Oshi-Katsu Chronicle: Meiji Period. Shouting "Do Suru!" at Girl Gidayu, Collecting Photos, Replaying Voices

In the Meiji period (1868 to 1912), musume gidayu, in which women narrate stories to shamisen accompaniment, drew devoted fans who went to yose, small theaters for variety performances, for the narrator’s voice and expressions. National Diet Library, “Captivating Oshi: Women Gidayu Performers” (in Japanese)

“I want to hear my oshi’s voice again.” From the beginning to the end of Meiji, tools for capturing photographs and recording and playing back sound also spread, and fans found more ways to enjoy an oshi outside the performance venue.

1. Choosing a Yose by “Who Are We Hearing?” in Musume Gidayu

The name “gidayu” alone may not tell you what kind of stage it is. At the center are the narrator’s voice and the sound of the shamisen.

The narrator handled both the characters’ lines and the narration alone, changing the strength and tone of the voice to express emotions and shifts in scene. The form performed without puppets, with only narration and shamisen, is called sujoruri. Women narrators appeared from around the end of the Edo period and were called onna gidayu or musume gidayu. Osaka University, introduction to women’s gidayu (in Japanese)

Gidayu narrated by women is said to have become fashionable from the late Edo period and drawn great popularity in the Meiji era. Waseda University Theatre Museum, “Women’s Gidayu Performance at Enpaku” (in Japanese)

In the 1890s (Meiji 20s, roughly 1887 to 1896), women’s gidayu grew popular in Tokyo, and Takemoto Ayanosuke in particular drew attention. It is said that when Ayanosuke appeared, the yose nearby emptied out, and she also did nikken-bane, headlining two yose on the same day. Critiques of her art from the time record the beauty of her voice and audience members in tears. National Diet Library, “Captivating Oshi: Women Gidayu Performers” (in Japanese)

1887-1896

Years when women's gidayu grew popular in Tokyo

13

Kinds of war commemorative postcards issued by the ministry

Sources: National Diet Library (women gidayu, in Japanese); Postal Museum Japan (postcards, in Japanese)

Ayanosuke was not the only draw. A critique book on women gidayu performers, published in 1892, lists 115 of them. Even for the same story, audiences listened for who narrated it and how. The differences between performers, from the strength of the voice to how they voiced different characters to how they breathed with the shamisen, probably fed the feeling of “I want to hear this person.”

Choosing a work because your favorite voice actor appears in it comes close to this pleasure: with musume gidayu, too, you paid attention to who narrated even the same piece.

2. The “Do-Suru-Ren” Chased, Called Out and Sent Gifts

Records also survive of fan gatherings around musume gidayu and of gifts delivered to performers.

Musume gidayu fans were called the do-suru-ren (“the What’ll-We-Do crowd”) because they shouted “Do suru, do suru!” from the audience. An alternate spelling, oikake-ren (“the chasing crowd”), also survives, which shows that some people chased after the rickshaws carrying performers. Beyond applause, they showed “we support you” with their voices and their actions. National Diet Library’s explainer on the do-suru-ren (in Japanese)

Some fans gathered around individual favorites. The Kikyo-ren, who supported Takemoto Kyoko, are recorded as surrounding her rickshaw to see her off, giving her a curtain to hang behind the stage, and even helping with her personal needs. It isn’t the same as today’s fan-organized flower stands or cheering ads, but it overlaps in that friends joined forces to make support visible.

Cheering

Voice and action

• Shouting "Do suru, do suru!"
• Chasing the rickshaw

Gifts

Kikyo-ren for Kyoko

• Surrounding the rickshaw to see her off
• A curtain hung behind the performer
• Help with daily needs

Trouble

Records of nuisance

• Beating a brazier with a tag
• Newspaper named members in 1900

The records show both devotion and the trouble it could cause.

Such fervor was not always welcome, though. Behavior that bothered those around them was recorded too, such as beating a brazier with a tag attached to their footwear, or scrambling to pick up a fallen hair ornament. In 1900 the newspaper Yorozu Choho criticized the do-suru-ren, publishing their names, addresses and occupations. What survives is not only the fans’ own voices but also society’s harsh gaze on them, and that is worth keeping in mind.

The writer Naoya Shiga, who went to hear musume gidayu in his youth, also left those memories in writing. His novel Mushibamareta Yujo (“Eroded Friendship”) has a scene in which he talks at length with a friend about a favorite performer. National Diet Library’s introduction of Naoya Shiga’s work (in Japanese)

3. Following Your Oshi in Photos, Letters and Magazines Even When You Can’t Meet

Ayanosuke’s popularity spread beyond the audience. Photographs of her are said to have sold by the hundreds in a single day. National Diet Library, “Takemoto Ayanosuke’s Popularity” (in Japanese)

1. 01Go to the yoseHear the voice live
2. 02Look at photosKeep her image
3. 03Write lettersModel books had examples
4. 04Read magazinesTrack where she performs

↻ and back to the start

Live performance, pictures and print supported one another.

On days you can’t go to hear the voice, you can gaze at a photograph. Just as people in Edo enjoyed actor prints, Meiji fans gazed at the person as captured by the camera.

In the same late Meiji period, picture postcards also came into wide use in towns, and a major trigger was the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905. Between 1904 and 1906, the Ministry of Communications issued five sets, 13 types in all, of war commemorative postcards. Long lines formed on the days they went on sale, and some sold out the same day. Postal Museum Japan, “Closing In on the Reality of War Commemorative Postcard Sales” (in Japanese)

Still, the craze for commemorative postcards and the sale of performers’ photographs can’t be treated as the same kind of fan merchandise. What we can say is that the habit of choosing, buying and keeping printed pictures and photographs had spread. The paper items people collected also reflected what their society cared about at the time.

Writing bridged the time between performances too. Letter-writing model books of the day even include an example of a letter to send to a musume gidayu performer. Kyoshi Takahama’s autobiographical novel Haikaishi depicts its protagonist reading gidayu magazines. In Radio, Takahama writes that he himself followed performers’ schedules and went to yose to hear them. Going to the venue, looking at photographs, writing letters, finding schedules in magazines: Meiji fans combined several methods. National Diet Library, “Captivating Oshi: Women Gidayu Performers” (in Japanese)

4. The Phonograph and Records Change “Hearing It Again”

In 1907, the company that was the forerunner of Nippon Columbia began developing a domestic phonograph and disc records. It released Japan’s first domestically made disc record in 1908, and the following year, 1909, the first domestically made phonograph, the “Nipponophone.” Nippon Columbia, “Company History” (in Japanese)

1. 1907Development beginsForerunner of Nippon Columbia
2. 1908First domestic disc recordReleased by the company
3. 1909NipponophoneFirst domestic phonograph
4. 1909Studio in KyobashiRecording equipment set up

By the end of Meiji, replaying a recorded voice was possible in Japan.

A phonograph (chikuonki) plays back sound engraved on records and similar media: a disc turns, and a needle traces the groove to play the recorded voice or performance.

In 1909 a recording studio was also set up in Kyobashi, Tokyo, and equipment for recording voices and performances was put in place. Nippon Columbia’s company history (in Japanese)

With records and a phonograph, you can listen to a recorded voice or performance as many times as you like, whenever it suits you. Taking in a one-time telling at a live performance and replaying a recorded piece again and again are different experiences. By the end of Meiji, the groundwork for moving between the two was beginning to take shape in Japan.

Some women gidayu recorded at the time can now be heard among the historical sound recordings the National Diet Library introduces. Recorded media left us not only a written account of their popularity but also the chance to hear the tone of their narration in the voices that remain. National Diet Library, “Captivating Oshi: Women Gidayu Performers” (in Japanese)

Timeline of Oshi-Katsu in the Meiji Period

1. 1877Yose regulations officially permit female performers to appearStage
2. c. 1885The theater reform movement gets under way in earnestStage
3. Apr. 1887An imperial viewing of kabuki, with the ninth Ichikawa Danjuro playing BenkeiStage
4. c. 1887Takemoto Ayanosuke comes to Tokyo, accelerating the girl gidayu boomMusic
5. Nov. 1889The Kabukiza opens, with a capacity of over 1,700Stage
6. 1891Kawakami Otojiro launches the "Kawakami Shosei Shibai"Stage
7. Jan. 1895Hakubunkan launches the children's magazine "Shonen Sekai"Media
8. 1896-97Moving pictures are shown for the first time in Kobe and OsakaMedia
9. 1899Soeda Azenbo's "Strike Bushi" becomes a hitMusic
10. Aug. 1900The "Yorozu Choho" newspaper exposes the real names of girl gidayu fansMedia
11. 1900The Ministry of Communications approves privately made picture postcardsBusiness
12. 1903The first Waseda-Keio game is played, and Hitachiyama is promoted to the 19th yokozunaSports
13. 1904-05In the Russo-Japanese War, war commemorative picture postcards become a crazeBusiness
14. 1907"Engei Gaho" launches, and Tochuken Kumoemon sells out the HongozaMusic
15. June 1909The Kokugikan, a permanent sumo hall, opens in RyogokuSports
16. Apr. 1910The domestically made phonograph "Nipponophone" goes on saleBusiness

Performing Arts and Trend Words of the Meiji Period

Dosuru-ren ("what'll we do?" fan groups)

Devoted fan groups of girl gidayu. Also written Dosuri-ren and Oikake-ren

Nikken-bane (two-hall billing)

A format in which a popular performer headlines at two yose halls on the same night

Katsureki (living history)

A new style of kabuki that valued historical accuracy. The ninth Danjuro was its leading performer

Shosei shibai (student plays)

Political-satire theater carried by soshi activists and students. Kawakami Otojiro was its leading figure

Enkashi (enka singers)

A trade of selling lyric booklets on the street and singing about current events. Soeda Azenbo was its leading figure

The songs sung by the enka-shi dealt with politics and events in the world, which is a different meaning from the music genre now called “enka.”

In the next Taisho period, a song sung on stage spreads on record, and Takarazuka even gets its own magazine. On to Oshi-Katsu Chronicle: Taisho Period.

References

• National Diet Library, “Captivating Oshi: Women Gidayu Performers” (including an introduction of critiques such as Onna Gidayu Geihyo) (in Japanese)
• Osaka University, “A career change to ‘women’s gidayu’: the depth of Japan’s one-person opera, continuing since the Edo period” (in Japanese)
• Waseda University Theatre Museum, “Women’s Gidayu Performance at Enpaku” (in Japanese)
• Chiba Prefectural Central Museum, “The Russo-Japanese War and the Postcard Craze” (in Japanese)
• Postal Museum Japan, “Closing In on the Reality of War Commemorative Postcard Sales” (in Japanese)
• Nippon Columbia, “Company History” (in Japanese)