Kamigata Kabuki Banzuke 上方歌舞伎番付: Woodblock Print Playbills from Western Japan
Owning Institution: UCLA, Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library
About this Collection
Kabuki, a classical form of Japanese performing arts, was developed in the cities of Edo (Tokyo) and Kamigata (Osaka and Kyoto), and performed also in several other cities in early modern Japan. It became one of the most popular theatrical entertainments from the seventeenth through the late nineteenth centuries. Posters and programs for kabuki performances called "banzuke'' were printed in woodblock: such as "tsuji-banzuke," posters, "yakuwari banzuke," cast lists, and "ehon banzuke," illustrated scenes. The third type was also called "ezukushi" in Kamigata.The kabuki banzuke collection held at the UCLA Library consists of 101 bound sets of yakuwari banzuke and ezukushi from the Kamigata theaters. Eighteen out of these 101 sets are bound each with two to four mismatched banzuke prints, with a few fragmentary ones. Including the fragmentary and mismatched banzuke prints, this banzuke collection documents a total of 125 kabuki plays performed at the Kamigata theaters during a period of nearly one hundred years from the Kansei era (1789-1801) to Meiji 10 (1877). Most of the sets retain the original colored covers dyed with stencils called "kappazuri," a dyeing technique unique to the Kamigata region.
It is believed to have been acquired for the UCLA Library between the 1950s and the 1960s by Dr. Richard C. Rudolph, UCLA professor of Chinese Literature and Archaeology and the first chair of the UCLA Department of Oriental Languages (now the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures).
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