Ennosuke Ichikawa, the champion of "Super Kabuki," heads the annual summer program at the Ginza Kabukiza, with a troupe of capable young actors whom he has trained personally. Supporting Ennosuke are such veteran actors as his younger brother Danshiro, Karoku Nakamura, Shikan Nakamura and Sojuro Sawamura.

The afternoon program offers two distinctive plays, "Satomi Hakkenden (The Saga of the Eight Dogs of the Satomi Family" and "Ippon-gatana Dohyoiri (The Man Who Wanted to Become a Sumo Wrestler," separated by an interesting dance number, "Yakko Dojoji," a variation of the well-known "Musume Dojoji." In the evening Ennosuke is offering "Date no Ju- yaku (The Ten Roles of Date)" in its entirety.

Ennosuke first staged "Satomi Hakkenden" in 1975, adapting it from an 1836 bunraku play by Yamada Kagashi, based in turn on Takizawa Bakin's lengthy novel. The tale tells the adventures of the eight sons of the beautiful daughter of Satomi Yoshizane, the warlord ruling Shimosa Province (now northern Chiba Prefecture), by her magical union with the dog Yatsufusa. Each of the sons has the character inu (dog) in his name.

In this episode an old cat who can transform himself into human form has been shot in the left eye by Inukai (Ukon Ichikawa), one of the "eight dogs." Bent on revenge, the cat kills Akaiwa Ikkaku and takes his shape, then orders Ikkaku's foster son Inumura (Kamejiro Ichikawa), another of the "eight dogs," to part with his attractive, pregnant wife (Emisaburo Ichikawa).

Finally realizing that the supposed Ikkaku is actually the monstrous cat, and has murdered his foster father and his wife, Inumura with the help of Inukai subdues the cat-monster.

Ennosuke is an accomplished dancer of the Fujima school, and the dance interlude "Yakko Dojoji" is a favorite of his. As in the orthodox "Musume Dojoji," Ennosuke begins to dance as a lovely priestess wearing a ceremonial golden cap, who then turns out to be a kyogen comedy player. The dance turns crisp and exciting.

Ennosuke plays Mo- hei in "Ippon-gatana Dohyoiri," by Shin Hasegawa, opposite Shikan as Otsuta and Sojuro as Otsuta's husband. This work was first staged in 1931, with the great Kikugoro Onoe VI as Mohei, a man who is honest, gentle and strong.

In the opening scene, Mohei, a starving would-be sumo wrestler, is saved by the money given to him by Otsuta, who works in a brothel at Torite on the outskirts of Edo. Ten years later Mohei, now a yakuza, returns to Torite and repays Otsuta handsomely for her kindness. Mohei subsequently helps Otsuta and her husband escape from a gang of yakuza and, as he stands under a blooming cherry tree watching them leave, apologizes to Otsuta for having failed in his sumo career.

In the evening program, Ennosuke single-handedly takes on 10 different roles: Lord Ashikaga Yorikane, Yorikane's courtesan-lover Takao, Hosokawa Katsumoto (regent to the shogun), Yorikane's loyal retainer Kikugawa Yoemon and his wife Kasane, the wet-nurse Masaoka, Yorikane's retainer Arajishi Otokonosuke, and the villains Akamatsu Man'yu (a ghost), Man'yu's son Nikki Danjo and the corrupt Buddhist monk Dotetsu.

In creating "The Ten Roles of Date" in 1815, Tsuruya Nanboku IV, a scriptwriter who specialized in the nai- maze (mixing) method, added elements from the story of Kasane and her husband Yoemon to the famous 1777 kabuki play "Sendaihagi" centering on Nikki Danjo's intrigue to usurp the house of Lord Ashikaga Yorikane. In reviving Nanboku's "Ten Roles" in 1979, Ennosuke reworked Nanboku's difficult script and directed the play by himself with Shosuke Nagawa collaborating.

"The Ten Roles of Date" opens with a prologue in which Nikki Danjo, one of the most splendid villains in the world of kabuki, is visited by the ghost of his father Akamatsu Man'yu who, while plotting against the Ashikaga shoguns, was killed by the father of Kasane and Takao. Danjo vows to the ghost that he will take revenge on the Ashikaga.

The first half of the play progresses around Lord Yorikane, who has imprudently fallen in love with the beautiful courtesan Takao, not realizing that it is a trap set by his wicked uncle Onitsura (Danshiro) and Nikki Danjo. Yorikane even accepts money from Danjo to redeem Takao's contract. To prevent Yorikane from making a grave mistake, Yoemon, who has overheard Danjo's oath to destroy Yorikane, kills Takao the night before she leaves to join Yorikane at his residence. Takao's ghost then appears to torment Yoemon as he tries to flee over the hanamichi runway.

The ghost reappears in the following act and stops the pretty Princess Miyagata (Emiya) hurrying to join Yorikane to whom she has been betrothed. The spirit of Takao then enters her younger sister Kasane and makes her intensely jealous of Princess Miyagata and her husband Yoemon so that Yoemon is obliged to kill Kasane to stop her from attacking the princess with a sickle.

The latter half of the play is taken from a classic scene in another play, "Sedaihagi," in which the wet-nurse Masaoka allows her own son to be poisoned in place of her lord's, maintaining her composure while the villainess Lady Sa- kae looks on. Sakae concludes that Masaoka is in on the plot and entrusts her with a scroll containing the names of the conspirators.

Left alone, Masaoka collapses weeping over the body of her son. A huge rat (Nikki Danjo transformed by magic) then emerges and steals the scroll.

Back in his human form, Danjo, in a magnificent costume, makes a grand exit walking suspended in midair, high above the hanamichi. "The Ten Roles" ends as Yorikane's faithful chief retainer Watanabe Gekizaemon (Kichiya Bando) brings a lawsuit against Nikki Danjo, which he wins with the help of the eloquent Hosokawa Katsumoto.

The play shows Ennosuke's kabuki skills at their flamboyant peak. Watch him over the four hours of the play, changing instantly (hayagawari) from one role to another, including costume, wigs and makeup, we feel overwhelmed by his energy and by his skill. The play progresses fast and is full of breathtaking theatrical tricks.

In "The Ten Roles of Date," Ennosuke offers a new kind of kabuki play which retains the charm of traditional kabuki, a remarkable contribution to the theater of the coming century.