◆ Jiang Feng, chief writer of "Japanese Overseas Chinese Daily".
In the modern Japanese theater world, no matter how arrogant you want to be, no matter how much you want to ignore it, there is a female character who will not lose her sense of existence because of your "how". Her name is Sadano Kawakami. In China, everyone understands "eunuchs", that is, the eunuchs in the imperial court in history; When it comes to "chastity", no one understands, and it seems that "chastity" and "slave" cannot be linked. Unexpectedly, in Japan, it can become an integral part of a woman's name. This Kawakami Sadano is not only the first recognized professional actress in Japanese history, but also a witness and promoter of cultural change in the Meiji period. Her life is full of drama and rich historical significance, and it also reflects the great changes in Japanese society at that time.
On July 18, 1871, Kawakami Sadaino was born as the twelfth child of a family called "Liangti Shang" in Japanese and "money exchanger" in Chinese. It's just that the original name was Sadako Nomoto. Obviously, this is not the result of the family's economic prosperity, but the result of not knowing how to plan for family planning and abstinence. People like to praise the Meiji Restoration of 1868 for bringing great changes to Japanese society, but they also ignore the chaos it brought to society. It was during this chaotic period that Kawakami's family business went bankrupt, and at the age of 7, she was sold to the family of a female boss who managed a geisha in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, as an adopted daughter, and at the age of 12, she became a "Hina Ki" and named "Zinu".
When he was 16 years old, Kawakami had an affair with Hirobumi Ito, the first prime minister in Japanese history. The process was ignored, and the result was that Ito Hirofumi asked her to change her name to "slave", remove the word "son", and have been her backing ever since. All of a sudden, Kawakami Sadano is "red"! Today's Internet celebrities are all below her.
Kawakami Sadanu did not say "I will always be yours" because he fell in love with Hirobumi Ito, but married the founder of the Japanese New Theater School, playwright and actor Otojiro Kawakami at the age of 27. In this way, Kawakami Sadano left Geisha and began to get into stage performance. Compared with Hirofumi Ito, who is only willing to buy her a swimsuit and let her go to the beach to "show" her fair-skinned and slender figure, it is still affordable for this Otojiro Kawakami.
Otojiro Kawakami founded Kawakamiza, a new theater group as well as a trendy theater. For this, he was saddled with a lot of debt. For this reason, Otojiro Kawakami decided to open up the international market, and in 1893 he led a delegation to Chicago, USA. However, on the American stage, it is difficult for a male actor to play a female role. Otojiro Kawakami had no choice but to let his wife play in her true colors, which was the first time Sadano Kawakami appeared on the international stage, and it also marked the beginning of her going global. She showed the unique charm and acting skills of Japanese women in front of the American audience, and her superb performance and unique oriental beauty attracted wide attention and appreciation. The American press immediately referred to her as the "Shakespeare of the East." Therefore, Kawakami Sadano is even more popular!
Next, Kawakami Otojiro had to constantly avoid the recourse of creditors, and Kawakami Sadano became a special honorary member of the New York Women's Club, performing in Italy, Paris and other places, setting off a "whirlwind of Mrs. Sadano", and the clothes he wore and the perfume he used became popular in Europe.
Nine times out of ten, life is unexpected. Don't just see Kawakami's red and purple color, but also see that after her husband died in 1912, she thought she could let go of her hands and do a big job, and the result was that she opened Kawakami Silk Cloth Co., Ltd., which closed down three years later; founded the Kawakami Children's Music Troupe, which was disbanded within a few years; Open an electric power generation station, open one and fail. At this time, she realized that half of her former "military merit medals" belonged to her husband; I left the familiar acting profession and turned to industry, that is, I jumped into one pit after another.
It should be said that in that male-dominated Japanese society, Kawakami Sadanu won a place for women with his talent and hard work, and also wrote a strong stroke for the development of Japanese theater. In 1946, she died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 75, ending her legendary life as a stage star and leaving many thoughts for future generations. (Written on July 1, 2024 in Rakuhosai, Tokyo)