Audiences at the National Theatre of Japan might be excused for indulging in a little time travel this month as they feast their senses on prime morsels of "Musume Gonomi Ukina no Yokogushi," a masterwork by Kawatake Mokuami first served up at the Moritaza in Edo (present-day Tokyo) in April 1864 with now-legendary Sawamura Tanosuke III in the central role of Otomi.
Like its parent play, this "Kirare Otomi (Otomi with Many Scars)" extract derives from "Yowa Nasake Ukina no Yokogushi," a work by Segawa Joko III first staged in Edo in 1853. This time, Nakamura Tokizo V (aka Mitsuharu Ogawa), 58, a handsome man who has specialized in female roles for half a century, plays Otomi for the first time in this classic of the so-called kizewa genre of plays, which hinge on two roles — one an iroaku (handsome scoundrel) and the other an akuba (a sexy and gallant older woman).
So here comes Otomi, just such a woman who is striving to save a man she loves.