Kabuki actor and designated Living National Treasure Sakata Tojuro (b. 1931) stages an opera, for the first time in his career, this month at the New National Theatre.
"At first, I politely refused the commission, as opera is a closed book to me," says Tojuro, recalling the moment, around a year and a half ago, when he was asked to stage the opera by the theater's artistic director Hiroshi Wakasugi (b. 1935), a close friend of his.
"Shuzenji Monogatari," composed by Japanese musician Osamu Shimizu (1911-86) and premiered in 1954, is based on a shin-kabuki (new-style kabuki) play written by Japanese author Kido Okamoto (1872-1939).