- Sada Yacco
nihongo|Sadayako|川上 貞奴|Kawakami Sadayako|extra=
July 18 ,1871 -December 7 ,1946 was a Japanese actress and dancer.Born in
Tokyo , Sadayako was trained as ageisha and came to the attention ofItō Hirobumi who took an interest in furthering her education. In 1894 she married the actorOtojiro Kawakami , to whom she had been introduced by Hirobumi.Sadayako performed in the company her husband founded, The Kawakami Theatre, when it was considered improper for women to perform on stage with men. In 1899, the troupe toured America and Europe, and became the first Japanese theater company to be seen in the west. Performances were held in San Francisco, and New York City in the United States, as well as at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris (with theatrical lighting there done by
Loie Fuller [Garelick, Rhonda K. "Electric Salome: Loie Fuller's Performance of Modernism". Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.] ) and several other European cities.Upon the death of her husband in 1911, Sadayako lived with
Momosuke Fukuzawa (1868–1938). Their restored home is now a museum.After 1918, Sadayako ceased touring and opened a textile concern in
Nagoya . She also founded a children's drama school and children's theater in Tokyo and continued to perform occasionally in Japan.Sadayako died at 75 inAtami , Japan.In America, her performances strongly influenced the work of American modern dance pioneer
Ruth St. Denis .References
*Berg, Shelley C. "Sada Yacco : the American Tour, 1899-1900." "Dance Chronicle". 16. 2 (1993): 147-196.
*Havemeyer, Louisine W. "Sixteen to Sixty; Memoirs of a Collector". New York: 1961.
*Kano, Ayako. "Acting Like a Woman in Modern Japan: Theater, Gender, and Nationalism". New York: Palgrave, 2001.
*Kendall, Elizabeth. "Where She Danced". New York: Knopf, 1979.Notes
External links
* [http://www.h.ehime-u.ac.jp/~marx/YN/articles/Sadayacco.htm 1906 interview] with Sada Yacco conducted by Japanese writer
Yone Noguchi .
* [http://www.futabakan.city.nagoya.jp/english/history.html Futaba Museum website] , former residence of Sada Yacco and Momosuke Fukuzawa.
* [http://www.futabakan.city.nagoya.jp/english/significant_people.html Biography of Sada Yacco at Futaba Museum website]Further reading
*Downer, Lesley. "Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha Who Bewitched the West". New York, N.Y.: Gotham Books, 2003.
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