Okamoto Kido
Kido Okamoto (岡本 綺堂? Okamoto Kidō, October 15, 1872 – March 1, 1939) was a Japanese author. His real name was Keiji Okamoto (岡本 敬二? Okamoto Keiji). His best known work is the Shin Kabuki play Bancho Sarayashiki.
Kido was born in the district of Shiba Takanawa, a neighbourhood in Minato City, Tōkyō
Kido’s father, Okamoto Keinosuke (岡本佳之助) (later Kiyoshi - 清), was a samurai who, after the Meiji Restoration left the service of the Tokugawa Shōgunate and went to work for the British Legation as an interpreter. He was good friends with Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (九代目市川團十 - Kudaime Ichikawa Danjūrō), , Kawanobe Mitate (川辺御楯) and Kurokawa Mayori (黒川真頼) who together formed the Antiquarian Society (Kyūko Kai - 求古会) to promote the modernisation of Kabuki based on the doctrine of the Theatre Reform Movement (Engeki Kairyō Kai - 演劇改良運動). He was also friends with Morita Kan’ya XII (十二代目守田勘弥) the owner-manager (zamoto -座元) of the Shintomiza Theatre, an employee of the British Legation and avid Kabuki fan Thomas Russell Hillier McClatchie, and an Austro-Hungarian diplomat Heinrich von Seibold.
With the relocation of the British Legation to Kōjimachi District in 1873 Kido’s father moved there with his wife and daughter. Kido was born there, at Nigō Hanzaka (二合半坂), Iitachō (飯田町) in Kōjimachi District (麹町区). Later they moved to Motozono-chō (元園町) in Kōjimachi. Kido learnt Tokiwazu(常磐津) from the daughter of a local hairdresser and Nagauta(長唄) by listening to his older sister’s lessons. Early on, when he was too young to go the Kabuki, he was left at home in the care of two maids and would listen to the gossip of his mother and older sister about the performances when they returned home. As he got older he went to the Kabuki with his family when the family would socialise at the Kikuoka (菊岡) tea house (chaya - 茶屋) in the Shintomiza Theatre’s(新富座) enclosure (undōba -運動場). During his early attendances at the Kabuki he took a dislike to Danjūrō IX after witnessing, according to Kido, his childish behaviour during an incident backstage but later became an ardent fan.
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