傾城

Keisei denotes a courtesan of the highest rank. The word is said to come from an old Chinese phrase for a beauty so captivating that a lord would neglect—and lose—his castle. On the kabuki stage, the keisei is a great onnagata role, combining magnificent costume with dignity and an unbending spirit.

Plays of love set in the pleasure quarters, known as keisei-kai kyōgen ("courtesan plays"), have been popular since the Edo period. What captivates audiences is not beauty alone but the pride with which a keisei defends her love.

Trace the word to its source and you arrive at a song recorded in the Chinese history Han shu: one glance would topple a city, a second glance the state itself. The musician Li Yannian is said to have sung it before Emperor Wu of Han in praise of his own sister. The word keikoku, "state-toppler," springs from the same well.

Agemaki of the Miuraya in Sukeroku, one of the Kabuki Jūhachiban, is counted among the greatest keisei roles—the radiant counterpart to the hero on the Ichikawa Sōke's signature stage.