Sada Yacco in her stage dress

Sadayako (川上 貞奴, Kawakami Sadayako^?, July 18, 1871 - December 7, 1946) was a Japanese actress and dancer.

Born in Tokyo, Sadayako was trained as a geisha and came to the attention of Itō Hirobumi who took an interest in furthering her education. In 1894 she married the actor Otojiro 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^[1]) 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 with Momosuke Fukuzawa

Sadayako died at 75 in Atami, 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

• 1906 interview with Sada Yacco conducted by Japanese writer Yone Noguchi.
• Futaba Museum website, former residence of Sada Yacco and Momosuke Fukuzawa.
• 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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Sadayakko Kawakami