.
Kobayashi Ichizō, “Hozon shiubekarazaru kabukigeki” 保存し得べからざる歌舞伎劇 [“The Kabuki theatre that should not be conserved”], Kageki 歌劇 (July 1924): 4. Should we see this idea as reflecting the influence of the Meiji-period attempts to radically reform theatre and the debates that abounded at that time on the future of the performing arts? For more information on this subject, see Catherine Hennion, La Naissance du théâtre moderne à Tokyo (1842‑1924): du kabuki de la fin d’Edo au petit théâtre de Tsukiji [The Birth of Modern Theatre in Tokyo: From late‑Edo-period Kabuki to Tsukiji Little Theatre] (Paris: L’Entretemps, 2009).
With its Viennese architecture and opulent interior, the Imperial Theater (Teikoku Gekijō 帝国劇場) rapidly established itself as Tokyo’s premier Western‑style performance venue (opera, dance and theatre) before being taken over by Tōhō (owned by Kobayashi Ichizō) in 1940. It subsequently became a Mecca for musicals in the 1960s. For a complete overview of the Imperial Theater’s history, see Tōhō Engekibu 東宝演劇部, Teigeki Wonderland – Teikoku gekijō kaijō hyakushūnen kinen dokuhon 帝劇ワンダーランド―帝国劇場開場100周年記念読本 [Teigeki Wonderland: Commemorative Book for the 100th Anniversary of the Imperial Theater] (Tokyo: Pia ぴあ, 2011).
During the first five years of staging operas, “adaptations” consisted in most cases in removing full sections of the original work. Although entire librettos were performed, programmes consisting of a single act were also often staged, as was the case for Faust (1859) by Charles Gounod (1818‑1893), the first opera performed in Japan by an amateur foreign troupe (Yokohama, November 1894). The reasons for this compromise were twofold: to assist a Japanese public unaccustomed to the pace of operas and operettas, and to overcome the technical limitations of the performers, who had only recently been trained in what was a particularly demanding style of singing. Kurabayashi Yasushi 倉林靖, “Opera no yume, Takarazuka no yume” オペラの夢、宝塚の夢 [The Opera Dream, the Takarazuka Dream], in Takarazuka no Yūwaku 宝塚の誘惑 [The Takarazuka Temptation], ed. Kawasaki Kenko 川崎賢子 (Tokyo: Seishisha 青弓社, 1991), 217.
Watanabe Hiroshi 渡辺裕, Takarazuka kageki no hen’yō to nihon kindai 宝塚歌劇の変容と日本近代 [Japanese Modernity and the Changes in Takarazuka Theatre] (Tokyo: Shinshokan 新書館, 1999), 23‑26. Watanabe notes, however, that most ordinary people at the time were much more familiar with Kabuki than with Western music and theatre. Kobayashi Ichizō thus based his initiative on a pure supposition.
Another of Kobayashi’s motives in choosing to create a troupe of young girls was no doubt to retain the wealthy male clientele that formed the majority of hot spring visitors. Although he clearly aimed to provide family entertainment, he could not realistically allow himself to lose the support of his patrons.
Kobayashi Ichizō, Itsuō jijoden 逸翁自叙伝 [Autobiography of an Old Man], 1953, in Otokotachi no Takarazuka – yume o otta kenkyūsei no hanseiki男たちの宝塚―夢を追った研究生の半世紀 [Boys’ Takarazuka: Half a century of chasing their dreams], ed. Tsuji Norihiko (Kobe: Kōbe Shinbun Sōgō Shuppan Center 神戸新聞総合出版センター, 2004), 27.
Kunisaki Aya 國﨑彩, “Taishōki no Takarazuka shōjo kagekidan no buyō katsudō ni tsuite no kōsatsu” 大正期の寶塚少女歌劇團の舞踊活動についての考察 [Reflections on the Taishō‑Period Dance Activities of the Takarazuka Troupe], in Waseda daigaku engeki kenkyū center kiyō 早稲田大学演劇研究センター紀要 [Annals of the Waseda University Institute for Theatre Research], vol. 8 (2007): 312.
The term “young girl” (shōjo 少女), which was abundantly used in social and artistic spheres during the Taishō period, was abandoned by the troupe in 1940. Although there are many theories as to the reason for this change, the 10 May 1946 edition of the Ōsaka Mainichi Shinbun carried an article stating that given the intensification of World War II, the frivolous connotations of the word were deemed inappropriate.
Or more precisely, as players of Western instruments like the piano or violin. This decision allowed Takarazuka to distance itself from Kabuki and other traditional performing arts, notably the geisha profession, whose repertoire always featured classical Japanese instruments. In fact, Kobayashi had a scene involving a shamisen removed from the troupe’s first performance, deeming it improper due to the artistic heritage from which it hailed.
From the 17th to the early 20th century there was a relatively large repertoire of roles performed en travesti. A few of the many possible examples are: Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart, 1786), Sesto and Annio in The Clemency of Titus (Mozart, 1791), Romeo in The Capulets and the Montagues (Bellini, 1830), and Octavian in The Knight of the Rose (Richard Strauss, 1911).
Denise P. Gallo, Opera: The Basics (New York: Routledge, 2005), 82. See also Corinne E. Blackmer and Patricia Juliana Smith (ed.), En Travesti: Women, Gender Subversion, Opera (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995). Note that the practice of casting women as sexually immature males exists in contemporary Takarazuka, since young boys are always played by musumeyaku (actresses playing female roles) due to their smaller size and higher pitch. In fact, this is the only male role that a musumeyaku can play, adult roles being the exclusive domain of the otokoyaku.
Takagi Shirō 高木史郎, “Hane ōgi o motta chōchōtachi” 羽根扇を持った蝶々たち [Butterflies with Feathered Fans], in Oh Takarazuka rokujūnen – ‘Donburako’ kara ‘Berubara’ made おお宝塚60年-「ドンブラコ」から「ベルばら」まで [Sixtieth Anniversary of the Takarazuka Revue: From Donburako to the Rose of Versailles] (Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1976), 76.
Founded as a replica of the Takarazuka Revue in 1922 by Shirai Matsujirō 白井松次郎 (1877‑1951), head of the Shōchiku theatrical and film production company, this all‑female troupe made its debut at the Ōsaka Shōchikuza as the Shōchiku Gakugekibu (松竹楽劇部, “Shōchiku Musical Theatre Division”). It was renamed Ōsaka Shōchiku Shōjo Kagekidan (大阪松竹少女歌劇団, OSSK, “Osaka Shōchiku Girls’ Revue”) in 1934 when it moved to the Ōsaka Gekijō, a major theater. It subsequently retired the term shōjo in 1943, three years after Takarazuka, which likely confirms WWII’s influence on these troupes' onomastics. It adopted its current name of OSK Nippon Kagekidan (OSK日本歌劇団, “OSK Japanese Revue”) in 1970, since the acronym OSK (for Ōsaka Shōchiku Kagekidan 大阪松竹歌劇団, “Ōsaka Shōchiku Revue”) continued to be familiar to the audiences. Despite serious financial difficulties, scant media coverage and a gradual reduction in the size of its venues, OSK continues to perform, albeit in very small-scale productions. Its uninterrupted existence in the 21st century nevertheless challenges the idea that Takarazuka completely dominates the world of all-female musical theatre.
Kurabayashi, “Opera no yume,” 227.
Kobayashi Ichizō, 7 June 1946, in his monthly column for the magazine Kageki. Reprinted in Omoitsuki おもひつ記 [Thoughts] (Tokyo: Hankyū Communications 阪急コミュニケーションズ, 2008), 42.
On the universal nature of this association, see Françoise Héritier, Masculin/Féminin [Male/Female] (Paris: Odile Jacob, vol. 1: La Pensée de la différence [The Thought Process of Difference], 1996; vol. 2: Dissoudre la hiérarchie [Dissolving the Hierarchy], 2003).
This issue merits greater discussion. In fact, Kobayashi was not very explicit about what he meant when referring to this genre as “Nihon kageki,” which is one of the limits of his theory. Remember that “raw” performances (without any kind of adaptation) of Western operas at the Imperial Theater between 1911 and 1916, or even of Noh experimentally sung in the style of Western opera, made few allowances for the habits and sensibility of Japanese audiences, and most often met with incomprehension at best. On occasions, a performance might even take place amidst the jeers of an audience that had no qualms about openly yawning or leaving the theater mid-show. An account of one of these disastrous performances can be found in Kobayashi Ichizō, Takarazuka manpitsu 宝塚漫筆 [Notes on Takarazuka], June 1955, in Kobayashi Ichizō Zenshū 小林一三全集 [The Collected Works of Kobayashi Ichizō], 7 vols. (Tokyo: Daiyamondo-sha ダイヤモンド社, 1961), 2:448.
Nephew of the playwright and shingeki pioneer Tsubouchi Shōyō 坪内逍遥 (1859‑1935), Shikō was adopted by his uncle at the age of six and received an artistic education heavily centred on musical composition and Japanese dance. After perfecting his training as an actor in the United States and England from 1909 to 1911, he gave a critically acclaimed performance of Hamlet at the Imperial Theater in 1918. It was at this time that Kobayashi hired him as a drama instructor at his school. To avoid any confusion with his uncle Tsubouchi Shōyō, Shikō will henceforth be referred to by his given name.
Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 30.
Tsubouchi Shikō, Koshikata kyūjūnen 越し方九十年 [How I Have Lived these 90 Years] (Tokyo: Seiabō 青蛙房, 1977), reprinted in Hashimoto Masao 橋本雅夫, Sa se Takarazuka サ・セ・宝塚 [Ça c’est Takarazuka / That’s Takarazuka] (Tokyo: Yomiuri Shinbunsha 読売新聞社, 1988), 15.
List based on Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 29‑30.
Kageki, January 1920 issue, cited by Watanabe, Takarazuka kageki no hen’yō, 82.
Ibid., 114.
This “Grand Theater,” with its unprecedented proportions (3,500 seats, the combined capacity of major venues such as the Imperial Theater and the Kabukiza), was perceived by Kobayashi as indispensable to the creation of a national popular theatre. It was built in Takarazuka in 1924 as a replacement for the Kōkaidō, the company’s previous venue damaged in a fire.
In order to increase the number of performances and spectators, Takarazuka’s members were divided in 1921 into two troupes that performed alternately (the “Moon Troupe”, Tsukigumi 月組, and the “Flower Troupe,” Hanagumi 花組). The opening of the Daigekijō saw the creation of a third group named the “Snow Troupe” (Yukigumi 雪組). The current five-troupe system came about through the creation in 1934 of the “Star Troupe” (Hoshigumi 星組), and much later, the “Cosmos Troupe” (Soragumi 宙 組), created in 1998.
Chōraku Michiyo 長楽美智代, “Tsubouchi Shikō to Takarazuka Kokuminza” 坪内士行と宝塚国民座 [Tsubouchi Shikō and the Takarazuka Kokuminza], in Takarazuka beru epokku タカラヅカ・ベルエポック [The Takarazuka Belle Époque], eds. Tsuganesawa Toshihiro 津金沢聡広 and Natori Chisato 名取千里 (Kobe: Kōbe Shinbun Shuppan Center 神戸新聞出版センター, 1997), 113.
Kokuminza was the first fixed troupe for Tatsumi, who had previously performed only with touring theatre groups. Nevertheless, a feeling of artistic discomfort caused him to leave the group a year later, when he joined the world of popular theatre thanks to the help of Shikō, who was, since his days at Waseda University, an acquaintance of Sawada Shōjirō 沢田正二郎 (1892‑1929), the founding father of shinkokugeki 新国劇 (“new national theatre,” a complex and composite style blending elements from shingeki, Kabuki and taishū engeki [theatre for the masses]). Putting his fencing skills to good use in “sword fighting dramas” (kengeki 剣劇), Tatsumi became one of Sawada’s last disciples and remained one of the troupe’s cornerstones until it was disbanded in 1987. See Sepp Linhart, “Le Shinkokugeki: un théâtre populaire un demi‑pas en avant” (Shinkokugeki: A popular theatre half a step ahead), in La Modernité à l’horizon, ed. Jean‑Jacques Tschudin and Claude Hamon (Arles: Philippe Picquier, 2004), 151‑166.
List based on Tsubouchi Shikō, Koshikata kyūjūnen, 117. Hatsuse Otowako subsequently made a career for herself in the world of shinkokugeki under the stage name Hatsuse Otowa 初瀬乙羽.
Takarazuka Kokuminza, no. 1 (May 1926): 1‑4, in Chōraku Michiyo, “Tsubouchi Shikō to Takarazuka Kokuminza,” 114‑116.
This can be seen as a consequence of Shikō being less concerned with music than Kobayashi; Watanabe, Takarazuka kageki no hen’yō, 84‑86.
Text reprinted in Chōraku Michiyo, “Tsubouchi Shikō to Takarazuka Kokuminza,” 117.
Takarazuka Kokuminza no. 16 (January 1928): 32‑33, in Chōraku Michiyo, “Tsubouchi Shikō to Takarazuka Kokuminza,” 121.
The performance was a sell-out, with Tsubouchi Shōyō’s play once again making an enormous impression. At the end of his life, Shikō confessed that he had never been able to forget Kobayashi’s look of satisfaction at seeing such a success (Koshikata kyūjūnen, 128).
Students who had left Takarazuka (by choice or by order?) in an attempt to save Kokuminza were given the possibility of re‑joining the ranks of the all-female troupes after Kokuminza was disbanded. Although any decision to leave Takarazuka is final and irrevocable, 1930 and 1931 were notable exceptions, since a number of former Takarasiennes were re‑integrated into the Takarazuka troupes after Kokuminza’s demise. This movement back and forth between Takarazuka and Kokuminza did not go unnoticed by spectators: an inflamed letter criticising the incoherence of this practice appeared in Kageki in December 1930 (p. 83).
Tsubouchi Shikō, Koshikata kyūjūnen, 121.
Quoting the example of the Edo-period actors paid one thousand ryō per season (千両役者 senryō yakusha), Furukawa demanded the sum of one thousand yen for appearing with Takarazuka Variety. This was a staggering amount of money at a time when a bank clerk earned a monthly salary of around seventy yen; Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 35.
On 29 February 1944 the Japanese government issued a “First Emergency Measures Ordinance” (daiichiji kessen hijō sochihō 第一次決戦非常措置法) ordering the closure of nineteen so‑called “high class entertainment venues” (kōkyū kōgyōjō 高級興行場), including both of Takarazuka’s theaters: the Grand Theater and the Tokyo Theater. The Daigekijō was first requisitioned by the Japanese Navy and then by the United States Army following Japan’s defeat. On 5 February 1946, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers authorised the theater to resume its commercial activities.
Curiously, little mention is made in Takarazuka’s official chronicles of this final attempt to introduce men. This suggests a desire to uphold the public perception of an exclusively female and ideologically irreproachable revue. See Takarazuka kageki gojūnen-shi 宝塚歌劇50年史 [The Fifty‑Year History of the Takarazuka Revue], 2 vols. (Takarazuka: Takarazuka Kagekidan, 1964). Note that this encyclopaedic compilation was put together after Kobayashi’s death in 1957, at a time when there were no longer any officials within the company who openly championed the “necessity” of a mixed troupe. Nevertheless, brief mention is made of the 1919 attempt to incorporate young men in the chronicles celebrating the 20th‑anniversary of Takarazuka (1934), which emphasise the backlash that rapidly put an end to this endeavour.
All of these recruitment campaigns generated a considerable response, attracting between 170 and 200 applications each time; Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 3, 14 and 65. However, it is not clear if the flood of applications was due to Takarazuka’s artistic prestige or the promise of an essentially female work environment.
In alphabetical order, this first cohort consisted of Jōkin Fumio (Kanbara Kunio 神原邦夫), Morimoto Yoshimasa 森本義正, Naruo Hirohiko 成尾博彦, Sakurai Haruo 桜井春夫 and Tomiyama Nobuo 富山信夫. The names provided in brackets are the stage names used by each individual during their career with Takarazuka and Shingeiza. This use of stage names was not systematic, since some of the recruits decided to pursue other avenues using their birth names.
A passionate defender of the ryōsai kenbo 良妻賢母 ideology (“good wife, wise mother”) that had been encouraged since the Meiji Civil Code of 1898, Kobayashi urged his young female recruits to end their artistic career as soon as possible in order to marry. This resulted in the Takarazuka School of Music and Musical Theatre being nicknamed the “School for Future Brides” (hanayome gakkō 花嫁学校).
These two excerpts are taken from Kobayashi Ichizō, Shibai zange 芝居ざんげ [Theatrical Confessions], originally published in 1942, reprinted in Kobayashi Ichizō Zenshū, 2: 437.
A specialist in ballet, Nishino Kōzō taught Takarazuka’s female recruits and choreographed several shows before leaving Takarazuka in 1949 to found his own ballet company, the Nishino Kōzō Barēdan 西野皓三バレエ団.
Ōsaka Mainichi Shinbun, 10 May 1946, cited in Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 50.
In a note written in December 1947, Kobayashi revealed that he had contacted the “Asahi Chorus” (Asahi kōrasu-dan 朝日コーラス団) with a view to using their musical recordings at Takarazuka, “whose biggest flaw is the lack of male voices”; Kobayashi, Omoitsuki, 92.
12 January 1947, in ibid., 55‑56.
Hennion, La Naissance du théâtre moderne à Tokyo, 182.
The official title of these performances, “The Takarazuka Music School Students’ Christmas Show” (Takarazuka ongaku gakkō kurisumasu gakugeikai 宝塚音楽学校クリスマス学芸会), suggested something of an amateur production. This small‑scale gala was thus not a commercial production intended for the main Takarazuka stage but a sort of bonus offered to the public, and a small consolation for the male section. The five new recruits from the third intake of students (April 1947) were given small walk-on parts: namely, Enami Takayoshi 江並高美 (Enami Takashi 江並隆), Suzuki Shigeo 鈴木繫男 (Nakata Mitsuhiko 中田光彦), Taji Keiji 田地啓二 (Akitsu Hajime 秋津肇), Yamaguchi Akihiko 山口明彦 (Mizuno Haruhiko 水野春彦) and Yokoyama Saburō 横山三郎 (Tachibana Ichirō 橘一郎); Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 65.
Tezuka Osamu, Kisō Tengai 奇想天外 [Bizarre Ideas], October 1977 issue, in Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 73.
Kobayashi Ichizō, Shibai zange, 326‑328. While the introduction of the revue genre had led to a revelation of the performers’ bodies, hitherto concealed under the layers of Japanese‑style costumes, the shows themselves were a far cry from the sensational nudity on offer at the Casino de Paris, where the artists descended a grand staircase topless. Shirai Tetsuzō even recalled that when staging his revues in Tokyo in the early 1930s, government censors would arrive to scrupulously measure the dancers’ costumes backstage and ensure that no offense had been made to public decency. An order issued by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department stipulated that “revue dancers’ bloomers should cover at least ten centimetres of their thighs” (rebyū no odoriko no zurōsu wa momoshita sanzun ijō レビューの踊り子のズロースは股下三寸以上); cited by Kamura Kikuo 香村菊雄, Itoshi no Takarazuka e 愛しの宝塚へ [To My Beloved Takarazuka] (Kobe: Kōbe Shinbun Shuppan Center 神戸新聞出版センター, 1984), 54.
Kawasaki Kenko 川崎賢子, Takarazuka to iu yūtopia 宝塚というユートピア [A Utopia Named Takarazuka] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho 岩波新書, 2005), 131.
In 1930 Shirai attempted to sidestep the problem by introducing a novel term for Takarazuka’s female performers. He chose the neutral “Takarasienne” (takarajennuタカラジェンヌ), based on the French word “Parisienne.” The decision to refer to male recruits as “boys” in this paper reflects the typology in Anglo‑Saxon revues, where “boys” and “girls” are the standard terms for actors playing supporting roles, in opposition to the show’s stars. Both of these terms suggest an artist whose training is incomplete. Ultimately, this supporting role best sums up the contribution of male performers to Takarazuka.
Kimira wa shugyō no mi dakara mada hayai! Ani to imōto to omotte benkyō shinasai.
君らは修業の身だからまだ早い!兄と妹と思って勉強しなさい; Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 75.
Ibid.
Ibid., 76‑77.
Kobayashi, May 1948, Omoitsuki, 102‑103.
The technique of using a kage chorus in a booth still exists today. Actresses located off stage add their voices to the score to give a fuller sound.
During the entire month of August 1951, the troupe performed at a Daigekijō filled beyond capacity despite the stifling heat. The play’s run was twice extended to reach three consecutive months of performances; Takarazuka kageki gojūnen-shi, 1: 182. This run might seem derisory compared to the extraordinary length of some Broadway and West End shows, but is highly unusual for Takarazuka, where shows are generally performed for one month before giving way to the next production, the aim being to keep audiences interested and cash in on the sense of novelty.
Sakaguchi Ango, “Ango no shin nihon chiri – Takarazuka joshi senryōgun – Hanshin no maki” 安吾の新日本地理–宝塚女子占領軍–阪神の巻 [Sakaguchi Ango’s New Geography of Japan—the Hanshin volume: Takarazuka’s female occupation army], 1951, reprinted in Sakaguchi Ango zenshū 坂口安吾全集 [The Collected Works of Sakaguchi Ango], 18 vols. (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō 筑摩書房, 1998) vol. 11. Text available online at http://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/001095/files/45908_37864.html (accessed March 2016).
Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 181‑182.
Booklet Takarazuka kageki jūgatsu hanagumi kōen – kaisetsu to haiyaku 寶塚歌劇十月花組公演―解説と配役 [October Performance by the Flower Troupe: Commentary and cast] (Takarazuka: Takarazuka Kagekidan 寶塚歌劇團, October 1951).
Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 111. In fact, Tsuji reports that this “invisibility” occurred on another somewhat surprising occasion. Although the boys never appeared openly on stage, some of them were given degrading roles as extras in several Daigekijō productions. They had the unusual “opportunity” of playing the part of a horse, then of a giant monkey, wearing roughly put together animal costumes.
Note that the company’s management and artistic direction were carried out exclusively by men, leaving one to wonder if this does not reveal—in contrast to the somewhat idyllic portrayal of an all-female Takarazuka—a gender hierarchy that was clearly unfavourable to the Takarasiennes, who were restricted to the role of simple performers.
Remember that the Takarazuka troupe was originally intended as an attraction designed to boost profits on the new train line. Somewhat ironically, Shingeiza now took on this same role of attracting audiences to Takarazuka.
Hikita Ichirō, “Shingeiza dōjō no yuku michi” 新芸座道場の行く道 [The Path Walked by Shingeiza Dōjō], Kageki, October 1952, in Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 114.
To save money, however, the troupe re-used tailcoats and accessories borrowed from the Revue, lending the boys an appearance that closely resembled the otokoyaku and ensuring a visual identity similar to the mother troupe.
Fukushima Wataru 福島亘 (Katsu’ura Yutaka 勝浦豊), Honme Masaaki 本目雅昭 (Honme Mitsugu 本目貢), Nagano Yoshinari 永野喜也 (Fujinami Tatsunari 富士波達也), Ōhashi Tetsurō 大橋徹郎, Sakai Shōichi 酒井尚一, Shibuya Tatsuo 渋谷辰夫 (Shibuya Enshō 渋谷延笑), Takada Jitsuo 高田実男 (Takada Enshō 高田延昇), Yamaoka Keishirō 山岡敬四郎, Yanagibara Orihiro 柳原折弘, Yasunaga Jun’ichi 安永純一 (Kasuga Jun 春日純), Yokota Jirō 横田二郎, and Yoshii Takaaki 吉井孝明 (Yoshii Yūkai 吉井裕海); Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 85.
The account given by Fukushima Wataru supports the second hypothesis. He recalls that his contract with Takarazuka explicitly mentioned the possibility of being allocated to the Shingeiza troupe; Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 115. As for Takarazuka performances, Nagano Yoshinari appeared dressed as a giant monkey in Sarutobi Sasuke 猿飛佐助 at the Daigekijō (see footnote 67). Sumi Hanayo 寿美花代 (1932-), who played the lead role of Sasuke, explained during a televised report on the male section that this role was purely decorative, a polite way of saying “completely pointless”; Takarazuka danshibu — “onna no sono” no mō hitotsu no monogatari タカラヅカ男子部 — 「女の園」のもうひとつの物語 [The Takarazuka Male Section: Another story of the “garden of women”], TV Osaka テレビ大阪, 2005.
This 2,500‑seat theater staged large-scale revues, known as “Kitano Shows,” as well as performances by famous singers such as Eri Chiemi 江利チエミ (1937‑1982) in 1955 and Misora Hibari 美空ひばり (1937‑1989) in 1956. This was a happy time for the male dancers who, although restricted to simply filling the space behind the singers, were finally able to perform on a major stage, something that had been refused to them at Takarazuka. Nevertheless, the Kitano Theater closed down in 1959 and was converted into a cinema.
Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 182.
Kobayashi Ichizō, Takarazuka manpitsu, in Kobayashi Ichizō Zenshū, 2: 467‑468.
Tsuji, Otokotachi no Takarazuka, 154.
Yoshii Takaaki commented with resignation that “It can’t be helped. Men shouldn’t have entered a dream world belonging to women alone” (仕方がない。女性だけの夢の世界に、男が入るべきではなかったんや); Tōkyō Shinbun, 13 May 2014, http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2014051302000257.html.
The play was a critical and popular success. It won the 10th Senda Korenari Award (Senda Korenari‑shō 千田是也賞), the 33rd Kikuta Kazuo Drama Award (Kikuta Kazuo engeki-shō 菊田一夫演劇賞) and the 15th Yomiuri Grand Prize (Yomiuri engeki taishō enshutsuka-shō 読売演劇大賞演出家賞) for its stage direction. Takarazuka Boys was also staged in 2008, 2010 and 2013 with a run of performances in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Yokohama, Niigata and Chiba.
Although the boys’ roles have been played by different actors, the character of Kimihara Yoshie continues to be portrayed by legendary Takarazuka actress Hatsukaze Jun初風諄 (1941‑), forever known as the original—and for many spectators, the best—Marie‑Antoinette in The Rose of Versailles (1974).
With the exception of a handful of half-Japanese Takarasiennes.
At the risk of offending sensibilities through an exotic—not to mention heavy‑handed and incoherent—treatment of the history of the Western nations where most of the stories are set, the opinions and reception of foreign spectators are not, in most cases, taken into account. The “Japanese-style plays” (nihon-mono 日本物), in which Japanese history is given the same “Takarazuka treatment,” appear to be less cliché ridden but still approximative, as the quest for realism has never been part of Takarazuka’s theatrical conventions.
Louis Jouvet, Témoignages sur le théâtre [Theatre Testimonials] (Paris: Flammarion, 1952), 164.
Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 2. For a cross‑disciplinary study of the phenomenon in a Japanese context, see Stephen Vlastos (ed.), Mirror of Modernity: Invented Traditions of Modern Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998).
In August 1932, Kobayashi Ichizō founded the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater Corporation (Kabushiki‑gaisha Tōkyō Takarazuka Gekijō 株式会社東京宝塚劇場) with the aim of extending his hold over the entertainment industry to the capital (Tōhō being a contraction of the characters for Tokyo‑Takarazuka). The Tōhō Theatrical Company (Tōhō Gekidan 東宝劇団), which now specialises mostly in American and European hit musicals, was launched in 1934, the same year that the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater opened. This venue had two purposes, namely to serve as a regular theater for Takarazuka’s Tokyo‑based activities, since the company had previously rented the theaters where it performed, and to provide a dedicated venue for the Tōhō troupe. Boosted by the success of all-girl revues, the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater soon came to be used exclusively by Takarazuka, and Tōhō artists were moved to the Imperial Theater, which had been purchased by the company in 1940. Due to the corporate links between Tōhō and Takarazuka, the group is also known for welcoming many former revue stars who choose to continue their career in theatre, this time almost exclusively in female roles.
In its financial statement for the 2013 fiscal year, Hankyū declared revenues of 28,235 million yen (approximately 200 million euros) for operations in the stage business. This included income from the three Takarazuka theaters (Takarazuka Grand Theater, Tokyo Takarazuka Theater and Bow Hall), the two Osaka venues (Umeda Arts Theater and Theater Drama City), and money made from its tours around Japan and a tour of Taiwan in May 2013. Nevertheless, these are gross figures and thus potentially misleading in that they reveal nothing about the huge production, promotion and running costs associated with staging twenty or so shows each year (around 450 performances annually in the two main theaters alone), nor the cost of paying its employees: around 400 performers, two 35‑member orchestras, in addition to technical crews, management, theater staff, and creative and commercial teams. The real (net) profits generated by Takarazuka thus remain a sensitive subject and a well‑kept secret. For comparative purposes, the theatrical branch at Tōhō, which owns only the Imperial Theater in Tokyo and has a relatively small workforce compared to the Takarazuka “machine,” declared a total profit of 14,511 million yen (around 100 million euro) for the 2013 fiscal year. See Hankyū’s annual report for 2013: 52 (http://www.hankyu-hanshin.co.jp/file_sys/irRelatedInfo/2.pdf, viewed March 2016) and Tōhō’s 2013 fact book: 44 (http://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/AS05040/27b2743f/5be1/4a91/9d43/229f04b85cbd/140120130415017184.pdf, viewed 29 April 2017).
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