Sada Yacco

Sadayakko Kawakami (Japanese川 上 贞 奴; born July 18, 1871 in Tokyo, Empire of Japan; † 7 December 1946 in Atami, Japan) was a Japanese actress and dancer.

Life

Kawakami Sadayakko was born Sada Koyama (小山 贞) and trained as a geisha. She fell to the Japanese politician Ito Hirobumi, who saw to it that she continued her training. In 1894 she married the theater owner Kawakami Otojirō in which they had been introduced by Itō.

Under the stage name Sada Yacco she worked at Kawakami- theater, although it was not yet befitted to stand as a woman with men on the stage. The troupe of the theater was in 1899 as the first theater group from Japan on a tour around the world. After performances in San Francisco we went to New York City. This was followed by performances in Paris in 1900 at the World's Fair, where the dancer Loie Fuller arranged the lighting effects. Further performances were in Berlin in 1901, where the painter Max Slevogt she painted with her foster son Raikichi, and in other European cities.

After her husband's death in 1911 Sadayakko lived with Fukuzama Momosuke together in Nagoya, although his wife was still alive. Their common house is now one of the museums in Nagoya. There, founded the dancer, after 1918 ended her dance career, a textile company. In addition, she founded a theater school in Tokyo for children. Sometimes she even held still.

Sadayakkos dance style influenced the modern American dance, such as the Ruth St. Denis of. She died the age of 75 in Atami.