The Actor Yamashita Kinsaku I Performing the Tea Vendor’s Soliloquy

Vocal performance was an important skill for kabuki actors. The actor Yamashita Kinsaku I plays a female vendor of hojicha (roasted tea) who presents an amusing sales pitch. The speech, which may have been intended for amateur recitation by kabuki fans, fills the print. Such stage speeches (serifu) were lively and entertaining, but they also demonstrated the actor's skill in vocal performance. The speech reads, in part:

"Have a taste of some fresh-roasted tea!

It's just right for both a leisurely flower-viewing excursion and to meet an urgent need. . . . First of all, tea did not begin in India, nor did it originate in Japan. Rather a person from [China] called [Shen Nong] was the first to take a drink of tea.  Later, the Reverend Myoe. . . brought some as a souvenir. . .and it has remained popular ever since.
As for its efficacy, tea brings youth to the elderly and makes everyone feel healthier. That is why the character for "tea" is written from a combination of the characters for "twenty-year-old," "person," and "tree."

Now, the old crone has her tea-water jar, tea ladle, tea bowl, tea pouch, . . . and her tea container, containing tea, and a one, and a two, and a three, and a tea for two, and old and young, and whatever-That's it!"

Translation of text by Lawrence E. Marceau