Oshi-Katsu Chronicle: The Taisho Era — A Theater in a Pool, Fan Letters to Asakusa Opera, Star Photos at Home

Imagine your first favorite show being staged in a swimming pool. In April 1914, in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, a company of young women began performing song-and-dance revues. It was the first performance of what became today’s Takarazuka Revue, and the venue was a theater converted from an indoor pool. (Takarazuka Revue official site: 110 years of history, in Japanese)

You watch a song-and-dance show and find a performer you love. In the Taisho era (1912-1926), Takarazuka and Asakusa Opera drew big crowds, and the pleasure of getting to know performers through magazines and photographs grew alongside them.

1. Takarazuka Turned Shows, Troupes and a Magazine Into One World

The first venue, the “Paradise Theater,” was a converted indoor pool. From 1914 until the spring of 1921, the Girls’ Opera Company put on four shows a year as a rule. In 1918 it performed in Tokyo and, in the same year, launched the magazine Kageki (“Opera”). At first it came out four times a year at 20 sen an issue; from March 1921 it became monthly. (Takarazuka Revue official site: 1914 to 1922, in Japanese)

In 1919 the training program was dissolved and the Takarazuka Music and Revue School was established; the Takarazuka Girls’ Revue was organized from its students and graduates, and a dedicated public-hall theater opened for performances. In 1921 the company moved to a two-troupe system, Hana (Flower) and Tsuki (Moon), and in 1922 the two troupes together gave eight performances a year. At the Takarazuka Grand Theater, opened in 1924, the Flower and Moon troupes performed together, and a revolving stage was used for scene changes. (Takarazuka Revue official site: 110 years of history, in Japanese)

It wasn’t just a run of performances. A school trained the performers, each troupe built its own productions, and a magazine bridged the time until the next show. Bit by bit, a system took shape that let you follow the troupe’s whole journey, not just watch one production and go home.

1. April 1914First performanceAt the Paradise Theater, a converted pool
2. 1918Tokyo performanceThe magazine Kageki is launched
3. 1919Training program dissolved; school established and company organized from its students and graduatesA dedicated public-hall theater opens
4. 1921Two troupesHana and Tsuki; Kageki turns monthly
5. 1924Grand Theater opensA revolving stage handles scene changes

In ten years, one performance turned into a school, two troupes, a magazine and a home theater.

Fan contributions appeared in the magazine’s early pages. They include reactions to the shows, but also frank opinions about the theater and about how to watch a performance. Takarazuka Shojo Kageki, Hajimari no Yume (“Takarazuka Girls’ Opera: The Dream at the Beginning”), a book based on a close reading of the magazines of the time, presents this kind of audience voice. (Shueisha: book introduction, in Japanese)

Today you might post your thoughts on social media after a show and read other fans’ takes. The letters column of Kageki did the same job: a place to share opinions about the stage, and a way to read what other audience members thought.

2. At Asakusa Opera, Audiences Got Closer With Letters and Gifts

In the Kanto region, a different kind of excitement was building in Asakusa. In 1916, the Tokuko Takagi troupe won popularity with song-and-dance shows, and from 1917 to 1923 the entertainment known as “Asakusa Opera” boomed. (National Diet Library Kansai-kan, “Modern Entertainment” exhibition materials, in Japanese)

It wasn’t only Western opera on the bill. Operettas, songs, dances and comic sketches sat side by side in the same district, and relatively low prices helped keep the crowds coming. Asakusa Opera was an entry point to Western music and, at the same time, an easygoing, popular form of theater. (Meiji University, “What Is Asakusa Opera?”, in Japanese)

Its devoted fans were called peragoro. A Tokyo Metropolitan Government guide to local cultural properties also describes the scene in Asakusa, where such fans gathered. (Tokyo Metropolitan Government, “Asakusa walking course”, in Japanese)

Some of them later became well known. Hachiro Sato wrote fan letters, and Edogawa Rampo, still unknown at the time, sent a handmade gold medal. Kenichi Enomoto, later called the “king of comedy,” also worked in Asakusa Opera as a chorus boy. (Meiji University research introduction, in Japanese)

Some Asakusa Opera fans wrote letters; others delivered handmade gifts. Like the fan letters we still write today, these were ways to send support straight to the person, apart from the applause in the audience.

PeragoroA devoted Asakusa Opera fan

• Song and danceOperettas, songs, dances, comic sketches
• Cheap ticketsRelatively low prices kept crowds coming
• Fan lettersHachiro Sato wrote them
• Handmade giftsEdogawa Rampo sent a gold medal
• Chorus boyKenichi Enomoto started there

Letters and gifts were a way to reach the performer beyond the applause.

3. “Katyusha’s Song” Became a Hit Beyond the Stage

In the same early Taisho years, one song spread out from the stage: “Katyusha’s Song,” sung by Sumako Matsui.

In March 1914 the Geijutsuza theater company staged Tolstoy’s novel Resurrection, and Sumako, playing Katyusha, sang it in the play. A record went on sale in May, and sheet music and small songbooks were published too. (National Diet Library Monthly, “A Landscape of Sheet Music: Music in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa Eras”, in Japanese)

The company’s head, Hogetsu Shimamura, also played the recording at lectures held before tour performances in various regions. (National Diet Library, “Taisho Democracy and the new media”, in Japanese)

The recording served both ways: for people who had seen the play to hear the song again, and for people who hadn’t yet seen it to learn about the production.

You hear the theme song of a drama you love and remember the scenes. Or you learn the song first and want to see the show. That back-and-forth between a work and its music is visible in how this song spread.

The predecessor of Nippon Columbia released Japan’s first domestically made double-sided record in 1913 and double-sided records began to become widespread the following year, in 1914. With a stage song turned into a record, and sheet music and songbooks added, one tune was carried out of the theater again and again. (Nippon Columbia, “Company history”, in Japanese)

4. Star Photos and Radio Carried Stars Beyond the Theater

In 1921, Marubell-do opened in Asakusa. Its founder was a fan of foreign films who collected star photos with his friend Roppa Furukawa. The shop that grew out of that interest sold star photos as “promides,” from “bromide”. (Marubell-do official site: history)

Marubell-do was a shop where fans could buy photos of stars. Its role was much like today’s official photo shops: a place to visit, apart from the theater or the cinema, in search of pictures of a favorite performer.

The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake did major damage to Asakusa Opera’s theater district. It was a sudden loss of the places where going to the theater had been part of everyday life. (Meiji University, history of Asakusa Opera, in Japanese)

Meanwhile, trial radio broadcasts began in Tokyo on March 22, 1925, and regular broadcasting started on July 12. Beyond records, which let you choose a recording and play it, people now had radio, which delivered the same program to distant places. (National Diet Library Monthly, May 2012 issue, in Japanese)

Play it yourself

Record

• Choose a recording
• Play the copy in your hands whenever you like
• Sheet music and songbooks came with it

Listen together

Radio

• Same program delivered to distant places
• A scheduled time, heard by many at once
• Trial broadcasts began March 22, 1925

Both carried sound beyond the theater, but the pleasures were different.

With a record, you play the copy in your hands whenever you like; with radio, many people listen to the same scheduled program at the same moment. Both carried sound out of the theater, but the pleasures were different. With promides, magazines, records and radio all in the picture, points of contact with performers and works spread to days when there was no show.

In the Taisho era, fans gained new pleasures: reading reviews of shows in magazines, listening to songs on records, and collecting photos of stars. Just as fans today enjoy their oshi’s videos and songs on days without a show, this was a time when contact with your oshi began to extend beyond the theater.

1. 1914Takarazuka opensKatyusha's Song is on stage and record
2. 1916Asakusa boom beginsThe Tokuko Takagi troupe wins popularity
3. 1921Marubell-do opensStar photos sold as promides
4. 1923Great Kanto EarthquakeAsakusa Opera's theater district is damaged
5. 1925Radio beginsRegular broadcasting from July 12

Magazines, records, photos and radio gave fans something to hold on to between performances.

Oshi-Katsu Timeline: The Taisho Era

1. 1912Four companies merge to found Nippon Katsudo Shashin (Nikkatsu)Business
2. July 1913The Takarazuka Shoka-tai (chorus) is formed, with 16 first-class membersStage
3. Apr. 1914The Takarazuka girls' opera gives its first performance, with free admissionStage
4. May 1914Sumako Matsui's "Katyusha no Uta" is released on recordMusic
5. Oct. 1915The Yomiuri Shimbun puts the reading "fan" over the word for baseball enthusiastsMedia
6. May 1916Tokuko Takagi's troupe performs in Asakusa, and Asakusa Opera beginsStage
7. Jan. 1917"Onnagun Shussei" at the Tokiwaza is a great hitStage
8. 1918The Rice Riots spread nationwide, and Takarazuka's organ "Kageki" launchesMedia
9. 1919The Takarazuka Music and Opera School is establishedStage
10. 1920Shochiku Kinema Gomei-sha is founded, and opens a studio in KamataBusiness
11. 1921Marubeido opens in Asakusa, and Sumiko Kurishima debuts at KamataBusiness
12. Sept. 1923The Great Kanto Earthquake damages Asakusa's entertainment district and Takarazuka's facilitiesMedia
13. 1924The Takarazuka Grand Theater opens, holding 4,000Stage
14. Mar. 1925Tokyo Broadcasting Station begins temporary radio broadcastsMedia
15. Autumn 1925The Waseda-Keio game is revived after 19 years, and the Tokyo Big Six University Baseball League is formedSports
16. Sept. 1926Onoe Matsunosuke dies, and 200,000 people line the funeral routeStage

Words of Taisho Entertainment and Trends

Peragoro

Devoted fans of Asakusa Opera. Its origin is disputed and uncertain

Puromaido (promide)

The product name for actors' photographs. A Japanese-made term devised by Marubeido in the late Taisho era

Kageki ("Opera")

Takarazuka's organ, launched in 1918. It became a place where fan contributions were printed

Heimin saisho (the commoner premier)

A term for Hara Takashi, the first prime minister who was a Diet member without a title of nobility

Peragoro is the name for a devoted fan of Asakusa Opera. The chart also lists the product names of star photos, the names of magazines, and the nicknames given to politicians of the day.

The next installment covers the 1920s: jazz, popular songs and the start of radio broadcasting. On to Oshi-Katsu Chronicle: The 1920s.

References

All sources below are in Japanese unless noted.

• Takarazuka Revue official site, “110 Years of the Takarazuka Revue”
• Takarazuka Revue official site, “History of the Takarazuka Revue, 1914-1922”
• Shueisha, Takarazuka Shojo Kageki, Hajimari no Yume
• Meiji University, “What Is Asakusa Opera?”
• National Diet Library Kansai-kan, “Modern Entertainment” exhibition materials
• Tokyo Metropolitan Government, “Asakusa walking course”
• National Diet Library, “Taisho Democracy and the new media”
• National Diet Library Monthly, “A Landscape of Sheet Music: Music in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa Eras”
• National Diet Library Monthly, May 2012 issue
• Nippon Columbia, “Company history”
• Marubell-do official site, “About Marubell-do”
• Marubell-do official site, history