Theatre Yearbook 2022
Theatre in Japan
Published in March 2022
Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute (ITI/UNESCO)
c/o Kokuritsu Nohgakudo (The National Noh Theatre)
4-18-1 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0051, JAPAN
Tel: +81-(0)3-3478-2189 / Fax: +81-(0)3-3478-7218
mail@iti-j.org / http://iti-japan.or.jp© Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute 2022
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to reproduce material
from this work should be sent to the Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute.

Commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in fiscal 2021
under the Program for Nurturing Upcoming Artists Leading the Next Generation
Editor-in-chief Niino Morihiro
Director in charge Sota Shuji
Editors Kakihana Rieko, Goto Ayako, Konishi Michiko (Office Miyazaki),
Steven Davis (Office Miyazaki), Tada Shigefumi, Nakajima Kana,
Fukazawa Yuichi
Editorial Staff Iki Terumi, Hayashi Hideki
Translators Alan Cummings, Ishikawa Mai, William Andrews,
Eleanor Goldsmith (Office Miyazaki), Sumida Michiyo, Donncha Crowley,
Tony Gonzalez (Office Miyazaki), Mark Oshima,
Matt Treyvaud (Office Miyazaki), Yamashita Madoka, Richard Emmert
Proofreaders Aida Yuko/Ogino Tetsuya/Konishi Michiko/Simon Siddall (Office Miyazaki),
Shiraishi Mitsuko, Tada Shigefumi, Hirano Miyako
Art Director and Designer Kubo Saori
Plate-making Yubido Co., Ltd.
Yamamura Printing Co., Ltd.
Printing Sankyosha Co., Ltd.
Binding Wincam Co., Ltd.
Printed in Japan

Foreword
The Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute is a public interest incorporated foundation
and belongs to the international network of National Centres and professional organizations in approximately ninety countries and regions that constitutes the International Theatre Institute (ITI),
which is a non-governmental organization under the umbrella of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The preamble of the UNESCO Constitution begins with the famous phrase “since wars begin in
the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” Article
3 of the standing rules of the Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute stipulates that the
purpose of the Centre is “to contribute to the development of culture and realization of peace inJapan by deepening mutual understanding and facilitating the creation and exchange of theatre
and dance based upon the purpose of the UNESCO Constitution.”
The COVID-19 pandemic that first swept the world two years ago continues to wreak havoc on
people’s lives. Beset like everyone else by uncertainty about the future and restrictions on movement, people in the theatre world are engaged in a process of trial and error. New endeavors suchas streaming and performances for small audiences have highlighted even more clearly the essential
nature of the performing arts as an art form in which people share both time and space. Even in theera of living with COVID, the role of the performing arts in examining humanity and society frommultifaceted perspectives seems likely to remain unchanged.
The Japanese Centre has published the Theatre Yearbook since 1972. Starting from 1997, it has been
published in two parts: “Theatre in Japan” (English version) for readers outside Japan and “Theatre
Abroad” (Japanese version) for domestic readers. Since 2011, the Centre has been commissioned
to publish this yearbook by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as part of the “Program for Nurturing
Upcoming Artists Leading the Next Generation.”
Also funded by this program, we have staged readings every year since 2009 to introduce remarkable plays from around the world as part of our research activities to promote international theatricalexchange. In 2021, we continued the “Theatre Born in Conflict Zones” series for the thirteenth
consecutive year, this time featuring a new play from the United States that was translated andintroduced to Japan for the first time.
Thus the publication of the Theatre Yearbook has laid a firm foundation for activities that seek togain knowledge of the relationship between Japan and the world, to deepen mutual understandingby positioning Japan within the global network, and to realize cultural development and peace.
We look forward to your continued support and cooperation with the activities of the JapaneseCentre of ITI in the years to come.
March 27, 2022
In commemoration of World Theatre Day

Nagai Taeko
President
Japanese Centre of International Theatre InstituteCONTENTS
005 Shots from the Performing Arts in Japan in 2021

The Japanese Performing Arts in 2021
038 Noh and Kyogen Oda Sachiko
046 Kabuki Yanai Kenji
052 Bunraku Kameoka Noriko
059 Musicals Hagio Hitomi
066 Contemporary Theatre Yamaguchi Hiroko
074 Children’s and Youth Theatre Ota Akira
081 Japanese Classical Dance Hirano Hidetoshi
090 Ballet Urawa Makoto
097 Contemporary Dance and Butoh Tsutsumi Hiroshi
106 Television Dramas Okamuro Minako

Developments in Japan and Overseas in 2021
114 At Our Posts, Ten Years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami /Kuramochi Hiroyuki, Onobu Pelican, Shibahara Hiroshi, Hatasawa Seigo
127 The 160th Anniversary of Mori Ogai’s Birth and the Centenary of His Death—Ogai and the Performing Arts / Itoda Soichiro
136 The 2.5-Dimensional Musical: An Audience-Creating System / Suzuki Kunio

Special Feature
145 “Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 13” Five Highly Dense Short Films / Tanioka Takehiko
156 Companion Volume “Theatre Abroad 2022” in Japanese
158 ITI Centres«Editors’ Notes»• The articles in this publication report on the performing arts in Japan from the previous calendar year.
•N ames are presented in the respective style of their country/region of origin. For Japanese names, theorder is family name, followed by given name. The names in the contributor profiles are presented with acomma and in the following order (except for individuals with only one name): family name, given name.
• Titles for traditional Japanese performing arts (Noh, kyogen, kabuki, bunraku, Japanese classicaldance, etc.) are presented in the following order: Japanese title (English Title).
• Other titles of works are presented in the following order: English Title (Japanese title).
• The English play titles, theatre venue names, and other formal names are the official ones or, when no
official English name is available, newly translated for this publication.

日本の
舞台芸術
を見る

Shots from the Per forming Ar ts in Japan
in 2021

Noh and Kyogen

National Noh Theatre Special Programme of Kyogen Performance Semi (The Locust)Nomura Matasaburo as the ghost of a locust and Noguchi Takayuki as the Traveling Priest Photo provided by the National Noh Theatre

National Noh Theatre Regular Performance Kagekiyo Asami Masakuni as Kagekiyo and Asai Fumiyoshi as the chorus leader
Photo provided by the National Noh TheatreNational Noh Theatre Regular Performance Hotoke no Hara (Buddha’s Field) Katayama Kuroemon as Hotoke Gozen (L),Fukuo Tomotaka as the Traveling Priest (R), and Asai Fumiyoshi as the chorus leader Photo provided by the National Noh Theatre

Shiotsu Noh no Kai Obasute (The Abandoned Crone) Shiotsu Akio Photo: Mikami Fuminori

Noh and Kyogen
National Noh Theatre Special Programme ofKyogen Performance
Koshi Inori (Lower-Back Prayers) Miyake Ukon
Photo provided by the National Noh Theatre

The Sixth Revival Noh Trial Performance Takamura
Mikata Shizuka as Takamura (L),Hosho Kinya as the Priest who visits the ex-Emperor (C), andKatayama Kuroemon as the ex-Emperor Go-Toba (R)© Nohgaku Performers’ Association

Tessenkai Nagasaki no Seibo (Our Lady of Nagasaki) Shimizu Kanji Photo: Miyauchi Katsu

Setagaya Art Museum Performance Series Trance/Entrance Anatomy of the Dream: Shojo-Midare Nagayama Keizo
Photo: Imai Tomoki

Kabuki

Sakurahime azuma bunsho(The Scarlet Princess of Edo)
Kataoka Nizaemon as Tsurigane Gonsuke (L) andBando Tamasaburo as Sakurahime (R) © Shochiku

Sanmon gosan no kiri
(The Temple Gate and the Paulownia Crest)
Nakamura Kichiemon as Ishikawa Goemon © Shochiku

Kotobuki Soga no taimen(The Felicitous Soga Encounter)
Onoe Kikugoro as Kudo Suketsune © Shochiku

Ii tairo (Lord Ii)
Matsumoto Hakuo as Ii Naosuke (R) andNakamura Kaishun as Oshizu no Kata (L)© Shochiku

KabukiKagamijishi (The Lion Dance)
Onoe Kikunosuke as Yayoi © Shochiku

Kotobuki Soga no taimen(The Felicitous Soga Encounter)
Bando Minosuke as Soga no Goro © Shochiku

Bunraku

Kokusenya Kassen (The Battles of Coxinga) Yoshida Minosuke manipulating Kinshojo
Photo provided by the National Bunraku Theatre

Kiritake Kanjuro speaks during a press conference
on July 16 as he is made a living national treasure
Photo provided by Sankei Shimbun

Toyotake Sakitayu speaks during a press conferenceon Oct 26 as he is awarded Person of Cultural Merit
Photo provided by Sankei Shimbun

Meiboku Sendai hagi – Goten no dan(The Precious Incense and Autumn Flowers of Sendai – Palace Scene)
Tsuruzawa Seiji Photo provided by the National TheatreBunraku

ROHM Theatre Kyoto
Tsume moyo yumeji no kadomatsu(Kadomatsu’s Dream)
Photo: Katsura Hideya

Bunraku Dreams: A Tale of Succession
Gojobashi (Gojobashi Bridge)
Yoshida Tamao manipulating Ushiwakamaru (R) andYoshida Tamamichi manipulating Benkei (L)Photo: Katsura Hideya

Musicals

Box of Spirits and Goblins Musical Company It’s Follies Photo: Iwata Eri

Frozen The Shiki Theatre Company Photo: Abe Akihito © Disney

MusicalsNewsies Toho Co., Ltd./TBS Photo provided by Toho Theatrical Division

Waitress Toho Co., Ltd. Photo provided by Toho Theatrical DivisionAllegiance Horipro Inc.
Photo: Miyagawa Maiko,provided by Horipro Inc.

Jamie Horipro Inc.
Photo: Tanaka Aki,provided by Horipro Inc.

Contemporary Theatre

Fakespeare NODA MAP Photo: Shinoyama Kishin

Unfulfilled Ghost and Monster – Zaha/Tsuruga Kanagawa Arts Theatre Photo: Kono Yurika

The Air Ver. 3: And He Left Nitosha Photo: Homma Nobuhiko

Point of No Return Gekidan Chocolate Cake Photo: Ikemura Takashi

Contemporary Theatre

Jangarian Bungakuza Photo: Miyagawa Maiko

Sai-no-kuni Shakespeare Series #37 All’s Well That Ends Well Photo: Watanabe Takahiro

Fade New National Theatre, Tokyo Photo: Hikiji Nobuhiko

The Osho Trilogy Shin Royal Taishusha and Kanagawa Arts Theatre Photo: Hosono Shinji

Contemporary Theatre

Forests Setagaya Public Theatre Photo: Hosono Shinji

The Doctor Parco Theater Photo: Miyagawa MaikoChildren’s and Youth Theatre
KOYO Mime Live
Pantomime Unit TORIO
Photo provided by Yamamoto Koyo

The Circus Lights
La Strada Company
Photo provided by La Strada Company

Children’s and Youth Theatre

Taiko Live – Michikusa Dong Dok Tamakko-za Photo provided by ASSITEJ Japan Centre

The Forest of Lost Things Theater Genosse Photo: UchistyleKakeru! Studio Eggs Photo provided by Studio Eggs

The Diary Library: Living Life as Myself Kazenoko-Kyushu Theatre Company Photo: Warokas

Japanese Classical Dance

Shue no Kai Kato-Bushi Dojoji (The Ghost of a Woman in Love at Dojoji Temple to Kato-Bushi Music) Hanayagi Shue
Photo: Mai Video

Commemorating the 55th Shusen Kai Nagauta Urashima Ichiyama Shosen Photo: Kotobuki Shashin

Hana Tsugu Kai in Tokyo, Fujima Kiyotsugu Buyo Recital Futari Shizuka (The Two Shizukas)
Fujima Kiyotsugu (R), Kagita Mayumi (L) Photo: Ichida Tomoyuki

National Theatre August Japanese Classical Dance Performance
Opening the Door to Traditional Japanese Dance – Japanese Classical Dance x Dance: The Dancing Body
Nishikawa Senyoichi (L), Kondo Ryohei (R), Ishibuchi Satoshi (C) Photo provided by the National TheatreJapanese Classical Dance

Umewaka Kai Shinpa Ebanzuke (An Illustrated Program of Shinpa) Umewaka Kanjiro Photo: Video Photo Saito

The Fourth Performance of Japanese Classical Dance SAI Yume Ou Ko (A Child Chasing Dreams)
Photo: The Nihonbuyo Association

BalletSwan Lake
National Ballet of Japan
Photo: Shikama Takashi

Matsuyama Ballet commemorating
Morishita Yoko’s seventy years of dancing
Photo: Hiyama Takashi © A.I Co., Ltd.

BalletShinohara Seiichi’s Ballet Recital
AnankePhoto: Okamura Masao (Osaka Tes)

MIHAKASHI Tokoiriya
Photo: Nakahodo Choji

Le Corsaire Sadamatsu-Hamada Ballet Photo: Okamura Masao (Osaka Tes)

Don Quixote Matsuoka Reiko Ballet Photo: Murahashi KazuakiContemporary Dance and Butoh

Reflecting Fukushima Otake Eiko Photo: Nakagawa Tatsuhiko

The Dying Swan: The Truth on Its Death Sakai Hana/dir. Okada Toshiki Photo: Hatori Naoshi

Za-Koenji Dance Award II Special Version nostalgia Tamura Koichiro Photo: Yang Seung-woo

Under the Cherry Tree – Kasai Akira wo Odoru Kasai Akira Photo: bozzo

Contemporary Dance and Butoh

Gold Shower François Chaignaud (L), Maro Akaji (R) Photo: Kawashima Hiroyuki

Teshigawara Saburo version Rashomon Photo: Awane Osamu (Staff Tes)Only the Sound Remains – Reverberation Moriyama Kaiji Photo: Iida Koji, provided by Tokyo Bunka Kaikan

Peeping Garden/re:creation Moonlight Mobile Theater (Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No. 1) Photo: Daido Hiroyasu

Contemporary Dance and Butoh

The Rite of Spring Noism0＋Noism1＋Noism2/dir. Kanamori Jo Photo: Shinoyama Kishin

Condors Production in Saitama 2021 Free as a Bird Photo: Haru

日本の
舞台芸術
を知る
Th e J a p a n e s e Pe r fo r m i n g A r t s
i n 2021

NOH and KYOGENNoh and Kyogen

With a Focus on the Theatricality of Utai
Oda Sachiko

Regaining Calm for Noh Performances and the Deaths of Leading
Performers
The noh and kyogen world in 2021 experienced a period of instability after a stateof emergency was issued on January 8th, and after the same declaration was
extended again in July until September 30th when it was lifted. With these
repeated emergency declarations followed by their cancellations or extensions,performances too were cancelled or postponed, and this included cancellations
and postponements of performances which had been rescheduled from last year.
038

There were also instances where start times were advanced or performances
shortened in order to end by 8pm, or suddenly adding tickets at a 50% admission
rate due to the removal of restrictions, all of which kept organizers busy justkeeping up with the changes in regulations. Even so, the total number of cancellations and postponements decreased significantly from the previous year (theNational Noh Theatre, for example, only canceled two of their sponsored performances: on April 29th and May 8th), and although there were some performances where the onstage chorus was masked, from what this writer observed,
there were no instances of sudden production changes necessary to prevent the
spread of infection. After the 50% audience quota for performances was lifted,
audience numbers increased: thereafter for the National Noh Theatre, thenumber of attendees always exceeded 90% of the seats available. Although thedamage caused since last year by the decline in the number of performances andthe number of permitted spectators cannot be eliminated entirely, as of midDecember, the world of noh itself has regained its composure. And fortunately,
throughout the year, there were many ambitious and high-quality performances.
Major news of the year were the deaths of three leading performers. Asami

Masakuni (1941–2021), shite (main role) actor of the Kanze school died on July
13th; Nomura Shiro (1936–2021), Kanze school shite actor and Living National
Treasure who only in April had been conferred (due to his meritorious contributions) with the special Kanze school name “Gensetsu,” died on August 21st; andKakihara Takashi (1940–2021), Takayasu school otsuzumi drummer and Living
National Treasure, died on November 17th. Masakuni’s brilliant acting style constantly challenged new directions in performance; Gensetsu crossed genres witha wide range of expertise combining both grace and softness; and Takashi couldchange the world with the first drum stroke of the entrance music for the appearance of a shite; each actively performed up until just before his death and had literally been a driving force behind the modern noh world. For that reason, thefeeling of loss is strong and the sense of generational change is unavoidable, butmany of their most notable performances are without doubt profoundly engravedin the hearts and minds of audience members, and the younger generation of
performers who directly or indirectly received their guidance will above allcapably carry on those teachings into the future.

039

Asami Masakuni’s KagekiyoThis author’s “top performance of the year” is the noh Kagekiyo (March
19th, National Noh Theater’s Teirei Koen “regular performance”), which was
Masakuni’s final performance before he died. The performance of the shite was ofcourse extraordinary, but the chorus (jigashira (chorus leader): Asai Fumiyoshi)
particularly showed exceptional ability. First, I will outline the play.
After the fall of the Heike, the Heike samurai, Akushichibyoe Kagekiyo, wasexiled to Hyuga Province, and became a blind beggar known as the Hyuga exile
whose life was as ephemeral as the dew. There, his daughter Hitomaru (tsure:accompanying shite role), who had been abandoned when a child, comes to visit
him from Kamakura. Kagekiyo at first pretends not to recognize her, but a local
villager arranges for them to meet. Kagekiyo relates the heroic battle of Yashima,
then asks his daughter to pray for him and returns her to Kamakura.
Building on the rich legend of Kagekiyo, the drama focuses on the chanceencounter of the shite Kagekiyo with his daughter, where he recalls the glory of
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

NOH and KYOGEN

the past while enduring his current wretched state. A daughter, who did not havea past with her father and who had wondered “what she could do being just agirl,” longs for and visits a father whom she had never met. Kagekiyo is shaken by
the feeling of regret for a past where he had broken the bonds of a family’s affection in order to pursue military prowess. Masakuni expressed Kagekiyo’s
encounter with his daughter with a precision which consciously illuminatedKagekiyo’s emotions from beginning to end. For example, in the face-to-facescene, with the chorus he expresses “how truly sad it is to not wish to be visitedeven by my own child,” as he gradually moves his hand upwards on her shoulder
and he himself sinks to the floor. Instead of performing the typical shiori (crying)
movement pattern, he expressed his regret and affection with his whole body.
Thus, instead of emphasizing his military prowess in the “battle narration,”
Masakuni’s Kagekiyo emphasized “the inner emotion brought about by the unexpected visit of his daughter,” which was an exceptionally modern interpretationof a father and daughter’s relationship.
040

Asai Fumiyoshi’s Chorus
Along with Masakuni, the creation of Kagekiyo into the highest dramatic
expression of a modern noh was due to the chorus leadership (jigashira) of Asai
Fumiyoshi. Although noh is structured in such a way that the chorus is mainly
responsible for expressing the emotions of the shite, the shite was able to perform
as he wanted because he had full confidence in the chorus.
Asai, who is based in Osaka, has long been highly regarded as a chorus
leader, yet his work this year was particularly impressive, having been the chorus
leader for more than 15 important and/or difficult pieces. His appeal lies in his
clear theatrical understanding and precise treatment of language. It reached perfection in the final scene of the noh Hotoke no Hara (Buddha’s Field) (National
Noh Theatre, October 6th Teirei Koen. Shite: Katayama Kuroemon), with theexpressive chant of “Nothing more than wind-blown clouds and water, floatingwaves in the heavens, originating in one dew drop,” which was a hypnotic progression overwhelming the audience as the meaning of each syllable of each word
was engraved on the mind of the listener while seemingly inviting him to a newworld far away, creating a religious experience that could only be expressed inthis piece.
Simply put, the shite carries the movement, and the chorus carries the text.
Asai, if anything, is more particular about the series of word-by-word meanings
than the musicality of the chant, and in so doing gives substance to the words.
Asai’s style is not necessarily the only correct one, but I realized once again thatthe charm of noh, which always quietly and deeply permeates the hearts of theaudience, owes much to the performance of the chorus. Asai, who studied under
Kanze Hisao (1925–1978) and Kanze Tetsunojo VIII (1931–2000) – both of whom
pursued the theatricality of noh by making full use of utai chant, plays such animportant role in promoting the depth of utai and widely communicating its
expressive power to the younger generation.

From Offence to AcceptanceAs actors age and become aware of their physical decline, they face the challengeof how to manage their performances. This year, I couldn’t help but recall the041

concept of “the flower left in the old bones” from the Fushi Kaden (“Flowering
Spirit” – a treatise by Zeami).
Umewaka Manzaburo (1941–), who hadn’t performed noh at all last year due
to leg and lower back problems, performed with Nomura Shiro the aimai (danceduet) of the maibayashi (abbreviated dance performance without costume ormask) of the noh Futari Shizuka (Two Shizukas) in the Tokyo Hayashika Kyogikai
Bekkai Noh (Tokyo Instrumentalists Association Special Noh) (National Noh
Theater) performance on January 31st. Considering the difficulty of standing
from a seiza (formal position of sitting directly on the floor) position, Manzaburo
instead started and ended standing performing in a restrained fashion. In sodoing there was a sense of stability that did not unreasonably consume his energy
and still demonstrated his natural clean-cut features, and thus the dance by these
two old actors was particularly gorgeous. Kanze Yoshiyuki (1935–) who at 85
years old is the head of the Kanze Kyuko Kai performance group announced that
he would dance noh for the last time (mai osame) with the noh Tsurukame (Crane
and Tortoise) on February 14th. He isn’t retiring as such as he will continue to
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

NOH and KYOGEN

dance shimai (abbreviated dance) and give lessons. On May 21st, Umewaka
Minoru (1948–) performed the shite role for the noh Saigyozakura (Saigyo’s
Cherry Blossoms) with the variant Shirabayashi (National Noh Theatre Teirei
Koen) without mask (hitamen), using a walking staff with an attached cherrybranch in his right hand, and an unusual walking staff taller than his own heightin the left hand. After finally circling the pillars of the tsukurimono (cherry tree
stage prop), he headed down the bridgeway and then shockingly collapsed at theend of the bridgeway while going offstage. Knowing the power of his past performances, this unfortunate accident was particularly sad to see. His refined chorus
is alive and well, and there are still ways to utilize their talents.
Yet, watching over the development, the maturing and the decline of anactor’s life has a special impact when there is an overlap with the audience’s own
life, and through this process there is also a new sense of a piece which isexpressed over time.
Finally, I wish to write about Shiotsu Akio (1945–), the Kita School shite042

actor and the state of mind he demonstrated in the noh Obasute (The Abandoned
Crone) (Shiotsu Noh no Kai, October 2nd, Kita Roppeita Memorial Noh Theatre).
Shiotsu, who builds his kamae (posture) by seemingly filling it with power as
he tightly squeezes his waist, creates a strong presence on stage by this intensifying of his body. It is difficult to forget his unrivaled performances in such plays as
Shirahige (White Beard) and Shakkyo (Stone Bridge). However, Shiotsu became
sick several years ago, and despite not yet returning to his best condition, he took
on what is considered to be one of the most difficult pieces in noh, an old woman
piece. In the first half, his kamae and hakobi (feet movement) seemed slightly
unstable, but in the second half, he appeared wearing a wrinkle-free mask suchas higaki-onna (old woman of Higaki) with a white choken (gossamer, loose outerrobe) sprinkled with butterfly patterns and white okuchi (broad stiff pleatedpants) as the shite seemed like a pure white receptor reflecting the light of themoon. With Obasute in recent years, there has been a tendency for the shite toappear with a strong sense of attachment and end with an unresolved furious
passion. Shiotsu’s shite was the opposite in creating only a faint existence of theold woman left behind showing us instead a mountain scene illuminated by themoon. In that day’s performance pamphlet, Shiotsu wrote, “I’ve come to thinkthat everything I’ve learned over the years is nothing but harmful unless I throw
it away.” Perhaps the fact that the body no longer moves as one wants leads to astate of accepting everything with the entire body. The hayashi instrumentalists
were exquisite (particularly the taiko stick drum player Kotera Masato was outstanding), the chorus (led by Tomoeda Akiyo and Kagawa Seiji) were reserved
and thus supported Shiotsu’s performance as it moved from offence and arrived
at acceptance.
In kyogen, the three Living National Treasures (Nomura Man, Nomura
Mansaku and Yamamoto Tojiro) have not shown the least bit of weakening as
they continue their astounding performances. In addition, Izumi School actor
Miyake Ukon (1941–) who has directed the “Sign Language Kyogen” project of
the Japan Theatre of the Deaf (both winners of the 2021 Saika Award) showed
the unique easy-going style of the grandfather (kyogen Koshi Inori (Lower-backPrayers), National Noh Theatre Kyogen Kai, September 22nd) and others. Also,
Izumi School actor Nomura Matasaburo performed the ghost of a locust which043

had an uncanny appeal in the kyogen Semi (The Locust) with a unique attention
to detail in regards to mask, costume and direction (National Noh Theatre
Kyogen Kikaku Koen, May 26th).
Below are other special topics for 2021.
*Events•The Japan Cultural Expo Special Performance at the Kokyo Gaien National
Garden “Representation of Prayer” was performed on March 12th and 14th (the13th performance was cancelled due to rain) on a specially constructed stage at
the Imperial Palace Outer Garden. As one event in the Japan Cultural Expo,
various performances included those of noh-kyogen and Ryukyu buyo
(Okinawan Dance) as a prayer for the peace and safety of the country.
•Performances in conjunction with the “THE NOHGAKU FESTIVAL in the
Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020” took place July 27-29, August 2,
3, and 27 and September 3 at the National Noh Theatre. It was sponsored by
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

NOH and KYOGEN

the Nohgaku Performers’ Association, Japan Nohgaku Association, Agency for
Cultural Affairs, and Japan Arts Council jointly with the Tokyo 2020 Nippon
Festival program, with over 200 nohgaku performers appearing in seven noh
and kyogen pieces from Okina on the first day to Hagoromo (The Feathered
Robe) on the last day.
•Japan Nohgaku Caravan As one link of the Agency for Cultural Affairs “Art
Caravan Project centered on large-scale and high-quality cultural and artistic
activities,” The Nohgaku Performers’ Association sponsored a program called“Encouraging the Heart–Experiencing Nohgaku” which plans to have the participation of some 2,700 noh and kyogen performers in 71 performances in 35
venues in 20 regions from Hokkaido to Kyushu. It began at the Kyoto Kanze
Noh Theatre with the noh pieces Takamura and Aoinoue. (See below)*Revival Noh•The Sixth Revival Noh Trial Performance featuring the noh Takamura was held044

on February 13th and July 24th at the Kyoto Kanze Noh Theatre with Mikata
Shizuka as the shite Ono no Takamura, Katayama Kuroemon as the tsureex-Emperor Go-Toba, and Hosho Kinya as the waki (secondary actor) Priest
who visits the ex-Emperor. Takamura who by legend was believed to be an envoy
to hell had a striking performance in throwing away a huge golden tablet.
•Kanze shite actor Kato Shingo performed the revival noh Wada Sakamori on
February 13th at the Hiratsuka City Central Public Hall. This was the third timefor Kato to revive a piece based on the Soga Monogatari (The Tale of the Soga
Brothers).
*The shinsaku (newly created) noh

At Jacob’s Well (by Diethard Leopold) and Nagasaki no Seibo (Our Lady ofNagasaki, by Tada Tomio) were performed by Kanze shite actor Shimizu Kanji
from August 4th-8th at Tokyo’s Za-Koenji sponsored by the Tessenkai. The performance added lighting and video to a noh-like stage set which not only pioneered new noh but also appealed to a new type of audience.

*Anatomy of a Dream: Shojo MidareThis was performed in the Entrance Hall of the Setagaya Art Museum on
October 5-6 as a special part of the Setagaya Art Museum’s Performance Series
Trance/Entrance. Shite actor Nagayama Keizo danced Midare which seemed tofloat in a fantasy space which suggested a universe with many moons. The voiceof the unseen chorus (Kanze Tetsunojo) poured down from the heavens. The useof strong lighting and mirrors created a splendid blending of art and noh. Uzawa
Hikaru who had the role of the koken (stage assistant) was particularly impressive in not moving in the slightest.
Oda, Sachiko
Researcher of noh and kyogen. Doctorate, Graduate Department of Literature, Hosei
University. Main area of research: Noh and Kyogen Performance History and Research into
Classical Works. Oda’s activities combine both research and performance activities including
theatre criticism, lecturing, commentary, and dramaturgy for revival noh and revival ofancient performance practices.

045(Translation: Richard Emmert)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

KABUKI

Kabuki

The Continuing Pandemic andthe Death of Nakamura Kichiemon
Yanai Kenji
The Long Road Back to Normality
The Kabuki-za cautiously reopened in August 2020, after a long period of
pandemic-imposed darkness. With the future still uncertain, theatres restarted
performances with a range of strict Covid-prevention measures in place, including drastic reductions in theatre capacity, shortening of performance times, andentirely separate casts and stage personnel for each program. The Kabuki-za had
been running four short programs per day, but this was expanded to three longer046

programs from January. However, early in the New Year on January 7, a second
state of emergency was announced for Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Saitama
prefectures, and theatres were forced once again into schedule changes.
Subsequently, repeated and extended states of emergency and of strict newvirus prevention measures were announced. As in other theatres around Japan,
kabuki performances became subject to regulations issued by national and local
government and frequent demands for cooperation. Performances were justifiably described as being like walking on a tightrope or across thin ice, and some
performers became infected with the virus and had to isolate, forcing the theatres into last-minute cast changes. But finally, infection numbers began to drop
and the states of emergency and other restrictions were lifted on October 1. There
was a brief moment of optimism, but then a new, highly infectious variant wasreported in November, and kabuki performances returned to virtually the same
situation they had endured earlier in the year. In the middle of these restrictions,as part of the July 23 opening ceremony for the first Olympic Games in modern
history to be held without spectators, Ichikawa Ebizo appeared wearing the flamboyant costume from Shibaraku (Just a Minute).

The Death of Nakamura Kichiemon
With some brief periods of absence due to ill health, Nakamura Kichiemon
appeared on the Kabuki-za stage in January in the role of Oboshi Yuranosukein act 7 of Chushingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers), and in March in therole of Ishikawa Goemon in Sanmon gosan no kiri (The Temple Gate and thePaulownia Crest). However, towards the end of that month’s run, on March 28,
he suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital. He was not to return to thestage before he passed away on November 28, aged 77.
Amongst his most notable roles was Benkei in Kanjincho (The SubscriptionList), which he had hoped to perform one more time in his eightieth year. The
depth and grand scale of his acting in combination with his peerless delivery
meant that he excelled in period plays adapted from the puppet theatre, including roles like Matsuomaru in Terakoya (The Village School), Taira no Tomomori
in Yoshitsune senbon zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees), andthe lead characters in Shunkan (The Monk Shunkan), Kumagai jinya (Kumagai’s
Battle Camp), Moritsuna jinya (Moritsuna’s Battle Camp), Ichijo Okura

047

monogatari (The Story of Ichijo Okura), and Ishikiri Kajiwara (Stone-Cutting
Kajiwara). In modern history plays like Genroku chushingura (The Genroku Era
Chushingura) and Ii tairo (Lord Ii), he was able to create characters with a richdepth and sense of light and darkness, while he could lay on the charm as the
eponymous antiheroes in domestic plays like Kochiyama, Banzui Chobei, andHokaibo. He also gained widespread popularity on the long-running television
drama series Onihei hankacho (Onihei’s Detective Records). While he was always
destined to succeed to the art of his adoptive father Nakamura Kichiemon I,
which he accomplished spectacularly, he also managed to expand both thebreadth and depth of his unique approach to his art. It is always a shock to lose
any great actor, but the sense of loss I felt when I heard of Kichiemon’s passing
towards the end of 2021 was beyond words.

Outstanding Performances
The decision by Kataoka Nizaemon and Bando Tamasaburo to revive some of
their legendary performances attracted a great deal of attention. In particular,
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

KABUKI

their two-part revival in April and June of the play that created the “Taka-Tama”
boom thirty-six years before, Sakurahime azuma bunsho (The Scarlet Princess ofEdo) had a near-historical impact. Amazingly, both actors managed to present
performances that fused surprising youthfulness and the brilliance of their fully
mature art. They also revived the Dote no Oroku and Kimon no Kibei plots from
Osome Hisamatsu ukina no yomiuri (The Romance of Osome and Hisamatsu) in
February, and the Rotaku to Onbobori sections of Tokaido Yotsuya kaidan(Yotsuya Ghost Stories) in September, the latter for the first time in thirty-eight
years. While one could argue that these performances only happened because of
the pandemic-imposed restrictions on performance lengths, their significancealso lay in the excitement and energy they generated in a moment of gloom andrestriction, not just for kabuki fans but for the theatrical world as a whole.
Onoe Kikugoro played the role of Kataoka Naojiro in Yuki no yube Iriya no
azemichi (The Snowy Path through the Ricefields of Iriya) at the Kabuki-za inMarch, and Hayano Kanpei in the sixth act of Kanadehon chushingura at the048

same theatre in May. Each was well received and allowed Kikugoro to present his
art in all its perfection. His graceful portrayal of Kudo Suketsune in Kotobuki
Soga no taimen (The Felicitous Soga Encounter) at the Kabuki-za in November
delighted audiences with its combination of dignity, bitterness, and eroticism.
Matsumoto Hakuo performed with his distinctive gravitas as Matsuomaru
in the Kurumabiki (Pulling the Carriage Apart) scene from Sugawara denju
tenarai kagami (Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy) at the Kabuki-za inJanuary, together with his son and grandson. In April, again at the Kabuki-za, herotated roles with his son Matsumoto Koshiro, becoming the oldest actor to everplay the role of Benkei in a regular run. His was an intensely spirited Benkei that
truly felt like it was animated by his entire physical being. I was also very movedby his performance in Ii Tairo, with Nakamura Kaishun in the role of Oshizu no
Kata at the Kabuki-za in November. Both created tranquil portrayals of individuals caught up in a tumultuous historical moment.
Nakamura Baigyoku demonstrated both the heights of grace and a substantial presence as Minamoto no Raiko in Kumo no ito oyozume banashi (Battlewith the Spider Spirit) at the Kabuki-za in July, and as Ariwara no Yukihira inSuma no utsushie (Suma Sketches) in September. As Fukuoka Mitsugi in Ise ondo
(The Ise Dances and Love’s Dull Blade) at the National Theatre in October, his
acting was suffused with a delicate wash of natural softness, creating a very rarely
seen impression.
The Zenshinza Theatre Company celebrated the 90th anniversary of theirfounding at the National Theatre this year. They performed one of their bestknown plays, their distinctive version of Shunkan, with its unique script andstaging coming together very successfully to create a tightly knit sense of atmosphere. I was reminded once again of the importance of reworking classic plays.

The Next Generation and Younger Actors
With the passing of Kichiemon and the majority of senior actors now approaching their eighties, there has been a rapid acceleration in the responsibilities of thenext generation.
Notably, Ichikawa Ennosuke was able to take advantage of the shortened
performance times by abbreviating and rearranging existing plays and present-049

ing them in new formats. The plays in question, all performed at the Kabuki-za,
were Kagamiyama gonichi no Iwafuji: Iwafuji kaii hen (Mt. Kagamiyama and theLatter Days of Iwafuji) in August, Tenjiku Tokubei imayobanashi: Koheiji gaiden(The Updated Tale of Tenjiku Tokubei: Koheiji) in October, a digest entitled
Hanakurabe gishi no kaomise (A Contest of Young Stars: Gala of Loyal Retainers)
in November, which combined the opening and closing scenes of Chushingurawith some of the spin-off dramas featuring characters who don’t appear in theclassical narrative, and finally, Shinpan Date no juyaku (New Ten Roles of theDate Clan) in December.
As well as his role as Benkei in the excellent performance of Kanjincho mentioned above, Matsumoto Koshiro also appeared for the first time in the puppet-theatre adaptations Yoshikata Saigo (The Death of Yoshikata) in August andMoritsuna jinya in September, both at the Kabuki-za. His performances werevery solid, raising expectations that these kinds of period plays will be carriedthrough the next generation.
In his portrayal of Chobei the plasterer in Ninjo banashi Bunshichi mottoi (ATheatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

KABUKI

Story of Human Feeling: Bunshichi and the Invention of Bunshichi Topknot Ties)
at the National Theatre’s annual Kabuki kansho kyoshitsu (Kabuki Appreciation
Workshop) performances in June, Onoe Shoroku brought a fresh sense of youthfulness to Chobei’s relationship with his daughter. He also demonstrated his
impressive skills as a dancer in Tsuchigumo (The Earth Spider) in May and Tachi
Nusubito (The Sword Thief) in October, both at the Kabuki-za.
Onoe Kikunosuke showed us some strikingly powerful performances,including a relaxed elegance in Kagamijishi (The Lion Dance) at the Kabuki-za inJune, while his Shirai Gonpachi in Suzugamori (The Suzugamori Execution
Grounds) at the same theatre in July was replete with a combination of softness
and tension. His performance as Takechi Mitsuhide in Toki wa Ima Kikyo no
Hataage (The Time is Now: Raising the Bellflower Flag) at the National Theatre in
March, under his father-in-law Kichiemon’s direction, provided a powerful andconvincing demonstration of the transmission of the art.
There were other memorable performances by younger actors this year.
050

Onoe Ukon’s performances as Ojo Kishisa in the riverbank scene from Sannin
Kichisa (Three Thieves Named Kichisa) in May and as Oshichi in the watchtower
scene from Shochikubai Yushima no Kakegaku (Votive Tablets at Yushima Shrine)
both possessed an almost wild sense of novel enthusiasm that illuminated theroles with a unique sense of reality.
Following Ennosuke’s infection with Covid-19, his six quick-change roles in
Kagamiyama gonichi no Iwafuji had to be covered by Bando Minosuke at very
short notice from the first day of the run. Minosuke covered the roles until
August 18, and the effort he put in was very apparent on stage. Also impressive
was his invigorating and skilful performance as Soga no Goro in Kotobuki Sogano taimen at the Kabuki-za in November, as part of the memorial program
marking the seventh anniversary of the death of his father, Bando Mitsugoro X.
Hanakurabe gishi no kaomise saw younger actors taking the main roles, andthe performance was deliberately structured to highlight the next generation.
The role of Oboshi Yuranosuke was played by Nakamura Kasho. He also put
in masterful performances as Kudo Suketsune in Kotohogite hanagata tsudouhashiradate (The Auspicious Pillar-Erecting Ceremony, Enacted by Young Stars)

in January, and as Fuwa Banzaemon in Sayaate (Clashing Scabbards) in August,both at the Kabuki-za.

Obituaries
Kataoka Hidetaro passed away on May 23. He had only just been awarded theOrder of the Rising Sun in April. Hidetaro was acclaimed as an important
onnagata actor in roles such as Umegawa in Fuingiri (The Courier for Hell),
Koharu in Kawasho (The Love Suicides at Amijima), and Oyone in Numazu(Vengeance at Iga Pass), where he brought a rich flavour of Kamigata (the Kyoto
and Osaka area) to his performances. He was equally skilled in middle-aged
kashagata roles like Oen in Fuingiri or Okisa in Yoshidaya (Love Letter from the
Licensed Quarter). He was also able to demonstrate his distinctive style in old
woman roles in period plays, including Tatsuta no mae and Kakuju in Domyoji(Domyoji Temple), Mimyo in Moritsuna Jinya, and Koshiji in Terutora haizen(Terutora Serves the Tray). He also sometimes played male roles like Manjiro in
Ise ondo (The Ise Dances and Love’s Dull Blade) or Sakuramaru in Kurumabiki, to051

which he brought an unforgettable softness and charm.
Torii Kiyomitsu, the ukiyo-e artist and scenic designer, passed away on May
24. For many years, she had created the painted signboards for the Kabuki-za,
and she was in the middle of creating the signs for the June production when she
died unexpectedly.
Yanai, Kenji
Born in Tokushima prefecture in 1970. Following a period at the National Theatre, he now
teaches at Meiji University. Holds a doctorate in literature. Specializes in the history ofJapanese performing arts, with an emphasis on kabuki. His books include: Meiji kiwamono
kabuki: Sora tobu godaime Kikugoro (Sensational Meiji Period Kabuki: Kikugoro V Flying throughthe Sky, Hakusuisha Publishing), Chabudaigaeshi no kabuki nyumon (An Introduction to Kabuki
Surprising Enough to Overturn the Dinner Table, Shinchosha Publishing). He also writes kabuki
reviews for The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper.
(Translation: Alan Cummings)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

BUNRAKU

Bunraku

A Master Bows Out, and New Possibilities
Kameoka Noriko

The world of bunraku continued to suffer the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in
2021, with theatres running three programs per day and a reduction in audiencecapacity, among other measures. Many bunraku fans are elderly and they tended
to stay away from the theatres. It was a great shame that many high-quality performances played in front of half-empty houses. Yet, in spite of these difficulties,
that the theatre was able to mount performances that aimed to retain and expand
its audience, gave me some hope for the future.
For bunraku fans, the saddest event of the year was certainly the retirement052

of the puppeteer, Living National Treasure, Person of Cultural Merit, andmember of the Japan Art Academy, Yoshida Minosuke. The news was unexpectedly announced in the middle of the performance run at the National Bunraku
Theatre in April. It was reported that Minosuke said, “In August I will turn 88
years old, so this month will be the last when I give my body and soul to thestage.” Minosuke was born in Osaka in 1933, the son of the puppeteer Kiritake
Montaro II. He started performing as a puppeteer from the age of six, and in thatsense, he truly was a product of the world of bunraku. After the war and still
young in years, he first started to distinguish himself, and in 1961 he succeeded
to the name Yoshida Minosuke III. Already by that time he had graduated to performing lead female roles. He specialized in the showy, charming ‘princess’ or
courtesan roles, like Yaegaki-hime in Honcho nijushiko (Twenty-Four JapaneseParagons of Filial Piety) and Yugiri in Yoshidaya (Love Letter from the Licensed
Quarter), helping to create in these plays a substantial part of the appeal ofmodern bunraku. In 1998 he collapsed with a brain haemorrhage, but his indomitable grit saw him quickly make a return to the stage. He spent 81 years of his lifeon stage and continually pursuing the beauty of bunraku puppets. In his final

performance at the National Bunraku Theatre in April, he performed the role ofthe heroine Kinshojo in Kokusenya Kassen (The Battles of Coxinga), leaving
behind memories of his brilliance to all who saw him perform.
The year had happier moments too. Minosuke’s most senior student, Kiritake
Kanjuro, was recognized as a Living National Treasure. Kanjuro was also bornin Osaka in 1953, the son of the puppeteer and later Living National Treasure
Kiritake Kanjuro II. Shortly after graduating from middle school, he started
studying with Minosuke who had studied under the same teacher as his father.
He was thus trained by two masters: his father who specialized in gallant maleroles, and Minosuke in charming female roles. Kanjuro has thus been able todevelop into a puppeteer with a rare degree of stage sense, capable of playing bothmale and female parts, and he has taken lead roles almost every month. Kanjuro
remarked at the press conference that for the sake of the future of bunraku, hewants to help develop more new plays. There is truth in that statement: what contemporary bunraku needs is both the transmission of the classical repertoire andnew plays and styles of performance that can bring in new audiences.

053

In the autumn, the chanter and Living National Treasure Toyotake Sakitayu
was named a Person of Cultural Merit. Sakitayu’s father, Takemoto Tsunatayu
VIII, was also a Living National Treasure so Sakitayu began his training at a
young age. As I write in January 2022, he is currently the only chanter who holds
the honour of chanting the key final scene (kiriba) of plays. He combines a deep
interpretation of the texts with a chanting style that ranges from the delicate to
the dynamic, allowing him to cover the full repertoire from sewamono domestic
plays to jidaimono period pieces. His outstanding technique allows him to truly
chant the soul of bunraku. In the spring, the shamisen player Tsuruzawa Enza,
who accompanies Sakitayu in regular performances, was awarded the Medal of
Honour with Purple Ribbon.
At the press conference Sakitayu used a baseball reference to explain his
future ambition, “to train chanters who are capable of batting cleanup”. What thebunraku world needs is, indeed, the nurturing of the next generation of chanters
who can carry the art forward. Takemoto Chitosedayu and Toyotake Rosetayu,
now in their fifties, have started to chant key scenes in programmes, and theTheatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

BUNRAKU

generation above them, Toyotake Rodayu and Takemoto Shikorodayu, both now
in their seventies, are performing with admirable solidity. However, there issomething of a gap before we come to younger chanters like Takemoto Oritayu,
who is still in his forties. Happily, there are some promising younger chanters
who have started to emerge and we can only pray that their art grows largeboned, well-built, and strong.
In the following section, I would like to look back at the year’s regular schedule ofperformances in Osaka and Tokyo.
The January program at the National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka was acelebratory performance for Tsuruzawa Seiji who in 2020 became the first everbunraku shamisen player to be named a Person of Cultural Merit. Seiji played
the lead shamisen in the Michiyuki Hatsune no tabi (Journey with the Drum)
scene from Yoshitsune senbon zakura (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry
Trees). With his razor-sharp tone and the facility of his command over the fast054

and slow tempos, he provided a fully satisfying demonstration of the appeal ofthe michiyuki interlude. Rosetayu’s chanting was beautifully expansive, while
the leading puppeteer pair from the next generation, Yoshida Tamasuke as
Tadanobu the Fox and Yoshida Ichisuke as Shizuka Gozen, put on a spectacularshow. The Yamagoe (Mountain-crossing) section where Shizuka leans backwards
and tosses her fan to Tadanobu was perfectly executed, and the stage as a whole
had a brilliance to it that matched the New Year mood. Also on the program was
Minosuke playing the part of Sakuramaru in the Sakuramaru seppuku no dan(Sakuramaru’s Suicide) scene from Sugawara denju tenarai kagami (Sugawara
and the Secrets of Calligraphy). His portrayal of the tragedy of this young man
whose life is ended too soon was beautifully expressive.
The February program in Tokyo at the National Theatre’s small hall once
again celebrated Seiji’s nomination as a Person of Cultural Merit, and this time heperformed the first half of the Goten no dan (Palace) scene from Meiboku Sendai
hagi (The Precious Incense and Autumn Flowers of Sendai), again with Rosetayu.
The April program in Osaka saw the retirement of Minosuke, as I alreadydescribed above. In the days after the announcement was made, the reduced

capacity theatre became packed, everyone wanting to see Minosuke one lasttime. The last day of the run had to be brought forward one day due to a newstate of emergency, and had it not been for the pandemic, he would have beenable to bid farewell from the stage to many more of his fans.
The May performances in Tokyo were cancelled entirely due to the pandemic. In June in Osaka the normal Bunraku for Beginners educational programfor fans new to the theatre went ahead, but the Saturday and Sunday performances were cancelled.
Fortunately, in July and early August the National Bunraku Theatre in
Osaka was able to mount a special summer performance. The third part ofthe program, the late show, was a performance of perennial summer favourite
Natsumatsuri Naniwa kagami (Summer Festival: Mirror of Osaka). The combination of the artistic verisimilitude of Yoshida Tamao as the hero Danshichi
Kurobei, and the energy expended by the chanters including Shikorodayu andOritayu created an impassioned performance with a distinctively Osaka flavour.
Tamao’s health has been good this year, and the scale and strength of his perfor-

055

mance as Matsuoemon (in fact, Higuchi Jiro Kanemitsu in disguise) in Hirakana
seisuiki (The Popular Rise and Fall of the Heike Clan) in the autumn programin Osaka was dazzling. In the same performance, Kiritake Kanjuro played therole of the courtesan Umegae in the Kanzaki ageya no dan (Kanzaki House of
Assignation) scene, allowing the full range of her emotion to erupt. YoshidaKazuo played the role of the wife Kuzunoha in Ashiya Doman ouchi kagami (ACourtly Mirror of Ashiya Doman), a role that his teacher Yoshida Bunjaku had
enjoyed great success with. Kazuo created an exciting portrayal of the role, deftly
poised between maternal emotion and acrobatics.
After this autumn performance, most of the restrictions on theatre capacity
were removed and we returned to a situation very similar to before the pandemic.
Only the very front row and some of the seats immediately in front of the chanterand shamisen player’s dais are currently left empty.
Closing out the year was the December performance at the small hall of the
National Theatre in Tokyo of several scenes from Kanadehon chushingura (TheTreasury of Loyal Retainers). The scenes performed were the Momonoi yakata
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

BUNRAKU

Honzo matsukiri (Honzo’s Pine Branch Cutting), Gebasaki shinmotsu (The Bribingof Moronao), Denchu ninjo (The Attack in the Palace), Enya Hangan seppuku (The
Suicide of Hangan), Shiro akewatashi (The Handing Over of the Castle), andMichiyuki tabiji no yomeiri (The Bridal Journey). The troupe for this performancecentered on younger artists, but ticket sales were good. Some of this year’s performances had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, but as the year ended infection
figures in Japan began to fall rapidly. We can only hope that 2022 will provide us
with a more amenable environment for bunraku performances.
On August 21 at the National Bunraku Theatre there was a puppetless
Bunraku sujoruri no kai performance, which featured the first appearance at theevent by Oritayu. He performed the Teshimaya aburamise (Teshimaya Oilshop)
scene from Onnagoroshi abura jigoku (Woman Killer and the Hell of Oil), in a
version that was composed by his teacher Sakitayu’s father, Takemoto Tsunatayu
VIII and the shamisen player Takezawa Yashichi X, giving a demonstration of
his genuine power as a chanter.
056

Aside from the regular schedule of productions, there were two other performances that pointed towards possible futures for bunraku. The first was the February production at the ROHM Theatre Kyoto, which included the Takenaka
toride (Takenaka’s Fortress) scene from Konoshitakage hazama gassen (Konoshita
and the Battle of Okehazama), the first revival of this play in 87 years to include
puppets. The production was supervised by Kinoshita Yuichi, from the Kinoshita
Kabuki company, who fuse classical theatre with modernity. On the same bill
was a modern play written by the puppeteer Kiritake Kanjuro, Tsume moyo
yumeji no kadomatsu (Kadomatsu’s Dream), whose novel casting brought many
new audience members to the theatre to experience bunraku for the first time.
Tsume moyo is a story about a tsume ningyo, one of the simple, one-man puppetsthat are normally used for bit parts in crowd scenes, and it provides a humorous
look at the joys and sorrows of the theatre. Worthy of special note was the chanting of the whole play by Takemoto Hirotayu, who is the youngest member of thecompany at just twenty-five years old and who is still only four years into his
career. He was supported by the veteran shamisen player Tsuruzawa Seisuke, buteven so, this was a remarkable casting choice for a regular performance. The
heavy weight of responsibility that Hirotayu must have felt can well be imagined,
but there was an ease to his chanting that evidenced great promise for the future.
The second event was a ground-breaking performance entitled Bunraku
muso: keishoden (Bunraku Dreams: A Tale of Succession) (August 7, National
Bunraku Theatre), where master puppeteers and their students together performed roles of the same rank. The event was proposed by one of the mid-rank
puppeteers, Yoshida Tamasho, and three pairs participated: Kiritake Kanjuro
and his pupil Kiritake Kansuke, Yoshida Tamao and Yoshida Tamamichi, andthe father and son (and fellow students) duo of Yoshida Ichisuke and Yoshida
Minohisa. The young students had around ten years of study of behind them,and most of them are still working as leg manipulators for their teachers or
senior students. In other words, this event presented them with the chance toperform a major role on the same stage as their teachers, an opportunity thatwould never normally exist. Tamasho’s reasoning for the project was, “there’s anunmistakeable difference in ability of course, but I believe that during their057

training they can definitely learn something from performing the same class ofrole with their teachers.” The performance was funded with support from Arts
Support Kansai, which uses private donations to support artistic activities in the
Kansai region, and from the first-ever crowdfunding campaign in bunraku. The
initial goal of 300,000 yen ($2,600) was reached in a single day, and the campaign
went on to raise almost 3,500,000 yen ($30,000). Tamasho and the performers
looked both grateful and excited by the extent to which fans are willing tosupport bunraku. The whole program had an agreeably handmade feel to it,
down to the pamphlets and program which were designed by the staff themselves. On the day the theatre was virtually full. Enthusiastic applause greeted
the performance of the calm teachers and the young students, who threw their
all into manipulating their puppets with sweat streaming down their foreheads.
Due to the pandemic, the number of performances in spring and autumn
outside the major cities has fallen by almost half. Even the regular performancesin Osaka and Tokyo are in a perilous state. Yet, there now we can see an escaperoute. Amongst all the ad hoc experiments of the past two years, we have now
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

BUNRAKU

begun to identify methods to maintain a Covid-safe environment while still
putting on outstanding productions. While we continue to hope for the end of
the pandemic, I pray that bunraku will continue to pass on its art to the next
generation and continue to seek out new possibilities.
Kameoka, Noriko
Special reporter and editor of the cultural section of the Osaka head office of the Sankei
Shimbun newspaper, responsible for coverage of Japanese traditional performing arts.
Joined the newspaper in 1990. In addition to theatre reviews and interviews, she also writes
the ongoing columns Riken no ken (Seeing Yourself from the Outside) and Koten no yume o miru
(Dreaming of the Classics). Has published several books including Bunraku zanmai (Devoted to
Bunraku) and Yume: Heisei no Tojuro Tanjo (Dream: The Birth of a Heisei Tojuro).
(Translation: Alan Cummings)

058

Musicals

Regaining Momentum All at Once
Hagio Hitomi

We can say that the Japanese musical world regained vitality in 2021. In 2020,
after the musical scene suddenly became quiet due to the COVID-19 situation,
the number of performances gradually increased, though they had to be presented cautiously. Given this fact, it seemed as if the musical world became active
again for real in 2021. Understandably, it was still like treading on thin ice, andthere were some productions that had to be cancelled. Even so, the total numberof performances increased drastically this year, which must be due to the underlying strength of the Japanese musical world.
059

Much-Awaited Translated Musicals Opening One after Another
Broadway musicals that musical fans were looking forward to were premiered inJapan at last. The Shiki Theatre Company’s Frozen and Newsies produced by
Toho Co., Ltd. and TBS were both postponed in 2020 and opened in Japan
almost a year later. Both musicals were very popular and sold out as soon as thetickets went on sale. As Newsies ran for only a month, the audience quicklybought the tickets. Frozen, on the other hand, had been scheduled for a long run
and it was a sign of a promising start for the production.
Frozen, which opened on Broadway in 2018, closed soon after performanceson Broadway were suspended due to COVID-19. After playing in Sydney from
December 2020 to May 2021, the Japan premiere of Frozen opened on June 24. It
was followed by Melbourne (June 25), London (August 27), and Hamburg(November 8). The Shiki Theatre Company produced a replica version of theoriginal Broadway production of Frozen, using the same staging, scenic design,and other elements. However, it was far better than the original version. In theoriginal production, the scene changes and the magical scene in which Elsa
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

MUSICALS

builds an ice castle using her supernatural power was somewhat unstylish but theJapanese production did not give the same impression. Perhaps it was due to thetechnical aspects that had improved during the three years since it was premiered
and at the same time, it reminded us how good Japanese technical staff are attheir job.
The Japanese-cast version of Newsies was another production that exceeded
the original Broadway version. It is a drama about the newsboy strike in New
York that occurred at the end of the nineteenth century and based on the book
written by Harvey Fierstein. Koike Shuichiro translated the lyrics into Japaneseand directed the Japanese version. While maintaining the style of the original
musical film, he added many dance scenes, carefully depicted the characters, andcreated a lively stage production. The success of the production was probably
largely due to the efforts of the lead actor, Kyomoto Taiga, and the other castmembers. They must have been polishing their dance and acting skills after theshow was postponed.
060

Eventually, numerous translated musicals were premiered in Japan during2021 and the total number was around the same as usual. The first Japanese-castversion of Barnum, which was premiered on Broadway in 1980, opened in 2021.
The musical depicts the life of Phineas Taylor Barnum, who was a real circus
entertainer. The success of the movie Greatest Showman, which is about the same
person, probably led to the production of Barnum in Japan at this time. Kato
Kazuki played the main role. The production that was directed by Ogita Koichi
included circus acts as well but it was a pity that the staging was somewhat
low-key due to COVID-related self-restrictions such as keeping a certain distance
between the stage and the audience.
Waitress and The Prom were Japan premieres of the latest Broadway musicals. The Japanese version of Waitress followed the original version directed by
Diane Paulus. The lively performance of Takahata Mitsuki, who played theheroine, and the powerful company created an uplifting musical celebrating
independent women and their friendship. The Prom, which was directed by
Kishitani Goro, is a musical comedy depicting a commotion over a lesbian highschooler (played by Aoi Wakana). The Japanese version put more focus on thebond between the heroine and her mother, which was a new idea that was not in
the original version.
Another musical besides The Prom that dealt with the gender issue was Jamie(original title: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), which was originally produced
in London’s West End. It is a story about a high schooler called Jamie (Morisaki
Win and Takahashi Fu were double-cast), who aspires to becoming a drag queen.
In this exhilarating musical comedy focusing on diversity, the senior drag queens
were played by veteran actors such as Ishikawa Zen, Imai Kiyotaka and Yoshino
Keigo, who seemed to be having fun performing their characters, and they added
more layers to the stage performance.
Horipro Inc. that produced Jamie is making more and more bold attempts. It
presented 17 Again (book by Marco Pennette, music and lyrics written by Alan
Zachary and Michael Weiner), which is based on a film, and this production was
the world premiere of the musical. It was directed by Tani Kenichi and was also
the first musical for the actor Takeuchi Ryoma, whose presence shone out.
Horipro also produced the Japan premiere of Allegiance, which is a serious story061

about Japanese-Americans during the Second World War. Kaiho Naoto and
Hamada Megumi performed well, responding to the down-to-earth approach of
Stafford Arima’s staging. The Japan premiere of the Korean musical Jack the
Ripper, which was translated into Japanese and directed by Shirai Akira, was also
produced by Horipro. Horipro probably now tops the list of Japanese production
companies in terms of the number of newly produced musicals.
Among the translated foreign musicals presented this year, Hope wasanother Korean musical. It was directed by the actor Niiro Shinya, who made a
directorial debut.
The American musical October Sky, which is based on the true-life novel andfilm, was directed by Itagaki Kyoichi and was presented in Japan for the firsttime. Although it is a heartwarming story, the script had room for refinement. I
hope it will be revived after Itagaki Kyoichi embellishes the script. As will bementioned later, Itagaki had also directed a few original musicals and his activities stood out during 2021.
Harada Ryo is another director of musicals who was prolific. He directed
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

MUSICALS

three Broadway musicals, both old and new, during 2021, and showed his directorial skills. Nice Work if You Can Get It (played by Flower troupe of Takarazuka
Revue Company) is a musical that opened on Broadway in 2012 and it unfolds
with Gershwin’s famous music. Although the original production lacked tension,
the well-crafted staging of the Japanese version turned the musical into a bubbly
and delightful production. Promises, Promises (Cosmos troupe of Takarazuka
Revue Company) is a musical that premiered on Broadway in 1968. Though it
was updated to fit the norms of today’s society, the pleasant and laid-back atmosphere of the original story could still be felt. The other musical that Harada
directed this year was Anything Goes (produced by Toho), which opened at
Meijiza Theater in Tokyo. It was scheduled to run for a total of almost twomonths, including a tour to Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka but due to the COVID19 situation, it closed after playing at Meijiza for only one week, which is a shame
because it was such a splendid production, including the beautiful scenery
designed by Matsui Rumi.
062

Drastic Increase of Original Musicals
The number of original musicals is increasing more than ever. The levels of the
productions are improving for sure, probably proving that the Japanese musicalworld has matured. Among them, Box of Spirits and Goblins (Moryo no hako)
and Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no ken, referred to as Fist hereafter) were especially amazing and delightful.
Box of Spirits and Goblins is based on Kyogoku Natsuhiko’s popular novel.
The long story was skillfully trimmed down and unfolded at one stretch by aptly
using the chorus. Itagaki Kyoichi, who wrote the book and lyrics, and who
directed the piece, showed his talent. The original music composed by Ozawa
Tokifumi was wonderful as well.
Another musical that Itagaki wrote the book and lyrics for and also directed
was Grey−Can’t Be So Gentle (Grey−Sonna ni yasashiku nante narenaiyo) (musicby Kuwabara Mako). It was about divisions created by social media and thetheme was extremely up to date.
Fist is based on a popular comic book and was produced by Horipro with theinternational market in mind. Takahashi Ako, who also wrote the lyrics, adapted
the original story by making it much shorter and turned it into a well-madescript. Ishimaru Sachiko’s staging was smooth-flowing and appealing to the eyes.
Much of the music composed by Frank Wildhorn was legato and matched thedrama, which was unlike his usual style of music with dynamic rhythms thatsometimes sound too aggressive. Apparently, the Japanese music staff worked on
the arrangement and made considerable changes. This kind of revamping should
be done more often in future projects as it would improve the quality of the production, as seen in the case of Fist.
Shochiku Co., Ltd. produced Goya, which was about the life of the painterGoya and focused on how he ended up drawing black pictures. The musical wasconceived and written by G2. It uses good material and the musical numbers in a
Spanish style written by Kiyozuka Shinya were also appealing. However, it was apity that the scenes explaining the historical background were too long. I hope itwill be revised and produced again.
Shiki Theatre Company premiered The Myth of the Beginning Tree: The

063

Stories of the Kosoado Woods (Hajimari no ki no shinwa−Kosoado no mori nomonogatari) (book and lyrics by Minami Keiichiro, music by Kanematsu Shu),
which is an original family musical. It is a heartwarming story delivering amessage about the bond between people and how we live in the heart of nature’s
bounty, which are typical themes of Shiki’s musicals.
Furuta Arata and Onoe Ukon costarred in Hygiene−Rhythm & Vacuum(Eisei−Rizumu & Bakyumu). It is a story about a father and son who run a business disposing of urine and come up in the world by means fair or foul (book andstaging by Fukuhara Mitsunori). It is a dense human drama reflecting social andeconomic structure, and the subject matter, the text, and the incidents that occur
were all stimulating. The music written by Mizuno Yoshiki (Ikimonogakari) and
Masuda Tosh matched the drama.
A Sign of Affection (Yubisaki to renren) based on a girls’ comic book was
small in scale but a memorable musical. It is a drama depicting the love of a deaf
college girl (played by Toyohara Erika). The sign language developed into flowing
dance movements, which were choreographed by Maeda Kiyomi, while theTheatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

MUSICALS

heroine’s feelings were expressed through songs as in usual musicals. Not only
was it a lovely story but it was also a delightful production using every characteristic of musicals. It was made by a female creative team, including the choreographer Maeda mentioned above as well as Iijima Sanae, who wrote the script,
Ogino Kiyoko, who wrote the music, and the director Tanaka Maiko, who also
worked on the script. It was produced by Watanabe Entertainment Co., Ltd.
The Snow troupe of Takarazuka Revue Company presented fff: Fortississimo（fff: Fortississimo−Kanki ni utae!). It is about Beethoven, who decided to choose
a career in music and eventually soared to new heights. It was an original musicalin which the character setup, and how historical figures like Napoleon and
Goethe are woven into the historical backdrop, were well crafted. The music wasused effectively as well. The musical written and directed by Ueda Kumikoturned into a production that lived up to her reputation.

064

Revivals of Translated Musicals and the Strong Showing of Long-Established Musicals
Besides other original works which have not been mentioned, there were manymusicals that were revived, ranging from epic productions such as Les Misérables
and Mozart! to small shows including The Last Five Years and Glory Days.
There were some noticeable cases in which directors who had made themselves a name for directing straight plays were chosen to direct revivals of small
and medium-scale musicals that were remade. For instance, Mori Shintaro
directed Peter Pan in 2021. Kiss of the Spider Woman was directed by Hisawa
Yusuke of Gekidan Chocolate Cake theatre company, which is known for presenting plays dealing with social issues. The world of musicals in Japan is mostsurely expanding through its diverse resources of creative talent.
Meanwhile, long-established musical theatre troupes have been striving
hard. The Ongakuza Musical, which presented the new version of the Love ofSeven Dolls this year, have lent musicals in their repertoire such as Shabondama
tonda, soramade tonda (lit. Soap bubbles flew, they flew to the universe) andMademoiselle Mozart to other productions. The Musical Company It’s Follies
that produced Box of Spirits and Goblins is also steadily moving ahead. The

Musical-za, whose representative work is Himeyuri, has started to present new
original musicals consistently.
*
Japan’s musical world continued to move forward incessantly during 2021 despite
the COVID-19 situation, when musicals had to be presented as if one was treading on thin ice. However, to bring back the audiences who have either grownapart from musicals or are taking a wait-and-see attitude, and to develop new
audience segments are challenges for the future.
Hagio, Hitomi
Hagio Hitomi is a film and theatre critic. She started her career as a newspaper journalist andhas written theatre reviews for newspapers such as Asahi Shimbun as well as column series
in musical magazines. She is the author of Take Me Out to the Musical! (Myujikaru ni tsuretette!)
and A Hundred People Involved in “Les Misérables” (Re mizeraburu no hyakunin). She also wrote
and edited Broadway Musicals: All About the Tony Awards (Burodowei myujikaru−Toni sho nosubete) and Your First Musical Film Selected by a Professional: Hagio Hitomi’s Top 50 (Puro ga
eranda hajimete no myujikaru eiga: Hagio Hitomi besuto serekushon 50).

065

(Translation: Sumida Michiyo)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CONTEMPORARY THEATRE

Contemporary Theatre

Probing Contemporary Society,
Encountering the Dead
Yamaguchi Hiroko

The ebb and flow of the coronavirus pandemic’s waves continued to buffet theJapanese contemporary theatre world in 2021. Just one member of the cast fallingsick meant all performances would be canceled until they returned a negative
test. This article looks back on the plays that emerged amid these stringent
circumstances.
066

Examining the “Air” of a Society Devoid of Inspection and Introspection
In July and August, while the country remained under a state of emergency,
Tokyo nonetheless went ahead with the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In February, former prime minister Mori Yoshiro resigned as president of the organizing committee over disparaging remarks he made about women. Three othermen centrally involved in the opening and closing ceremonies also resigned orwere dismissed after it came to light that they had, respectively, insulted women,
admitted bullying disabled people in the past, and made fun of the Holocaust.
Despite their nominal celebration of diversity, the actual reality of the Olympics
once again reared its head.
Though the opening ceremony for the Olympics was poorly received overall,Moriyama Mirai’s threnodic solo dance attracted attention. Immediately prior tothis, Moriyama had played the architect Zaha Hadid in the double bill Unfulfilled
Ghost and Monster—Zaha/Tsuruga (Miren no yurei to kaibutsu—Zaha, Tsuruga)
at Kanagawa Arts Theatre, written and directed by Okada Toshiki. Zaha Hadid
won the design contest for the New National Stadium, which would serve as themain venue for the Tokyo Olympics, but the costs of constructing her design

became controversial and the plan was eventually scrapped. Based on the style ofmugen (dream) noh, the first play (whose title is a play on a Japanese word for“setbacks” that is also a homonym for the architect’s name) conjured forth thelate Hadid, who died in 2016 at the age of sixty-five, through words, music, anddance, and allowed the audience to envision what her stadium would have looked
like. And all while evoking once again just how badly Japan treated this Iraqborn female architect. The shite (main role) in the other play, Tsuruga, is a
“nuclear fuel cycle policy phantom” who appears on a coast where a fast breeder
reactor, inoperative for almost its entire life and scheduled for decommissioning,is visible. (The title of the play refers to a city in Fukui Prefecture that is known
for its nuclear power plants.) This reflection of Japanese society, which pushes
failures under the carpet without fully examining them, resembled the disarraysurrounding the pandemic and Olympics in a vividly timely way.
Japanese society is controlled by a certain “air” or public mood. One of thethings responsible for that is the news media, which Nagai Ai has probed through
The Air, her series of plays that came to a close with its third iteration, The Air

067

Ver. 3: And He Left (Za kuki ver.3 soshite kare wa satta...), staged by her company,
Nitosha, and directed by Nagai herself. The play is set at a television network. The
first half is a light comedy in which Hoshino, the producer of a news show criticalof the government, settles a score with Yokomatsu, a former newspaper reporter
turned political pundit who now serves as a de facto spokesperson for the government, but then the mood of the play shifts. His sense of mission as a journalist
reawakened, Yokomatsu proposes to Hoshino that he make public a secret document that will hit the government hard. Hoshino starts to waver. “You could
believe you were carrying out justice,” Yokomatsu tells her, “but without everconfronting your own weakness or deceit.” Hoshino is forced to confront how
she was thinking of her own interests. The bitter final scene shone a light on thesource of the air that lurks within us.
The dominance of a certain air. Lack of inspection and introspection. Thisechoes the situation eighty years ago, as portrayed in Gekidan Chocolate Cake’s
Point of No Return (Kikan funo-ten), written by Furukawa Takeshi and directedby Hisawa Yusuke. Why did Japan plunge into a reckless war? Based on the
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CONTEMPORARY THEATRE

real-life conference held with young elites from the government agencies, military, and private sector some six months before the conflict between Japan andthe United States started, and which predicted that Japan would lose a war, theplay explored why they were unable to stop the country from following the paththeir leaders had so foolishly set them on.

Reflecting on Our Relations with Others
We should recognize diversity. This is common sense, but have we reallyembraced it fully? Written by Yokoyama Takuya and directed by Matsumoto
Yuko, the Bungakuza staging of Djungarian (Jangarian) delicately asked thisquestion. Among the family who owns a pork cutlet restaurant in an old, downto-earth part of Osaka, opinion is divided over employing a Mongolian student.
Even though Japan is hugely dependent on the labor of students and so-called“technical intern trainees” from other parts of Asia, the country does not allow
mass immigration. Foreigners also experience violations of their human rights.
068

Against such a backdrop, the play delved into the minds of people who fixate on
minor differences and draw distinctions between themselves and others. The
decision to make the veteran cook who keeps the restaurant going an ethnic
Korean added a further layer of complexity.
DULL-COLORED POP’s Nemunoki Ob/Gyn on the Hill (Oka no ue, Nemunoki
Sanfujinka), written and directed by Tani Kenichi, confronted the issue of genderthrough the themes of pregnancy and childbirth. By performing the same scriptin two versions—one where the genders of the actors matched the roles, and one
where they did not—the production was stimulating and insightful.
Intolerance harms diversity. Depicting the loose community created bypeople of various backgrounds in a Japanese enclave in Thailand during the firsthalf of the seventeenth century, MONO’s production of Ayutthaya (Ayutaya),
written and directed by Tsuchida Hideo, expressed important points in a soft
tone. “Whenever we put our convictions into words, some things slip out,” themain protagonist notes at one point. “If we pursue what’s correct too much, we
eventually stop being able to forgive people. And when that’s aggravated, we starthating those close to us, and by the time we realize, it’s too late to go back to howthings were before.” The play offered a quietly dissenting view on society today,
where assertions clash so stridently.

Encounters with the Dead. Listening to Their Voices.
Written and directed by Noda Hideki, NODA MAP’s production of Fakespeare(Feikusupia) listened to the words of the dead. Set at the sacred Mount Osore, theplay layered together various images from Shakespeare’s tragedies, Antoine deSaint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, and other sources, which converged toward asearch for “words.”
Malice running rampant online. Acrimony. Fake news. Conspiracy theories.
Noda closed his play with actual words that were the polar opposite of these: thevoices stored on the flight recorder recovered from the Japan Airlines plane thatcrashed in summer 1985. The words of the pilots doing their utmost to keep theirplane in the air were brought back to life through the body of an actor, making
an overwhelming impact on the audience. “Raise the head,” the phrase repeatedly said by the captain as he attempted to steer the plane after he had lost control069

of it, was powerfully moving, resonating like a poignant exhortation urging
those left behind to live.
Five years have passed since the director Ninagawa Yukio died. Various initiatives that he engaged in at Saitama Arts Theater, where he served as artistic
director, came to an end. The project begun in 1998 to stage all thirty-seven of
Shakespeare’s plays was finally completed (strictly speaking, the production ofKing John planned for 2020 was postponed and remains unperformed). Matsuoka
Kazuko became the third Japanese person, and the first Japanese woman, totranslate all the plays. The final play was All’s Well That Ends Well. Taking overdirecting duties from Ninagawa, Yoshida Kotaro carefully articulated the relationships of the female characters, and brought the series to a joyous close.
Saitama Next Theatre, which started as a training company for young actors yet
to make a name for themselves, disbanded after the August production of Rain
Flower Beasts (Uka no kemono), a new play written by Hosokawa Yohei anddirected by Iwamatsu Ryo. Likewise, Saitama Gold Theater, a performing groupfor senior citizens, staged its final production in December, a revival of Ota
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CONTEMPORARY THEATRE

Shogo’s The Water Station (Mizu no eki) directed by Sugihara Kunio. In theformer members of Saitama Next Theatre who have gone on to appear in otherproductions since the company disbanded, we can sense the spirit of Ninagawa
continuing to live and breathe. Truly the theatre is a place where we are able toreunite with the dead.

Diverse Productions and Rich Harvests
The year saw other new plays. Keralino Sandrovich directed his own stage adaptation of the Abe Kobo novel The Woman in the Dunes (Suna no onna) with
KEMURI Theatrical Laboratory, the group he formed with actor Ogawa Tamaki.
He turned the tale of a woman and man living in a place shut off from the rest of
the world by sand into an impressive drama. Now in its fortieth year, Gekidan
Tobiraza’s Dissecting Green Tea Hag (Kaitai Aocha Baba), deftly written anddirected by Yokouchi Kensuke, turned the spotlight on the titular woman who
unknowingly contributed greatly to New Text on Anatomy (Kaitai shinsho), an
070

influential anatomy book translated into Japanese from a Dutch source. Team
Saru, led by the actor Sasaki Kuranosuke, staged A Virtuous Man without
Friends—Emperor Yongzheng, the Loneliest “Tyrant” in Chinese History (Kunshini tomo nashi—Chugokushijo mottomo kodoku na “bokun” Yoseitei), a strikingly
unusual play about the eighteenth-century Chinese Qing-dynasty emperor
Yongzheng, written by Abe Nobuhide and directed by Higashi Kenji.
Yongzheng’s approach as a ruler probed deep into contemporary Japan. Due tothe large scale of its productions, Gekidan Shinkansen was severely impacted by
the coronavirus pandemic, but the company showed us how robust it still is with
its first major play in two and a half years, Kitsune Seimei Kyubigari, written by
Nakashima Kazuki and directed by Inoue Hidenori.
At the New National Theatre, Tokyo, artistic director Ogawa Eriko’s Full
Audition Project and KOTSU-KOTSU Project started to bear fruit. For theformer, in which productions are cast slowly by directors through open calls,
three productions were staged: Slashed Senta (Kirare no Senta), written by
Miyoshi Juro and directed by Kamimura Satoshi; Reaction Process (Hanno kotei),
written by Miyamoto Ken and directed by Chiba Tetsuya (postponed to thisyear after its cancellation in 2020); and Fade (Iroaseru), written and directed by
Kuramochi Yutaka. For the KOTSU-KOTSU Project, which gradually tackles
scripts over the course of more than year through rehearsals and work-inprogress performances, Nishizawa Eiji directed Betsuyaku Minoru’s Bubbling
and Boiling (Aabukutatta, niitatta).
The Full Audition Project brings together directors and actors, and hassometimes led to actors performing in productions at other theatres. Albeit
unspectacular, it is a befitting initiative for a national theatre that enriches thefoundation of the theatre world in Japan. Originally written by Kuramochi for
the New National Theatre, Tokyo ten years ago and here revived in a production
directed by the author, Fade had become more vivid and compelling in theinterim, and felt almost prophetic when watched now in the age of social media.
Among other notable productions at the New National Theatre, Tokyo during
the year, the revival of Inoue Hisashi’s Final Take: The Golden Age of Movies(Kinema no tenchi) directed by Ogawa was particularly accomplished.
At Kanagawa Arts Theatre, newly appointed artistic director Nagatsuka

071

Keishi directed The Osho Trilogy by Hojo Hideji in a theatre space temporarily
erected in the atrium. All three parts were staged in succession at weekends,
forming just under six hours packed with the joy of watching a play.
Among productions of overseas plays in translation, Wajdi Mouawad’s
Forests (Forets) at Setagaya Public Theatre was astonishing. The third in the
Mouawad’s The Blood of Promises quartet that the theatre is gradually staging, it
was an epic play portraying 150 years in the history of a family, interwoven with
the international circumstances at the time and supernatural powers. Kamimura
Satoshi’s directing and the performances by the likes of Asami Rei, Okamoto
Kenichi, Songha, Kurita Momoko, and Kameda Yoshiaki were especially vivid.
Parco Theater’s daring programming excelled. The contemporary British
play The Doctor by Robert Icke was staged by director Kuriyama Tamiya with
Otake Shinobu in the lead role of a physician who comes face to face with anarray of issues, from race to creed, class, and gender, spelled out in densely
packed dialogue exchanges. It was a production that left a strong sense of theatre’s significance as a place for thought-provoking experiences. Mori Shintaro’s
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CONTEMPORARY THEATRE

all-female staging of Julius Caesar lucidly conveyed the political struggles of men.
Haiyuza staged ambitious productions of The Just Assassins (Les Justes),
written by Albert Camus and directed by Ogasawara Kyo, and Ink, with Manabe
Takashi directing the James Graham play about the British media.
The young Bungakuza director Inaba Kae made a conspicuous impression
during the year. She displayed her assured abilities in the Office Cottone production of The Unburied Dead (Morts sans sépulture) by Jean-Paul Sartre and The
Mother (Matka) by Karel Čapek, and then revived The Atami Murder Case(Atami satsujin jiken) for Bungakuza Atelier no Kai, shining new light on thisTsuka Kohei play that originally premiered at Bungakuza in 1973.

Determination in the Face of Difficulty
The ongoing difficulties posed by the coronavirus pandemic on international
travel had a great impact on theatre in Japan during the year, not least the cancellation of Le Théâtre du Soleil’s visit from France, which was meant to be one of072

the main draws of Tokyo Festival 2021.
Nevertheless, people did not give up, and found ways to keep international
exchange going, such as artists visiting Japan by undertaking the necessary quarantine period or making use of technology to allow them to participate remotely.
The year also marked two decades of efforts by the Japan-Korea TheatreCommunications Center and Association of Korea-Japan Theater Exchange totranslate and hold stage readings of Japanese and South Korean plays. To date,
fifty plays have been translated in both languages. At the symposium held inTokyo in January, the members of the Korean theatre world who participatedremotely offered constructive proposals for how we can confront things in the
future through theatre.
The pandemic notwithstanding, the general director of Matsumoto
Performing Arts Centre, Kushida Kazuyoshi, launched FESTA Matsumoto in
October in the eponymous city in Nagano Prefecture. In addition to formal
theatre spaces, the festival featured a wide range of theatre, dance, music, andmore in such places around the city as cafes and a park.
In his statement to mark the opening of the festival, Kushida wrote: “Afestival is by no means something that takes place only at times of social peace
and prosperity. Rather, it is something that takes place when humankind experiences terrible misfortune as a prayer that life may return to normal again and inorder to help us maintain our spiritual well-being, and so that the human race
may find ways of living and behaving for the future. This is the true role of a festival.” Shrouded in the dark fog of the pandemic, here was a resolute declarationthat held up a torch to light the way.
Yamaguchi, Hiroko
Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun. Born in 1960, she joined the Asahi Shimbun newspaper in
1983. Over the course of her career, she has worked at its Tokyo, West Japan (Fukuoka), andOsaka offices as a reviewer and reporter for cultural news, especially theatre. She has
previously served on the paper’s editorial board and as a culture and media editorialist. She
also teaches part-time at Musashino Art University and Nihon University. She is the coauthor of Ninagawa Yukio’s Work (Shinchosha, 2015).
(Translation: William Andrews)

Theatre in Japan

073

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CHILDREN’S and YOUTH THEATRE

Children’s and Youth Theatre

A Year of Pondering How to Create
Encounters with Children amid the Pandemic
Ota AkiraHolding the ASSITEJ World Congress
When all is said and done, the biggest topic for us in 2021 was the 20th ASSITEJWorld Congress in Tokyo and International Performing Arts Festival forChildren and Young People / MIRAI 2020. A triennial global festival for artists
working in the field of theatre for children and young people, the ASSITEJ World
Congress was due to take place in Tokyo in May 2020 but had to be postponed
074

until March 2021 because of COVID-19. As it was impossible to bring productions and guests from overseas to Japan, we switched to a hybrid model blending
physical and virtual participation, and, miraculously, managed to hold the eventfrom March 20 to 31, 2021 in Tokyo and Nagano, at a time when there was nostate of emergency in effect.
We received 1,254 applications from across the globe for productions to befeatured, from which we selected 26 international and 5 Japanese productions. A
total of 110 domestic and international productions had been due to feature in
the fringe program, but ultimately this was scaled back to 66, with 20 from overseas and 46 from within Japan. The international fringe productions were presented in video form, with screenings followed by a talk session in real time via
remote link between the festival venue and the countries concerned. The
Japanese fringe productions were performed before an in-person audience, with
the number of seats available kept below half of each theatre’s capacity.
Because many of the meetings during the festival took the form of international symposia, almost all were held online, but we did take care to provide
opportunities throughout the festival for those who had come to the venue inperson to get together and chat face to face. We also devised ways to provide children with a sample of the global atmosphere, in an effort to motivate people
involved in culture and the arts to keep striving to offer children encounters withthe stage and to not give up on the future of culture.
First, I would like to introduce some of the Japanese productions featured.
While Opera Theater Konnyakuza’s Konnyakuza Concert (Konnyakuza no
ongakukai) took the form of a simple concert of songs and piano music, its dramatic staging and the unerring vocal skills on display ensured it entertained
people of all ages. ROBA Music Theatre’s Welcome to the Land of MusicalInstruments (Gakki no kuni e yokoso) featured everything from period instruments to unique new ones, the story unfolding through a performance in which
a variety of sounds reached the audience in an entirely natural way. It was wonderful to observe the children gradually become enthralled. KOYO Mime Live by
Pantomime Unit TORIO offered not only a highly skilled demonstration ofmime, but also novelty in its diverse range of modes of expression, including ventriloquism with the aid of items made from paper, sketches using everyday items

075

such as newspapers and paper bags, dances in which the artist performed tworoles, and magic tricks. Also striking was the sight of children and their parents
enjoying the heartwarming clown performances in La Strada Company’s The
Circus Lights (Sakasu no hi), a nonverbal production underpinned by outstanding artistry on a stage set made from Japanese washi paper. Meanwhile, theKamijo Mitsuru–led Edo Marionette Group showcased puppets with a history
dating back 380 years. As these marionettes depicted drunken men, the graceful
movements of beautiful kimono-clad women, and comical dances passed down
through the generations since the seventeenth century, they brought Japanese
history and folk culture to life.
The 2021 ASSITEJ World Congress marked the first time that international
productions had been screened on video. In an attempt to replicate the live experience to some small extent, we organized after-show talks with the performers
and directors of each production via remote link, which proved popular withparticipants. Many of the videos we screened had been filmed in front of an audience of children, so being able to appreciate their reactions helped to enhance theTheatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CHILDREN’S and YOUTH THEATRE

global aspect of this event, I believe.
Another reason why our audiences were so forthcoming in their approbation for the 2021 ASSITEJ World Congress was the large number of nonverbal
productions across a wide assortment of genres. Due in part to the fact that theevent took place during the spring holiday, we finally began to see children sittingin the audience again. Most notably, thanks to the proactive inclusion of ourNagano performances in the school holiday programs organized by local government bodies, there were many family groups in the audience. We truly felt that
this was a festival for children.
As we marked the milestone of the 20th ASSITEJ World Congress, we had
hoped to welcome children’s and youth theatre artists from across the globe to
Japan. Although we were unfortunately unable to meet in person in the end, wewere at least able to encounter each other through this hybrid event, drawing
upon each artist’s ideas. And I do hope the day will come when we can enjoy inJapan the productions we were unable to physically stage this year. Finally, we
076

were delighted that the ASSITEJ World Congress won the Digital Transformation: From Offline to Online category in the Culture Online International Award,
which is organized by the Russian Cultural Foundation in partnership with theSaint Petersburg International Cultural Forum (SPbICF).

Support from the Agency for Cultural Affairs amid the Pandemic
2021 was the year in which we became keenly aware of just how great the impact
of COVID-19 was. Tokyo spent around seven of the nine months between
January and September 2021 under a state of emergency. As had been the casethe previous year, there was a sharp decline in the number of performances atnursery schools, kindergartens, and schools until the summer break, due to theprolonged state of emergency. During this situation, the Agency for Cultural
Affairs and several other ministries and agencies introduced support measures intheir supplementary budgets for cultural and artistic activities aimed at children
and young people.
Performances at schools and the like are usually carried out on the basis of
direct contracts between schools and the theatre companies or creative groups

concerned. Accordingly, when performances were canceled due to the pandemic
last year, most were halted or postponed without a cancellation fee being paid inrecompense. In contrast, cancellation fees or equivalent measures were introduced for performances as part of projects implemented by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and other government bodies, ensuring that schools, and theatrecompanies/creative groups alike could make arrangements with peace of mind.
A number of examples are outlined below.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs project entitled Supporting Opportunities
for Children to Appreciate and Experience Culture encompasses three
approaches: the program selection approach, under which schools can choose
from a menu of children’s plays, music, traditional performing arts (Noh plays),and programs put together by groups working in the field of new media art tosuit the school’s own art appreciation projects; the school-initiated approach,under which schools can choose artists, arts organizations, and works from awider range of fields; and the cultural facilities approach.
The key difference from earlier initiatives is the availability of the school-

077

initiated approach, giving theatre companies/creative groups and schools the
freedom to liaise directly in making arrangements for performances, as they had
done before. Previously, when performances were staged at schools and similar
institutions with grants from the Agency for Cultural Affairs or other government bodies, the schools had to choose from a limited number of preselected
works. The introduction of the school-initiated approach was groundbreaking inthat it gave schools the right to choose from all kinds of different works.
The Supporting Opportunities for Children to Appreciate and Experience
Culture at Theatres and Concert Halls project subsidizes some of the seats at
performances for the general public so that free tickets can be provided to children eighteen and under. However, the requirement for this subsidy is that the
tickets (or where there are several price points, the ticket price for the mostexpensive seat) must cost at least eight thousand yen, so one would have to saythat most of these performances do not fall into the category of performing artsfor children and youth.
Furthermore, while this project targets all children eighteen and under, theTheatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CHILDREN’S and YOUTH THEATRE

project is aimed at elementary and junior high schools only. In other words,
support for theatre companies/creative groups and artists that have specialized inperforming arts for children focuses solely on performances aimed at elementaryand junior high school students, whereas support for performances not principally targeted at children covers all children from infants up to eighteen-yearolds. Defining children as elementary and junior high school students in somecases and all those eighteen and under in others gives rise to an ineluctable
impression of inconsistency, not to mention unfairness. As performances atnursery schools, kindergartens, and high schools are important to most children’s and youth theatre companies/creative groups, significant misgivings
remained about the lack of support for children in those age brackets.
Nevertheless, under another Agency for Cultural Affairs project, the Art
Caravan—a scheme focused on large-scale, high-quality art and cultural activities—offered nationwide performances by umbrella organizations in ten artistic
fields. In addition, the Japan Association of Theatre for Children and Young
078

People organized the Shadow Play Festival, in which three Japanese shadow puppetry companies toured the length and breadth of the country giving performances. Meanwhile, under the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ ARTS for the Future
program, which sought to overcome the effects of the pandemic through support
for efforts to enhance cultural and artistic activities, many children’s and youth
theatre companies with little experience performing for the general public used
the opportunity to organize such performances.
However, anxiety lingers about the prospects for the coming fiscal year. As
artists are unable to visit schools and the like to engage in marketing activities
and schools are still uncertain about concluding direct contracts for performances, theatre companies and creative groups continue to suffer.

New Productions in 2021
Just like 2020, 2021 was a tough year, but quite a few theatre companies and creative groups managed to stage new productions. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce four that particularly caught my interest.
Theater Genosse’s The Forest of Lost Things (Wasuremono no mori) (written

by Okada Jun and Urakawa Ryoji, and adapted and directed by Matsuda Tamaki)
is a new piece staged after a year’s delay, having been in rehearsal in 2020 when
COVID-19 struck. It pulled off the feat of being a production that adults could
also enjoy, without losing any of the original book’s perspective on the world.
Bringing together a diverse array of artists, Studio Eggs’s KAKERU! The
Product … of KATE (Food) and GAKE (Precipice) and KAKE (Gambling)?!
(KAKERU! kate to gake to kake … no hate?) (written and directed by Nagai
Kanko) was a veritable treasure trove of performances.
Tokyo Engeki Ensemble’s Bear in the Universe (Uchu no naka no kuma; Bär
im Universum) (written by Dea Loher, translated by Miwa Reiko, and directed by
Koke Yoshinori) was the Japanese premiere of the first children’s play by Dea
Loher, one of Germany’s foremost contemporary playwrights. The piece tackles
the universal topic of accepting each other’s differences, against the backgroundof environmental problems.
Kazenoko-Kyushu Theatre Company’s The Diary Library: Living Life as
Myself (written by Mizutani Akane, and adapted and directed by Asano Yumiko)

079

was jointly created with junior and senior high school students in Kagoshima.
Based on the real-life diary of a trainee on the Naval Aviator Preparatory Course
during World War II, this play links the past with the present as it explores peace.
While there were many other new productions by theatre companies andcreative groups, space constraints preclude my mentioning them all. The pandemic’s impact has been immense and profound, and I am sure that rebuilding
this field will take a great deal of time. It goes without saying that, in doing so,
continuing efforts to explore new creative activities, and public support for children’s and youth performing arts will be essential. Having encountered an arrayof initiatives from across the globe and watched many children engaging withthe performing arts at the ASSITEJ World Congress, I gained a renewed awareness of the distinctiveness and quality of Japanese children’s and youth theatre
productions and the environment around them. I remain hopeful that 2022 willbring forth a few green shoots of recovery and the whisper of a fresh breeze
through the world of children’s and youth theatre.

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CHILDREN’S and YOUTH THEATRE

Ota, Akira
Since joining Tokyo Engeki Ensemble in 1996, he has produced most of the company’s
productions. He has given many lectures and workshops as the director in charge ofdeveloping human resources at Japan Union of Theatrical Companies for Children andYoung People. In 2004, he studied at the youth theatre department (Unga Riks) of Sweden’s
National Touring Theatre (Riksteatern) for a short period under the Agency for Cultural
Affairs Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists. Among his other positions, he iscurrently the Secretary-General of the Japan-Korea Theater Communications Center.
(Translation: Eleanor Goldsmith)080

Japanese Classical Dance

Performances That Shone in the Midst of theCovid Pandemic
Hirano Hidetoshi

In the midst of the pandemic that began in 2020, for the first few months of 2021,
as measures were taken to suppress the spread of COVID-19, theatres were
opening. However, when the government declared a state of emergency on April
23, things changed totally.
On April 25, the National Theatre (Large Theatre) was rented out as thevenue for the Nishikawa Kai, a recital of Japanese classical dance sponsored by
Nishikawa Senzo. Since I didn’t hear anything from the sponsor and because it

081

was produced by Nishikawa Senzo and not the National Theatre itself, I assumed
that it would go on as scheduled and went to the theatre. But instead, I was
handed a message at the front door of the theatre from Nishikawa Senzo’s son,Nishikawa Minosuke. The message read:“On the evening of April 23, the government announced the state of
emergency. The National Theatre informed us that the only way the recital
could be held was if there was no audience. “For that reason, we decided that
the Nishikawa Kai scheduled for April 25 would have to be canceled. Yesterday
we contacted as many people as we could by telephone and fax, but we wereunable to contact everybody. I am deeply sorry that this meant that you had tocome all the way to the theatre today.”For about a month after that, many performances of Japanese classical dancewere either canceled or postponed.

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

JAPANESE CLASSICAL DANCE

1. The Efforts of Four Dancers during the Pandemic
In the world of Japanese classical dance in 2020, new experiments using technology such as online streaming received a lot of attention. In 2021, online streaming of Japanese classical dance became even more widespread, but ultimately, as astage art, Japanese classical dance is only complete when it is performed inperson with a live audience. In 2021, even though performances in front of live
audiences tended to be more infrequent, by autumn there were several live performances of Japanese classical dance, including many very fine performances.
These performances may have been held on a relatively small scale, but they werea sign of energy created in resistance to all the restrictions caused by the pandemic. I would like to introduce works performed by four dancers.
First is Hanayagi Shue’s performance of Kato-Bushi Dojoji (The Ghost of a
Woman in Love at Dojoji Temple to Kato-Bushi Music) choreographed by
Hanayagi Toshinami. In the Shue no Kai: Koten ni Yoseru Ima no Omoi (Thoughts
and Feelings about the Classics in the Present Moment) (November 18, Kioi Small
082Hall), this was the most memorable piece. This was originally choreographed by
Shue’s teacher, the late Hanayagi Toshinami, and showcased Toshinami’s character with her small body and warm and genial presence. By contrast, Shue is slim
and used the characteristics of her own body to express the theme of the dancewith sharp and precise movements. It was very moving to see her deepen theexpression of the world that her teacher created. It was a rare opportunity toactually see the process by which a dance is both transmitted to the next generation and simultaneously grows and evolves.
Next I would like to focus on Ichiyama Shosen’s activity through the year. I
saw two performances: Commemorating the 55th Shusen Kai (July 17, Nihonbashi
Gekijo), in which he danced to the nagauta piece Urashima, and the 5th Keika no
Kai (November 8, Cerulean Tower Noh Theatre), where he danced the role of theboatman in the nagauta piece Shizuhata Obi (The Madwoman in the Boat). In
these performances, I confirmed my view that in recent years, his art has become
solid and mature.
The dance group “Ko no Kai,” which has been represented by Shosen forover 20 years, was also very active, and their representative piece Onbashira,about the dynamic festival in Nagano prefecture where a massive log is slid down
a mountain, has been performed many times—one of the most frequently performed new pieces of recent years. This year, it was performed in several venues
including: in February at the Yonago Public Hall in Tottori prefecture; in Marchat the Uonuma City, Niigata prefecture Koidego Cultural Hall; in May at theRexxam Hall in Takamatsu, Kagawa prefecture and the Aubade Hall in Toyama
prefecture; in August at the National Theatre in Tokyo (more about this performance below); and in December at the Maizuru City General Cultural Center in
Kyoto prefecture, Cosmo Hall in Anan City, Tokushima prefecture, Mihara Performing Arts Center ‘POPOLO’ in Hiroshima prefecture, and the Yamaguchi
Prefectural Theater Renaissa Nagato.
And I would like to mention performances of two works that I have introduced in this space before, but these were very meaningful performances. One isBando Mitsuteru’s original dance Clone—Dark Sounds (9th Mitsuteru no Kai,
September 20, National Theatre (Large Theatre)), lyrics and choreography byBando Mitsuteru, musical composition by Nakajima Katsusuke, percussion and083

sound effects composed by Mochizuki Saburo, choreography by Takeya Keiko,design by Taki Zenko, and lighting by Hara Masao. The other is Fujima
Kiyotsugu’s original dance Futari Shizuka (The Two Shizukas) (Hana Tsugu Kai
Tokyo Koen Fujima Kiyotsugu Buyo Recital, November 5, Kioi Small Hall),scripted by Shibasaki Yoichi, music composed by Kineya Katsumatsu, percussion
and sound effects composed by Nakai Akira, koto music composed by Uehara
Masateru, and choreography by Sato Hiroki and Fujima Kiyotsugu.
For me, what was most important about these two pieces is that by juxtaposing Japanese classical dance and other genres, they brought the distinctive use of
the body in Japanese classical dance into clear focus. Mitsuteru’s dance was first
performed over twenty years ago, long before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it
captured the mood of the current pandemic: the terror of not knowing what will
happen next, the fear that despite all the advances in science, the incapacity of
the human race to fight off this threat. The figure of Mitsuteru expressing these
emotions was unforgettable. Futari Shizuka was inspired by a Noh play about the
Shizuka Gozen, the lover of the medieval tragic hero Minamoto no Yoshitsune,
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

JAPANESE CLASSICAL DANCE

and how her spirit possessed an ordinary local woman and they danced together,
describing Shizuka’s torment in parting from Yoshitsune as he fled from thewrath of his older brother Yoritomo, the head of the Genji clan and the ruler ofJapan. In Kiyotsugu’s version of this story, the spirit of Shizuka was played by flamenco dancer Kagita Mayumi who debuted in early Showa Japan and appeared
to a woman played by Kiyotsugu performing as an onnagata (female role specialist) as a woman making a pilgrimage around Japan to pray for the soul of a childthat she was forced to abort. The spirit of Shizuka comes and possesses thiswoman. The last time it was performed was in the National Theatre (Small
Theatre); this time it was performed in the Kioi Small Hall, and since the stage
space was smaller, the theme of the competition of the use of the body in flamenco and in Japanese classical dance came across more clearly and with evenmore impact.

2. The Nucleus of Japanese Classical Dance—The Dancer’s Body084

I encountered a piece of music I found very inspiring in thinking about how
Japanese can use their bodies expressively in the present time. It was contemporary music composer Kaneko Hitomi’s Chikyu—Seimei (La vie de notre planète):Music Based on a 3D Model VII—For an Ensemble of Japanese Traditional
Instruments (Dai 3 Kai Gendai Hogaku “Ko” [Third Contemporary Music forJapanese Traditional Instruments Concert], November 9, Recital Hall of theTokyo Bunka Kaikan). This is what the composer wrote in the program: “ManyJapanese traditional instruments retain the construction of the past and makegood use of the qualities of the natural materials that they are made of. Because ofthat, just one note has the bewitching capacity to draw us into their unique world.
These instruments don’t have all the mechanisms of Western musical instruments that have undergone all kinds of improvements over the ages and becauseof their construction, I feel that Japanese traditional instruments blend into thenatural world totally. … In my mind, Japanese traditional instruments are overlapped with things that are elemental, things like the laws of nature.” The ensemble of 18 musicians playing Japanese traditional instruments—koto, the threestringed sangen (the name for the shamisen in the context of koto music), andshakuhachi flute—did not just play melodies, they would play patterns that sometimes echoed each other sequentially and sometimes blended together. The piece
unfolded like the flow of water or the flow of time. This was none other than what
the composer described as “things that are elemental, things like the laws ofnature.” It was the music of the life of the globe equaling the structure of water. I
think that this use of Japanese traditional instruments can be transferred to theuse of the body in Japanese classical dance and connect to the future of the art.
At the performance, sponsored by the National Theatre, of Nihon Buyo no
Susume (Opening the Door to Traditional Japanese Dance) (August 1, National
Theatre (Large Theatre)), there was an introductory explanation titled Nihon
Buyo x Dance: Odoru Karada (Japanese Classical Dance x Dance: The DancingBody). It featured Kondo Ryohei and Ishibuchi Satoshi, two members of
Condors, a group that has been instrumental in contemporary dance in Japan.
Japanese classical dancer Nishikawa Senyoichi was the guide and demonstrated
how contemporary dance was characterized by free physical expression while
Japanese classical dance emphasized traditional movements and forms of085

expression. I believe that this presentation was unprecedented in Japan. The
performance itself featured the aforementioned Onbashira by the Japaneseclassical Dance Group Ko no Kai and the classical nagauta dance Renjishi(Father and Son Lion Dance) with Wakayagi Kichizo as the father shishi and
Hanayagi Genkuro as the child shishi. By pairing these two dances, the performance showed the creative energy in Onbashira that aimed at escaping the
restrictions of tradition and approaching contemporary dance alongside thefirm technique of the tradition of dances featuring shishi in Edo period kabuki,
which in turn is part of the long tradition of what is known as “The Lion Dance.”
In this performance as well, by comparing the use of the body in Japaneseclassical dance and in contemporary dance, it clearly brought out the characteristics of the use of the body in Japanese classical dance.

3. Onnagata in Japanese Classical Dance
In order to get a firm grasp of the Japanese use of the body onstage, it’s necessary
to look at a technique that transcends gender: onnagata, or the art of a man
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

JAPANESE CLASSICAL DANCE

playing a female character. The technique of onnagata in Japanese classical danceis based on the techniques of portraying female characters in Noh, and evenmore closely on onnagata in kabuki, but I believe that Japanese classical dance
has found new ways to develop it.
Showing that he would not be defeated by COVID-19, one of the first to
return to the theatres was Umewaka Kanjiro with his performance of the nagauta
piece Shinpa Ebanzuke (An Illustrated Program of Shinpa) (Umewaka Kai, May
26, National Theatre (Large Theatre)) which examined the theme of shinpa (New
School Theater), a melodramatic form of drama that flourished in the Meiji,
Taisho, and early Showa periods and showed the clash of the modern and traditional worlds. At first, all female roles in shinpa were played by onnagata, but
eventually shinpa had both onnagata and actresses, often with onnagata playing
geisha, entertainers, and other characters from the traditional world. Kanjiro
created his own world of onnagata different from kabuki onnagata and evoked
the feeling of shinpa onnagata. He appeared as a woman in a white kimono and086

portrayed female characters from famous shinpa plays like Izumi Kyoka’s
Nihonbashi and Onna Keizu (The Genealogy of a Woman), and Kawaguchi
Matsutaro’s Furyu Fukagawa Uta (A Fashionable Song of Fukagawa). Thesefigures embodied the mood of the lyrics, “And now, the Showa period has
become part of the distant past.”
Also, the aforementioned Fujima Kiyotsugu started his Buyo Onnagata no
Kai (Japanese Classical Dance Onnagata Recital) (December 5, Kioi Small Hall).
In the program, he stated that his aim was to, “ensure the transmission of the artof onnagata, which has been neglected in recent years, and to reexamine andstudy Japanese classical dance works that feature onnagata.” The performancefeatured kabuki onnagata Nakamura Kyotae and Onoe Midori, and as Japaneseclassical dancers who perform onnagata, Fujima Kiyotsugu and Fujima Taichi
performed one dance each. Kyotae performed the Kiyomoto piece Yamanba (TheMountain Hag), showing that he learned well from his teacher, the late kabuki
onnagata Nakamura Jakuemon IV. While being a kabuki onnagata, Jakuemon
had something of the feeling of a shinpa onnagata, and Kyotae carries on thistradition. Showing the art of a shinpa onnagata, Kiyotsugu performed a dancethat he choreographed himself, Yozakura Shibai Banashi (The Cherry Blossoms at
Night: Stories of the Theater). Taichi performed the classic Musume Dojoji (TheGirl at Dojoji Temple) in the unique Japanese classical dance style of su odori, thatis, without stage set, costume, or wig, just a formal kimono. Midori also performed su odori for something a little different from the usual kabuki onnagata
with the nagauta dance, Matsukaze. They each showed their own different appeal
and the appeal of these different styles of onnagata. It was a very enjoyable performance, and I look forward to seeing how this will develop in the future.

4. P erformances of Japanese Classical Dance
Sponsored by the National Theatre and the Buyo Kyokai(Japanese Classical Dance Association)
In addition to Nihon Buyo no Susume discussed above, programs sponsored by
the National Theatre included one focusing on one of the main pillars of Japaneseclassical dance (su odori) in the Su Odori no Sekai—Nihon Buyo no Giho o Shiru(The World of Su Odori—Learn About the Techniques of Traditional Japanese087

Dance) (March 13, National Theatre (Small Theatre)), and to commemorate the55th anniversary of the opening of the National Theatre, Mai no Kai—Keihan no
Zashiki Mai (Traditional Kyoto-Osaka Dance). These two programs could be said
to focus on two of the fundamental elements of Japanese classical dance.
The program of su odori was titled Furi to Byosha Gaisetsu—Ugoki to Imi(Lecture: Choreography and Depiction). It featured an explanatory talk by Fujima
Ranko and Fujima Ransho, illustrated with movements. Then there were performances of the tomeiryu dance Miyakodori (Capital Birds) (choreography by thelate Fujima Fujiko) by Ranko, the nagauta piece Azuma Hakkei (Eight Beautiful
Views of Edo) by Fujikage Shizue, and the kiyomoto piece Kashiwa no Wakaba(Fresh Oak Leaves) by Onoe Bokusetsu.
With the Mai no Kai, the one-day program was divided into three parts withfour pieces in each section, one dance fewer than the usual program. Perhaps thiswas one of the reasons that there was a notable number of empty seats. In any
case, this is worrisome for the future of this genre. It is a good thing that there
were more young performers, but this also meant a drop in the depth and power
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

JAPANESE CLASSICAL DANCE

of the performances. The National Theatre will have to work hard to train successors to the leaders of the world of mai, Inoue Yachiyo and Yamamura Tomogoro.
I felt the importance of the role that the National Theatre can play in this process.
Also, one of the features of this performance is that the set evokes an elegant
banquet room in the geisha districts of Kyoto and Osaka. But in this performance, the dances Chidori (Plovers) and Higaki (The Woven Reed Enclosure) were
performed on a bare stage. This increased the dramatic effect of the dances but
departed from the original meaning of preserving the atmosphere of the banquet
chamber. This is something that must be considered seriously in the future.
The Buyo Kyokai thought carefully about how to approach its art during the
pandemic. First, it canceled the annual program featuring veteran and younger
dancers from a wide variety of schools and instead held a Tokubetsu Nihon Buyo
Koen—Inori Kibo Soshite Kansha o Komete (Special Japanese Classical Dance
Performance—With Prayers and Hope for the Future and Also Gratitude) (March
4, National Noh Theatre). Responding to the uncertain atmosphere created by088

the pandemic, this performance consisted of two programs, matinee andevening, with three dances in each program, performed on a Noh stage. Performers and audience alike joined in the wish for an end to the pandemic.
The performance of the original dance Yume Ou Ko (A Child Chasing
Dreams) was delayed for a year due to the pandemic, but finally took place from
June 4–6 in the National Theatre (Small Theatre). I described the NHK documentary on the making of the dance in last year’s Yearbook, so I will not discuss
this in detail here, but it was a dance introducing elements of contemporary
dance in Japanese classical dance and showed the process from the birth of achild until he grows up to compete to be the best in the world in the Olympics. It
was a worthy effort, but the group dances lacked fresh inspiration.
The Buyo Kyokai also sponsored a new kind of performance, Todoke Ashita e
Mirai e Tsunagu Nihon Buyo Koen (Connect! A Performance of Japanese ClassicalDance That Connects to the Future) (October 16, National Theatre (Small Theatre)in Tokyo; December 3, National Bunraku Theatre in Osaka). It featured the dance
Nostalgia Fragile for Koto Ensemble (composed by Hiyamizu Noel, choreography
by Hanayagi Kiyohito) and the biwa lute piece Yoichi no Dan (The Tale of theArcher Nasu no Yoichi) (by Umezu Katsuichiro, composed by Handa Junko, fluteand percussion composed by Tosha Rosen, choreography by Onoe Bokusetsu).
This performance had many hints for future directions for the Association.

5. Topics
On July 26, for the first time there were Living National Treasures from the fieldof Ryukyu Buyo, with the designation of Miyagi Sachiko and Shida Fusako. The
2020 Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists went to Ichikawa Suisen, and theGrand Prize in the Agency for Cultural Affairs National Arts Festival in the fieldof Japanese Classical Dance went to Fujima Kiyotsugu for his achievements in
the Fujima Kiyotsugu Recital.
Hirano, Hidetoshi
Nihon buyo (Japanese classical dance) critic. Born in 1944 in Sendai and graduated from thetheatre division of the literature department of Waseda University majoring in kabuki.
Worked for a publishing house as an editor for such periodicals as Okinawa Performing Arts,
the quarterly journal Folk Performing Arts, and the monthly magazine, Japanese Music andClassical Dance. To explore the art of physical expression, he became a critic and is a memberof advisory committees for institutions including the Japanese Cultural Agency and theSociety for the Advancement of the Arts in Japan. In 2016, his book Critique: History ofJapanese Physical Expression—Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Period (Nihon Buyo-sha)
was published.

089(Translation: Mark Oshima)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

BALLET

BalletEdging Back to Normality
while Grappling with Covid Restrictions
Urawa Makoto

On/Off Restrictions Create Chaos in the Ballet Scene
This was the second year of the Pandemic, which continued to influence both theballet world and society in general. Coming up to the May holiday season, thegovernment asked the entertainment sector to put on their shows without anin-person audience, to limit travel. Then, there was a huge spike in Covid cases
during the Olympic Games in July and August. Hospitals were under enormous
090

strain. But when the vaccination program picked up speed in September, thenumber of cases went down drastically. We had very few Covid cases during
November and December. People continued taking strict protective measures,
but otherwise things began to return to normal. However, the new, highly infectious Omicron variant was rampant abroad by the end of November. The cold
winter season has arrived, and we must remain cautious during the Christmas
and New Year holidays.
I would like to summarize how the ballet world continued to present theirworks and how they coped with the ever-changing situation.
Although the government did not ask the entertainment sector to cancel events,
as they did last year, we had to comply with tough restrictions, especially during
the first half of the year. As I mentioned at the beginning, the government asked
the entertainment sector to have no in-person audiences. Performing arts likeballet just do not work without an audience. So, in effect, the producers had nochoice but to cancel or postpone their events. However, postponement was notrealistic. It meant that they would have to rebook venues, which was very

problematic. And many of these productions involved several companies with
their performers and staff members, as well as guest performers from Japan andabroad. As a result, many of them had to be canceled.
The government repeatedly declared a state of emergency or a quasi-state of
emergency only to lift it again, meaning that companies could not always comply
with audience restrictions. There were occasions when staff members or performers were infected by Covid, but there were no clusters in any ballet company.
I would like to talk in more detail about how ballet companies, who had neverbefore performed without an audience, dealt with this new regulation between
April 25 and May 11. Every year, various productions, showcases, and competitions are planned for this long holiday period. This year, many were canceled,
and a few, including the Tokyo Ballet production, were postponed. However,some companies came up with their own solutions. They presented their work
online instead of in person; the National Ballet of Japan streamed their performance, the Roland Petit version of Coppelia, featuring all the cast members.

091

Others, including Ballet Piccolo, commemorating their sixtieth anniversary,decided not to stream their productions. They could not postpone the performance to the following year because it would reduce the significance of the anniversary, and some guest performers could not change their schedules. They felt it
was more meaningful to commemorate the anniversary and hold a ceremony,even without an audience. Only six people were allowed in the seating area attheir venue, Nerima Cultural Center. Technical staff members and cameramen
were also admitted, but teachers and volunteers had to stay in the wings. There
were strict rules for theatre venues, unlike the Olympic Games that were only
nominally without an audience.
Another unusual example was Company Deco Boco, in Hyogo Prefecture.
They were planning a production of Coppelia for April 25, the day restrictions
were imposed. So, they decided to move the performance to the day before. They
happened to have the venue booked for that day, and they were able to notify
most of the audience. This was an unusual case. They gave another performanceon the 25th, without an audience, and streamed it live.
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

BALLET

Differing Responses by Companies and Regions
I would like to note the two main characteristics of the Japanese ballet scene
before I talk more about what happened this year. First, most Japanese balletcompanies are concentrated in the metropolitan areas, especially Tokyo.
Second, no ballet company except for the National Ballet of Japan has their own
theatre. They rely more heavily on their ballet school income than on performance income, donations, or grants. Income from these schools supports thecompanies and their dancers. In fact, dancers earn most of their income
through teaching at ballet schools all over the country. This is the bedrock that
supports the artform. Last year, the Agency for Cultural Affairs launched public
support schemes like Art Caravan Projects and ARTS for the Future! But smalland midsized companies and schools had trouble qualifying for these schemes
and were hard hit financially. Some dancers were forced out of business or had
to change their profession.
092

Bearing all this in mind, let us look at the year region by region. Ballet companies
based in metropolitan areas, especially Tokyo, had to limit capacity to fifty
percent at one point, and they even had to perform without in-person audiences,
but they managed to pick up momentum later in the year. The ballet companies
in the Kansai region (for example in Osaka, Hyogo, and Kyoto) all coped invarious ways up until now. In Nagoya, in central Japan, major companies have
only recently resumed production. Nationwide, companies continue to take strict
Covid measures such as mask-wearing, sanitizing, and taking temperatures andcontact information from each audience member. Recordings replaced live
music. No merchandise, food, or drinks were sold in the lobbies. So everything
had been stripped down.
I would like to start with the metropolitan region of Tokyo. This was
Yoshida Miyako’s second year as artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan.
Although the first half of the year was impacted by the pandemic, in October,she finally managed to present the Peter Wright version of Swan Lake that she
had had to cancel the year before. The Nutcracker was presented from the end of
December to the beginning of January; the first time a show bridged from one

year to the next since the opening of the theatre. The Tokyo Ballet was the mostactive of the private companies. After the new restrictions were announced, they
postponed their May holiday production to June. They presented HOPE JAPAN
2021 in July and The Nutcracker in December. They toured Japanese cities withthese shows. Matsuyama Ballet lost their founder Matsuyama Mikiko to illness.
The world-renowned dancer Morishita Yoko, who is in her mid-seventies, continued to play the central roles in all of the company’s full-length productions.
This year, she performed in New Version Swan Lake and in Romeo and Juliet inTokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Kyoto. In November, she played various roles ina production commemorating the seventieth anniversary of her dance career(scripted, directed, and choreographed by Shimizu Tetsutaro).
Asami Maki Ballet Tokyo also lost their founder Asami Maki, who had
led the company for almost seventy years. In October, they presented Roland
Petit’s Duke Ellington Ballet and L’Arlésienne for the first time in sixteen
years. As well as putting on their shows, this company runs several affiliatedorganizations that support young artists, which were active throughout the093

pandemic. K-Ballet Company, led by Kumakawa Tetsuya, had Iijima Nozomi
from Heuston Ballet as a guest performer for their production Don Quixote (shejoined the company in August as principal dancer). The company forged ahead
steadily during the pandemic.
Tani Momoko Ballet, who marked their seventieth anniversary in 2020,
the Inoue Ballet Foundation, Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre, Tokyo City
Ballet, Star Dancers Ballet, Ballet Chambre Ouest, NBA Ballet Company, andInternational Ballet Academia presented their work almost as usual while having
a difficult time coping with Covid measures. The Japan Ballet Association, which
supervises the ballet artists throughout the country, also went on with their projects as usual, including the triple bill Ballet Création and various competitions.
And, Shinohara Seichi, who has presented some excellent work recently, revived
his Ananke. The lead role was played by Shimomura Yurie, and the show was ahuge success.
There is a recent trend among some midsized, established companies:
Japanese ballet artists actively staging full-length productions without relying on
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

BALLET

foreign artists. For example, Yamato City Ballet in Kanagawa Prefecture staged
the Homan Naoya version of Beauty and the Beast at the end of 2020. During
the summer season, they had five shows altogether, including small and medium
productions, and in October, they presented Tamamo-no-Mae, choreographedby Ikegami Naoko based on a story by Okamoto Kido with the same title. These
were all produced by Sasaki Mika. Iwaki Ballet Company staged the premiere of
Takahashi Ryuta’s Tosca. And this trend is not limited to Tokyo. BALLET NEXTin Nagoya did a revival of A Dog of Flanders, choreographed by Ichikawa Toru.
A company in Okinawa called Tokoiriya, led by Midorima Ryoki, premiered
MIHAKASHI, a piece based on Kojiki (A Record of Ancient Matters), in Tokyo.
They plan to do the same piece in Okinawa in 2022.
Sadamatsu-Hamada Ballet was the most prominent company in the threemajor prefectures in the Kansai region. In March, they staged three shows
including Mori Yuki’s new work Toraware no kuni no Alice (Alice in Captive
Wonderland). In the autumn, artistic director Sadamatsu Shoichiro presented a094

new version of Le Corsaire, acclaimed for its richness. Ballet Company WestJapan, entering their third year, presented a triple bill of newly conceived productions. In Osaka, Homura Tomoi Ballet, Jinushi Ballet, Noma Ballet Company,
and Sasaki Michiko Ballet Studio were all active throughout the year. In July,
Horiuchi Gen, a former member of New York City Ballet and artistic director of
St. Louis Ballet, staged Ballet Future 2021 with prominent dancers from all overJapan. In Kyoto, Arima Ryuko Memorial Kyoto Ballet Company, who collaborate
with Paris Opera Ballet every year, staged Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake withan all-Japanese cast.
The ballet scene in Nagoya is regaining its strength. Ochi International Balletstaged a revival of Romeo and Juliet. Matsuoka Reiko Ballet presented Don
Quixote to commemorate the seventy-five years of Matsuoka Reiko’s dance career.
Midsized companies such as Sumina Okada Ballet School and Setsuko Kawaguchi
Ballet also continued to present their work as they did the previous year.
In other regions, companies had a tough year. However, throughout the country,
a lot of competitions were held as usual, integrating remote working and intro-

ducing video auditioning.
World Ballet Festival, held in August, had numerous foreign guest performers despite the harsh pandemic situation. Ballet Muses 2021 and Béjart
Ballet Lausanne Japan Tour, both held in October, were among other foreign
productions.

The Fall of Two Giants
As I mentioned previously, two great dancers who built the foundation of balletin our country passed away.
On May 22, Matsuyama Mikiko died at the age of ninety-eight. She founded
Matsuyama Ballet with her husband Shimizu Masao. She performed in various
productions and contributed to the restoration of diplomatic relations between
Japan and China with the piece Hakumojo (The White-Haired Girl) during the1950s and 1960s. Together with her son Shimizu Tetsutaro, she made Morishita
Yoko one of the top dancers in the world. In 1946, the year after Japan surrendered and World War II ended, Matsuyama Ballet staged the first full production

095

of Swan Lake in Japan. She was also one of the main board members of the Tokyo
Ballet (not the current Tokyo Ballet), which was the pioneer ballet company inJapan. The other main members had all passed away, and she was the sole survivor. Her death marks the end of an era in ballet history.
On October 20, Maki Asami died at the age of eighty-seven. She was thedaughter of Tachibana Akiko, the founder of Tachibana Ballet School, where
many renowned Japanese ballet dancers trained. After studying with her motherand also under Alexandra Danilova in the US, she founded Asami Maki Ballet
Tokyo. She was a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company leader for overseventy years. She also contributed to the ballet scene in Japan as the artistic
director of the dance sector of the New National Theatre and as the head of its
ballet school. Despite battling illness, she did not stop working until the end. She
was awarded the Order of Culture after her death, the first ballet artist to receive
the honor.

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

BALLET

Lastly, I would like to point out another important issue in our ballet world. It
relates to the death of Fukagawa Hideo, who died last year. After his death, hisfamily members and coworkers, together with some influential people, founded
the organization Fukagawa Ballet Welt to continue the legacy of Fukagawa’s
artistic works. Their goal was to protect the copyright of his works while at thesame time making them more available. We have so many world-standard productions and choreographers like Fukagawa in Japan, but these works can only
be staged under the choreographers themselves and the rights are attached tothem, so the works virtually disappear upon their death. No one inherits them,and there are no revivals. No one even thinks about treating the choreographic
work as a “product” in itself. And there is no viable system that enables theseestablished works to continue to be staged. Otsuka Reiko in Tokyo, Hara Mika in
Kyoto, and Hatano Sumiko in Hyogo all revived Fukagawa’s well-establishedshort pieces this year. But nobody knows whether his works will continue to bestaged or whether we will be able to pay tribute to our ballet choreographers and096

inherit their works as other countries do.
I hope that an organization like the New National Theatre, Tokyo, will look
into the possibility of establishing a viable system, not only to protect the rights
of Japanese choreographic works but also to make it easier to stage them.
Urawa, Makoto
Urawa Makoto is the stage name for Ichikawa Akira. He is a former professor of Culture
Studies at Shoin University and a former advisor to the Association of Public Theatres andHalls in Japan. He has written articles for newspapers and magazines as a dance critic. He has
been a member of various committees such as the Agency of Cultural Affairs and served on
the judging panels of various dance competitions and awards.
(Translation: Ishikawa Mai and Donncha Crowley)Contemporary Dance and Butoh

Dancing on the Boundary of Life and Death— Requiem and Hope for the Future
Tsutsumi Hiroshi

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has not seen its end. The third wave lasted
from November 2020 until February 2021, the fourth wave struck in April toMay, and the fifth wave in July to September. The fifth wave, especially, accelerated so rapidly that vaccination did not prevent a healthcare collapse. There
were many cases of pregnant women having miscarriages after not being able tofind emergency transport, or dying while waiting at home without medical care.
Under these circumstances, the hosting of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics

097

attracted growing criticism of the government’s stance of prioritizing the
Olympics over the lives of the nation. In the end, the Olympics were held without
spectators, but the staging of the opening and closing ceremonies provoked
controversy.

Evaluation of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
Initially, the choreographer Mikiko was in charge of directing the opening andclosing ceremonies of the Olympics, but she resigned under protest after refusing
to overhaul the entire plan. The production team was disbanded, and the creative
director and show directors resigned or were dismissed one after another. The
opening ceremony of the Olympics was held without a creative director and was
unpopular as a consequence of the lack of a coherent structure or direction. The
artists risked public condemnation, but their sincere performances won theunderstanding and support of many people. In particular, Moriyama Mirai’s
dance became a hot topic. After a message of condolence for those who lost theirlives to COVID-19 and the victims of the terrorist attack at the 1979 Munich
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CONTEMPORARY DANCE and BUTOH

Olympics, Moriyama, dressed in white, danced with his body hitting the ground(choreographed by Omiya Daisho), and offered a silent prayer. After his performance, he posted on social media to thank all the creators involved in the
opening ceremony, including Mikiko, who had stepped down, by mentioning
each name. He wrote, “Finally, I would like to express my utmost respect to
Okada Toshiki, the playwright and director of Unfulfilled Ghost and Monster[Miren no yurei to kaibutsu].” Unfulfilled Ghost and Monster, presented the previous month, was a musical play in the form of a Mugen-Noh (Dream-Noh) in two
parts, Zaha and Tsuruga. Zaha depicted the regrets of Zaha Hadid, an architect
who was once selected to design the New National Stadium, whose design waslater withdrawn, and who died soon after, with Moriyama performing the role of
the Shite. His dance at the opening ceremony was therefore interpreted as therepose of Zaha. Other notable performers at the opening ceremony included
Hiro-Pon (Gamarjobat), who used mime-like movements to create a series of
pictograms for all fifty events.
098

The opening ceremony of the Paralympics (directed by Wally Kinoshita,
choreographed by Moriyama Kaiji and Kanai Keisuke) was very well received.
Based on the concept that one can reach unexpected places by spreading one’s
wings with courage even in headwinds, the stage was set at a “para-airport”
where para-athletes were likened to airplanes taking off and landing. The main
character is a small airplane with one wing that does not have the courage to takeoff, and Wago Yui, a girl in a wheelchair selected by audition, delivered an emotionally rich performance that was critically acclaimed. A mime, Iimuro Naoki,
and a mime/juggler, Takahashi Toru of Cru Cru Cirque, played the accompanists
who supported her performance. In the scene where the girl gains courage, a
dancer with an artificial leg, Omae Koichi, and a dancer in a wheelchair, Kanbara
Kenta, dedicated their powerful dance. Before the lighting of the Olympic flame,
Morita Kazuyo, an actor and dancer with an artificial leg, performed as the“Dancer of the Sun” with vitality. The success of the ceremony was largely
attributed to achievements of the stage advisor, Kris Yoshie of Slow Label, a nonprofit organization devoted to the social participation of people with handicaps.
Kris is the founder of Japan’s first social circus company “Slow Circus Project,”has been presenting T∞KY∞ – Too Good to Be a Bug (Tokyo – Mushi no ii
hanashi) in April, and fulfilled her role by assigning access coordinators to
support the handicapped people at the opening ceremony.

Eyes on Tohoku
In 2013, when Tokyo was selected as the host city for the 2020 Olympics, thePrime Minister at that time, Abe Shinzo, stated that the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant was “under control.” The slogan for the Olympics was “TheOlympics for Reconstruction” to support the reconstruction of the Tohoku, thenorthwest region, but this was not accompanied by any actual achievements. In
2021, when ten years had passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, the stage
productions drew attention to the still-unrecovered Tohoku region.
The Tokyo Festival, a cultural program of the Tokyo Olympics, brought on
the “Tokyo Real Underground” of the non-profit organization Dance Archive
Network, and invited Kawaguchi Takao as a curator to distribute the special
feature film of Butoh online. Going to Fukushima (Fukushima ni iku), Carrying

099

Fukushima (Fukushima wo hakobu), and Reflecting Fukushima (Fukushima wo
utsusu) by Otake Eiko (Eiko & Koma) were also shown. Otake frequently visitedthe disaster-stricken Fukushima, explored the landscape, and danced along withslide projections of her visit and experience.
Okada Toshiki showed his extraordinary talent. Inspired by the sceneryof the huge seawall built along the coastline of Rikuzentakata City in Iwate
Prefecture, which had been hit by the tsunami, he presented Eraser Mountain(Keshigomu yama) in collaboration with a plastic artist, Kaneuji Teppei. In
I Am Many Battlefields of Narratives (Watashi wa ikutsumono narateibu nobatorufuiirudo) with Yuasa Ema, he presented the first part; he plans to create athree-part piece in the future. In Outrap with Otagiri, a rapper, he choreographed
the rapper’s dance, accompanied by rap music and lyrics, and distributed a filmed
version online. In Triad Dance Project, Genealogy of Dance (Dance no keifugaku)
by Dance Base Yokohama, Okada collaborated with a ballet dancer Sakai Hanaand premiered The Dying Swan: The Truth on Its Death (Hinshi no hakucho sono
shi no shinso), a reconstruction of The Dying Swan choreographed by Michael
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CONTEMPORARY DANCE and BUTOH

Fokine. Instead of using the style of the ballet, which is detached from modern
society, the work was finely choreographed with a view toward up-to-date issues
such as the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). In a nationwide collaborative opera production, Okada directed a modern version of Dan Ikuma’s opera
Twilight Crane (Yuzuru), which was well received for its portrayal of the main
character, Tsuu, as a woman who has overcome capitalism.
Tamura Koichiro continued to present new works in Japan. In ThunderThunder, he used an essay he wrote when he was in elementary school as a motif
to express the present time where people are unable to talk about their dreams
like children. The motif of K92 is a story he heard from the priest of the temple
where his grandmother’s funeral was held. He stated that the Buddha statue of
Amitabha Buddha is leaning forward in order to be able to rush to save someone.
Onstage, dancers rushed to another dancer who was about to fall down and endlessly repeated movements alternately supporting one another to depict the experience of facing death. Tamura’s choreography, based on street dance, is sharp
100

and edgy, and the unison of the group dance is energetic and powerful. In
nostalgia (Kubochi, literally meaning “the depression”), Tamura delivered theintense impression that the victims of the tsunami are still missing, unable toattain Buddhahood, and continue to wander as ghosts inside the seawall.

Dancing on the Boundary of Life and Death
Influenced by COVID-19, many works depicted thoughts on the repose of soulsand views on life and death.
Kasai Akira presented Under the Cherry Tree – Kasai Akira wo Odoru(Sakura no ki no shita niwa – Kasai Akira wo odoru, literally meaning “Under the
Cherry Tree – Dancing the Kasai Akira”), based on a novel by Kajii Motojiro.
Kasai has always been convinced that “the dead are moving my body, ” and basedon the similarity to Hijikata Tatsumi’s words, “Butoh is a standing corpse at therisk of its life,” he adapted for the stage the view that birth and the end of life are
inextricably linked. Oue Shintaro, Shimaji Yasutake, Tsujimoto Tomohiko,Moriyama Mirai, and Yanagimoto Masahiro danced sharply in suits. At theclimax, they danced wildly, wearing tattoos and loincloths while a blizzard of

cherry blossoms fell. Kasai was hanging in midair wearing white makeup and apink dress, creating a vivid contrast between life and death.
Maro Akaji danced the duo Gold Shower with the brilliant French dancer
François Chaignaud. Based on the Greek myth in which Zeus turns into golden
rain and has intercourse with Danae, it delivered a playful spectacle where Erosand Thanatos intersected.
Teshigawara Saburo premiered Rashomon based on a novel by Akutagawa
Ryunosuke. It is set at the Rashomon gate, where people wandering on the border
between life and death are abandoned after the plague spreads in Kyoto at theend of the Heian period. A menial laborer (Teshigawara), taking shelter from therain, meets an old woman (Sato Rihoko) who plucks hair from dead bodies andsells it, and, out of hatred for that vice, he strips the old woman from her kimono
and flees. The original novel ends there, but Teshigawara’s version focuses onwhat happens to the old woman later: she dances a duo with the demon(Alexandre Riabko) who lives in Rashomon. The powerful movements of Riabko,
who stars at the Hamburg Ballet; the supple expression of Sato as she transforms

101

from ugliness to beauty; and the heavenly sound of the sho player, Miyata
Mayumi, depict the purity of human beings living in a time of desperate turmoil.
Yamada Un premiered Bridge, a collaboration of Shomyo and Co. Yamada
Un at the National Theatre of Japan’s special program, Two Microcosms – A
Moment of Encounter (Futatsu no syo-uchu –Meguriau ima). The work expresses
a wish for the end of COVID-19, between the pure land after death and the realworld. The New National Theatre’s program for children, Obachetta, with thetheme of “where do we all go when we die?”, delivered a lively and fun story
about the main character, a young girl, who travels back and forth between theafterlife and this world with her dead grandmother, ghosts, and monsters. In
Noism’s double bill production, Boundary (Kyokai) premiered with Near Far
Here, choreographed by Kanamori Jo and themed on the boundary between lifeand death, the commissioned work Endless Opening premiered, which was choreographed around the image of a flower offering to bring the joy of life for an
audience suffering from pain and sadness.
Kitamura Akiko choreographed and directed Midsummer Adventure of
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CONTEMPORARY DANCE and BUTOH

Kukunochi Tekuteku (Kukunochi Tekuteku Manatsuno Bouken) for the Kanagawa
Arts Theatre Kids Program. The story is about children who go on a journey tomeet their dead grandmother and encounter the god of trees in the forest. Adopting as a theme the rituals of the Obon, a memorial service where the spirits ofancestors come back from the afterlife, spend time with their families, and thenreturn to the afterlife, the story depicted the cycle of life and death, and theconcept of life and death as a part of nature, just like human beings. The staging
idea of having the audience dance together wearing masks of the spirits of theforest was fun and well received.
Nakagawa Ayane presented Shiki (the pronunciation of shiki reminds theJapanese of “funeral” and “time of death”) with Japanese traditional dancers
Fujima Ryotaro and Hanayagi Jusahomi portraying the moment of liberation of
the dead and the attendees of a funeral.
In Devil Dance, Hashimoto Roma responded to the COVID-19 crisis bydirecting and constructing a collage of motifs such as Dance Macabre (Dance102

of Death) and “Ee-Janaika,” a popular movement at the end of the Tokugawa
Shogunate that had the character of a movement to reform the world, in whichpeople paraded through the town in a frenzied dance. In Enigma, she collaborated with a contemporary Japanese music composer and Futozao (thick neck)
Shamisen player, Yamamichi Yae. It sarcastically portrayed the Ukiyo (sorrowfulworld) of modern Japan as a dystopia by likening the politicians who govern the
country to big catfish, dancing to the tune of Gidayu-bushi (the music of thebunraku puppet theatre systematized by Takemoto Gidayu) and chanting “Soeasy to reform, restore the country, and recover the economy.”
There were a notable number of works adopted from Noh where ghosts ofthe dead appear. It seemed as if the spirit of mourning for the dead and therepose of souls flowed through Japanese culture like an underground stream.
Moriyama Kaiji appeared in the Japanese premiere of Only the Sound
Remains -Reverberation- (Only the Sound Remains -Yoin-), a two-part internationally coproduced opera by a contemporary composer, Kaija Saariaho, derived
from the Noh plays Tsunemasa and Hagoromo. He played out the violent conflictof the Shura-Noh and the graceful and beautiful dance of the celestial maiden

with exquisite precision. He also delivered a subtle and profound dance in theJapanese premiere of contemporary Gagaku, The Equinoctial Time (Higan no
jikan) composed by Gondai Atsuhiko, and Braid (Rinju) composed by Saruya
Toshiro, which premiered in Paris at the Ensemble Reigakusha and Japonismes
2018.
Ito Kaori presented the Japan premiere of Dears (Anatae) themed on“losing.” She adopted letters to the departed and a “wind phone,” which was set
up on a hill by the sea to talk with the deceased, that many people visited after
the Great East Japan Earthquake, as motifs to examine how surviving families
live in an energetic and positive way. She also premiered Le Tambour de soie (TheSilk Drum) in Japan, a dance-theatre piece inspired by the classic Noh play Aya
no tsuzumi, and The Twill Hand Drum (Aya no tsuzumi), a piece from Five
Modern Noh Plays (Kindai nogaku-shu) by Mishima Yukio in collaboration withactor Oida Yoshi.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis

103

While the hardships from the COVID-19 crisis continued, some works
responded to the new normal.
Asai Nobuyoshi and Okuno Shu’s physical theatre company, Moonlight
Mobile Theater, toured Peeping Garden/re:creation nationwide. The company
placed thirty doors around the stage in a circle so that each member of the audience could enjoy the performance from a peephole in an individual space while
maintaining social distancing.
Ide Shigehiro’s Idevian crew premiered Duty (Gimu). With playful scenes, it
depicted the “duty” of living with COVID-19. In the last part, Tokyo Games
Ondo, folk dance music created to celebrate the 1964 Tokyo Olympics faded in
the distance, and the scene unfolded with people isolated by a huge black curtain,
depicting the holding of the Olympics with a sense of contemporaneity.
Onodera Shuji’s Company Derashinera presented Toge (literally meaning“thorn” but implying the English word “together”), a new work inspired by
George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It was a silent play depicting a self-governing life
free from power and structure.
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

CONTEMPORARY DANCE and BUTOH

Hope for the Future
Public theatres have been reviewing their operations and revamping their humanresources. Many municipalities are having financial difficulties. Itami City in
Hyogo Prefecture considered changing the use of its Itami City Theatre Hall (AiHall) and has decided to abolish its independent projects and just rent its spaces.
Niigata City has reviewed the artist-in-residence program of Noism, a dancecompany exclusive to Ryutopia Niigata City Performing Arts Center. The term ofoffice for the artistic director was set at one term of five years or less, with a newlimit of two terms, and Kanamori Jo was selected to continue in the role. Noism
premiered The Rite of Spring (Haru no saiten) this year, transforming Stravinsky’s
instrumentation and sound textures into choreography to vividly visualize themusic and drama. Kanamori has also been actively collaborating with outsideorganizations, including the premiere production of Zan-ei no Niwa – Traces
Garden with the Reigakusha Ensemble, in which the composition of Gagaku
music was transformed into movement. In Dance Dance Dance@Yokohama
104

2021, he presented A Journey – To the Memory within the Memory (A Journey –Kiokunonaka no kioku e) with the artistic director Kobayashi Juichi in theleading role. In Kaguyahime, commissioned by the Tokyo Ballet, the first act premiered, and in 2023, the company will present a full-length work of all three acts.
Saitama Arts Theater announced the appointment of Kondo Ryohei(Condors) as its next artistic director. Since its launching, Condors has gained
popularity and a wide range of support for its stage performances that go beyond
the boundaries of conventional dance. In OneVision, its 25th anniversary production in Tokyo, the company performed with a dance team for the handicapped. Handles has been involved in social contribution activities throughdance, dancing with local residents, children, and the handicapped, and expectations are high for an open theatre that combines culture, art, education, andwelfare. In Saitama, it has been presenting a new work every year, including Free
as a Bird in 2021, in which the members played hide-and-seek behind Kondo,
who was standing on a cityscape that looked like a white paper cutout. Its staging
and direction demonstrated how he colors the community and were highly
acclaimed. Kondo also produced the open theatre work Born on a Star with

Dance (Dance no aru hoshi ni umarete) and showed a part of his vision through adiverse program that blended genres such as dance, music, and theatre. His
friend Nagatsuka Keishi was appointed artistic director of KAAT Kanagawa Arts
Theatre earlier than Kondo’s appointment, which indicates generational changes
are underway in many places.
I believe that each organization’s attitude to do what it can do now, without
depending on the intentions of the government, gives hope for the future. Having
a long-term vision and being prepared to take immediate action will be the exit
strategy after the pandemic.
Tsutsumi, Hiroshi
Born in 1966, in Kawasaki. He graduated in theatre studies in the Department of Literature at
Bunka Gakuin. He worked as an editor for art, entertainment, theatre, and dance magazines
before going freelance. He has covered a wide range of performing art genres, including
small theatre, shingeki-style (modern realism) theatre, underground (Angura) theatre,
commercial theatre, traditional theatre, and dance scenes. He has served as a selection
committee member for the Toyota Choreography Award and on the jury for Guardian
Garden Theatre Festival and SAI International Dance Festival. He edited The Flying Dangoro
Party in the Sky “Rebirth of Acharaka” (Sora tobu kumo no ue Dangoro ichiza “Acharaka sai tanjo”),
Performing Arts in Germany Today, and Peter Brook’s The Road to “Battlefield,” among otherworks.

105(Translation: Yamashita Madoka)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

TELEVISION DRAMAS

Television Dramas

Transcending Divisions to Live with the Dead
Okamuro Minako

The dark cloud of COVID-19 continued to hang over 2021, but a large number of
television dramas were produced under various anti-infection measures andrestrictions, unlike the previous year where many productions were shut down
altogether. We also saw more characters in these dramas wearing masks, suggesting that the idea of living with COVID-19 has filtered down to everyday life.
Particularly noteworthy is the sheer number of television dramas worth
watching in 2021. This was presumably the result of creators feeling stirred toaction after the shutdowns during last year’s state of emergency.
1062021 also marked ten years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, and astriking number of television dramas took up this event as theme. Many of theseworks were of very high quality.
In this essay, I would like to look back on a few television dramas from 2021
that left a particularly deep impression.

Dramas That Resonate amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
The first masterpiece created amid the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic
was Story of My Family!!! (Ore no ie no hanashi) (Scriptwriter: Kudo Kankuro;
Chief Producer: Isoyama Aki; Directors: Kaneko Fuminori et al.; TBS). One
might call this a culmination of the achievements of the team behind such
popular TBS dramas as Ikebukuro West Gate Park (2000), Tiger & Dragon (2005),
and Conceited Detective (Unubore deka) (2010).
Protagonist Miyama Juichi (Nagase Tomoya), though the son of Noh artistand Living National Treasure Miyama Jusaburo (Nishida Toshiyuki), left home ata young age to become a professional wrestler. Now, however, his father has fallen
ill, precipitating Juichi’s return to the family home. The drama unfolds aroundthe question of who will be named Jusaburo’s successor, drawing in figures suchas Sakura (Toda Erika), a caregiver who became engaged to Jusaburo; Juichi’s
younger sister Mai (Eguchi Noriko) and younger brother Yosuke (Nagayama
Kento); and live-in Noh trainee Jugemu (Kiritani Kenta). Addressing issues
where descent into the muddy waters of intrafamily strife seems inevitable, suchas inheritance and Noh iemoto (traditional school leader) succession, the seriesconnected the utterly different worlds of pro wrestling and Noh to depict, inthe final episode, a vision of love between parent and child that transcends eventhe boundaries between life and death, greatly moving the audience. Nagase
Tomoya’s inspired performance as both Noh actor and pro wrestler will be
remembered for some time.
“Home dramas,” stories about families, were once a staple of Japanese television, but dramas that take up family-related themes directly seem to have been
pushed outside the mainstream at some point. However, pandemic-imposed“self-restraint” has led many people to face their families in new ways. Storyof My Family!!! demonstrated a new type of home drama and made topics like

107

aging and nursing care feel immediate and relevant to younger viewers. (Tokyo
Drama Awards 2021: Series Drama Grand Prix, Best Supporting Actor—NishidaToshiyuki, Best Supporting Actress—Eguchi Noriko; 58th Galaxy Awards:
Award for Excellence)My Dear Exes (Omameda Towako to sannin no moto-otto) (Scriptwriter:
Sakamoto Yuji; Chief Producer: Sano Ayumi; Producers: Nakae Kazuhito
et al.; KTV) did not depict COVID-19 directly, but the fact that it was broadcast during the pandemic felt meaningful. The series depicted the interactions
between Omameda Towako (Matsu Takako) and her three ex-husbands: Tanaka
Hassaku (Matsuda Ryuhei), Sato Kataro (Kakuta Akihiro), and Nakamura
Shinshin (Okada Masaki). Unlike the standard television drama, which uses
dramatic scenes to move viewers, My Dear Exes was created with a completely
different grammar. Major events do occur in the characters’ lives—the death of
Omameda’s close friend Watarai Kagome (Ichikawa Mikako), a marriage proposal from Takanashi Hiroshi (Odagiri Joe)—but these are not depicted directly.
Instead, they are translated into everyday words and discussed in almost casual
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

TELEVISION DRAMAS

conversations. Through those conversations, the viewer encounters the subtletiesand pains of the characters’ lives and ponders their pasts and unrealized possible
futures. In a world where everyday opportunities for casual conversation havedrastically decreased due to the pandemic, these everyday conversations woven
by Sakamoto Yuji, by turns poignant and hilarious, revealed a richness that we
may not have expected from casual interactions. The finely judged performancesby Matsu Takako and the other cast members, the unique narration by Ito Sairi,
the ending music that changed with every episode, and the the directorial choice
to point out highlights at the beginning of each episode—all felt like part of arelaxed conversation, resulting in a drama with a high degree of perfection. (76thAgency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival: Award for Excellence—Television
Drama, Tokyo Drama Awards 2021: Series Drama Award for Excellence, Scriptwriting Award—Sakamoto Yūji, Theme Song Award—“Presence,” performed by
STUTS & Matsu Takako with 3exes; 2021 Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association Awards: Award for Excellence—Television Drama Program; 59th Galaxy
108

Awards: Award—Television, first half of year)
How to Be Likable in a Crisis (Ima koko ni aru kiki to boku no kokando ni
tsuite) (Scriptwriter: Watanabe Aya; Executive Producers: Katsuta Natsuko andKurube Kei; Directors: Shibata Takeshi and Horikirizono Kentaro) was anotherdrama that held up a mirror to our current reality. Protagonist Kanzaki Makoto(Matsuzaka Tori), a former news presenter, becomes a PR representative for elite
Teito University and is forced to respond to scandal after scandal. Under the
influence of his ex-girlfriend Kijima Minori (Suzuki An), who left the university
after reporting a case of plagiarism, he gradually awakens to become an honorable man. In the final episode, the opening of a “next-generation science andtechnology expo” is thrown into chaos when a fictional invasive, disease-bearing
insect, the Sahara housefly, escapes from a research laboratory, recalling the difficulties around holding the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
While addressing various problems related to higher education and society,using the plagiarized paper as an underlying motivation, How to Be Likable In a
Crisis also comments on how scientific research is conducted at universities andthe problems arising from pressure from government and business for shortterm results. However, it never reduces these topics to a simple morality tale,
making it a drama with real depth, sincerely asking questions about what itmeans to do the right thing. (76th Agency for Cultural Affairs Arts Festival:
Grand Prix—Television Drama; 59th Galaxy Awards: Award—Television, firsthalf of year)

Dramas a Decade after the Great East Japan Earthquake
2021 marked ten years since the deaths of thousands in the Great East Japan
Earthquake, and there was a noticeable contingent of dramas addressing the disaster and its aftermath.
One of these was the serial drama Welcome Back, Mone (Okaeri Mone)(Scriptwriter: Adachi Naoko; Executive Producers: Yoshinaga Akashi, Suzaki
Takashi; Directors: Ichiki Masae et al.; NHK). On the day of the tsunami, heroine
Nagaura “Mone” Momone (Kiyohara Kaya) was away from Kameshima Island in
Kesennuma, Miyagi, where she was born and raised, so she did not see the109

tragedy firsthand. Overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness, she longs to dosomething for the people of her hometown, and finally encounters the professionof weather forecaster. This drama was a sincere depiction of someone acceptingthat they cannot understand the suffering of those who affected by the tragedy
but striving to support them anyway. As Dr. Suganami (Sakaguchi Kentaro) says
to Mone, “I don’t understand your pain. But I want to understand it.”Great cycles of nature and life are depicted in this work, which begins in the
Tohoku region, then shifts its setting to Tokyo before returning to Tohoku again.
We tend to be divided by binary categories: disaster-stricken areas and areas thatwere spared; those directly affected and those not; Tohoku and Tokyo. I believethat this drama hides a prayer for connection across these divisions, made possible by striving to grasp suffering even if we cannot understand it. In a way, thecharacter of Mone is the embodiment of that prayer. (Galaxy Awards: Award—
Television, October 2021)
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, we have seen more dramas withghosts making an appearance—not terrifying ghosts who seek to frighten the
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

TELEVISION DRAMAS

living, but kindly ghosts who watch over their families warmly from beyond thegrave. I suspect that this is because, after being starkly confronted with thereality of so many lives being lost suddenly in the earthquake and subsequenttsunami, people have begun thinking seriously about how to live with the deadinstead of forgetting them.
Peperoncino (Scriptwriter: Isshiki Nobuyuki; Executive Producer: Aoki
Kazunori; Director: Maruyama Takuya; NHK), made in Miyagi Prefecture, wasanother superior drama that could be located in this tradition. Protagonist
Onodera Kiyoshi (Kusagani Tsuyoshi) is a chef whose Italian restaurant wasdestroyed by the tsunami. For a time afterward, he succumbed to alcoholism, buton the tenth anniversary of the disaster, he and his wife Akari (Yoshida Yo)
invited the people who helped him find his way to his new, reconstructed restaurant. However, in the closing scenes, it is revealed that Akari has actually been
missing since the tsunami. Kusanagi’s cool performance, with emotional expression carefully controlled, actually speaks far more clearly about the suffering his
110character has overcome, making the viewer feel the weight of the decade. (47th
Hoso Bunka Foundation Prize: Grand Prix—Program, Television Drama,
Actor—Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, Scriptwriter—Isshiki Nobuyuki; 58th GalaxyAwards: Incentive Award—Television)
Old Jack & Rose (Sono onna, jiruba) (Original Story: Arima Shinobu; Scriptwriter: Yoshida Noriko; Producers: Toyama Keisuke, Shizukuishi Mizuho, et al.;Directors: Murakami Makito et al.; Tokai TV) weaves a range of issues, including
the Great East Japan Earthquake, Brazilian immigration, and the COVID-19
pandemic, into a richly drawn portrait of heroine Usui Arata’s rebirth. The story
takes place against the backdrop of “Old Jack & Rose,” a bar where the averageage of the hostesses is 70. The strong supporting performances by Kusabue
Mitsuko, Eguchi Noriko, and Matobu Sei were outstanding, and Ikewaki
Chizuru’s convincing depiction of Arata living her best life with “a woman’s life
begins at forty” as her watchword was simply superb. The power of older womento casually shatter tiresome polarities like “winners vs. losers” or “youth vs. age”
was a great comfort to women feeling the oppressive weight of daily life. (47th
Hoso Bunka Foundation Prize: Incentive Award—Television Drama Program,Acting Award—Ikewaki Chizuru; 2021 Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association Awards: Award for Excellence—Television Drama Program; 58th GalaxyAwards: Selection—Television)

Other Superb Dramas
Producer Arai Junko and director Tsukahara Ayuko are a reliable hitmaking duo
for TBS Sparkle, and they remained in fine form. Their series Dearest (Saiai)(Scriptwriters: Okudera Satoko, Shimizu Yukako; Producer: Arai Junko; Directors: Tsukahara Ayuko, Yamamoto Takeyoshi, Murao Yoshiaki, TBS) spans a fifteen-year time period anchored by two murders, exploring the various ways inwhich people and things can be held “dearest” by others. The series was a highly
polished work, tightly constructed from opening to conclusion. The drama
unfolds around the cat-and-mouse struggles and frustrations between those withsecrets and those striving to uncover them. Lawyer Kase Ken’ichiro (Iura Arata)
has long kept a certain secret to protect heroine Sanada Rio (Yoshitaka Yuriko)and her younger brother, Asamiya Yu (Takahashi Fumiya), while detective

111

Miyazaki Daiki (Matsushita Kohei) has fought to uncover the truth. In the final
episode, Kase transmits the secret to Miyazaki at last. This ending, in which love
for Rio and Yu sees Daiki transcend the opposition between secret-keepers andinvestigators, left a deep impression on the audience.
Here I would like to list some other superb dramas broadcast in 2021 that I
cannot describe in detail for reasons of space. Life’s Punchline (Konto ga
hajimaru, NTV), Piano Man in Six-Tatami Room (Rokujoma no piano man,NHK), Land of Beauty (Kirei no kuni, NHK), Bullets, Bones and Broken Noses(Oliver na inu (Gosh!!) kono yaro, NHK), Love’s in Sight! (Koi desu! Yankii-kun tohakujo gaaru, NTV) were all unforgettable.

In Closing
Considering examples like Story of My Family!!!, My Dear Exes, Welcome Back,Mone, Peperoncino, and Old Jack & Rose, a good many of the dramas broadcast
in 2021 were about living with the dead: engaging them in dialogue, sensing theirpresence, finding them reborn as new life, and acting as their spiritual heirs. This
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

TELEVISION DRAMAS

likely has some connection both to the ten-year anniversary of the Great East
Japan Earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic, which cast the shadow of deathon everyday life. Families, casual conversation, human connection: themes andmotifs that hit particularly hard in the pandemic context were found inabundance.
This earnest engagement with our current reality by television drama creators resulted in many masterpieces of the medium being aired. In 2022, I hopesincerely that the COVID-19 pandemic will come to an end.
Okamuro, Minako
Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum Director and Professor, Faculty of Letters, Arts andSciences, Waseda University. Specializes in television drama theory and contemporary
theatre. Television drama category selection committee member for Galaxy Awards, Hoso
Bunka Foundation Prize, and Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association Awards, among
others. Director at Broadcast Programming Center. Member of Fuji TV’s Program Examination
Committee. Trustee of the Hashida Cultural Foundation.

112(Translation: Matt Treyvaud)

シアター
トピックス

D eve l o p m e n t s i n J a p a n a n d O ve r s e a s
i n 2 021

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Developments in Japan and Overseas

At Our Posts, Ten Years after the Great East
Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
Kuramochi Hiroyuki (Iwate)
Onobu Pelican (Fukushima)
Aomori Shibahara Hiroshi (Miyagi)
Hatasawa Seigo (Aomori)unprecedented, multifaceted disaster primarily
in the Tohoku region, one that included a
massive tsunami and a nuclear accident at theMorioka

Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Since the disasterstruck on March 11, 2011, about 20,000 people

Aomori114

Rifuchohave died, either directly or incidentally, andIshinomaki

over 2,500 people remain missing. The tenthSendaianniversary of the disaster came in 2021,

ma

ma
wa

The Great East Japan Earthquake caused an

Morioka

Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant

but the worldwide threat of the COVID-19
pandemic forced many related events to
be canceled or held online. Even the Tokyo

Iwaki
RifuchoIshinomaki

Sendaiwill instead be remembered as the Olympicsof the COVID pandemic, as an event that did

Fukushima
Koriyama
Sukagawa

Olympics, billed as the “Olympics of Recovery,”

Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant

nothing to support disaster recovery. Even so,
the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami
will forever remain in our consciousness. We

Iwaki

therefore asked four theatrical artists from the
Tohoku region who have continued to confront
the disaster to write from their own viewpoints
Tokyo

0

100km

about the past ten years, their current thoughts,
and the future of “disaster and theater.”Iwate— What It Means to Be “Unprecedented”
Kuramochi Hiroyuki
So here we are in late autumn, ten years after the fact, and I still don’t know
where to begin.
Immediately after the disaster, I created Rubble and Pastries: Ristorante
Earthquake Disaster Edition to perform at the PAW 2011 Tohoku Reconstruction
Week event, organized by the Group for Creation of the Yokohama Boat Theater,which invited theater companies from the disaster area that were otherwise
unable to perform. That work was an earthquake disaster version of a dramatic
reading I created based on the concept of reading a menu. It comprised a mixtureof newspaper articles and memoirs from that time, focusing on what people ate
in evacuation centers and their homes immediately after the disaster.
While Morioka is in a disaster-stricken prefecture, it feels inappropriate todescribe the city itself as having been disaster-stricken in comparison to the prefecture’s coastal towns, so those of us active here have been hesitant to directly

115

address the disaster itself. Then again, no theater company along the Iwate coast
has the resources to travel to Yokohama to perform, despite wanting to respondto the wishes of the people of Yokohama. I therefore wondered what might bepossible given the circumstances.
In 2021, therefore, we organized 3/11: Reflections on a Decade of Plays About
the Disaster, sponsored by
the Tohoku Branch of theJapan Playwrights Association from February to April
2021, performed and distributed as a reading event
during the COVID pandemic.

Theparticipants

included theatrical artists
from Kumamoto, which
was hit by an earthquake in

A live talk, Reflections on a Decade of Plays About the Disaster (2021).
Photo: Takahashi Hiroomi
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

2016, along with others from Nagoya, a city people have been saying for over thirty
years could be hit at any time by an offshore earthquake in the Nankai Trough.
Other than that, we also performed Family Tree (by Aizawa Kazunari),
which features the Miyagi dialect and the participation of local theater people,
and Clippy & Ms. U (by Onobu Pelican). Participating in Clippy were people from
Shizuoka, another potential disaster area and home to a nuclear power plant, andpeople from the United States, directed by James Yaegashi, who led the“SHINSAI: Theaters for Japan” reading event that united us with the UnitedStates one year after the disaster. In addition to readings, they also presented
talks that combined online and offline life. We also covered a high-school playthat addressed the disaster. You can get an idea of what that was like by visiting
the following website (available as of December 2021): https://shin10year.shinsai-engeki.com/.
In addition to Rubble and Pastries, which was created in the year of thedisaster, over the past decade I have been involved in several plays related to116

the earthquake.
Just at the time of the earthquake, I was traveling by train on the Joban Line,on my way to Iwaki in Fukushima Prefecture to meet some Tohoku-region
theater people with the aim of revitalizing the Tohoku Branch of the Japan
Morioka Citizen’s Theater Company, Morioka in That Year: 1896 (2013). Photo: Takahashi Hiroomi

Playwrights Association. A joint production of Earthquake Taxi, which wasmodeled on my return journey from there to Morioka, was created by Watanabe
Genshiro Shoten in Aomori and the Virtual Theater Company, which I direct.
That show toured five locations across Japan between September and December
2012. I was also involved in the Morioka in That Year series, a biennial theater
event held in Morioka with the participation of its citizens that has used the Meiji
Sanriku Tsunami (1896), the Showa Sanriku Tsunami (1933), and the Great East
Japan Earthquake (2011) as motifs.
Common among all of these is being near to, but not at the site of thetsunami, yet being unable to avoid it and not entirely uninvolved.
I have been involved in many other activities, such as hosting theater workshops at coastal schools and holding symposiums. In retrospect, it is somewhat
unclear what things are meaningful and what things are less so. I was at a loss
with regards to what I had been doing so far, because I was unsure whether I’dattained sufficient wisdom to say with certainty that I don’t care whether what
I’ve done has been useful or useless, meaningful or meaningless.

117

And here we are, still in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Ten years after
the Great East Japan Earthquake, once again we find ourselves in a situation wenever imagined might happen during our lifetimes. Moreover, the current stateof affairs has completely ripped apart a certain utopia that developed right after
the disaster, one in which we had utmost concern for our neighbors.
I remain at a loss, because the unprecedented always comes from an
unimagined direction.
Kuramochi, Hiroyuki
Playwright and stage director. Born in 1966 in Bando City, Ibaraki Prefecture, currently resides
and works in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture. He specializes in conversations that explore thenooks and crannies of subjects as varied as temples, obstetricians, nurseries, and photostudios. Since 2005, he has been conducting workshops as a theater workshop facilitator atvarious locations in Iwate Prefecture. President of the Tohoku Branch of the Japan Playwrights
Association. Part-time lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Iwate University. Director of the
Virtual Theater Company.

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Fukushima— Expectations for a Wider Network
Onobu Pelican

In June 2011, I presented Clippy & Ms. U in Tokyo. Taking as its motif the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, an essential elementin the relationship between the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima,
this work depicts confusion over “invisible things” that surrounded Fukushima
after the accident.
Against daily updates regarding unfamiliar units like sieverts and becquerels, neither the government’s assurances that there would be no immediate
impact nor the heated debates regarding our safety that flooded the timelines ofsocial networking sites were helpful toward allowing me to make decisions as aresident; I just felt as if meaningless information was flying about in all directions. As I came to realize my unknowing indifference to the existence of nuclear
power plants, which can run out of control if an accident occurs, it started to feel118

as if all those words were bundles of lies. Faced with such overwhelming reality
and slippery words, like many theater artists I was left unable to grasp what was
key to my own creations.
Clippy & Ms. U (Tokyo, 2011). Photo: Akai YasuhiroNonetheless, we created and presented this work, which I described at thetime as “destiny” because of the desires and hopes for theater that remained deep
within me, even in the midst of my despair. Desires to capture the atmosphere of
the moment, and hopes that the theater can speak in a language with impact. As
we performed the work in various places, I felt my despair gradually healing. The
rehearsals and performances were a kind of therapy.
The story is a simple one: the characters in it are looking for the missing “Ms.
U” in a town where “Clippy,” the son of a newsstand owner, is cutting up thestore’s newspapers and scattering them about. Neither Clippy nor Ms. U make an
appearance, despite their names being in the piece’s title. Actually, the main
character in the story is the dirty town itself. By the end of the story, by picking
up and reading the newspaper clippings the characters have realized that Ms. U
is (most likely) dead, and they sing “The Star Festival Song” with feelings ofrebirth for the town.
In addition to our home base in Fukushima, we performed this work in
Aomori, Sendai, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Kitakyushu, and Munich, Germany.

119

In 2021, the tenth year after the earthquake, there were three performancesof Clippy & Ms. U. One was in January, a reprise of a performance by our theatercompany, Thea Trie. That event was organized by the Sendai Performing Arts
Forum at Sendai Theater
Studio 10-Box. The othertwo were readings in Shizuoka and New York, organized

by

the

TohokuBranch of the Japan Playwrights Association. The
Shizuoka reading was performed by the Fujieda Citybased

theatercompany

Unique Point, and the New
York reading was performed by James Yaegashi’s

Clippy & Ms. U (Sendai, 2021). Photo: Iwabuchi Takashi
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

company. Both are connections we made as a result of the earthquake. By once
again coming into contact with these vivid works, created immediately after thedisaster, I was reminded of the passage of the past ten years and the connections
we made through this work.
Looking back, since the earthquake there has been a definite deepening ofties between the theater companies in Fukushima Prefecture and other areas.
The theater company Unit Rabbits from Koriyama City has deepened its relationship with the Ryuzanji Company in Tokyo, working together on several projects,
including a staging of Fukushima-born Mafune Yutaka’s Weasel in Sukagawa in
February 2021, directed by Ryuzanji Sho and featuring mainly actors from
Fukushima. In Iwaki City, Takagi Toru, a Seinenza Theater Company graduate
and resident of Iwaki City, took the lead in staging two works in Iwaki City andTokyo on the themes of Fukushima and nuclear power plants: When the East
Wind Blows and Embracing Love and Death. The third play in this series has been
produced, but the final one has not been performed due to the COVID pandemic.
120

In addition, people working in theater in Fukushima have expanded their
network beyond the prefecture, far more than what can be related here, including
high school theater.
Ten years have passed since the earthquake, but the situation in Fukushimaremains complicated, such the recent decision to release treated water from thenuclear power plant into the ocean. I hope that grassroots activities by our local
theater artists will lead to the reconstruction of Fukushima and a revitalizationof communication through impactful language.
Onobu, Pelican
Born in 1975 in Hyogo Prefecture. Entered Fukushima University in 1994 and has lived in
Fukushima Prefecture since. Began theater activities while in college. Started the Manrui Tori
King Theater Company (currently Thea Trie) in 1996, and since then has written and directednearly all of its works. He has also been involved in many productions in addition to his workwith Thea Trie. He is also actively involved in teaching workshops and other outreachactivities.

Miyagi— Moving Forward, Together
Shibahara Hiroshi

I was in Tokyo on that day. Despite having left for Tokyo as soon as I graduatedfrom high school with no intention of returning, the disaster that struck myhometown of Ishinomaki, in Miyagi Prefecture, shocked me. Even so, geographical and blood ties are so strong in my hometown that relationships from elementary and junior high school carry over into adulthood, something that makes me
uncomfortable, so I did not feel the need to “do something for my hometown”
immediately after the disaster, despite the damage I saw there.
However, the friends I made through the theater every time I returned to
Ishinomaki, as well as new friends from Iwate that I met in Tokyo, slowly
changed my mind, and now I am involved in theater festivals in my hometown. I
began to spend increasingly more time thinking about my hometown, and in
2019 I decided to live in Miyagi for the first time in twenty years.
I am writing this on November 3, 2021. The fifth annual Ishinomaki Theatre

121

Festival has begun. This city didn’t have what you would call a thriving theater
culture, but theater troupes created after the earthquake and theater artists from
Ishinomaki who were active in Tokyo wanted to perform in Ishinomaki as a way
to help liven up their hometown. The Ishinomaki Theatre Festival was started in2016 to facilitate that.
After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, theater people in Sendai, whichis also in Miyagi Prefecture, immediately acted, playing a major role in both thesoft and hard aspects of the recovery process. By contrast, the word “theater” wasrarely heard in Ishinomaki City.
The Ishinomaki Theater Festival was born against that backdrop, as amonth long event where theater performances are put on every weekend andnational holiday. It is held in the hopes that residents will be able to see a playevery week during that month, or at least have some contact with the theater.
The 2020 festival was unavoidably canceled, but a characteristic of our city
today is that we can take advantage of even a situation as dire as the COVID
pandemic to create works of art with free ideas, and we have audiences who will
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

want to enjoy them.
In the summer of 2020, when infection rates were relatively under control,
theater people in Ishinomaki immediately tried their hand at staging performances rich in ideas.
One example is PeePing Tom (June–July), a “peephole theater” production
where one actor and one audience member share a theatrical space across a wallin a space the size of only four and a half tatami mats. Like me, producer Yaguchi
Ryuta went to Tokyo for college, where he continued his theatrical activities until
2018, returning to his hometown a little before I did. Toko Mariko created avirtual reality play Naked Day Break at a local gallery and broadcast it from
September through October. Ms. Toko, who is from Tokyo, became involved
with Ishinomaki as a volunteer after the earthquake, and has now moved to thearea and continues to be actively involved there. I myself resumed holding
monthly reading sessions in August. These are “lip-sync readings,” where performers act as if they are reading pre-recorded scripts right in front of you. We
122tried to make the experience as close as possible to a live performance, so thataudiences can watch in safety.
Each of these performances attracted attention and was well-received. Thiswas one of the most severely damaged cities in the Great East Japan Earthquake,but one that was making significant progress toward recovery. Possibly forexactly that reason, even if
COVID-19 poses a stumbling block, it remains aplace filled with a spirit forenjoying the situation we’refacing.
Since 2017, Ishinomaki
has hosted the Reborn-Art
Festival, a wide-ranging art
festival

featuringart,

music, and food. In Augustand September 2021, thePeePing Tom (2020), written and directed by Yaguchi Ryuta.
Photo: Ishinomaki Theater Arts Association

festival gathered letters from residents, asking them to “send us a letter relatinga color and an event you want to tell people about.” These were displayed an art
installation by Takahashi Kyota, in which the Ishinomori Manga Museum inthe city center was lit up in those colors. Every day, citizens could learn about
the feelings behind this lighting through newspaper and radio coverage. During
the exhibition there were outdoor performances that I participated in, reading
the letters. The personal stories that the actors delivered through their bodies
and voices greatly impacted the town of Ishinomaki, which for the decade since
the Great East Japan Earthquake had been searching for the words to express
those stories.
In such ways, through theater I remain involved with my hometown Ishinomaki in various ways. I currently live in Sendai, but I hope to continue to slowly
grow closer to my hometown as it recovers and theater culture develops there.
Shibahara, Hiroshi
Born in 1982 in Ishinomaki. Actor. Graduated from the Toho Gakuen College of Drama andMusic with a major in theater. Member of the Kokushoku Kitan Kanariaha troupe. Director ofthe drama unit Comainu. After working for a time in Tokyo, in 2019 he started working in
Miyagi prefecture. He is currently conducting the “Comainu Monthly Reading Performance”
in Ishinomaki as his life work. He has also been involved in the Ishinomaki Theater Festival
from its inception as an executive committee member. He received the Miyagi Prefecture
Art Encouragement Award in 2020.

123

Reborn-Art Festival 2021–22, A Gift of Light, reading performance.
Photo provided by Ishinomaki Theater Arts Association

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Aomori— Being an Outsider
Hatasawa Seigo

I was in the city of Aomori when the earthquake and tsunami hit. We lost power
for three days, but we were fortunate enough to escape serious damage. However,for some time I found myself unable to write. What’s the point of creating tragedy
on paper, I thought, when I’m surrounded by actual tragedy? But it is impossible
to live in the Tohoku region and remain indifferent to the disaster that occurred
here. I couldn’t not write about it. But then again, what’s the point in someone
like me, an outsider to the events in the disaster areas, writing anything? Aftermuch deliberation, I decided to be honest about my distance. There is distance
between me and the hardest-hit areas and cities, and distance between myself
and those directly affected by the severe damage. It would feel sinful for me,
living in distant Aomori, to have those outside of the Tohoku region, residents ofTokyo, for example, to read my work as if I were speaking with the voice of a124

disaster survivor. I decided I needed to write from the position of someone
standing beside those who were most affected, but not amongst them. That I
could paint myself as being near them, but not one of them.
The result was What If a High School Baseball Team Manager Invited an
Aomori Medium?, a play
put on by the Aomori
CentralHigh

SchoolDrama Club. The story is
about a high school baseball player who lost his
teammates and family in
the Great East Japan Earthquake. He transfers to ahigh school in Aomori,
where he meets a coach
who is an itako, a Shinto
medium, and aims to win
A showing of What If a High School Baseball Team Manager Invitedan Aomori Medium? at the Rifu Town Tofunosato Plaza Cultural
Hall on June 2, 2012. Photo: Kimura Masayuki

at

the

JapaneseHigh

School Baseball Championship.

The

story

was

created in anticipation ofits being performed insupport of disaster areas. It
therefore uses no set pieces,no props, no lighting, andWhat If a High School Baseball Team Manager Invited an Aomori
Medium? (2014) Festival/Tokyo 14. Photo: Matsumoto Kazuyuki

no sound effects. It canthus be performed anywhere with enough space, such as a gymnasium or assembly hall, without need of even a stage or curtains. The entire cast sings the songs,
they all hum the background music, and even the sound effects are produced byvoice. The actors express everything, using only their bodies and their actual
voices. Before putting on a performance, the first thing they would do upon
arriving was clean. Some venues had previously been emergency shelters, so they
took their time and did a conscientious job. Several times, the seats would fill up

125

while the cast was still warming up. One venue, which was adjacent to a temporary housing complex, had particularly many visitors. Most were elderly, andthey laughed and cried at seeing high school students, who were around the ageof their grandchildren, running around in such high spirits. As they left, they
shook the hands of the club members.
They also performed this work at the 58th National High School Drama
Festival, held at Toyama Prefectural Hall in August 2012, at which, possibly
blessed by the gods of drama, they won the Grand Prize (the Minister of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award). From September
2011 to the present, the play has been shown on 107 stages in 50 cities and towns
in 22 Japanese prefectures and overseas. They were invited to Festival/Tokyo 14
in 2014 and Festival Bo:m in Seoul in 2015, thereby gaining attention both athome and abroad, beyond the scope of mere high school theater.
In 2019, the group put on a performance at a junior high school in Aomori.
In a planning meeting, one teacher mentioned that they would need to do some
preparatory study. That makes sense when you consider that first-year junior
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

high students in that year would have been only five years old when the earthquake struck. I therefore decided to provide a commentary to review what happened in the Great East Japan Earthquake as part of the announcements before
the show started. This made me keenly feel the passage of time. In the winter ofthat year, a certain broadcasting station asked me to do an interview, but the offer
was later retracted. “My boss told me there’s no point in staging what amounts toa requiem for the dead in a time like this, when we’re making so much progress
toward recovery,” said the young manager who had telephoned me. I guess themood was one for just moving forward and forgetting about the disaster. Or
maybe his boss figured that the bulk of the Japanese public had already done so.
It’s now been eleven years since the first showing of What If…. All scheduled performances for 2020 and 2021 were canceled. I hope that once the fog of COVID19 lifts, we will once again be able to travel throughout Japan. Even when there is
no longer need for a requiem, we will never stop. That is one of the great missionsof the theater.
126

Hatasawa, Seigo
Born in 1964 in Akita Prefecture. Playwright and director. Director of the Watanabe Genshiro
Shoten theater troupe. He is based in Aomori and active nationwide. Winner of the Grand
Prize in the Short Play Competition at the 2005 Convention of the Japan Playwrights Association. His radio drama scripts have won awards including the Grand Prize at the Agency for
Cultural Affairs Art Festival. His scripts for the stage include Komatsuza’s Living with Motherand HoriPro’s Hana—1970, the Day Koza Burned. Currently working as a high school teacher
and drama club advisor. The high schools he has coached have gone to nine national championships, winning three Grand Prizes and the five Awards for Excellence.
(Translation: Tony Gonzalez)Modern Drama Association’s second production, Faust. (From the left) Iba Takashi playing Mephistopheles, Yamakawa Uraji playing the Witch and Marthe, and Kamiyama Sojin playing Faust. (Reprinted bycourtesy of Theatre Publishing Company. Taken from page 13 of the Guidebook to Shingeki Theatre in the
Meiji-Taisho Era, written and edited by Tanaka Eizo).

127

Developments in Japan and Overseas

The 160th Anniversary of Mori Ogai’s Birth andthe Centenary of His Death—Ogai and the Performing Arts
Itoda SoichiroMori Ogai―The Unknown Theatre Expert
Mori Ogai was born in 1862 in Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture, and died in 1922
in Tokyo. The year 2022 marks the 160th anniversary of his birth and hundredthanniversary of his death. Most people know him as the author of the novels
Maihime (The Dancing Girls), Takasebune (The Boat on the Takase River), andTheatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

the biographical novel Shibue
Chusai. Only a few remember
him as a someone who neverstopped loving theatre and opera.
The Japanese translation of Faust
may be the most accessible of his
numerous theatre works today.(1)However, Mori Ogai’s literary
journey began in January 1889
when he published his translationof the play The Mayor of Zalamea(Shirabewatakashi

gitaruranohitofushi) by Pedro Calderón dela Barca in the Yomiuri Shimbun
128

A photo of Mori Ogai taken while he was staying in Berlinin 1888. ©Bunkyo City Mori Ogai Memorial Museum

newspaper a few months after his
return from Germany. And thejourney ended in January 1920 with his translation of The Pelican by August
Strindberg in the literary journal Shirakaba (White Birch). His literary life began
and ended with plays; he translated more than fifty in all. But we must search

A description of The Mayor of Zalamea (Shirabehatakashi gitarura no hitofushi) published in the Yomiuri
Shimbun, newspaper dated January 3, 1889. Different Chinese characters are used for the title. Miki
Takeji’s name is printed next to Ogai’s, indicating that they translated together.(2)through the thirty-eight volumes of his collected works, published by Iwanami
Shoten, to access them, which is why they are almost unknown. As well as translations, Ogai also published a thesis titled Appalled by the Bias of the So-Called
Theatre Improvers (Engekikairyoronja no henken ni odoroku) in the first volume(released October 25, 1889) of the self-published literary magazine Shigarami
Soshi, and he wrote one-act plays such as Ikutagawa (Ikuta River) as well. Ikutagawa was performed in the experimental production Jiyugekijo (Free Theatre)
Part 2 in Yurakuza Theatre in May 1910. It was presented together with The
Court-Singer by Frank Wedekind, translated by Mori Ogai, and A Marriage Proposal by Anton Chekhov, translated by Osanai Kaoru. Ogai played a leading rolein popularizing the one-act play in Japan. It is always a challenge to describe the129

Appalled by the Bias of the So-Called Theatre Improvers (Engekikairyoronja no henken ni odoroku), published in
the literary magazine Shigarami Soshi Vol. 1, on October 25, 1889. The image used here is from the reissued
version published by Rinsen Book Company in 1995. This was Ogai’s first theatrical thesis. Ogai once wrote
a thesis in German called Über die Theaterfrage (Engekimondai ni tsuite) for the German magazine Von Westnach Ost Vol. 5 (May 1889 issue). This thesis went missing for a long time until it was discovered in 2018 in
the Komaba Library of the University of Tokyo. The Japanese translation of this thesis and a commentaryby author Itoda Soichiro are available in Meiji University Faculty of Literature Journal Bungei Kenkyu (Literary
Research), Vol. 138, published in March 2019.
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Ikutagawa (Ikuta River) from Jiyugekijo (Free Theatre) Vol. 2, performed in May 1910 at Yurakuza Theatre.
(From the left) The first-generation Ichikawa Enjaku, who was later called Ichikawa Shocho, playing
Ashiyaotome; the second-generation Ichikawa Sasho playing a monk; the first-generation Sawamura
Sonosuke playing the mother of Otome; and the second-generation Ichikawa Sadanji playing Unaiotoko.
Reprinted from Guidebook to Shingeki Theatre in the Meiji-Taisho Era, written and edited by Tanaka Eizo, p. 1
(published by Theatre Publishing Company in 1964).

theatrical reality of any era in the past, and due to lack of records, it has always
130

been difficult to give a vivid picture of how Ogai’s translations and creative works
were crucial to the modernization of theatre at that time. That is why Ogai is not
fully recognized as a theatre figure.

What We Learn from Ogai’s Theatrical Theories
Ogai’s theory of theatre, described in Appalled by the Bias of the So-Called
Theatre Improvers and The Poet behind the Theatre (Engekijori no shijin), wasbased on the theatrical reform that took place in the Court Theatre Munich at theend of the 1880s. Not only would you need to understand the Theatre Improvement Movement that took place in Japan, but you would also need to immerse
yourself in German theatre records of the time in order to understand his writings. Ogai obtained information about the theatrical reform in Munich fromlocal newspapers and magazines. His theories have not been fully researched tothis day. The same can be said about his theses, The Template of Theatre (Gekijo
no hinagata) (1890) and The Size of Theatre (Gekijo no okisa) (1897). Ogai studiedin Germany for four years between 1884 and 1888. The 1880s were a special
period for European theatre. A variety of diseases and large fires throughoutEurope led to an intense debate about protecting theatres. The fire that destroyed
the Ringtheater in Vienna on December 8, 1881, caused a huge debate about how
to keep theatres safe. There is an important article on this subject entitled“Theatre Design Competition” published in the German Architecture Newspaperon August 11, 1883. Ogai’s thesis The Template of Theatre, published in New
Hygiene Magazine Vol. 28, is based on this article. It is an enlightening work by
Ogai, who also was a hygiene researcher. I believe that his ideas about the structure of theatres should be reacknowledged and viewed in a more global context,
while reconstructing the conversations about hygiene and safe theatre environments from more than a hundred years ago.

The World of Ogai's Play Translations and Writings
In order to see the full picture of the relationship between Ogai and the performing arts, you must divide his works into groups and see how these interact witheach other. I have prepared a chart called The World of Ogai's Play Translationsand Writings presenting a bird’s eye view. First, I have mapped out four different

131

areas of theatre concepts with names and events relevant to each area. The area
above the dotted line concerns theory. The area below concerns practice. I used
dotted lines because the two cannot be divided completely. Here, where theory
and practice overlap, is the most important zone for Ogai’s theatre translations
and his original works. The upper-left area is related to his theses about theatre,
which he published after coming back from Germany. This area includes the theatrical reform in Munich whose goal was to revive Shakespearean plays. Ogai
wrote about how the Germans achieved an “open stage” environment while
retaining prosceniums. He also emphasized the value of the hanamichi (platformrunway) and the rotating stage of the kabuki theatre. A theatre engineer called
Carl Lautenschläger came up with the idea of a “remodeled theatre” in Munich;in 1896 he was the first to introduce a rotating stage to Europe. Ogai had alreadystressed the importance of this design, and his foresight should be acknowledged.
We should not forget that Ogai was the first person to introduce the hanamichi
and the rotating stage to artistic discourse.

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Ogai translated plays by Calderón de la Barca and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
while continuing to develop controversial theatrical theories. These are relevantto the publications in the lower left of the chart. The Mayor of Zalamea was published in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper using a seven-five-syllable meter. He
used this form, common in kabuki theatre, intentionally to target theatregoers.
He co-translated the play with his younger brother Mori Tokujiro (pen name
Miki Takeji), who was familiar with kabuki idioms. It is important to note that
The Mayor of Zalamea was published in a supplementary section of the newspaper—a nod towards the tradition of “reading” plays. In Toriko (Philotas) by
Lessing, Ogai drew on the language used by high-ranking samurai warriors. It
reminds us of a dialogue between a tarokaja (chief steward) and his Lord inkyogen (Japanese traditional comedy). This was a new experiment. Toriko was
published in Ogai’s self-published literary magazine Shigarami Soshi, which
seems to have been a useful instrument for experimenting freely with histranslations.
132

Ogai served in the army during The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895).
Afterwards, he was sent to Kokura in Northern Kyushu (1899–1902) and seems
to have stopped working for the theatre. But since he moved to Kokura, he had
The World of Ogai's Play Translations and Writings
GoetheTieck
Immermann
Munich theatre reform

Traditional theatre language
Establishment of modern
Tokyo JapaneseStandard language
Shigarami Soshi magazine
Kabuki(magazine edited by Miki Takeji)

Ideals and conceptsof theatre reform

Modernism inEuropean theatre(paradigm shift)World of playtranslation and writing
Theatre andliterary journalism

Shingeki(New Drama)
movement, etc.

Schnitzler
Hofmannsthal
Strindberg
Ibsen
Hauptmann

Study of meter
Spoken stage language
Phonetics

Free Theatre
Modern Drama Association
Kyogen-za

Subaru magazine

Created by the author. Revised from the chart first published in Meiji University Faculty of Literature
Journal Bungei Kenkyu (Literary Research) Vol. 131, p. 64.

apparently been gathering information about new movements in European
theatre and studying them thoroughly. As shown on the upper-right of the chart,
Ogai translated a one-act play by Arthur Schnitzler called The Lady with the
Dagger. This and other translations from 1907 onwards reflected the paradigm
shift that occurred in the theatre industry in the beginning of the twentiethcentury. And this shift had a great impact on Tokyo’s theatre world at that time,
as shown in the lower-right of the chart. The translations of these new plays were
published in theatre magazines such as Kabuki and Subaru, revitalizing the literary magazines of that period. After the publication of the textbook Jinjoshogaku
Tokuhon in 1904, the language used therein became the standard Japanese terminology. This must have stimulated Ogai’s appetite for translating foreign plays.
Since Goethe’s time, it had become a tradition in Germany to regard the language of the theatre as standard. Translations of foreign plays with a wide variety
of subjects greatly enriched and broadened the possibilities of the Japanese language. We get a glimpse of Ogai inheriting the spirit of Goethe. Ogai was commissioned to translate Goethe’s Faust by the Literary Committee of the Ministry133

of Education; it was part of an experimental project to translate classic foreign
plays into contemporary Japanese. The first act of Faust was performed at theImperial Theatre on March 27–31, 1913, hosted by the Modern Drama
Association, and also at the Teikokuza Theatre in Osaka-Kitahama for ten days
starting on May 1. We can see from the records that Ogai was making corrections to his translation while he communicated with the stage designer and thelighting artist. Classic plays presented in contemporary Japanese were in great
demand among the intellectuals of the time.

Experimenting with His Own Plays
Ogai was the first to use contemporary Japanese in historical one-act plays. He
confirms this himself saying, “I don’t mean to brag about it, but I think my play
Shizuka was the first period drama in contemporary language.” Playwright
Nagata Hideo once wrote that he exchanged a few words with a friend after
seeing Ikutagawa in the second Jiyugekijo project. As they smoked a cigarette,
Nagata said to his friend, “So from now on, we must write period dramas in
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

contemporary language.” His friend replied, “That is right. There is no point inusing old language. It is our job as poets to create the old atmosphere using new
language.” It explains how Ogai’s choice of language had a huge impact on theyounger generation at that time.
Apparently, Ogai kept a close eye on the repertoire of the Deutsches Theater inGermany when choosing what to translate. The director of this theatre was Max
Reinhardt, and his theatre led the theatrical reform movement that was happening all over Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1910, Reinhardt
rented a circus tent for staging Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s version of the Greek
play Oedipus Rex. In it, he built a Greek amphitheatre, in the middle of metropolitan Berlin. Ogai, who had a deep interest in this production, obtained thetext of the Hofmannsthal adaptation. We have a record of him saying, “I amreading Hofmannsthal’s version of Oedipus Rex for a certain purpose.” He wasworking on Soga Kyodai (The Soga Brothers), an adaptation of a traditional
134

Japanese play. The story of the Soga brothers was the basis of many theatrical
productions. These were staged every year during the New Year season in prewar
Japan, and most Japanese people were familiar with the story. Ogai made his own
version of the story by boldly removing all kabuki elements from the kabuki
script Youchi soga kariba no akebono (The Night Attack of the Soga Brothers)
written by Kawatake Mokuami. It was presented in the Imperial Theatre by the
Kyogen-za company in 1914, but it was not well received by the critics. The
unyielding Ogai pointed to the global trend in adaptation but could not convince
the critics to change their views.
Ogai’s original play Tamakushige Futari Urashima (The Beautiful Box and the
Two Urashimas) was written in verse form using literary language. The verse wasso lyrical and beautiful that people thought it was originally intended as an
opera. He had previously experimented with a part of Henrik Ibsen’s verse
tragedy Brand, giving it a verse translation in literary language with the title
Bokushi (The Priest). The speculation that Tamakushige Futari Urashima wasmeant to be an opera must have made Ogai happy, as he often listened to Mozart

and Wagner when he was studying in Germany. Ogai denied that the text was
written for an opera, but he hinted, in writing, at the possibility of turning theplay into an opera, but only for presentation in an opera house with a deepenough performing space and sufficiently talented singers.

To Sum Up
Ogai lived in a transition period when various forms of language still coexisted,and he cultivated new ways of presenting plays and performance. He had a deep
knowledge of the theatrical movements in Europe at that time, and not only did
he introduce European plays to Japan in eloquent translations, but he also created
new types of plays using Japanese materials. We should reacknowledge hisachievements as we celebrate the 160th anniversary of his birth and hundredthanniversary of his death.
Footnotes from the author(1) Even today, Ogai’s novels are adapted into plays. The new-style kabuki production
Grandpa and Grandma (Jisan basan), first performed in 1951, directed and adapted by
Uno Nobuo, is one of them.

135(2) An introduction with Ogai’s name and honorific, a description of scenes, and the namesof characters, are printed on this page. He began translating the play the day after thisarticle was issued.

Itoda, Soichiro
Itoda Soichiro is an Emeritus professor at Meiji University and a former professor of German
Literature of the Faculty of Literature of Meiji University. He was born in 1950, in Tokyo. He
obtained a PhD at the Faculty of Literature of RWTH Aachen University. He specializes inGerman Modern Literature, Nietzsche, and Japan-Germany Cross-Cultural History. His books
include The Poet behind the Theatre—Understanding the Theatrical Theories of Ogai’s Youth(Engekijori no Shijin Mori Ogai—Wakaki hi no engeki gekijoron wo yomu) published by Keio
University Press (2012) and Berlin & Tokyo—Theater und Hauptstadt published by Iudicium
Verlag (2008).
(Translation: Ishikawa Mai and Donncha Crowley)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

136

MUSICAL THE PRINCE OF TENNIS II The First Stage
©2009 TAKESHI KONOMI/2020 MUSICAL THE PRINCE OF TENNIS II PROJECT

Developments in Japan and Overseas

The 2.5-Dimensional Musical:
An Audience-Creating System
Suzuki Kunio“2.5-Dimensional Musicals” draw on anime and manga to create newaudiences distinct from traditional theatre-going segments. According to
the Pia Research Institute, in 2018 the 2.5-Dimensional Musical industry
grew 45% from the previous year to reach ¥22.6 billion in size, with morethan 200 new and ongoing productions staged that year. At Japonismes2018 in Paris, the musical Touken Ranbu and the performance show “Pretty
Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live brought the 2.5-Dimensional Musicalmodel to an international audience.
This essay by Suzuki Kunio explores the origin and history of the
2.5-Dimensional Musical and considers some unique characteristics of its
performance model and staging.
—The Editors
The Japan 2.5-Dimensional Musical Association was founded in March 2014. Its
home page defines 2.5-Dimensional Musicals as “theatrical presentations basedon Japanese manga, popular animation and video games.” The term, the association explains, places these shows somewhere between the 2D “realm of manga,
animation and video games” and the 3D “realm of the theatre,” and is used notjust for actual musicals but also for “plays, comedies and dramas” with nomusical elements.* The word is used among the fans who began to follow thisgenre closely at an early stage.
The term “2.5-Dimensional Musical” is deeply related to the establishment
and history of the genre. It is no coincidence that the 2.5-Dimensional Musical137

was born of Japan’s theatrical culture, and as a performance model it enjoys
enduring popularity and contains much potential for future development. Let us
begin by examining its roots.
The theatrical arts are a three-dimensional phenomenon, brought into being
when performer and audience share time and space. However, across ages andcultures, it is far from uncommon to see two-dimensional—in other words,
picture-like—ideas projected onto them. In ancient Greek tragedy, masked actors
caused characters from myth and epic poetry to appear before the audience. Frommedieval mystery plays to the once-a-decade performance of the Passion Play inmodern-day Oberammergau, Germany, audiences have been moved by seeing
Christ, Mary, and the saints with their own eyes. The addition of musical elements
created opera, the flower of European theatrical culture, which brought heroes tothe stage again and again. One might argue that precursors of the 2.5-Dimensional Musical predominate throughout the history of the theatrical arts.
In Japan, too, performing arts from Noh to Bunraku, Kabuki to Kumiodori,
have drawn themes and material from classical literature and enriched them
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

with visual arts and music. In the classic “two-act phantasmal Noh” (fukushiki
mugen no) genre, the shite (lead actor) appears before the audience masked andcostumed as a character from a tale or picture scroll. The outlandishly attired
kabukimono (“crooked ones”) of the early modern period, arguably cosplayers intheir way, were the forerunners of Kabuki (reanalyzed as ka, song, bu, dance, andki, performance), in which distinctive costuming, makeup, and gestural styles
would eventually bring superheroes to the stage. On-stage imagery was depicted
in ukiyo-e, and these ukiyo-e were then recreated and transfigured by actors. It
should come as no surprise that in more modern times this tradition would giverise to bromides (promotional photographs), toy figures, cosplay, manga, anime,
and games, which then found audiences worldwide.
Animation combines two-dimensional pictures—in which humans havenear godlike powers of creation—with movement, time, and speech, and it isclear that the unique appeal of today’s 2.5-dimensional works lies in the representation of animation using the human body as a created thing with its
138

own limitations.

From The Rose of Versailles to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon:
A Prehistory of 2.5-Dimensional Musicals
By the latter half of the twentieth century, theatrical productions based on manga
had already been staged. Eri Chiemi’s starring role in Sazae-san is one case of anatural connection between a widely beloved cartoon character and a star’s
popular persona.
The all-female Takarazuka Revue Company’s The Rose of Versailles, firststaged in 1974, took this process one step further, opening new possibilities. Though produced many years before the term “2.5-dimensional” wascoined, in retrospect The Rose of Versailles is sometimes called the dawn of
the 2.5-Dimensional Musical. Some opposed the very idea of adapting Ikeda
Riyoko’s monumentally popular manga for the stage, concerned that this would
undermine their personal conception of the story. However, the finished productwas so polished that audiences could only marvel in wonder. It became one of
Takarazuka’s most popular works and has been revived multiple times.

Costumed dramas set in Europe had long been a specialty for Takarazuka,
and the company’s otoko-yaku (actors specializing in male roles) were ideallysuited to the role of Oscar, a “female beauty in male attire” (danso no reijin).
However, in an age when manga as a genre did not have the high degree of social
recognition it does today, Takarazuka’s sincere efforts to perfect every aspect of
the adaptation, from staging and art direction to the finer points of the performance itself, brought even greater success than expected. The company successfully brought characters that seemed to have “stepped out of a picture” to life, andin so doing created what we can see as the starting point of the 2.5-dimensional
approach.
The Rose of Versailles would only be the first of Takarazuka’s superb productions based on manga. In 2018, The Poe Clan, based on Moto Hagio’s mangaof the same name, overcame restrictions ranging from the intense imagery of
the original work to the fact that the characters played by the top otoko-yakustars were all young boys to win rave reviews from critics, who noted that the
production gave the impression that the actors had merged with the manga’s

139

original images.
Other works that attracted attention after The Rose of Versailles include
Saint Seiya (1991), starring then-recently-formed all-male band SMAP; Pretty
Guardian Sailor Moon (1993–2005); and the Sakura Taisen Kayou Show (1997–
2006), based on a video game whose voice actors were cast specifically with thegoal of later theatrical adaptation. The Shiki Theatre Company has also staged
musicals based on animated movies, such as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast,
and The Little Mermaid.
However, Takarazuka and Shiki are both companies with long histories,
established reputations, and diverse repertories. Accordingly, even works basedon manga, anime, and games, which could arguably be called 2.5-Dimensional
Musicals, seem more appropriately categorized as part of their respective repertories. In the same way, I would prefer to place the stage adaptation of One Piece
performed by kabuki actors under the general category of kabuki.

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS“Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live at Japonismes 2018
©T . P/SMTSL

140

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon:
Eternal Edition, Vol. 1 ©Naoko Takeuchi

Musical: The Prince of Tennis—
Creating a Model for 2.5-Dimensional Productions
The theatrical adaptation which deserves recognition as the starting point for the
2.5-Dimensional Musical genre, recently established and rapidly developing andevolving, is Musical: The Prince of Tennis (2003–). “TenniMu,” as fans refer to it,
is based on a long-running manga by Konomi Takeshi, serialized in Weekly
Shonen Jump (Shueisha), about a junior high school tennis club. The story isalmost entirely about teams of tennis players displaying near-superhumanplaying technique in a series of matches and tournaments against each other.
When adapting manga for the stage, selecting the right elements from theoften-voluminous original to create a coherent, self-contained work of limited
length is always a challenge. “TenniMu” resolved this by limiting each production to the central team’s matches against a particular set of opponents, alongwith related story beats. The continuation of the story was left to the next production. Through this “serialized production” approach, over a period of several
years the entire original work was brought to the stage successfully.
The innovation of this production model is one reason for positing“TenniMu” as the pioneering 2.5-Dimensional Musical. The model allowed anenormous original work to be adapted for the stage with nothing left out; and byending each production in a way that leaves the audience eager to see the next, it
recreated the experience of enjoying a serialized manga. Because the story isentirely about tennis, with a core team constantly facing new opponents, thisstructure can provide consistency and variation at the same time. Vast numbersof characters appear as the productions progress, all with unique personalities
and skills to put to the test against each other; at the conclusion of each work,
scenes of victory and loss provide catharsis even as they lay the groundwork forthe next dramatic situation. The production drew fans of the original work to thetheatre and expanded its audience bybringing them new forms of joy; at thesame time, the structure had the
expected effect of turning audience
members into “regulars”—like mangareaders who buy every issue of themagazine

carrying

theirfavorite

serial—who shared information about
the work and brought in new fans as

141
The Prince of Tennis, Vol. 1©Konomi Takeshi/Shueisha

MUSICAL THE PRINCE OF TENNIS Absolute King RIKKAI feat.ROKKAKU ~Second Service©1999 TAKESHI KONOMI/©2007 SHUEISHA, NAS, THE PRINCE OF TENNIS PROJECT©1999 TAKESHI KONOMI /2007 SHUEISHA, Marvelous Entertainment, NELKE PLANNING

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

well. In the case of “TenniMu,” once the entire original is performed, a new“season” starts again from the beginning of the story. A separate production has
also begun based on the original manga’s sequel, The Prince of Tennis II. There canbe no doubt that this aspect of the “TenniMu” model also contributed to the
expansion of the 2.5-Dimensional Musical.

Auditions and Casting to Uncover New Talent
Another important aspect of the “TenniMu” model was fully audition-based
casting. In order to recreate the appearance and characteristics of the
2-dimensional manga characters as faithfully as possible, the producers held
auditions seeking young men able to play the part of middle-school tennis
players. Actors were selected purely on their success at or potential for recreating
characters, with no regard paid to their previous careers. This allowed the show
to assemble a distinctive and fresh cast. All the actors were young and handsome,with strong appeal for the young women who made up the majority of the pro142

duction’s audience.
The effort and preparation required to approach the imagery of the originalis also far greater in “TenniMu” than for a traditional role. Because the work is amusical, all actors have to learn singing, dancing, and performance techniques,
whatever their background, along with tennis form. Above all, in order to express
the characters just as they were depicted in the manga, actors are expected tomerge completely with their parts, not only through superficial details such as
hair, makeup, and tennis technique, but at the deepest level. Even then, a certain
degree of inexperience and earnestness became part of the show’s initial appeal,
and the development of the cast as more performances were held became anotherelement delighting audiences. New casting is required for each new set of opponents, and after a certain number of performances the core team also “graduates”
and makes way for new members. The constant parade of new faces makes it
even harder for fans to look away.
Another factor in the series’ success was the creation of on-stage excitement
through simple but freely moving sets, laser shows and sound effects, choreography that raised actions like swinging a racquet to the level of dance, andinnovative staging that rendered the supernatural technique of the characters
visible. This magical staging is arguably another essential element for the
2.5-Dimensional Musical, alongside the “2.5-dimensionalness” of “pictures cometo life.” The “TenniMu model” was applied and further developed for a range ofmaterial, and is viewed as the secret underlying the genre’s current flourishing.
2.5-Dimensional Musicals have also introduced a diverse range of stars,
including Shirota Yū and Saitō Takumi, who became active in many fields after
their “graduation” from “TenniMu.” Of late, we have witnessed the advent ofactors who appear in multiple 2.5-dimensional productions, exhibiting a uniquepresence. This hints at new potential for methodologies of performance anddirection alike, and developments in this area will surely answer the questionof whether or not 2.5-dimensional theatre can be permanently established as atheatrical genre.

143“Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live at Japonismes 2018
©Naoko Takeuchi・PNP/“Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live Production Committee
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

DEVELOPMENTS IN JAPAN and OVERSEAS

Notes* https://www.j25musical.jp/en/ (access date: February 4, 2022)
There is a contradiction in calling works that contain no music “musicals,” and there
are some cases where “musicals” and “spoken theatre” are performed based on the samematerial, so at present “2.5-dimensional theatre” is perhaps most appropriate.

Suzuki, Kunio
Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Letters at Kyoritsu Women’s University. Researcher
specializing in Italian theatre, opera, musicals, and the Takarazuka Revue Company. M.A.
Italian Literature, University of Tokyo. Recently published books include Itaria—
Takarazuka—2.5 jigen: Tasaina gekisekai o megutte [Italy, Takarazuka, 2.5-dimensionality:
Wandering around various theatrical worlds] (Shumpusha Publishing, 2021) and Takarazuka no
21 seiki: Enshutsuka to star ga egaku sekai [Takarazuka’s 21st century: The stage depicted bydirectors and stars] (jointly authored, Shakaihyoronsha, 2020).
(Translation: Matt Treyvaud)

144

S PEC I AL F EATURE  “Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 13”

SPECIAL FEATURE

Special Feature

Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 13
Five Highly Dense Short Films
Tanioka Takehiko
I was somewhat surprised to learn that the 2021 entry in the “Theatre Born inConflict Zones” series would be an American production, because I had
imagined this series as featuring dramatizations of countries such as Israel,
Palestine, and Syria, countries that are currently experiencing, or have recently
experienced, large-scale military conflicts. I understood the reason for this,however, after learning that the work was related to the spread of the COVID-19
pandemic. Indeed, the fight against the spread of COVID-19 has become, in a
146

sense, something like a war even in Japan. Last summer, when there was talk ofsetting up temporary medical facilities should the number of infected people
surge and cause a shortage of hospital beds, the media referred to such facilities
as “field hospitals.” Such imagery didn’t stop with language. The Japan SelfDefense Forces managed operations of large-scale vaccination centers in Tokyo
and Osaka. In the US, where the numbers of infections and fatalities far exceed
those in Japan, the experience must be even farther removed from normality.

Background of the Works
The Viral Monologues works featured in this exhibition were planned as a
response to the closure of New York’s theaters in March 2020 due to the spreadof COVID. The producers are a group called The 24 Hour Plays. Since its founding in 1995, the company has been known for its unique activity of bringing
together playwrights and actors to write, rehearse, and perform plays within atwenty-four hour period. In the Viral Monologues works, the 24 Hour Plays staff
remotely connected writers and actors with the playwrights writing monologues by 9:00 a.m. the next day and giving actors until 6:00 p.m. to film theirperformance using a smartphone or the like. Starting with their first uploaded
film on March 17, by the end of that month they already had sixty completed
performances. I suspect that their use of “viral” in the title straddles the dual
meanings of “being related to a virus” and “being widely shared on the Internet.” This is not to say that every entry in this series went Internet viral, butsome have had over 20,000 views, and new entries in the series were still being
uploaded as of October 2021.
A book has also been published, containing in a single volume the scripts
for most of the first sixty videos that were released. Five of these were selected
for creation as a Japanese production. I’m sure there was debate among theorganizers regarding the most appropriate format for presenting these works toa Japanese audience. Setting aside considerations of what the infection situation
might be in Japan at the time of a scheduled performance, they likely considered
the option of presenting them as theatrical works, like the pre-COVID series
entries. Given a director, rehearsals with the actors, and the use of stage lighting
and sound, I’m sure they could have put on some spectacular performances. In

147

exchange for such perfection, however, the enjoyable roughness of the original
work, a result of its being written and performed in such a limited time, would
be lost. Indeed, one of the aims of Viral Monologues is to allow actors to freely
interpret and express a playwright’s words without the intervention of a director.
In the end, they gave translated scripts to five actors who were each told to act
them out in whatever way they thought best—a wise decision by the organizers,
I think.
Of course, being given so much discretion may have been both a joy and aburden for the actors. In particular, the monologues in these films were, as
described above, written with a particular actor in mind. In other words, all fiveactors in these Japanese versions were given lines intended to be spoken bysomeone else. How should they deal with such words? Should they do their best
to make them their own? Or should they allow for some distance, presenting
them as the words of another? Such differing approaches by each actor toward
their script is another highlight.

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

SPECIAL FEATURE

This Trip
Let’s take a look at each film in the orderin which they were shown at the Tokyo
Metropolitan

TheatreAtelier

West.

First was This Trip by Charlie O’Leary,
played by Kumakawa Ryuichi. This is amonologue by a man who has traveledwith his family amidst the COVID-19
pandemic. The composition of this film isparticularly interesting, with one camera
filming a man who is in turn using his
smartphone to film himself talking to abathroom mirror. This man is extremely
conscious of how others view him. He
insists that his trip is not something thatcan be subject to criticism, because during

148
This Trip
Written by Charlie O’Leary,starring Kumakawa Ryuichi

it he left big tips at restaurants, helping
restaurants who have been so hurt by the
pandemic.
Amidst his claims of blamelessness,

however, he starts to cough. Here, Kumagawa coughs long and harshly, showingthat his coughs are no mere clearing of the throat. He turns off the phone he’s
using to film himself, and having thus removed himself from the public eye hefaces the mirror and scolds himself for being so foolish and selfish. As it turns
out, he has been infected and is now self-isolating; his eloquent descriptions of
his trip are nothing but empty rationalizations for his behavior. It was a finework, revealing how the consumption behavior we want to refer to as “revitalizing the economy” is nothing but selfish folly.

Unknown Caller
Next was Dan O’Brien’s Unknown Caller, played by Goto Yurina. It takes theform of a video message from a daughter to her mother who is on her deathbed

due to COVID-induced pneumonia. The speaker received a call that morningfrom an unlisted number, telling her that her mother, with whom she has beenlong estranged, was in critical condition but that visitations are not possible. Thelong blank in communications between them suggests that their relationship was
not a good one. By including occasional pauses in the monologue to indicate her
swallowing her anger, Goto conveys a complex blend of emotions.
The daughter feels that her mother has not loved her for a long time. Whenshe faced various difficulties five years before, she says, her mother didn’t send
her so much as an email, and forgiving such a mother is not something that she
can easily do. She even refuses to show her mother pictures of her daughter, inother words her mother’s grandchild, who she is raising with her same-sex
spouse. However, it is precisely because of this continued venting of frustrations
toward her mother that the one time she calls her “Mom,” something that occurs
at the end of her monologue, feels so emotionally impactful. If, that is, she works
up the courage to hit “send” and actually deliver the message to her mother.
149

Unknown Caller
Written by Dan O’Brien, starring Goto Yurina

Thank You for Visiting Me
Zhu Yi’s Thank You for Visiting Me is unique in how the camera is used. It begins
when the speaker, a woman who has been on a cruise, returns home. Upon her
return, she encounters something unexpected: her dog, who is supposed to be
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

SPECIAL FEATURE

dead, is there in her room. She speaks to thiscanine ghost, telling it how her husband contracted COVID on the cruise ship and how
she was unable to take care of him in his final
days because he was quarantined. The
camera gives us the point-of-view of the dog
to which she is speaking.
Actor Inoue Kanako dared to ignore
those directions, instead shooting her video
while reading not only the dialogue to theThank You for Visiting Me
Written by Zhu Yi, starring Inoue Kanako

camera, but also the stage directions. In
doing so, she leaves how the script should be
acted out to the viewer’s imagination, dedi-

cating herself solely to the role of conveying the playwright’s words as they are. I
experienced some amount of frustration at not being able to see the scene from150

the dog’s point-of-view. Inoue’s decision to simply read the stage directions
makes sense, however, especially considering the ending, which has the dog
flying out of an open window, leaving things in the original version of the video a
bit opaque.

Invincible
Invincible was written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, based on interviews witha nurse working in New York City. In this film, actor Kate Doi goes to extremes
in making the script her own, possibly based on a line in the script describing her
as having just completed seventy hours of work that week. Doi faces the camera
wearing a nurse’s uniform. Her expression shows clear signs of fatigue.
Her story begins with why she decided to become a nurse, and naturallytransitions to the current situation, where the number of patients hospitalized
due to COVID infections is rapidly increasing. She is limited to spending at mostten minutes in hospital room, and so finds being unable to talk to her patientsdifficult. Doi stumbles in her words and turns away from the camera when she
has something difficult to say, making her performance realistic. She speaks with

gradually increasing heat.
She is angry with the government for being unable
to supply her with masks
and protective gear, and attimes, she cannot containher anger at those who
think they are “invincible”
against the virus and thus
fail to take precautions

Invincible
Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, starring Kate Doi

against infection. “We need to take care of each other more. I hope that we learn
to love each other more,” her monologue concludes, leaving a deep impression.

The Hardest Part
The last film, Howard Sherman’s The Hardest Part, features Hirata Mitsuru. The
monologue is by an Asian man worried about his son, who is hospitalized with a151

serious injury. By reading his lines without any excess emotion, Hirata’s tone
makes the anxiety of a worried father all the more evident.
Amidst the continued spread of COVID infections, his son went to thegrocery store to shop for him because he is elderly and has high blood pressure.
During that excursion, he is attacked by thugs who
shout things like “Chinese virus!” and “Go back toyour country!” as they beat him. He wants to visit his
son in the hospital, but due to infection prevention
measures only patients are allowed in the hospital. All
he can do is pray for safety to the guardian angel
statue his son once gave him as a gift. This father
laments about how discrimination against Asians,
which had seemed to finally have become a thing of
the past, has reappeared with the virus, and this resoThe Hardest Part
Written by Howard Sherman,
starring Hirata Mitsuru

nated with me long after I finished watching the video.

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

SPECIAL FEATURE

What Makes These Apt Inclusions as “Theatre Born in Conflict Zones”
While there were only five short videos, each was very dense and covered a wide
range of subjects. If I were to try to extract a motif that runs through the entire
collection, I would have to look to a line by Howard Sherman, the creator of The
Hardest Part: “This is an evil that … maybe was revealed because of the virus.”
The core of the drama in each film is how emotions, both love and hatred, that
tend to be suppressed beneath the surface of social life in normal times, can erupt
during times of emergency. These are thus short films worthy of consideration as“Theatre Born in Conflict Zones.”
I would also like to say something about the translations. I heard that
Tsukisawa Rikako was chosen to translate the scripts because she attended theWorld Theatre Lab, hosted by the Japanese Centre of International Theatre
Institute. I also heard that while she is a highly experienced translator, this was
her first time translating theatrical scripts. Regardless, she produced high-qualitytranslations, making for an excellent debut in this field. I would thus like to close
152

with a special mention of Ms. Tsukisawa’s fine translation work, and the translator training program at the Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute for
their support of her efforts.
Tanioka, Takehiko
Born in 1965. Professor at the Institute for Liberal Arts at the Tokyo Institute of Technology,
specializing in contemporary British theatre. His publications include Notes on Contemporary
British Theatre (Gendai igirisu engeki dansho, Camomile-sha). He translated David Greig’s The
Events for the New National Theatre of Tokyo, 2019. He is a member of the Association of
Haiku Poets and author of the haiku collection Youthful Writings (Wakagaki, Honami Shoten).
(Translation: Tony Gonzalez)

The Theatre Born in Conflict Zones Series

Centers of the International Theatre Institute (ITI) around the world have been contributing to a project called Theatre Born in Conflict Zones as an attempt to foster peace
through theatre. The Japanese Centre of ITI started its version of this project in 2009as part of the study and research process for publication of its Theatre Yearbook. The
series has continued for thirteen years, presenting translations of twenty-eight prominent plays that were previously unknown in Japan, reading performances, lecturesby authors and experts, and exhibitions. Scripts for the presented plays have been
published since the third year of the series. If you wish to obtain current or back issuesof the Theatre Yearbook, which include the play scripts, please contact the JapaneseCentre of ITI.

Performance Record“Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 13”
Five entries from Viral Monologues (2020) by The 24 Hour Plays, showing and discussion
December 11 (Sat)–12 (Sun), 2021

153

Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Atelier West (B1)*Pre-recorded streaming (paid): January 17 (Mon) 10:00–January 23 (Sun) 23:59, 2022

Works Shown:This Trip
Written by Charlie O’Leary, starring Kumakawa Ryuichi (Rappaya)
Unknown Caller
Written by Dan O’Brien, starring Goto Yurina (Haiyuza Theatre Company)
Thank You for Visiting Me
Written by Zhu Yi, starring Inoue Kanako (Aru Company)
Invincible
Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, starring Kate Doi
The Hardest Part
Written by Howard Sherman, starring Hirata Mitsuru (Aru Company)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

SPECIAL FEATURE

Discussions of Each Work
December 11: Takenaka Kyoko (actor)
December 12: Tonooka Naomi (Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University, specializing in American theater)

Japanese translations of the five exhibited Viral Monologues have been
published as a supplement to Theatre Yearbook 2022. If you would like toread the scripts or obtain a copy, please contact the Japanese Centre of ITI(mail@iti-j.org).

154

155

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

Companion Volume
Theatre Abroad 2022
(Japanese)
These articles do not appear in
Theatre in Japan 2022.

156

World Theatre Day Message by Peter Sellars

Theatre in Asia and Africa
China

The Curtain Rises on the Post-COVID Era and
100 Years of the Communist Party of China------------------------------------------------------------ Tamura Yoko

Hong Kong, To Be Physically Fit and to Rediscover the Self:
The Hong Kong Theatre Braves an Inspiring Theme----------------------------------- Cheung Ping Kuen
China
South Korea Labor, the Environment, and the Survival of the Human Race-------------------- Lee Seung-gon
India

The Whereabouts of Theatre------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tsurudome Satoko

Indonesia

Life/Arts in the First Months of the Pandemic:Dance Film, Zoomland, and Wayang Orang------------------------------------------------------------ Helly Minarti

ThailandA Never-Ending Pandemic and Artistic Dissent-------------------------------------- Pavinee Samakkabutr

UgandaTragic Necessity: A Case of Theatre Closure------------------------------------------ Jessica Atwooki Kaahwa

Theatre in the Americas and Oceania
USA

Healing Divisions and Moving toward Change------------------------------------------------- Tonooka Naomi

Theatre in Europe
UK

157

A Year of Gradual Re-Emergence--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Natasha Tripney

Germany /A Winter of Endurance, a Spring of Joy------------------------------------------------------------------- Hagiwara Ken
Austria /Switzerland
FranceLiving through an Endless Pandemic:
An Unclear Future, a Historic Moment-------------------------------------------------------------------- Fujii Shintaro

BelarusSurviving Oppression: Belarus Free Theatre’s Decisive Year-------------------------- Nicolai Khalezin

RussiaA “Relaunched” Theatre and Dostoevsky at 200---------------------------------------------- Shinozaki Naoya

Developments in Japan and Overseas
TPAM’s Achievements, YPAM’s Aspirations: Building an International Platform
for the Contemporary Performing Arts———— Maruoka Hiromi (Interviewer: Fujiwara Chikara, Nakajima Kana)
Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

158

Japanese Centre of International Theatre Institute
President

Nagai Taeko

Vice-Presidents

Abiko Tadashi
Yoshiiwa Masaharu

Managing Director Sota Shuji
Directors

Ataka Risako
Ito Hiroshi
Ozasa Yoshio
Odagiri Yoko
Kasuya Haruo
Kida Yukinori
Sakate Yoji
Shindo Yoshikazu
Nakayama Kaori
Nomura Mansai
Hayashi Hideki
Bando Tamasaburo
Hishinuma Yoshiaki
Matsuda KazuhikoMiwa Elica
Wazaki Nobuya

Auditors

Kishi Masato
Kobayashi Hirofumi

Advisers

Otani Nobuyoshi
Kawamura Junko
Sakomoto Jun’ichi
Tanokura Minoru
Nomura Man
Hatano Yoshio
Hori Takeo
Matsuoka Isao

159

(As of March 27, 2022)

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

ITI Centres (as of March 27, 2022)

160

Americas

AfricaArgentina
Colombia
Cuba
MexicoUSA
Venezuela

Algeria
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Central African Rep.
Chad
Congo Dem. Rep. (Kinshasa)
Congo Rep. (Brazaville)
Egypt
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Madagascar
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Niger
Nigeria
SenegalSierra Leone
Sudan
Togo
UgandaZimbabwe

EuropeArmenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium (Flanders)Belgium (Wallonia)
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech
Estonia
Faroe Islands
FinlandFranceGeorgia
Germany
GreeceHungary

Arab
Iraq
JordanKuwaitOman
Palestine
Saudi Arabia
Syria
UAE (Fujairah)
Yemen

IcelandItaly
LatviaLuxembourg
North Macedonia
MonacoMontenegro
Netherlands
Romania
RussiaSlovakia
Slovenia
Spain
SwedenSwitzerland
UK

Asia PacificBangladesh
China
Georgia
India
Iran
IsraelJapan
South Korea
Mongolia
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Vietnam

161

The list of ITI Centres is updated as needed on the ITI website below.
International Theatre Institute ITI / Institut International du Théâtre ITI
Office at UNESCO UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France
Headquarters in Shanghai 1332 Xinzha Road, Jing’an, Shanghai 200040, China Tel: +86 (0)21 6236 7033
info@iti-worldwide.org / www.iti-worldwide.org

Theatre in Japan

Theatre Yearbook 2022

50th Anniversary

ITI Japanese Centre’s

Theatre Yearbook
国際演劇年鑑Since 1972

International Theatre Institute (ITI) is an NGO under the umbrella of UNESCO
and has some ninety branch centres around the world.
ITI Japanese Centre, which was founded in 1951, has been commissioned by the
Agency for Cultural Affairs to edit and publish the Theatre Yearbook every Marchsince 1972.
The Theatre Yearbook, which consists of two volumes, is globally distributed freeof charge to various performing arts organizations, university libraries, cultural
departments of embassies and so on.
One volume, titled “Theatre abroad” (in Japanese), targets Japanese reader
and features articles by experts on various countries, explaining each country’s
performing arts–related affairs over a span of one year.
The other volume, which targets international readers, is titled “Theatre in
Japan” (in English) and discusses ten genres of performing arts–related affairs ofJapan, from traditional to contemporary performing arts, plus television dramas.
If you have any comments or requests regarding Theatre Yearbook,please contact our centre and give us your feedback.

mail@iti-j.org
The web version of
the Theatre Yearbook(full-color, 2014–) is available here.

http://iti-japan.or.jp
Follow us on

itijapan @itijapan

Theatre Yearbook 2019—Theatre in Japan«The Japanese Performing Arts in 2018»
Noh and Kyogen, Kabuki, Bunraku, Musicals, Contemporary Theatre,
Children’s and Youth Theatre and Puppet Theatre, Japanese Classical Dance, Ballet,
Contemporary Dance and Butoh, Television Dramas.
«Developments in Japan and Overseas in 2018»
Remembering Asari Keita: A Master Living in the Irrational Contradictions of Art and Business
An Interview with Mr. Kobayashi Yasuhiro of the Performing Arts Section, Secretariat for
Japonismes, The Japan Foundation – On the influence of Japonismes 2018 in Presenting
Traditional to Cutting-Edge Performances«Special Feature»“Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 10”
Two Plays from Germany and Canada Linked to Conflict Zones – Common Ground and This Is War

Theatre Yearbook 2020—Theatre in Japan«The Japanese Performing Arts in 2019»
Noh and Kyogen, Kabuki, Bunraku, Musicals, Contemporary Theatre,
Children’s and Youth Theatre, Japanese Classical Dance, Ballet,
Contemporary Dance and Butoh, Television Dramas.
«Developments in Japan and Overseas in 2019»
A Theatre that Continues to Challenge – The Rebirth of Parco Theater“The-Show-Must-Go-On” – In Memory of Johnny Kitagawa
The Era of Okada Toshiki – Performing Arts in the 2010s«Special Feature»“Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 11”
A Girl’s Struggle Reflect Our Current World – The Dramatic Reading of Liberian Girl

Theatre Yearbook 2021—Theatre in Japan«The Japanese Performing Arts in 2020»
Noh and Kyogen, Kabuki, Bunraku, Musicals, Contemporary Theatre,
Children’s and Youth Theatre, Japanese Classical Dance, Ballet,
Contemporary Dance and Butoh, Television Dramas.
«Developments in Japan and Overseas in 2020»
Japanese Theatre in the Time of the Spanish Influenza 100 Years Ago
Plurality of Senses – for Dumb Type
Obituary: Betsuyaku Minoru “Under the Influence of Beckett: Betsuyaku, Pinter, Stoppard”
Appendix: Translations and Overseas Presentations of Works by Betsuyaku Minoru«Special Feature»“Theatre Born in Conflict Zones 12” – A Staged Reading Performed Full Out

Seeking out

Looking for

Searching for

New Subscribers

New Topics

New Writers

If you wish to subscribe to
T heatre Yearb o ok, pleasecontact ITI Japanese Centre.
Back issues are also available,
although copies may have runout of stock depending on
the year of issuance.

Please let us know if youcome up with any topics
related to performing arts thatyou would like to be covered
in “Theatre in Japan.”

We are searching for writers inyour countries who can kindly
contribute to “Theatre Abroad.”
If you know anyone, such as
journalists and researchers
whom you can recommend,
please introduce them to us.

東宝演劇

お問い合わせTel.0570 -00 -5100（10 :00〜18:00）※一部の携帯電話・IP電話等からはご利用いただけません。

宝塚歌劇公式ホームページ

https://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/
夢と感動のステージへ…

宝塚友の会がご案内します！
一般前売に先立ち最も早くチケットをお買い求めいただけます。
入会申込書のご請求・お問い合わせは

Tel.0570-00-8739（10:00〜17:00／水曜定休）※一部の携帯電話・IP電話等からはご利用いただけません。

紛争地域から生まれた演劇シリーズ

Theatre Born inConflict Zones Series
Since 2009
The Theatre Born in Conflict Zones series is a response to the Theatre in Conflict Zones project
organized by the ITI headquarters and Cultural Identity and Development Committee.
Launched in 2009, it has now introduced 32 plays from various countries and regions
around the world, conveying the raw reality of conflict zones andattracting great interest in the local theatre scene.

Scripts of Plays in the

Theatre Born in Conflict Zones Series (2022)
Five scripts from Viral Monologues by the 24 Hour Plays (USA)−This Trip by Charlie O’Leary−Unknown Caller by Dan O’Brien−Thank You for Visiting Me by Zhu Yi−Invincible by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen−The Hardest Part by Howard Sherman
Taiha (Lost Horses) by Adnan Alaoda (Syria)
2018 Khail
Lilac Duhaa (Death in the Era of Da’ish) by Ghannam Ghannam (Jordan/Palestine)
Ground by Yael Ronen (Israel/Germany) & Ensemble
2019 Common
This Is War by Hannah Moscovitch (Canada)

2020 Liberian Girl by Diana Nneka Atuona (UK)2021 The Murder of Isaac by Motti Lerner (Israel)

Searching for New Plays

ITI Japanese Centre accepts new submissions for plays in
the Theatre Born in Conflict Zones series. Please contact us
at mail@iti-j.org.

mail@iti-j.org
The web version of
the Theatre Yearbook(full-color, 2014–) is available here.

http://iti-japan.or.jp
Follow us on

itijapan @itijapan

C re ating c u ltu re to tou c h p e op l e ’ s h e a r t s

C 小川重雄○東京芸術祭
東 京の多彩で奥 深い芸 術文化を通して世界とつながることを目指し、毎年 秋に東 京・池 袋エリアを中心に開催している都市型総合芸 術祭です。東 京の芸 術文化の魅力を分かり易く見せると同時に東 京における芸 術文化の創造 力を高めることを目指しています。中長 期的には社会課題の解決や人づくり、都市づくり、そしてグローバル化への対応を視野にいれて取り組んでいます。

To k yo F e s t i val
This is a comprehensive urban arts festival held every fall around Tokyo’s Ikebukuro area which aims to connect with the world
through Tokyo’s rich and diverse arts and culture scene. While showcasing the appeal of Tokyo’s arts and culture in an easy-tounderstand manner, at the same time the festival aims to enhance Tokyo’s own creative capabilities. In the mid-to-long term, we
will continue to work on resolving social issues, developing human resources, developing urban areas, and tackling globalization.

h t t p s : // t o k y o - f e s t i v a l . j p
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tokyofestivalsince2016/
Twitter https://twitter.com/tokyo_festival
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tokyo_festival/
主催：東京芸術祭実⾏委員会［豊島区、公益財団法⼈としま未来⽂化財団、公益財団法⼈東京都歴史⽂化財団（東京芸術劇場・アーツカウンシル東京）］
Tokyo Festival Executive Committee [Toshima City, Toshima Mirai Cultural Foundation, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre & Arts Council Tokyo)]

舞

伎

座

東京都中央区銀座41215

0335456800

新 橋 演 舞 場
東京都中央区銀座6182

0335412600

演 劇 本 部

東京都中央区築地 四 丁 目 一 番 一 号
電話（五五五〇）
一五七三（ 歌舞伎製作部）

松竹株式会社

サンシャイン劇場
東京都豊島区東池袋314

0339875281
大阪

松

竹

座

大阪市中央区道頓堀1919

0662142211
京都

南

座

京都市東山区四条大橋東詰

0755611155

伝統が今日に生き明日につながる松竹演劇

歌