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.