Word of the Month: February
February: Yago
たまや～
かぎや～
Yago.”Shop
name.” Kabuki actors of the early Edo period were considered too lowly to be
allowed surnames. Many, therefore, used a name derived from a sideline business
in which they were involved. This became known as their yago. The yago could be
the name of a place with which the family had a deep connection, the name of a
place from which the actor hailed, the name of an ancestor’s occupation, and so
on. Among the earliest yago were Yoshizawa Ayame Ⅰ‘s Tachibanaya
and Ichikawa Danjuro Ⅰ‘s Naritaya,
revealing that the custom began during the Genroku
era. The yago is a kind of nickname
and is used by the audience as a word of encouragement that is shouted out to
the actor during a performance. Yago are
also shouted out during firework festivals: tamaya
or kagiya.
References
KABUKI
ENCYCLOPEDIA by SAMUEL L. LEITER
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