Sada Yacco or was a Japanese actress and dancer.

Born in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 as Sada Koyama, Sadayakko was trained as a geisha

Geisha

, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...

 and came to the attention of the prominent Japanese politician Itō Hirobumi

Ito Hirobumi

Prince was a samurai of Chōshū domain, Japanese statesman, four time Prime Minister of Japan , genrō and Resident-General of Korea. Itō was assassinated by An Jung-geun, a Korean nationalist who was against the annexation of Korea by the Japanese Empire...

, who took an interest in furthering her education. In 1894 she married the actor Otojiro Kawakami

Otojiro Kawakami

was a Japanese actor and comedian from present-day Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, who led the Kawakami Theatre Troupe on successful overseas tours in 1899-1901...

, to whom she had been introduced by Hirobumi. She would later be known as Sada Yacco.

Sadayakko 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

Exposition Universelle (1900)

The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...

 in Paris (with theatrical lighting there done by Loie Fuller

Loie Fuller

Loie Fuller Loie Fuller Loie Fuller (also Loïe Fuller; (January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928) was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.-Career:...

) and several other European cities.

A few years after the death of her husband in 1911, Sadayakko became the lover of businessman Momosuke Fukuzawa (1868–1938), and they lived together like a married couple, although Fukuzawa's wife was still living. Their restored home is now a museum. After 1918, Sadayakko 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.
Sadayakko died at 75 in Atami, Japan. Her performances strongly influenced the work of American modern dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis

Ruth St. Denis

Ruth St. Denis was an early modern dance pioneer.-Biography:Ruth St. Denis founded Adelphi University's dance program in 1938 which was one of the first dance departments in an American university...

.

Sources

• 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.

External links

• 1906 interview with Sada Yacco conducted by Japanese writer Yone Noguchi
  Yone Noguchi
  Yone Noguchi, or Yonejirō Noguchi, born 野口 米次郎 / Noguchi Yonejirō , was an influential Japanese writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and literary criticism in both English and Japanese. He was the father of the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.-Early life:Noguchi was born in the town of Tsushima, near Nagoya...
  
  .
• 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.