To start off the year of the dragon, two major kabuki programs are being presented in Tokyo, at the Kabukiza and the Shinbashi Enbujo.

The Kabukiza's program focuses on Kankuro Nakamura, who takes lead roles in two plays and one dance number opposite the star onnagata (female role) actor Tamasaburo Bando. Also on the bill are Uzaemon Ichimura and Kichiemon, Matagoro, Tomijuro and Tokizo Nakamura.

The Enbujo's typical New Year program features young-er kabuki actors in important roles (under the direction of their proud fathers), beginning in the afternoon with "Taimen" from the Soga Brothers saga, with Ta-tsunosuke Onoe, 24, as Goro and Kikunosuke Onoe, 22, as Juro. Kikunosuke, son of Kikugoro, also plays Benten Kozo in "Five Shiranami," while Danjuro's son Shinnosuke, 22, takes the title role in "Sukeroku." Danjuro and Kikugoro themselves appear in "Kanjincho."

The Kabukiza's afternoon program offers two special New Year numbers: "Kuruwa Sanbaso" and "Ya-no-ne (Arrowheads)." "Kuruwa Sanbaso," performed to nagauta accompaniment, is a variation of the orthodox "Sanbaso," a very old ritual dance deeply rooted in folk Shinto practice.

"Ya-no-ne," another adaptation from the ever-popular Soga Brothers saga, is one of the special 18 kabuki plays belonging to the Ichikawa family. Uzaemon, who was born in the year of the dragon, plays Soga no Goro in the bombastic aragoto style of acting. Fantastically costumed, Goro sharpens enormous arrowheads on a stage with a backdrop of Mount Fuji. Dreaming that his brother Juro is calling for help, Goro gets on a horse and hastens to the rescue, holding a daikon as a whip.

These two symbolic New Year items are followed by a dance piece, "The Yoshino Mountains," taken from Act IV of "Yoshitsune Senbonzakura." Kankuro plays the samurai Sato Tadanobu, assigned by his liege lord Yoshitsune to guard Yoshitsune's mistress Shizuka (Tamasaburo) as she escapes through the mountains of Yoshino.

The supposed Tadanobu, however, is really a were-fox. To the accompaniment of Kiyomoto and Gidayu music, Tadanobu and Shizuka dance through mountains dazzling with cherry blossoms, the dance occasionally hinting at his true nature as a fox.

"Lord Matsuura and the Sound of a Drum," the last number in the afternoon program, is a kind of dramatic sidebar to the great "Chushingura" cycle (featured last year in NHK's weekly serial drama). Lord Matsuura (Kichiemon) is a sympathizer of Lord Asano Naganori of Ako, who was obliged to commit seppuku for assaulting the shogun's steward Lord Kira in Edo Castle after Kira had insulted him. Like everyone in Edo, Matsuura has been waiting anxiously for months for Asano's former retainers to avenge their liege's death.

The play highlights Matsuura's relationship with the old haiku master Kikaku (Matagoro) and Otaka Gengo (Kankuro), one of Asano's loyal retainers, who was a noted haiku poet. As he bids farewell one night to Kikaku and Gengo's younger sister O-Nui (Tamasaburo), Matsuura hears a drum being beaten outside.

Realizing that Asano's men are finally making their assault on Kira, his next-door neighbor, he bursts into laughter and dances with joy. Gengo arrives to report on the event, and together they celebrate the successful act of revenge.

In the evening program, Kichiemon appears as a sumo wrestler named Nuregami Chogoro in the one-act "The Wrestling Ring." Chogoro is involved in a quarrel with an amateur wrestler, Hanaregoma Chokichi (Tomijuro). Kichiemon's Chogoro, tall and handsome, makes a striking contrast to short, chubby Chokichi.

Following "The Wrestling Ring," Kankuro, a top dancer, performs "Musume Dojoji" before appearing with Tamasaburo in "Akoya." Created by Tomijuro I in 1753, this colorful work is one of the most challenging for the dancer, since it demands all the essential techniques of kabuki dance.

The evening is crowned with Tamasaburo in the title role of "Akoya," Act III of the 1732 play "Dannoura Kabuto Gunki." After the final defeat of the Taira forces in 1185, Kagekiyo, one of the leading generals of the Taira faction, attempts to assassinate the victorious Shogun Yoritomo, but, failing, escapes.

Assigned to capture Kagekiyo is Chichibu Shigetada (Kankuro), the officer guarding the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Shigetada sends for Kagekiyo's lover Akoya, a courtesan from Gojozaka in Kyoto. Akoya is brought before Shigetada and interrogated, but she denies all knowledge of Kagekiyo's whereabouts.

Shigetada then places in front of her three musical instruments, a koto, a shamisen and a kokyu (bowed shamisen), ordering her to play each one in turn. Akoya complies, and, unable to detect any sign of falseness in the playing, Shigetada dismisses her.

Akoya is a part which Tamasaburo has long aspired to perform at the Kabukiza, and he has prepared himself carefully, especially in his mastery of the three instruments. The result is a triumph.