Izumi school (和泉流)
The Izumi school is one of the schools of Kyogen (farce played during a Noh cycle). At present, the Nohgaku Performers' Association has some 20 registered members who work mainly in Tokyo, Nagoya City, and Kanazawa City.
Summary
As differences between the families and schools are large, it is hard to generalize the features of this school as a whole. However, this school is said to have more refined and more sophisticated expressions than the Okura school, with soft and light-hearted atmosphere. The school can be separated into three different ha (school) depending on performances: IZUMI YAMAWAKI ha (Soke (the head family) ha), Matasaburo NOMURA ha, and Tokuro MIYAKE ha.
The founder of the school is said to be Gakurakuken SASAKI, who lived in Sakamoto, the Province of Omi (Otsu City) in the mid-Muromachi period, but this is not very convincing. The actual founder is said to be 鳥飼元光, who belonged to Torikai za (a troupe of Sarugaku (form of theater popular in Japan during the 11th to 14th centuries)) of Settsu Province sarugaku, was later active as a tesarugaku (amateur noh) actor, and was granted a shuryogo as Izuminokami Guard. Its performance is thought to belong to the line of Mangoro HIYOSHI, who made a great contribution to early Kyogen, the same source as the Sagi school and the Okura school.
Motoyoshi YAMAWAKIIZUMI, a son of Izuminokami Guard 鳥飼元光, was employed by the Owari Tokugawa family in 1614, gaining a footing in Nagoya. While inviting two tesarugaku actors from Kyoto, Matasaburo NOMURA and Tokuro MIYAKE, he also established the Izumi school with its base in Kyoto and played an active role in Kinri (the Imperial Palace) Noh. From then on, Soke lived in Kyoto with fuchi (a stipend) from the Owari family until Mototomo YAMAWAKIIZUMI, the fourth moved to Nagoya, and then Motokiyo YAMAWAKIIZUMI, 10th, to Tokyo.
The performances and scripts vary a great deal according to family and ha. This came from the fact that while the Izumi school was a flexible assembly of three ha, it had kept its own lines of Kyoto tesarugaku performances, which were its origin from outset. The Izumi school currently has a repertoire of 254 pieces, which is a much larger number than that of the Okura school, with its originality coming from scripts and stage effects attaching more importance to songs and ballads. Although the oldest volume of the school (from the early Edo period) is Kyogen rikugi which is housed in the Tenri Central Library, very little has been changed from that time due to the fact that it was developed at a late date.
Families and ha of this school include: Kyogen Kyodosha (The Kyogen Collective) in the line of the Soke ha, the Matasaburo NOMURA family for the Nomura ha, and the Manzo NOMURA family, the Mansaku family, the Ukon MIYAKE family, and the current Tokuro MIYAKE family in the Miyake ha.
Since the death of the 13th Soke Motohide IZUMI in 1995, the Izumi school does not have Soke, and decisions regarding Nogaku (Noh and Kyogen) are made by a membership council system called Izumi-ryu shokubunkai (Chair: Man NOMURA, Secretary: Kikujiro INOUE). Refer to the section of 'disturbance over succession of Soke' in Motoya IZUMI.
Families and Groups
Kyogen Kyodosha (Soke ha/Nagoya)
After the Soke, the head family, moved to Tokyo at the time of the Meiji Restoration, pupils who stayed in Nagoya established this group in 1891 to maintain its performances. Now that the original Soke have died out, this is the only group which succeeds the styles of Yamawaki Izumi ha performances (although this group had some influence from the Matasaburo NOMURA ha which was also based on Nagoya). As Izumi school Kyogen performers in Nagoya were mostly half-amateur noh performers, who had other jobs to make their livings, they tended to be open and liberal and to have a relatively loose bond among them. The most important actors from the early time of this group include the first Kikujiro INOUE and Monsui ISE, who is famous for his Kyogenga pictures, and at present, Kikujiro INOUE (the fourth), a descendant of the Inoue family, leads the group. Its performance is bright, rather soft and elegant.
The Matasaburo NOMURA Family (Nomura ha/Nagoya)
This family originally performed tesarugaku in Kyoto, and as Matasaburo Shigenobu NOMURA (the first) was invited as a guest to establish the Izumi school, their own programs, play scripts, and dramatic interpretation have been maintained. At the time of Matasaburo Nobuaki NOMURA the third, the family was granted fuchi by the Owari Clan while living in Kyoto, and after the Meiji Restoration the family moved to Nagoya and then to Tokyo. However, as Matasaburo Nobuhide NOMURA, the eleventh suddenly died in a war, the group remained small in number.
(Matasaburo Nobuhiro NOMURA, the twelfth died on December 12th 2007, aged 86.)
Their performances are generally calm, rather subtle and soft, and among the Izumi school, they are said to have a special tendency to care more about grace as the music and plays for official ceremonies.
The Manzo NOMURA Family (Miyake ha/Tokyo)
Like the Matasaburo NOMURA school, the Miyake school started when Tokuro MIYAKE, a tesarugaku actor in Kyoto, was invited as a guest to establish the Izumi school, and later, as 三宅藤九郎喜納, the third was granted fuchi by the Kaga Clan while living in Kyoto, their performances spread in Kaga Province. This is the family of the first Manzo Yasuhisa NOMURA, who was active as a tesarugaku actor in Kaga Province. The 7th Shoichi MIYAKE moved from Kyoto to Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration and was active as a great actor who represented the Izumi school: however, as he did not have any successors the MIYAKE family died out after Nobuyuki Tokuro MIYAKE, the eighth. Since then, the tradition of the performances of the Miyake ha was inherited by Manzo NOMURA, the fifth (Mansai, the first) who went from Kaga Province to Tokyo a little later, and it was passed down to Manzo NOMURA, the sixth (Living National Treasure) who was recognized as a master actor and then to current Manzo NOMURA, the seventh (Living National Treasure) through time until now. At the time of Manzo, the fifth, his second son Mansuke NOMURA set up a branch family and succeeded the name of 'Tokuro MIYAKE' which had been discontinued while Jiro NOMURA, the second son of Manzo, the sixth styled himself Mansaku NOMURA. At present, in the Manzo NOMURA family, there are young Kyogen actors, such as Tadashi OGASAWARA, who are playing active roles, with the family head Manzo NOMURA, the ninth (a younger brother of Mannojo NOMURA who died young and was conferred the style of Manzo NOMURA, the eighth posthumously) and the former family head Man NOMURA leading them.
After they moved to Tokyo, their performances changed to enhance their smart and refined style while retaining the characteristic softness of the Izumi school, and it is sometimes called ' Edomae (Tokyo style) kyogen.'
The Mansaku NOMURA Family (Miyake ha/Tokyo)
In 1994, there was a dispute over succession to the name between the Manzo NOMURA family and Mansaku NOMURA's first son, Takeshi (current Mansai), which led to a separation of the group, with Mansaku NOMURA setting up 'Mansaku no kai (the kyogen performance group).'
This group includes Mansaku, his first son Mansai NOMURA, Mannosuke NOMURA who is the fifth son of Manzo NOMURA the sixth, and their follower Yukio ISHIDA, and with all of them leading the group, it has been active in a variety of fields. In July, 2007, the family head Mansaku NOMURA was designated the holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure), making this group the most prosperous in the current world of Kyogen. They work in a range of fields and Mansaku's son Mansai NOMURA in particular has been working tirelessly in different fields, such as appearing in TV drama series and producing theatrical plays. Also, there are some new Kyogen actors growing steadily in this group such as Hiroharu FUKATA and Kazunori TAKANO, who finished the fourth Nogaku sanyaku (three roles of Nogaku) training at the National Noh Theatre.
The Ukon MIYAKE Family (Miyake ha/Tokyo)
The second son of Manzo NOMURA, the fifth, Mansuke, succeeded to the name of Tokuro MIYAKE, the ninth, with the consent of the school and reestablished the Tokuro MIYAKE family. The ninth Tokuro had two sons; the first son was adopted into the Yamawaki family to reestablish the Soke, styling himself Motohide IZUMI. The second son styles himself Ukon MIYAKE, keeping the tradition of the Tokuro MIYAKE family up until now. Although their performances are not so different from those of the Manzo NOMURA family, in Hon Kyogen (played independently, this normally is the one generally called Kyogen), realism which is often seen in plays dealing with the lives of ordinary people is highlighted while in Ai Kyogen (comic interlude in Noh) they emphasize the grace of the music and plays for official ceremonies. Ukon's two sons, Sukenori and Chikanari, are also Kyogen actors.
The Current Tokuro MIYAKE Family (Miyake ha/Tokyo)
The Yamawaki Izumi family, the head family of the Izumi school which is called the Izumi ryu Soke, moved its base to Tokyo after the Meiji Restoration, but the lineage died out after Mototeru YAMAWAKI, the 11th. Then, Motoyasu YAMAWAKI, the twelfth married a daughter of Mototeru YAMAWAKI, the eleventh, becoming an heir to the Soke family: however, he was unable to bring the school together due to love affairs and lack of talent, and in the end, he retired from Kyogen, leaving the Izumi school without a Soke head. As powerful occupational branch families such as the Matasaburo NOMURA family, the Tokuro MIYAKE family, and the Manzo NOMURA family were active, the absence of the head family, Soke, continued for a long time. However, in 1943, Yasuyuki, the first son of Tokuro MIYAKE, the ninth was recommended by members of the school to succeed the family by being adopted by the daughter of Motokiyo YAMAWAKI, the tenth, becoming Motohide YAMAWAKI, the thirteenth Soke and later styling himself Motohide IZUMI. After Motohide's sudden death in 1995, his first son Motoya IZUMI declared his succession to the Soke family: however, it was a unilateral action without any consent from other members of the school, never taking into consideration the circumstances of Motohide's succession to the Soke family. In addition, as he lacked talent and repeatedly caused troubles and scandals, he was given an order by the Nohgaku Performers' Association to withdraw from membership (which is the second heaviest punishment after expulsion, but still leaves room for coming back) while occupational branch families in the school claimed that his succession should be invalid.
Motoya's side brought the issue to court, but the Supreme Court pointed out the 'the plaintiff is not recognized as Soke,' and made the judgement that 'the order of withdrawal is legal.'
This made Motoya's withdrawal certain. (Refer to the section of 'disturbance over succession of Soke' in Motoya IZUMI.) Two daughters of Motohide became Kyogen actors and the second one styles herself Tokuro MIYAKE, the tenth.
Note that in the Izumi family, all the titles have added six numbers to their actual number: for example, Motohide IZUMI, who is actually the thirteenth, becomes the nineteenth Soke. However, all titles that appeared in this section adopted the actual number counting from the first.