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Rei Sasaguchi

For Rei Sasaguchi's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

May 24, 2007

Tale of treason

In 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98), a man of humble origins, became Japan's taiko (prime minister) after the death of the warlord Oda Nobunaga. But the taiko in "Ehon Taikoki (Records of the Taiko)," a bunraku (traditional Japanese puppet) play written by Chikamatsu Yanagi and collaborators in 1799, refers more properly to the general Akechi Mitsuhide, (called Takechi Mitsuhide in the play), who had assassinated Nobunaga (called Oda Harunaga), his and Hideyoshi's overlord, because of his tyrannical conduct.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Mar 22, 2007

Meeting his muse -- Tamasaburo Bando

'Iwrote this play with Tamasaburo Bando in mind for the role of Chujohime," says Haruo Moriyama. "I have been his fan ever since I saw him enacting Shiranuihime in Yukio Mishima's 'Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki (Adventures of Minamoto no Tametomo)' at the National Theater in 1969."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jan 18, 2007

An inheritance of kabuki roles

"I am particularly interested in Kikugoro VII," says Miyoko Goto, "because he fulfills all the qualifications for a Kabuki actor and because he can play both tachiyaku and onnagata roles equally well, while his father Baiko remained an onnagata."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Oct 26, 2006

"47 Loyal Retainers" for the 40th anniversary

''My appointment by Commissioner Hayao Kawai of the Agency for Cultural Affairs to direct the Japan Arts Council came as a total surprise," says Kazuaki Tsuda, "though I must confess I am having a great time. I spent 50 years selling whisky, and now I am selling culture!"

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Aug 10, 2006

Kyogen meets contemporary theater

For the past 20 years, Kazuhiro Morisaki has promoted the comical performing art form of kyogen, but that doesn't make him a purist.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

May 25, 2006

Playing for his master

"I entered the world of bunraku by accident, without knowing anything about it," says shamisen player Tsuruzawa Enjiro, who has just received the prestigious stage name Tsuruzawa Enza (VI) previously held by his master.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Mar 16, 2006

Paying respect to a father, and a scholar

In 1962, in order reverse a general decline in kabuki in Osaka, Kataoka Nizaemon XIII mobilized his three sons and a number of friends to independently stage their own performance. Osaka's kabuki world, after thriving during the first few decades of the 20th century, had lost its financial backing in Japan's postwar years and the number of actors had noticeably decreased. Encouraged by the success of the event, Nizaemon XIII gave four more performances of "Nizaemon Kabuki" in the following five years.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jan 19, 2006

With new name, Sakata Tojuro free to revive kamigata-style acting

In 1953, kabuki actor Nakamura Ganjiro III (then known as Nakamura Senjaku) scored his first major success on a Tokyo stage with his unorthodox perfomance in "Sonezaki Shinju (Double Suicide at Sonezaki)," a 1703 work by the celebrated playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon. The director, Nobuo Uno, allowed the brash young actor, who was playing the courtesan Ohatsu opposite his father Ganjiro II, to essentially develop his own style as he went along. The result was an original and naturalistic performance that was very different from the expected kabuki of the time.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Nov 17, 2005

Passion for kabuki

After working for the Tokyo National Theater for almost 35 years, Koji Orita became director of its Department of Performing Arts in 2003.

CULTURE / Stage

Sep 15, 2005

New revenge of the giant Heike crabs

The term shin kabuki, literally "new kabuki," describes a genre of plays created from the early Meiji Era (1868-1912) through World War II by prominent playwrights such as Shoyo Tsubouchi (1859-1935), Kido Okamoto (1872-1939) and Seika Mayama (1878-1948). Until the preceding Edo Period (1603-1868), classic kabuki plays had been produced by in-house scriptwriters affiliated to major kabuki theaters. However, the 1893 death of Kawatake Mokuami, the last of those writers, marked the end of that centuries-old system.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jul 20, 2005

Shakespeare as never before

Last October, 27-year-old kabuki actor Onoe Kikunosuke called theater director Yukio Ninagawa, who was working in London at the time, to see if he would create a unique kabuki piece for Kikunosuke's debut production for the Kabuki-za.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

May 11, 2005

Vengeful tale of sweet poison

The Bunraku version of "Sendaihagi," currently running at the National Theater, Tokyo, begins when Yoshitsuna, Lord of Sendai, retires from his position and hands his post to his young son Tsurukiyo. He abdicates because he has been plotted against by his uncle Nishikido Gyobu and Kageyu, his chief retainer. The evil Watarai Ginbei is then ordered by Kageyu to poison Tsurukiyo, but his attempt is thwarted by the child's governess, Masaoka.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Mar 16, 2005

A star is born as an actor gets his name

The Kabukiza in Ginza is presenting special kabuki programs in March, April and May to celebrate the shumei (succession to a stage name) of Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII. Kanzaburo, 50, has mastered both tachiyaku (male lead) and onnagata (female) roles. He is showing off his prowess by playing the leads in several plays, which are all significant in the Nakamura clan repertoire.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jan 12, 2005

Stars come out in plays of love and loyalty

Kabuki is flourishing in Tokyo at the beginning of the year of the cock as the four of the city's major theaters vie with one another to present the best kabuki performances. At the Tokyo National Theater in Hanzomon, there is a three-hour production of "Gohiiki Kanjincho" (literally "Our Favorite Kanjincho"), Sakurada Jisuke's 1773 drama based on the tragic story of the 12th-century martial hero, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who flees to the north as he is persecuted by his older brother Yoritomo.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Dec 15, 2004

Servants of too many masters

The Tokyo National Theater is currently showing a three-hour bunraku performance drawn from the play "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" (literally translated as: "Sugawara Certifies a Disowned Disciple to Perpetuate His Line of Calligraphy"), written by Takeda Izumo and collaborators in 1746.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Oct 20, 2004

Koshiro IX does this family's tradition proud

The Kabukiza is currently presenting two plays from its October program as tsuizen (memorial) performances for Matsumoto Koshiro VIII, who died in 1982. Koshiro VIII, also known by the stage name of Matsumoto Hakuo, considered these plays very important to the repertoire he performed, so it is significant that his son, Matsumoto Koshiro IX, is playing the lead in both "Kumagai Jin'ya (Kumagai's Camp)" and in "Ii Tairo (Lord Ii)."

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Sep 15, 2004

Tale of a wrestler, his mother, stepbrother and also his wife

Audiences at the Tokyo National Theater are being treated to two full-length Bunraku masterpieces being staged in its smaller auditorium this month.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Aug 18, 2004

Chilling tales to cool the heat off summertime in Ginza

The Kabukiza in Ginza is currently presenting three shows, all of which feature 49-year-old Nakamura Kankuro, performing alongside members of his family -- his sons Kantaro and Shichinosuke, as well as brothers-in-law, Fukusuke and Hashinosuke.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jul 14, 2004

Epic drama of love, reincarnation and revenge

Although Ichikawa Ennosuke, 64, the founder of "Super Kabuki," may be absent from the stage due to illness, his company of 25 are delighting audiences with their production of Tsuruya Namboku's classic masterpiece, "Sakurahime Azuma Bunsho (The Story of Sakurahime)" at the Kabukiza Theater this month.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Stage

Jun 9, 2004

An Ebizo XI is born

The Kabukiza in Ginza has been drawing crowds of Kabuki lovers to its special performances in May and June to celebrate the birth of Ichikawa Ebizo XI. The "newborn" is, in fact, 26 years old -- the tall, handsome tachiyaku (male lead) Ichikawa Shinnosuke, son of Ichikawa Danjuro XII (who last year starred in NHK's popular historical drama "Musashi").

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