Abstract

Early nineteenth-century Japanese theatre was dominated by the kabuki playwright Tsuruya Nanboku IV, who seized on the fascination with evil and the vendetta in contemporary literature to create a new type of kabuki play. This genre—of which Ehon Gappō ga Tsuji is the finest example—focuses on the role types of the handsome young villain (iroaku) and wicked woman (akuba).

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