Sada Yacco

Sada Yacco or was a Japanese geisha, actress and dancer.

Early life Sadayakko Kawakami was born July 18, 1871, the youngest of twelve children. "My grandfather on my mother's side was an assistant magistrate and rather famous, I hear. Our house was in Nihonbashi, right where the Bank of Japan is now." The American serpentine dancer Loie Fuller danced between the plays at the Criterion. In London the company performed The Geisha and the Knight (42 performances), Kesa (17 perfs), Zingoro (36 perfs) and The Shogun: A Tale of Old Japan (12 perfs). Berlin Hanover Bremen Hamburg Leipzig the Royal Opera House in Dresden Saturday, 18.01.1902: Frankfurt, Opernhaus Sunday, 19.01.1902: Baden-Baden, Theater in Baden Monday, 20.01.1902: Strasbourg, Stadt-Theater Tuesday, 21.01.1902: Mainz, Stadt-Theater Wednesday, 22.01.1902: Karlsruhe, Großherzogliches Hoftheater Thursday, 23.01.1902: Mannheim, Saalbau-Theater Friday, 24.01.1902: Mannheim, Saalbau-Theater Saturday, 25.01.1902: Basel, Stadt-Theater Sunday, 26.01.1902: Zurich, Stadt-Theater Monday, 27.01.1902: Stuttgart, Residenz-Theater Tuesday, 28.01.1902: Munich, She built two homes in Tokyo, the House of Peach Water a few blocks from the Imperial Palace (which she would sell in the late 1920s) and a "luxurious residence built in Kawada-cho, an exclusive Millionaires' Row in the north of Tokyo."

Although retired from acting, Sada (having given up her stage and geisha names) involved herself in establishing the Kawakami Silk Company, a textile business near their home that would last until she closed it following the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. In December 1924 she also established the Kawakami Children's Music and Drama School in Tokyo, eventually closing it soon after Momosuke retired in 1928.

In 1933, the pair decided that, Momosuke now being sixty-five and in poor health, he should move back to his house and wife in Shibuya and end their relationship. "They held a solemn ceremony to mark the end of an era. They had been together more than twenty years. Sada had never hoped for or expected so much happiness in the second half of her life."

For her part, Sada decided to sell their home in Futaba and use the proceeds to build a temple, Teishoji, next to the River Kiso, being written with the same characters as her name (meaning "chastity"/"constancy") and meaning "to shine." She dedicated the temple to Fudo Myo-o, her guardian deity, and built a storehouse on its grounds to house costumes, personal effects, and other important mementos from her life. Nearby she would build a large villa named Bansho'en (the Garden of Evening Pines) after a villa she had lived in with Otojiro following their tours.

Death "Sada's life [now] revolved around her three homes: Kawado-cho in Tokyo", which would unfortunately burn in the city's fire bombing during World War II, "the Garden of Evening Pines, and a small villa in the hilly, semitropical seaside spa resort of Atami, where she went in winter to take the health-giving, mineral-rich waters".

Soon after Japan surrendered, Sada discovered that she had cancer of the liver, which had spread to her throat and tongue. Her adopted daughter Tomiji, and granddaughter, Hatsu, came to Atami to take care of her, "sitting by her bedside, moistening her lips with cotton wool dipped in water" as Sada was soon unable to eat or drink.

She died on December 7, 1946, aged 75. Her last words were to Tomiji, "I'll watch over you." Three years later, her bones were interred at Teishoji, in a tomb she had previously set aside "in a secluded hollow in the hillside behind the main building, shaded by groves of maple and bamboo."