"[1]: pp54-55 Kawakami was inspired to start his own acting troupe after receiving acting training under a rakugo master [1]: p55  and after seeing the shosei shibai ("student theater" or "amateur theater") of fellow activist Sadanori Sudo, which "aimed at being realistic, just like in the West, and thus could claim to be following government directives to be as Western as possible in every possible way.

[2] At the end of his troupe's play "The true story of our Itagaki's disaster" (based on a failed 1882 assassination of the aforementioned Itagaki) "a lone figure wearing a jaunty white headband swaggered out and with a flourish knelt in macho samurai-style, his knees spread wide apart, in front of a gold leaf screen...He was wearing a red samurai surcoat with exaggerated pointed shoulders above a plaid men's kimono....Flourishing a black fan emblazoned with a red rising sun...while a rhythmic shamisen strummed, he spat out the words in a husky rapid-fire patter, improvising verses as he went along.

Covering your eyes with tall hats, Wearing gold rings and watches, You bow to men of influence and position And spend your money on geisha and entertainers.

[1]: pp52-53 Impressed by this troupe, then-Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi invited them to a private party where he would introduce Kawakami to one of his favorite geisha, the woman her Western fans would later dub Sada Yacco.

[1]: pp57-58 From January to May 1893, under the suggestion of a mutual friend Baron Kentaro Kaneko, Otojirō traveled to Paris to study European theater and learn how to improve his troupe's success.

[1]: p86 The newspapers, catching wind of this, reported on the couple with such furor that upon their arrival in Kobe large crowds gathered to greet them.

[1]: p87  Adding to the sensation was Otojirō, who, being "an inveterate self-publicist, sent off letters to the papers reporting their progress and declaring that they were on their way to Korea or possibly Shanghai, to board a ship for Europe.

He cut back the dialogue, which, being in Japanese, would be incomprehensible to the audience, and beefed up the visual elements, putting in plenty of dancing, exciting sword fights, and comic interludes.

[1]: pp118-119 By the time the troupe arrived in Boston, they had developed Geisha and the Knight, a pastiche that became a universal success throughout America and Europe.

As Sadayakko remembered it, "It was a queer mixture of Japanese plays, but it appealed to the American mind with love, and delighted with our gorgeous costumes.

The first act, "The Duel," is set in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters, before a spectacular backdrop showing a street of wooden teahouses fading in sharp perspective into the distance.

A fierce battle ensues between the two samurai and their bands of retainers, with plenty of energetic sword play, hand-to-hand combat, and acrobatic throws.

Loosing her luxuriant waist-length tresses, which fly about like a lion's mane, she turns into a raging fury and dies of a broken heart in her lover's arms.

[1]: pp125-126 Otojirō and Yakko, eager to tour Europe once again, organized a new acting troupe of twenty actors, including a female actress and four geisha.

[1]: p184  After touring several cities in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain, France, and Belgium, the troupe returned to Japan on August 19, 1902.

Having already produced their own Merchant of Venice to surprising acclaim in the West...the couple wanted to make Shakespeare's powerful dramas accessible to everyone.

With these startingly new, realistic, and up-to-the-minute plays, they hoped to lure into the theater new audiences, who had been put off by the stylization and old-fashioned forms of kabuki.

"[1]: pp205-206 Performances included revised versions of Othello[1]: p206  and Hamlet,[1]: p211  as well as the German play The Trial of the Fox for the newly created otogi shibai("fairy-tale theater") for children.

'"[1]: p219 In July 1907, Otojirō and Yakko assembled a group of eight to study in Paris "every aspect of Western theater"—theater design, stage management, scenery, props, music, and acting techniques.

[1]: p233 "It was a magnificently playful piece of architecture, like an Edwardian music hall transposed to Japan and embellished with Japanese flourishes.

The curtain featured an elaborate portrayal of a Shinto goddess performing an erotic dance, a famous scene from Japanese mythology.

"[1]: p233 After a week of dance performances by Sadayakko and her acting institute, the Imperial Theater hosted a loose adaptation of Around the World in Eighty Days, a science fiction piece entitled Star Worlds (to show off the theater's new lighting technology), an adaptation of The Student Prince, and La Dame aux Camelias featuring Yakko as Margeurite.