和事

Wagoto ("gentle style") renders scenes of love through soft, elegant movement and speech. It flowered in the Kamigata region during the Genroku era and is said to have been perfected by Sakata Tōjūrō I. Its essence shines in figures like Izaemon of Kuruwa Bunshō—a young master who keeps his charm even in ruin.

To taste wagoto on stage, begin with the Yoshidaya scene of Kuruwa Bunshō. The disinherited Izaemon visits his beloved Yūgiri wearing a kamiko—a kimono made of paper. The device by which a well-born figure appears fallen on hard times is called yatsushi, and it is in the gap between shabby dress and inborn grace that the soft art of wagoto is said to shine brightest.

Aragoto grew up in Edo, wagoto in Kamigata—twin styles that together form the two wheels of kabuki acting. Wagoto is the mirror in which the Danjūrō family's aragoto is best appreciated, and the hero of Sukeroku is said to blend aragoto's bravura with wagoto's seductive grace.