The stars who created kabuki

the long version

Kabuki is widely recognized as one of the world's foremost theatrical arts, and here are the unforgettable stories of the three great early actors who made kabuki what it is today: Danjuro I, who made bargains with the gods, promising to give up extramarital affairs if only he could be named "peerless among all actors in Japan"; Tojuro, the "Rudolph Valentino" of Japan who kept his private life a closely guarded secret, perhaps as a deliberate ploy to inflame his legions of women fans; and Ayame, who rose from a childhood of poverty spent working in a brothel to become a great onnagata, or performer of women's roles. Through the diaries of the actors themselves, anecdotes recorded about them, and the comments made by the critics of the day about their performances and their lives, Laurence Kominz builds a compelling narrative of a vibrant theatrical world, full of ambition, camaraderie, competition, and sudden twists of fate. A final chapter gives interviews with and insight into the careers of four leading contemporary actors. Kominz draws out the thoughts of Danjuro XII, Ennosuke, Ganjiro, and Tamasaburo on their own struggles and ambitions, and on the legacy that they inherited from these pioneering kabuki actors.