Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe. Frederik L. Schodt

Professor Risley and the Imperial Japanese Troupe

But there was humor, too. As the group’s magician/juggler, Sumidagawa Namigorō, recalled years later, when served rice on flat plates with knives and forks they did not know how to go about eating, so they put the rice in a chamber pot they found, only to be told that it was for urinating at night.

Opening at the Academy of Music

On the seventh, the Imperials finally opened at Maguire’s Academy of Music for what was billed as a limited, three-day run. It was a huge success and made the performances of the previous troupe, the Tetsuwari family, look tame. But the Imperials were aided by a spike in interest in Japan that occurred in the city; that same week the first regular steamship line between San Francisco and Japan had been inaugurated with much fanfare in the media. And the Imperials also had the professional production and choreography of Professor Risley. Indeed, they had more of everything. As the Alta noted right before they opened, “They are said to excel the first troupe in the variety of their feats—besides having more ladders, more tubs, more bamboo poles, more juvenile prodigies, and more female rope-walkers.” The females alone might have been enough to draw a crowd, but it was a jammed and suffocating house, so much so that, as Hirohachi marveled in his diary, the doors had to be shut to prevent any more people from entering.27

The curtain at the Academy rose to reveal all “twenty” members of the troupe, including two adult females, a little girl, and three boys, all salaaming deeply in Japanese style to the audience. The show unfolded with astonishing exhibitions of flexibility and balance, spinning of tops on the edge of a sword, and the female juggler doing a lantern trick. One other woman accompanied the performances by playing the Japanese samisen, with its percussive and, to Americans, grating sound. It gave reporters another reason to rank the Imperials over the Tetsuwari troupe. “This troupe, by the way,” wrote one, “give very little of their own style of music, and that little is quite sufficient for the untutored ears of San Franciscans.”28

1. From left to right in back: Sumidagawa Namigorō, unidentified Caucasian male, and Hamaikari Sadakichi. In front, probably Sumidagawa Matsugorō and Denkichi. There is some reason to believe that the Caucasian male may be Edward Banks, but the facial shape also bears a striking resemblance to hand-drawn portraits of the younger Risley. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		2. Matsui Kikujirō, the top-spinner. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.
3. Hamaikari Umekichi, or “Little All Right,” photographed as a proud samurai with two swords. Taken at the J. Gurney Studio. New York.		4. Sumidagawa Namigorō, the butterfly artist and magician. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.
5. The ever-handsome Denkichi. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		6. Hamaikari Sadakichi. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.
7. Sumidagawa Namigorō. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		8. Probably Kanekichi. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.
9. Probably Sumidagawa Matsugorō. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		10. Sumidagawa Koman, the wife of Namigorō. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.

credits. cdv 1, 5, 7, 8, 9: f ms thr 828, harvard theatre collection, houghton library, harvard university. cdv 2, 4, 6, 10: courtesy laurence senelick collection. cdv 3: tcs 20 harvard theatre collection, houghton library, harvard university.

11. Yonekichi and Sentarō. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		12. Probably Takano Hirohachi. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.
13. Sumidagawa Koman and Tsune. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		14. Yonekichi and Sentarō. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.
15. Denkichi, Chōkichi, and Matsugorō. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		16. Rinzō and son, Yonekichi. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.
17. Chōkichi (top) and Denkichi (bottom). Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		18. Hamaikari Umekichi, or “Little All Right,” seated with fan. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.
19. Hamaikari Umekichi, or “Little All Right,” standing. Taken at the Numa Blanc Studio, Paris.		20. Unidentified Caucasian male, Umekichi (Little All Right), and Hamaikari Sadakichi. The unidentified Caucasian is certainly an American and probably either Professor Risley, Edward Banks, or William F. Schiedt.

credits. cdv 11, 20: courtesy, laurence senelick collection. cdv 12–19: f ms thr 828, harvard theatre collection, houghton library, harvard university.

Announcement for the Imperials at Maguire’s Academy of Music. san francisco daily evening bulletin, january 3, 1868.

Another huge hit of the show was a young boy acrobat named Umekichi. Usually described in Western press as the son of the troupe’s elder, Hamaikari Sadakichi, he was really the man’s nephew. But his panache and charisma would eventually win all of America’s hearts. Because he also finished his spectacular stunts with a fractured English “You bet!” and “All Right!” he would also become known as “Little All Right.” He was regarded as superior in every way to Tommy, of the rival Tetsuwari Company, except perhaps in his daring, but he more than made up for that with charm and skills. The local correspondent from the New York Times later wrote his audience back home what to expect:

The ladies will faint and the men go crazy over a juvenile performer whom we have called “All-right.” The people [here] have a custom of testifying their appreciation of a performer in a substantial manner—throwing money upon the stage. After the termination last night of little “All Right’s” perilous ladder feat, the audience nearly covered the stage with half dollars, five, ten and twenty-dollar gold pieces, at which the cunning little juvenile shouted, “All right—you bet!” and down came another shower of gold and silver! “You bet” is the most popular and fashionable vulgar ejaculation here I have ever heard. Everybody uses it, and all travelers have reported it.29

Maguire’s Academy of Music, Pine Street, between Montgomery and Sansome. san francisco history center, san francisco public library.

But not all went well. Perhaps the long sea voyage—and the stress of a foreign country, alien diet, new technology, languages,

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