Gibecière Vol. 7 No. 2

CONTENTS Pocket Notes—Stephen Minch 7 An Investigation into Magic in Japan after the Opening of the Country: Part IX— Mitsunobu Matsuyama 11 The Antidote or Counterpoison against the Knights of Industry 53 A Cheat for Two— Thierry Depaulis 55 The Antidote or Counterpoison against the Knights of Industry— A Venetian 60 Furthermore... 179 Contributors 195 Volume 7 ‹› Number 2 • 5

K. T. Kuma

AN INVESTIGATION INTO MAGIC IN JAPAN AFTER THE OPENING OF THE COUNTRY • Part IX: K. T. Kuma and His Astonishing Tubes MITSUNOBU MATSUYAMA

I

t is widely recognized that the best-known magician in Japan from the Taisho Era (1912–1926) to the prewar period of the Showa Era (1926–1944) is ­Tenkatsu Shokyokusai (1886–1944), a prominent pupil of Ten-ichi.

Despite her popularity in Japan, her name is unfamiliar to most magicians in the west. This is in great part due to the brevity of her troupe’s performance tour in America (short of a year), and to her repertoire, which featured Japanese dancing, the Water Fountain Act and other magical feats Ten-ichi had performed in the west twenty years earlier.

Conversely, K. T. Kuma was a magician whose name has never appeared in the study of Japanese magic history, yet he performed in America during the same period Tenkatsu ruled the magic scene in Japan, a span of more than a half century. Such a lengthy professional career abroad, unrivaled by any Japanese magician before him, deserves recognition. In the absence of any serious study of his life and achievements, I will try here to construct such a record.

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A n I n v e s t i g at i o n i n t o M a g i c i n J a pa n

A magic performance with Ogoke tubes, performed by Inishie Dennai Miyako, which appeared in the 1682 book Konokoro Kusa

Every element in this description of the Ogoke trick, aside from the production of a cow,8 matches that of “Shina Seiro” (支那蒸籠) or the Kuma Tubes, even though three tubs are used, rather than two.

Another example of magical productions using bottomless Ogokes appeared in Tenna Shōishū (天和笑委集) (vol. 6), c. 1683. Here we find a description of Hatsutayū Dekiyama performing on a stage in the same theater district, although it is unclear if the magician used three tubes or two. The variety found in these performance descriptions suggests that some magicians performed their own versions of the routine.

Neither this form of magical production nor magic in general has been performed in Kabuki programs since around 1660. Both Inishie Dennai Miyako and Tayū Hyūga performed magic in their own Kabuki troupes.

Inishie Dennai Miyako gradually focused on magic, which he performed Volume 7 ‹› Number 2 • 29

THE ANTIDOTE OR

COUNTERPOISON AGAINST THE

KNIGHTS OF INDUSTRY, OR

PROFESSIONAL GAMBLERS.

Demonstrated by a Venetian in the Letters he writes to one of his Friends during his Travels in Europe.

Containing all the ruses & tricks gamblers use to gain money from honest people, & the means of protecting yourself from them in different kinds of Games.

AT V E N I C E , At the Expense of the Author

1768

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Th e A n t i d o t e

SECOND LETTER From Venice, March 26, 1767.

Monsieur and My Friend,

Y

esterday I was pleased to have the honor of [receiving] your letter, dated the first of the present month; I was relieved of the anxiety I had in regard to your health, and I saw with joy that you have arrived safe and sound in P. . . and that you have been well received there by my friends; I will have the honor of thanking them personally for the good welcome they have given you. You ask me in your letter to give you some enlightenment on the different kinds of games you have named for me; this subject is too vast and too full of clever devices for me to be able to satisfy you in one letter, all the more so because it would take an entire volume to contain the diabolical schemes that these professional gamblers use to take the money of the innocent; but as I have been mortified by the loss you have suffered from them as a dupe, according to all appearances, I will begin for the present by elucidating for you the traps that can be set for you by the banker who deals at Faro; there are bankers who work with marked cards,

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Or Counterpoison and others who work with cards that have not been tampered with; this is already a thing that it is necessary to detail in two articles. I will begin then to teach you how they mark them.

The most ignorant mark 16 of them with a very fine needle at the place where they place their thumb; for example, they will mark the four Aces with one little dot, the four Twos with two dots along the length, the four Threes with two dots across, and the four Fours with three dots across. The others will mark 12 by rubbing the place where the thumb is found with some powdered rosin and cleaning it off when necessary with a piece of white [linen] cloth. Others make use of cards with a black-and-white pattern on their backs 2 by arranging the cards in such a way that the pattern on top is whole, half-complete, or a quarter [complete]. According to the mark they have made on it, they can know first what card they are going to take. Again, others mark them by rubbing the place where they place their thumb with a perfectly flat glass, or with an ivory instrument made expressly [for this purpose], in such a way that the cards they rub become flatter and smoother than the others. When the Bankers begin to deal, they always touch the card at the place where they put their thumbs, and by

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Th e A n t i d o t e ruses that can be practiced; first, there are dice of all types; there are some that are square, and there are some that are almost round, being smoothed down by the manufacturer on each corner; there are also some [filled] with lead. When some Knights of Industry want to play at Dice, they first note whether when the dice are thrown hard, they lead to a high roll or a low one; when they have made these observations, they decide to enter the game; if it is played at the highest point, they try to profit from their observations, but they always try to excite the players to play Passe-Dix,33 because this is a game that goes better [when it is] played fast, and when people have the dice in their hands, they always continue to play until they have lost.

For this reason, the Gamblers always have three or four sets of dice of all kinds in their pockets; that is, some almost round and some square, half of which are passers, and the other half missouts; the passer dice are the dice loaded with lead on the Ace and the Two and the Three in such a way that when the dice are rolled they always fall on their heaviest side, and consequently give a Six, Five or Four, and so they always pass [i.e., win]; and the missout dice are weighted with lead on the Six, Five and Four, and consequently when they are rolled, they always give the Ace, Two and Three;

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Courtesy of the David Ben Collection.

Gibecière

Scott free at the famous Walter Scott session on June 14, 1930. Seated are, from left to right, T. Nelson Downs, Al Baker, ­Cardini, S. Leo Horowitz. Standing are Max Holden, Eddie McLaughlin, Eddie McGuire.

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